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USDA agencies watching FB proceedings

The lack of a Farm Bill is not only impacting farmers, it is also impacting the work being done by agencies throughout the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Doug O’Brien, Acting Under-Secretary for Rural Development says passing a Farm Bill is absolutely critical to the work they do in his agency. O’Brien tells Brownfield that without a Farm Bill, USDA Rural Development will have to rely on annual appropriations as a primary source of funding.

“Typically for many of our programs used by farmers and small businesses, that funding has come from the Farm Bill, so that’s one important piece,” said O’Brien. “Another important piece is there are a lot of important reforms that are in the different versions of the Farm Bill that kind of have our hands tied as we try to determine what the policy is going to be, just like farmers and many others who rely on policy, so it’s such an important piece of legislation we just need to get it done.”

Audio: Doug O’Brien, USDA Acting Under Secretary, RD (7:40 mp3)