Sen. Pete Ricketts holds roundtable for future progress of AG
A United States senator met with a group of farmers and agricultural business leaders Friday to talk about what could be coming down the pipeline for the ag industry in the next few years.
WEST POINT, Neb.— A United States senator met with a group of farmers and agricultural business leaders Friday to talk about what could be coming down the pipeline for the AG industry in the next few years.
Pete Ricketts joined John Boozman for a roundtable discussion in West Point focused on the needs and concerns of farmers across Nebraska.
“If you're going to come and talk about agriculture, there's really not a better place in the country to come and talk about it than right here in Cuming County,” Ricketts said. “So we wanted to come here, bring the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee here, so he could see what a great industry we have and be able to hear directly from farmers and ranchers about their concerns.”
One of the major points for Ricketts during the discussion was his push to allow E15 gasoline blend to be sold year-round. He said expanding access to the ethanol blend would be one of the simplest ways to support corn farmers in the state.
“What is the biggest thing we can do for, like our corn farmers right now? Well, we can either expand trade, get new markets out there, or we get E15 all year round and create more demand. Those are the two biggest short term things that we can be doing,” Ricketts said.
Ricketts and Boozman also said they are confident that if legislation allowing year-round E15 sales passes the House, it would likely have the support needed to move through the Senate as well.
Boozman also talked about his goal of finishing the next United States Farm Bill, which he said is about 85 percent complete. The bill sets national agriculture policy and funds a wide range of programs, including farm support programs, food assistance and rural development initiatives.
“The 2018 Farm Bill was based on 2012 data. The world is totally different now than it was then. So because of that, again, that's's something else that we’’re going square away,” Boozman said.
Other topics during the conversation included expanding the Working Families and Young Farmers Act from five years to ten. Supporters say that change would allow young farmers more time to receive assistance as they get established in the industry.