2024 Farm Bill provision could help farmers bounce back quicker after livestock death

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Late last week the U.S. House Agriculture Committee completed and passed its first markup of the Farm Bill, and KEVN News met with a local farmer and Senator Mike Rounds who discussed a specific provision passed that could help the sustainability of farmers.

Last Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024, better known as the Farm Bill, in a 33-21 vote. One of the provisions in the bill is the Indemnity Program Improvement Act introduced in the Senate version by Senator Mike Rounds.

The goal of this provision is to allow for quarterly updates to payment rates when livestock dies as opposed to the current annual system. Crystal Neuharth owner of Prairie Paradise Farms in Fort Pierre says this change would be beneficial to all farmers in South Dakota due to the often extreme weather.

“We have the droughts, we have the blizzards, we have tornados, we have straight winds, we have a lot of stuff. So anything that we can have for support for livestock owners with loss of livestock, as well as crop producers with the loss of any kind of crops, would just help the farmers be able to recover a little bit faster,” Neuharth said.

Rounds echoed Neuharth’s sentiment stressing its importance to not only farmers but all South Dakotans.

“A major part of our economy in South Dakota is based on ag products, ag production, livestock production is a huge part of that. So just to have the security of knowing that if there is a major loss that the major loss would be based upon current market conditions and not from data that’s perhaps a year old,” Rounds said.

As of now, when or whether the Farm Bill is brought to the House floor for a vote is up in the air but Rounds says he is confident it will be passed soon.

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