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Senators introduce Farm Transition Act
A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would help farmers transition farmland ownership and address current barriers.
Senate Ag Committee member Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, tells Brownfield more than 370 million acres of farmland are estimated to change hands over the next two decades.
“This is related to farm ground and food security to make sure that acres, with so many of them changing hands, that they don’t get into the wrong hands and that it enables young farmers to get into the business,” he says.
Braun says he expects several additional bills to be introduced in Congress to support farm transitions which will also increase awareness of how additional estate taxes could negatively impact farms.
“Those current exemptions out there with as expensive as farm ground has become, can’t afford to go down much or would have to have a special exception for farm ground, or else you’re going to have farms not being able to be passed along,” he says.
Braun says the language will likely be included in the next farm bill which he doesn’t expect to be finalized until the end of this fiscal year as lawmakers debate funding levels.
Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin is a co-sponsor. A companion bill has been introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Yadira Caraveo (D-CO-8), Trent Kelly (R-MS-01), Don Davis (D-NC-01), and Zach Nunn (R-IA-03).
The American Farmland Trust, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, and Wisconsin Farmers Union support the measure.
AUDIO: Senator Mike Braun
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