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New farm bill: competition, conservation and climate

The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives says competition, conservation and climate will be three areas of focus as Congress puts together the next farm bill.

Nancy Pelosi was at the National Farmers Union Convention.

“We are fully committed to standing with you to fight for farmers.”

Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish tells Brownfield the organization would like to see a competition title added to the bill.

“As Congress takes this up and wants to add another title, they can do that. The restrictions they have is to work within the baseline funding. We’re advocating for the baseline funding to increase to meet teh various needs.”

He says climate and conservation could be addressed by establishing a more permanent disaster program.

“The advantage of getting this into a farm bill or a permanent disaster program is having something already in place so that when this type of disaster hits, farmers would get funding faster.”

The farm bill priorities will be reviewed during a delegate session at the convention tomorrow. The National Farmers Union Convention is happening this week in San Francisco, California.