Faso Votes for Passage of Farm Bill Conference Report
Major Agriculture and Nutrition Legislation Will Directly Benefit Upstate Farmers and Families
Washington, D.C. – Congressman John Faso (R-Kinderhook) voted in favor of the Conference Report for H.R. 2 – Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, which passed the House by a vote of 369-47. The conference report previously passed the Senate and is on its way to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
H.R. 2 has gained support from the New York Farm Bureau, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Milk Producers Federation, the Organic Trade Association, and the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, among others.
Since elected, Congressman Faso has fought for the thousands of hardworking farmers in NY-19 on the House Agriculture Committee. This conference report is the culmination of those efforts. It is the direct result of working alongside Upstate agriculture officials to develop commonsense policies that support the Upstate agricultural economy, which has been impacted by the multi-year collapse in farm income.
“Since joining the Agriculture Committee in January 2017, it has been a priority to construct a Farm Bill that helps reverse the troubling economic headwinds farmers have faced the past five years,” said Faso. “This bill is the result of thousands of hours of farm visits, discussions with producers, and negotiations amongst members of the Committee and the Senate. I am proud of the bill we’ve produced and the bipartisan manner in which we came to this agreement. The bill includes changes to help Upstate dairy farmers, improves the nutrition title to put people on a path toward self-sufficiency, and strengthens incentives and protections for important Upstate agriculture industries such as specialty crops and organics.”
As the only New York Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, Congressman Faso had a leading role in developing and authoring this all-encompassing legislative package. This bill will guide the nation’s agriculture and nutrition policies for the next five years and will support family farmers, reward environmental conservation practices, provide essential nutrition services to families, and improve the quality of life in rural areas.
Representative Faso developed a list of priorities through consultation with his Agriculture Advisory Committee that were eventually included in the final Farm Bill. A full breakdown of those priorities is available on a fact sheet here: https://faso.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2018_farm_bill_detailed_summary.pdf.
