WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Austin Scott (GA-08), a Member of the House Agriculture Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit, today released the below statement upon the House of Representatives passing the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2), also known as the “farm bill.”

Through negotiations, Rep. Scott was able to maintain the current commodity policy provisions for peanut producers, maintain the commodity policy for seed cotton, reauthorize the Rural Utility Service Loans and Broadband grants, and prioritize research and development of additional risk management policies for specialty crops like peaches and pecans.

“Today, the House passed a substantial policy framework acutely focused on our rural communities, American producers, and those supported by our nation’s food nutrition programs,” said Rep. Scott. “There has been a lot of discussion in the last few months on the nutrition title reforms, including the SNAP program. Currently, SNAP recipients are caught between a rock and a hard place, and in this legislation, we have crafted commonsense changes to our existing policy which will offer a true leg up and pathway off the program.”

Included in the major legislation which contains annual spending for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and provisions concerning crop insurance, rural development, specialty crops and research, extension and education programs, were two amendments offered by Rep. Scott to bring modernization and accountability to broadband services and spur broadband infrastructure investment in rural America.

“Smart farm technology requires modern, high-speed internet access, and I am very pleased that provisions to bring broadband services and broadband infrastructure investment to rural America have been prioritized by the House and passed in this legislation,” said Rep. Scott.

Written every four to five years, the farm bill is our nation’s primary agriculture policy tool. The current farm bill, the Agricultural Act of 2014, funds farm programs through 2018.

-30-