Peace Garden News

At a recent Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Senator John Hoeven engaged with Brooke Rollins, President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Agriculture. The discussion centered on priorities for North Dakota's agricultural sector. Hoeven emphasized efforts to bolster U.S. agriculture and secured commitments from Rollins to collaborate on several key issues.

These include passing a robust farm bill that invests in the farm safety net, implementing $33.5 billion in disaster assistance for producers affected by natural disasters and challenging markets, ensuring access to U.S. Forest Service lands for agriculture producers in North Dakota, improving access to foreign markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers, and visiting North Dakota to learn about precision agriculture initiatives.

“Unlike the consolidation we’ve seen in many industries, U.S. farms and ranches still largely consist of small, family-owned operations," said Hoeven. "That’s a real benefit to our nation, and in order to maintain it, we need to help producers recover from recent hardships and ensure the farm safety net works when needed most."

Hoeven praised Rollins' understanding of rural America's needs due to her personal and professional background. He expressed appreciation for her commitment to working on these priorities: "I appreciate her commitment to work with me on passing the strongest possible farm bill and to get assistance out to producers quickly and efficiently."

Hoeven continues his efforts toward passing a comprehensive farm bill that addresses critical needs such as enhancing crop insurance affordability through his FARMER Act proposal, improving counter-cyclical safety nets like ARC and PLC programs, modernizing Farm Service Agency loan limits, strengthening livestock disaster programs like LIP, LFP, ELAP, making these improvements permanent while keeping programs voluntary.