From Washington with Karina Jones is brought to you by BillionAuto.com one of the nation’s largest automotive websites!
Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills, Field Director for R-CalfUSA and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
Wheels are still turning harvesting the nation’s crops from corn to sugar beets. Some recent volatility in the cattle market had that sector on edge. Hopefully, with good weather and a return to the fundamentals, all this will work itself out for the betterment of our nation’s farmers and ranchers.
The wheels in Washington DC are back to turning out some Farm Bill progress. While no one is placing bets on a finishing timeline, we are at least getting whispers of negotiations and some news of bills inching higher up the priority board.
According to The Hill, “A coalition of agriculture state Republicans are pushing the House’s new leader to pass a new bill before the funding runs out. The signatories, which include leading Republicans from key agricultural states such as Iowa and South Dakota, called the bill’s lapse a matter of “national security.”
They wrote that the funding is essential to keeping American farmers, ranchers and foresters in business and domestically produced food, biofuel and fiber cheap plentiful. “We urge you and the Conference at-large to be united in ensuring swift passage of a strong Farm Bill that is written by farmers, for farmers, and by rural communities, for rural communities,” the signatories wrote.
One bill that has shown a flurry of recent favor, is the Opportunities for Fairness in Farm Act or the OFF Act. Farm and ranch groups applaud the seven new cosponsors that have joined the roster of bi-cameral, bi-partisan support which continues to widen.
OFF Act’s newest co-sponsors include Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-12), Oversight and Accountability Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), and Representatives Nanette Diaz Barragàn (D-CA-44), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).
It seems the recent debate over the Fiscal Year 2024 Agriculture Appropriations bill has increased interest in oversight of the 22 government-mandated checkoff programs, long plagued by accusations of corruption and misuse of funds. This wave of new sponsors is the latest development in the rising momentum for their reform.
“The OFF Act is backed by more than 200,000 American family farmers who are sick and tired of seeing their own checkoff dollars put farmers out of business,” said Representative Mace a Republican from SC who initially introduced the bill. “We are grateful to our colleagues in Congress for supporting this legislation and hope to include the measure in the upcoming farm bill.”
“For too long, producers in Nevada and beyond have been forced to pay into a checkoff program with little oversight, supporting the interests of Big Ag corporations and lobbyists in Washington instead of hardworking farmers and ranchers across the nation,” said Representative Titus, a Democrat from Nevada who also introduced the bill. “My colleagues and I are pushing for critical federal reform in the bipartisan OFF Act, ending the exploitation of farmers and promoting accountability in our food system.”
Meet right back here next week for more ag news from our nation’s capital.
Join me right back here next week as I bring you more ag news from our nation’s capital.
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Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Broken Bow, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Tune in Fridays on The Hot Barn Report, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and highlights industry reforms or listen to Ranch Raised with Karina Jones a slice of daily life on the Jones Ranch.
