WASHINGTON, D.C. — Early this morning, the House Agriculture Committee completed its full committee markup of the 2024 Farm Bill, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024. Congresswoman Cammack voted to pass the bill, joining her colleagues for a final bipartisan vote of 33 to 21.
Congresswoman Cammack spoke during the opening remarks for Members during the markup, lauding the bill’s provisions that will support Florida’s farmers, ranchers, and producers. View her full comments here.
Included in the bill are several wins for Florida’s specialty crop producers, including the establishment of a specialty crop committee, funding for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, more funding for specialty crop mechanization and automation research. Additionally, the bill ensures AGI (adjusted gross income) waivers for disasters and eliminates the AGI limitation for farmers who make more than 75 percent of their income from agriculture.
The Farm, Food, and National Security Act also includes the standing block grant authority for specialty crops, which stems from one of Congresswoman Cammack’s leading legislative initiatives before the House Agriculture Committee.
While citrus producers continue to struggle with citrus greening, Rep. Cammack helped reauthorize the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension Program.
For agricultural labor, Rep. Cammack secured a groundbreaking program for precision agriculture and improves precision agriculture practices and their accessibility for producers.
The Livestock Indemnity Program is updated within this bill to increase the payment rate to 100 percent of the fair market value of the animal. Rep. Cammack’s effort to secure this provision will help Florida’s ranchers continue their way of life in the 21st century.
Florida’s rich timber industry will be able to maintain its health with the Forest Service’s authority to expand existing programs to address wildfire.
Finally, Florida’s commodities received a critical voluntary base acre update and a commodity price raise.
Rep. Cammack praised the work of the Committee, saying:
“The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 is the culmination of a lot of hard work and listening to producers from around the country. The crafting of this bill has been no easy endeavor, and we still have a long way to go in getting this across the finish line. However, to secure so many critical wins in this base text for Florida farmers, ranchers, and producers is a big relief. Knowing the tremendous pressures our agriculture community has been under in the Sunshine State, it was said all along that Florida had both the most to lose and the most to gain in this bill and I am so glad that we came out on the favorable side of that equation.
“Florida will remain a strong and competitive production agriculture state because of this work and I am so thankful for the many people and organizations that helped along the way. I am especially proud of my team and my local producers who took so much time over the years to help craft this thoughtful and impactful policy. We are looking forward to the next steps of bringing this bill to the House Floor for a full vote and ultimately, to the President’s desk.”
