Our farmers and agricultural industry are the backbone of our nation. Food security is national security and it’s critical that Congress passes a reauthorized Farm Bill package. As the only member from Wisconsin on the House Committee on Agriculture, I’m committed to ensuring our farmers are equipped to carry out their jobs.

Tuesday’s government funding bill included an extension for the 2018 Farm Bill through September 30, 2024.

This extension provides certainty for our agriculture industry while the House Agriculture Committee continues to write a full reauthorization package that secures the resources American farmers need to support their families and serve as the world’s food supplier. I also cosponsored the Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation and Opportunity Act to improve an existing program to provide crucial support for biofuel producers as the demand for biobased product increases.

The House Agriculture Committee has made significant progress in putting together a highly effective Farm Bill that will best serve our farmers – but Congress’ work doesn’t stop here. I am in constant communication with my colleagues to create and support provisions for the fully reauthorized version of the Farm Bill.

My 2024 Farm Bill priorities:

• Inclusion of the DAIRY PRIDE Act, which will prevent non-dairy products from using a dairy label and misaligning nutrient-scant products with the nutritious dairy products produced by America’s farmers.
• Inclusion of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which will allow schools to participate in the National School Lunch Program to serve flavored and unflavored reduced fat (2%) and whole milk.
• Inclusion of the Healthy Drinking Water Affordability Act, which would provide direct assistance to rural communities, households, and nonprofits to test their drinking water and fund filtration technology to provide safer drinking water.
• Inclusion of the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act, which would make necessary updates to the Dairy Margin Cost program to raise the Tier I cap to 6 million pounds and require production history to be updated every five years.
• Inclusion of the Dairy Business Innovation Act, which will allocate an additional $16 million per year to U.S. Department of Agriculture Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives to support dairy businesses in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products.

Farm Bill extensions are a common practice that allow transition time for implementing new programs. During this extension, I will continue my work in Congress to protect our agriculture industry and the farmers who keep the world fed and fueled.