House passes Farm Bill

A five-year farm bill was passed on Wednesday impacting farmers across America, but how is it going to impact our agriculture industry here locally in Yuma County?

The House passed the legislation with a 369-to-47 vote that. The 800-page bill features a variety of topics, but the bill mainly focused on improving food security.

The idea is to help farmers stay in business during tough times, like when bad weather hits.

In Yuma, this would help cotton and wheat farmers because when prices of these crops fall below the norm. The supplemental insurance program helps fill in those price gaps.

Another part of this bill is the legalization of hemp.

Our region is ideal for growing it so this could bring a lot of employment to Yuma County. News 11 spoke to State Representative Tim Dunn who is also a local agriculture leader to hear his thoughts on the newly passed farm bill.

“The farm community, we are very happy that it got passed. Base information and legislation that keeps the farming services working and the wheels on the bus, so we are very happy that it happened. The big thing for Arizona is that it puts cotton back in Title 1 so that it is qualifying for the insurance programs,” said Dunn.

The bill also addresses the opioid epidemic in rural areas and adds stricter work requirements for food stamp participants. The Senate signed off on the farm bill on Tuesday in an 87-to-13 vote.

Time will tell if we see this bill make an impact in our community, but when talking to John Bolts, a Yuma farmer with the Arizona Farm Bureau he says, this is “great news for our ag community.”