Lawmakers from the Plains and Midwest filed companion bills in the House and Senate to discourage farmers from converting native sod into cropland nationwide by closing a crop insurance loophole. The legislation would require a reduction of crop-insurance subsidies for four years before producers could qualify for them.
Critics say growers can evade the reduction at present by growing other crops on converted land for four years before seeking coverage on insurable crops. The new legislation would require four cumulative years of reductions in insurance subsidies before full federal support is available. The government pays 62 cents of each $1 of premium on crop insurance, on average.
The 2014 farm law applied the sodbuster prohibition to six states — Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. By expanding it nationwide, the new legislation would protect the southern Plains, where losses of native grasslands are highest in the nation, said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Senate sponsors are Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mike Daines of Montana. House sponsors are Reps. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kristi Noem of South Dakota.