(WHEATLAND, N.D.) – Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D., hosted a Senate Ag Appropriations Committee field hearing Thursday, August 15 at The Grand Farm Innovation Campus. The hearing focused on the future of ag technology and research, specifically, precision ag.
“All of these things leverage local, state, and federal resources, and the private sector, and put it behind the farmer,” Hoeven says. “We have the best farmers in the world, and we are putting all this technology behind them so they not only continue to be the best, but also improve and stay ahead of everybody else.”
Also in attendance for the panel were Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.), and committee members Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.).
Boozman echoed Sen. Hoeven’s sentiments on having the world’s best farmers, backed with innovative technology.
“That’s what this conference was all about,” Boozman says. “How do we create what they have done here (The Grand Farm Innovation Campus) throughout the rest of the country with this great, public-private partnership?”
While the hearing focused on the future of ag technology and research, there was also talk surrounding the Farm Bill – how, when, and can we get it done before 2025?
The senators say it can be done. Sen. Klobuchar shared that she would like to get this on a must-pass bill by the end of the year. Otherwise, there will be too much uncertainty going into the next year.
“I’m looking forward to working as a leader on the ag committee,” Klobuchar says. “But it would be much better given all the issues swirling around us that are non-rural, non-ag, that we lock in and make sure we have our five years of consistency for our farmers in a very difficult time.”
Even though the urge to get the Farm Bill done this year is there, Sen. Boozman wants to make sure it’s also done right.
“This is a five-year commitment to our farmers,” Boozman says. “So it’s not like we do something, then change our mind a year from now.”
The push to come together on both sides of the aisle is how we need to get the farm bill done, Sen. Hoeven says.
“The key there is just getting the countercyclical safety net updated the way it needs to, to support our farmers and ranchers,” Hoeven says.
