State of South Dakota
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EIGHTY-EIGHTH SESSION
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, 2013
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291U0182
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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 1
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Introduced by: Senators Lucas, Ewing, Frerichs, Krebs, Otten (Ernie), Rampelberg, Rhoden,
Vehle, and Welke and Representatives Hoffman, Bartling, Cammack, Craig,
Duvall, Feickert, Gibson, Hawks, Kopp, May, Olson (Betty), Otten (Herman),
Qualm, Schaefer, Schoenfish, Schrempp, and Verchio
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A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging action by Congress on agricultural issues and the
federal farm bill.
WHEREAS, current federal authorities for nutrition, farm risk management, conservation,
energy, and other programs are set to expire on September 30, 2013, after Congress enacted a
one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill, leaving the future of a multiyear bill uncertain; and
WHEREAS, the farm bill is important for every American because it provides critical
investment in rural communities, conserves precious natural resources such as soil and water,
provides food for schools and those less fortunate, and creates new sources of energy made here
at home; and
WHEREAS, the farm bill provides farmers with risk management tools necessary for
efficient, uninterrupted operations and gives farmers critical certainty about farm policy as they
make operating decisions and deal with volatile weather conditions; and
WHEREAS, the expiration of the current farm bill will leave producers and lenders with
uncertainty as to the level at which federal protections will be in place, which could result in the
inability to secure funding for the upcoming planting season; and
WHEREAS, federal support for crop insurance remains an important need for agricultural
producers, particularly as large parts of the nation are under severe drought conditions, making
passage of the farm bill essential to providing meaningful and responsible aid to farmers in
difficult times, resulting from poor or low yields, low prices, or high input costs; and
WHEREAS, agricultural producers rely on livestock disaster assistance programs that are
contingent on approval of the farm bill, including the Livestock Indemnity Program, which
partially compensates ranchers for livestock mortality caused by disasters, the Livestock Forage
Program to assist ranchers who graze livestock on qualifying drought- or fire-affected
pastureland, and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program, which compensates producers
for disaster losses not covered under other disaster programs; and
WHEREAS, the farm bill includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and other nutrition assistance programs for
which bipartisan solutions are needed; and
WHEREAS, the farm bill supports conservation programing at lower spending levels
through consolidation and improved efficiency while strengthening and expanding agricultural
conservation programs, which are a strategic investment in our country's agricultural
infrastructure, including improving air and water quality and the protection of rural and urban
watersheds; and
WHEREAS, United States agricultural production is a unique and diversified industry
providing a wide variety of food and fiber products to local and national consumers and export
markets and continues to be the driving force of commerce, employment, and income in rural
America, accounting for sales in excess of $3.5 trillion dollars in 2011 and more than twenty
percent of all United States jobs; and
WHEREAS, approximately ninety-one percent of our nation's farms are classified as small,
and support of smaller-scale farmers in a local food system provides economic benefits to each
region; and
WHEREAS, Agriculture is the keystone of rural America, supporting a critical combination
of infrastructure and economic activity upon which nearly all other enterprises depend:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the Eighty-Eighth Legislature
of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the South
Dakota Legislature urges the United States Congress to work in a cooperative, bipartisan fashion
to pass a new, multiyear farm bill that is beneficial to agricultural producers from all regions of
the country and includes comprehensive programs for dairy, livestock, insurance, nutrition,
energy, research and development, market development, and specialty crops; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the South Dakota Legislature urges the United States
Congress to address the farm bill in a timely manner to ensure continuation of the vital aspects
of federal farm policy that will enable the nation's agricultural producers to continue their
operations and provide food security for this nation.