North Dakota Highlights: 2008 Farm Bill
New Disaster Assistance Program
- The 2008 Farm Bill contains a $3.8 billion standing disaster assistance program that will help North Dakota farmers and ranchers cope with disaster-related crop and livestock losses.
- This fiscally responsible approach pays whole-farm shallow losses and provides coverage for quality losses not addressed by crop insurance.
- Farmers and ranchers will get reliable assistance in a timely manner.
Commodity Support Level Increased
- The 2008 Farm Bill increases loan rates and target prices for ND crops like soybeans, wheat, barley, canola, sugar, sunflowers, flax, oats, and honey.
- Increasing these support levels brings our region's safety net more in line with that of crops grown in other regions.
New Energy Incentives
- The 2008 Farm Bill includes $1.5 billion in new energy incentives to reduce our dependence on foreign energy and move our nation toward "second generation," or cellulosic ethanol.
- It provides $400 million in tax credits for producing ethanol from cellulosic sources, such as the prairie grasses of North Dakota.
Conservation Improvements
- The 2008 Farm Bill has $4 billion in new resources to improve our conservation programs.
- $50 million for Senator Conrad's Open Fields initiative to increase access on private lands for hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.
- New enrollment opportunities in the Conservation Reserve Program Wetlands Pilot for flooded prairie wetlands and in the Wetlands Reserve Program for land flooded by closed basin lakes, like Devils Lake.
Nutrition Improvements
- $10.2 billion to enhance domestic food assistance programs, helping the tens of thousands of North Dakotans currently struggling to put food on the table.
- $7.8 billion to improve the Food Stamp Program, which helps feed over 40,000 of the neediest North Dakotans every month:
- $1 billion for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program to encourage healthy eating in schoolchildren.
- $1.25 billion for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), helping feed the over 52,000 North Dakotans that receive assistance from food banks and food pantries.
Livestock Marketing Reforms
- Includes a new Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) program, helping identify meat produced by North Dakota ranchers as a product of the United States.
- Allows for the Interstate Shipment of state inspected meat for small plants with Federal certification - a new economic opportunity for small North Dakota meat plants.
