Peace Garden News

Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, has announced that the Senate has approved the Fiscal Year 2026 agriculture funding bill. The legislation is designed to provide support for farmers, ranchers, agricultural research, and rural communities.

“This legislation invests in our farmers, ranchers and rural communities,” said Hoeven. “We prioritized funding essential tools for our producers like better access to capital and provisions to help protect against pests and diseases like the avian flu and chronic wasting disease. We also make important investments in agriculture research to continue the good work of NDSU, Grand Farm and their partners. Ultimately, this legislation is about helping ensure the success of our farmers, ranchers and agri-businesses.”

The bill includes nearly $2.5 million for the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University (NDSU), bringing total funding secured by Hoeven for this initiative since FY2024 to nearly $6.5 million. It also provides $5 million for the AgTech Cooperative Agreement involving Grand Farm, NDSU, and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), with $2 million allocated to establish an ARS work site at Grand Farm. An additional $3 million will go toward ongoing renovations at the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo.

To help producers access credit, the legislation allocates sufficient funds to meet demand for direct and guaranteed operating and ownership loans through the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The bill maintains a prohibition on FSA county office closures.

Ranchers are provided with resources needed to comply with new electronic identification tag requirements from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This comes after Hoeven's efforts last year led to securing an extra 3 million EID tags so that U.S. ranchers would not face an unfunded mandate.

The measure includes $500,000 dedicated to blackbird depredation efforts in the Northern Great Plains region. It also gives APHIS authority to protect livestock against diseases such as avian influenza and chronic wasting disease (CWD) while supporting continued CWD research at ARS.

In addition, there is support for increased competition and transparency in cattle markets by providing $1 million for Hoeven’s cattle contract library pilot program and maintaining funding for enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).