Kansas Senator Pat Roberts met with President Donald Trump this week to express his concerns with how the President’s trade policies are affecting agriculture. Tariffs that have been implemented led to retaliatory measures by countries like China that have impacted agriculture more than any other sector of the U.S. economy. Roberts says that uncertainty has made passage of the new farm bill a big priority.

Pat Roberts Audio

The House voted to go to conference with the Senate to resolve the differences between the House and Senate bill. The House adopted Minnesota Democrat Congressman Collin Peterson’s motion to instruct the House conferees to support mandatory funding for USDA’s animal health laboratory network, animal disease preparedness and response program and a national animal vaccine bank. The House bill contains $450 million in mandatory funding over five years while the Senate bill authorizes the programs but does not provide mandatory funding.

Pat Roberts Audio

Roberts says crop insurance is the one item that he continues to hear about from farmers. He says the Senate version includes changes to the program, but he thinks the program will make the crop insurance portion of the bill stronger in the end. He adds that this isn’t the year to make drastic changes to the crop insurance program, as agriculture can’t afford that right now.