WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement after the Senate Agriculture Committee’s markup of the Agricultural Act of 2026 or Farm Bill 2.0, legislation to support and provide long-term certainty for the nation’s agriculture producers. The legislation includes over 100 bipartisan bills, as well as a compromise proposal offered by Chairman John Boozman to authorize the year-round sale of E15. Despite the bipartisan nature of the bill, Senate Democrats voted against committee passage of the bill.
“Farm Bill 2.0 is focused on supporting family farms and ranches and providing the tools and resources they need to succeed. The legislation improves the farm safety net, advances ag research and develops better market access for producers,” said Senator Hoeven. “Given the challenges in farm country, our producers need long-term certainty, and this legislation includes more than 100 bipartisan proposals to address real issues facing U.S. producers, including enhancements to the farm safety net, increased access to credit, year-round sale of E15, and many others. We’ll continue working with our colleagues to find a path forward for the Farm Bill.”
Farm Bill 2.0:
- Builds on and further strengthens the farm safety net improvements passed as part of the Working Families Tax Cut Act.
- Invests in agriculture research.
- Expands support for specialty crops.
- Supports the development of greater market opportunities for agriculture producers.
- Authorizes the year-round sale of E15.
Additionally, the farm bill includes Hoeven-authored provisions including:
- The PACE Act– Legislation with Senator Klobuchar to increase Farm Service Agency direct and guaranteed loan limits.
- The BINS Act – Adds fertilizer storage and handling infrastructure as eligible facilities under the Farm Storage Facility Loan Program, legislation Hoeven authored with Senator Klobuchar.
- The SCALE Act – Provides matching grants to support state-led soil health and wildlife habitat programs, like Governor Armstrong’s Legacy Soil Health and Habitat Program.
- Prairie Dog Management – Provides greater certainty for grazing permittees by preventing prairie dog colonies from expanding beyond reasonable levels. The provision amends prairie dog management plans for the Dakota Prairie Grasslands to limit prairie dog habitat to no more than 1.5 percent of any single grazing allotment and establish a 1-mile buffer along adjacent state and private lands
- MCOOL – Includes an amendment based on Hoeven-sponsored legislation that requires mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef.
- BARD Program – Bipartisan measure with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to authorize funding for collaborative agricultural research between the United States and Israel.
- Joint Chiefs Program – Reauthorizes the program, which has provided more than $3.2 million for partnerships with private landowners to help improve and restore grasslands in North Dakota. Hoeven introduced the measure with Senator Michael Bennet.
- Farm Ownership and Improvement Act – Establishes a pilot program for pre-approval and pre-qualification of FSA Direct Farm Ownership loans, a bipartisan measure introduced with Senator Peter Welch.
- Dry Edible Beans Study – Authorizes USDA to study the potential inclusion of dry edible beans as a Title I commodity.
- Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) – Clarifies non-adult cattle weight categories by establishing in statute, payment categories for calves weighing less than 400 pounds and 400 pounds or more.
- Fargo-Moorhead Crop Insurance Fix – Protects producers impacted by operation of the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Project by excluding affected years from Actual Production History (APH) calculations.
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