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House Farm Bill could be finalized by Memorial Day

Some federal lawmakers are suggesting the House version of the Farm Bill could be finalized by June.

David Beyerl and other Minnesota Farm Bureau members traveled to Washington, D.C. this week to meet with several Congressional offices from the state.

He tells Brownfield the group talked to House Ag Committee ranking member Collin Peterson as well as Senate Ag Committee members Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.

“The members of Congress and the House were both optimistic that a House bill could be done before Memorial Day.  It’s kind of the rough timeline.  It depended on who’s office we were in.”

Beyerl says Farm Bill discussions focused on improving the ARC-County and PLC programs and further tweaks to the Dairy Margin Protection Program.

“Some of our (members of) Congress would like it to be a little bit better.  But along with any other programs in the Farm Bill, it’s hard to reallocate new money.”

The Swift County farmer says the renegotiation of NAFTA also came up often during the trip, as did President Trump’s infrastructure plan.