North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is supporting the final conference report for the Farm Bill.

Both chambers of Congress passed the bill by wide margins last week. The 2014 Farm Bill expired Sept. 30.

“I am pleased to report that this final bill includes many important wins for our North Country farmers,” said Stefanik.

“Critically for our Dairy Farmers that have been facing a crisis in recent years, this legislation builds upon the wins in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 and creates a new insurance program to replace the failed Margin Protection Program.”

She said the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) Programc reates new coverage levels for the first five million pounds of production; reduces premiums on catastrophic coverage; eliminates prohibitions of participating in both DMC and the Livestock Gross Margin Program; and provides a 25 percent premium discount for producers who lock in coverage levels for the life of the Farm Bill

In recognition of the failed MPP, producers who participated in MPP from 2014-2017 can receive 75 percent of their premiums in the form of future DMC premium credits or 50 percent in the form of a reimbursement, she said.

“As part of the new DMC, language I advocated for will require a comprehensive study on feed costs,” she said.

“Rural broadband expansion is essential for the North Country. I was pleased to see this Farm Bill prioritizes grants and loans for projects that will provide minimum download speeds of 10mbps, an improvement for many areas in the North Country.”

She said as a member of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, she is”pleased this bill delivers $82 million per year to fight the devastating heroin and opioid epidemic through increases in telemedicine.” That is in addition to the over $10 billion in funding that I have already supported and passed. Additional prioritization is given for rural development projects that provide substance abuse treatment.”