Agriculture and Rural Development

Legislative leaders from 18 states and Canada learned about challenges in the agriculture industry during a bipartisan meeting in early August.

The biannual meeting of NCSL’s Agriculture Task Force in St. Paul, Minn., gathered legislators and legislative staff for a full day of tours followed by bipartisan policy sessions covering the agriculture economy, sustainable aviation fuel, and new and beginning farmers.

As Congress works on a new farm bill, the section of the law addressing agricultural commodities is a top priority. The third largest of the bill’s 12 sections, or titles, the commodities title helps provide financial security and assistance to producers.

The farm bill’s crop insurance program helps farmers and ranchers mitigate potential financial risks of adverse market and growing conditions.

Key to the debate over the farm bill are tailored, research-based conservation assistance programs that emphasize locally adaptable practices and allow farmers and ranchers to target responses to land management issues.

With a megadrought threatening the supply of Colorado River water to the West, the Arizona Legislature agreed to invest $1 billion to find new water sources and will ask the federal government to investigate diverting floodwaters from the Mississippi River.

With the current farm bill set to expire on Sept. 30 and Congress holding hearings to determine stakeholder priorities, NCSL offers background on this vital legislation and a summary of the state priorities the organization is working to safeguard as the 2023 version is drafted.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we went from dinner out to dinner in. Americans took to cooking at home and the use of food-delivery apps more than doubled as takeout often took the place of eating at restaurants.