{"id":98526,"date":"2018-12-26T11:13:49","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T16:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=98526"},"modified":"2018-12-26T11:13:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-26T16:13:58","slug":"gillibrand-announces-new-farm-bill-signed-into-law-includes-provisions-to-protect-new-yorks-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=98526","title":{"rendered":"Gillibrand announces new Farm Bill signed into law includes provisions to protect New York\u2019s farmers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gillibrand announces new Farm Bill signed into law includes\nprovisions to protect New York\u2019s farmers and producers and to strengthen rural\neconomies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the just-signed\u00a0Farm Bill includes several of her provisions that protect New York\u2019s farmers and producers and that strengthen rural economies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes her bill to put money back into the pockets of New York dairy farmers and new grant programs to invest in New York\u2019s rural economies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gillibrand worked in the Senate Agriculture Committee to include these provisions in the Farm Bill and fought to ensure that they were passed as a part of the final bill, which was signed into law by the President today.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNew York has one of the longest and most distinguished agriculture traditions in the country. This year\u2019s Farm Bill provided the best opportunity to strengthen rural economies and provide new opportunities for our farmers and producers,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>said\u00a0Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m pleased that the final Farm Bill includes my provisions to provide some relief for our dairy farmers, who have been struggling from historically low milk prices for years, to expand rural broadband, and to invest in our rural communities<\/em>.\u00a0I worked from the very beginning to make sure that this year\u2019s Farm Bill had New York\u2019s best interests at its core, and I applaud my colleagues for passing this bipartisan bill.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are the provisions that Gillibrand says she fought for and successfully included in the just-signed\u00a0Farm Bill:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refunds for Dairy Farmers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gillibrand\u2019s secured a provision in the final Farm Bill to\nrefund nearly $60 million in insurance premiums to farmers who paid millions of\ndollars into an insurance program, the Dairy Margin Protection Program, which\ndid not help them when milk prices dropped. This provision in the Farm Bill was\nmodeled after Senator Gillibrand\u2019s Dairy Premium Refund Act<\/a><\/em>,\nwhich she introduced in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another provision also directs the National Agricultural\nStatistics Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to present\ndairy farm data in order to better describe the health of the dairy industry\nand help ensure that policy makers understand which types of dairy producers\nare most at risk of farm failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rural Broadband<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final Farm Bill includes a provision to make grant funding\navailable for rural broadband projects in high-need areas. This provision,\nbased on Senator Gillibrand\u2019s bipartisan Broadband Connections for\nRural Opportunities Program Act<\/em> (B-CROP Act) would help encourage more\nhigh-speed broadband deployment to high-need areas by awarding grants in\ncombination with the current loan funding available through the USDA\u2019s Rural\nUtilities Service. Federal funds would target the highest-need rural and tribal\nareas, allowing for grants of up to 50 percent of a project\u2019s cost, and up to\n75 percent for remote, high-need areas, to be awarded in combination with the\ncurrent loan funding available through USDA. The Farm Bill also increases the\nannual funding level of the USDA broadband program to $350 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rural Jobs and Investment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final Farm Bill includes a bipartisan provision led by\nSenator Gillibrand to expand access to much-needed resources and investment for\nrural entrepreneurs in Upstate New York to start and expand local businesses.\nThis provision is based on Gillibrand\u2019s Rural Jobs and Investment Act<\/a><\/em> and\nwould create a new grant program to invest in local efforts to launch new\ncompanies and create new jobs in New York\u2019s rural communities. It would also\nexpand the use of the USDA Community Facilities Program to invest in business\nincubators, makerspaces, and job training centers to provide additional\nresources for communities to support their entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Gillibrand\u2019s provision would also expand access to\ncapital for rural entrepreneurs by encouraging investment in rural areas.\nCurrently, the USDA\u2019s Rural Business Investment Program helps address these\ncapital challenges, but this program is limited in the types of industries that\nit can invest in, as well as the amount of capital it can attract. Gillibrand\u2019s\nprovision would improve the program to allow investments across all industries,\nencouraging more capital to be invested in rural entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Border Regional Commission<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final Farm Bill reauthorizes and expands the Northern Border\nRegional Commission (NBRC) to include more counties in New York. The NBRC is a\nfederal-state partnership that invests in economic and community development\nprojects throughout Upstate New York, as well as in rural communities in other\nstates in the Northeast. This provision reauthorizes the NBRC for an additional\nfive years and increases funding to $33 million per year to continue to bring\ncritical federal investment to economic development projects in these regions.\nIt would also add several New York State counties to the list of current\ncounties eligible for NBRC assistance. The newly added counties include\nGenesee, Greene, Livingston, Montgomery, Niagara, Orleans, Rensselaer,\nSaratoga, Schenectady, Sullivan, Washington, Warren, Wayne, and Yates Counties.\nAdditionally, the provision would establish a state capacity-building grant\nprogram to help develop projects that support business retention and expansion,\nincrease access to high-speed internet, invest in critical infrastructure\ndevelopment, and promote job creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 2010 to 2017, the NBRC has invested over $57.6 million\nthroughout New York. The NBRC region in New York State currently includes St.\nLawrence, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis,\nMadison, Cayuga, Oneida, Oswego, and Seneca counties. Gillibrand was an\noriginal cosponsor of the Northern Border Regional Commission\nReauthorization Act<\/em>, which was introduced by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen\n(D-NH) and also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick\nLeahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Angus King (I-ME), and Maggie Hassan\n(D-NH). Senator Gillibrand worked with Senator Leahy on an amendment to include\nthe NBRC in the Farm Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REAP Zones<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final Farm Bill reauthorizes the Rural Economic Area\nPartnership (REAP) Zone designation for Sullivan County and the Town of\nWawarsing in Ulster County. The REAP Zone program provides specialized\ntechnical assistance from USDA to assist in community development efforts,\nincluding rehabilitating rural housing, developing local and regional food\nsystems, supporting rural entrepreneurs, small businesses, and infrastructure\nimprovements to community facilities, water, and wastewater systems, and other\nsimilar projects that are critical to an area\u2019s economic development. Senator\nGillibrand worked with Senator Leahy (D-VT) and the Agriculture Committee to\ninclude this provision in this year\u2019s Farm Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aquaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gillibrand also included a provision to protect Long Island\nshellfish producers by expanding their insurance coverage options. Shellfish\nproducers are at high risk of losing their crops and equipment because of\nweather, diseases, and changes in the marine environment. Gillibrand\u2019s\nprovision would treat the different growth stages of shellfish and other\naquaculture species as separate crops, which would allow the Whole Farm Revenue\nInsurance Program policies to be more comprehensive and fair for shellfish\nproducers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shellfish production is a growing industry in New York. In 2017,\nthe New York shellfish industry was valued at $16.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill directs the National Agricultural Statistics Service of\nUSDA to document barley production in New York State. This would ensure that\nproducers have the information they need to decide on future plantings. The\ninformation would also be valuable for growers because it would provide\nsufficient data for crop insurance companies to expand insurance offerings and\neventually offer a malting barley endorsement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gillibrand announces new Farm Bill signed into law includes provisions to protect New York\u2019s farmers and producers and to strengthen rural economies U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the just-signed\u00a0Farm Bill includes several of her provisions that protect New York\u2019s farmers and producers and that strengthen rural economies. This includes her bill to put money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23679,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agfarming","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-pD8","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Kirsten-Gillibrand.jpg?fit=225%2C225&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}