Hoeven: Senate Passes FY2026 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, Part of Legislation to Re-Open Government

Hoeven: Senate Passes FY2026 Agriculture Appropriations Bill, Part of Legislation to Re-Open Government

As Chairman, Senator Worked to Negotiate & Secure Ag Appropriations Bill's Passage Supporting Ag Research, Producer Access to Credit

WASHINGTON - Senator John Hoeven issued the following statement after the Senate passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 agriculture funding bill. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to negotiate and secure the legislation's passage as part of a package to re-open the federal government. This follows Hoeven's efforts to author the bill and ensure it provides strong support for farmers and ranchers, agriculture research and rural America.

"We advanced this year's agriculture funding legislation through regular order, showing that we can support our priorities and find savings to reduce the debt and deficit, while securing bipartisan support both in committee and on the Senate floor. That's the right way to approach our appropriations work, and this agreement to re-open government helps us get that process moving again," said Hoeven. "Importantly, we worked to ensure our ag funding legislation supports the innovative research being conducted by NDSU, Grand Farm and their partners. At the same time, this bill supports better access to credit and the services our producers rely on at FSA. This is important not only as harvest wraps up, but as we work to advance an ag assistance bill to provide a bridge to help producers until the new reference prices come into effect."

Agriculture Research

• Nearly $2.5 million for the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University (NDSU), bringing the total funding Hoeven has secured for this initiative to nearly $6.5 million since FY2024.
• $5 million for the AgTech Cooperative Agreement between Grand Farm, NDSU and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). This includes $2 million to establish an ARS work site at Grand Farm.
• $3 million for continued renovations at the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo.
• Maintains and strengthens a wide range of agriculture research conducted in North Dakota, funded through ARS and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), supporting better yields and disease resistance for crops like wheat, soybeans, barley, oats, potatoes, pulse crops and canola, among others.

Support for Farmers and Ranchers

• Helps ensure producer access to credit, providing sufficient funding to meet demand for the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) direct and guaranteed operating and ownership loans.
• Continues the prohibition on FSA county office closures.
• Gives ranchers the necessary resources to comply with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) electronic identification (EID) tag requirement.
  • This follows Hoeven's efforts last year to secure an additional 3 million EID tags to prevent an unfunded mandate from being imposed on U.S. ranchers.
• Provides $500,000 for blackbird depredation in the Northern Great Plains.
• Empowers APHIS to protect the nation's livestock against diseases, including avian influenza and chronic wasting disease (CWD), while supporting continued CWD research at ARS.
• Supports a more competitive and transparent cattle market by:
  • Providing $1 million to continue Hoeven's cattle contract library pilot program.
  • Maintaining funding for the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.

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