Thune: Democrats Put Politics Ahead of Producers and Rural America at Senate Farm Bill Markup

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today issued the following statement after Democrats blocked the Senate farm bill from being reported out of the Agriculture Committee. Multiple Thune priorities for South Dakota, including the year-round sale of E15 fuel, are included in the legislation. “Democrats’ refusal to support the farm bill and year-round E15 is deeply disappointing and only creates more uncertainty for South Dakota’s farmers and ranchers,” said Thune . “This bill includes over 100 bipartisan bills, yet Democrats chose to put partisan politics above producers and rural America. I know Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee stand ready to enact these sensible agriculture policies.” Thune-authored proposals included in the Senate farm bill: Thune’s Livestock Disaster Assistance Improvement Act ( introduced on March 6, 2025), which would expand the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program’s (ELAP) authority to cover transportation costs for hauling feed and water and add adverse weather and drought as qualifying disasters; Thune’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Improvement and Flexibility Act ( introduced on July 31, 2025), which would bolster CRP by improving access to grazing, maximizing enrollment options for producers, and expediting emergency haying in response to drought and other weather-related disaster events; Thune’s Safeguarding American Food and Export Trade Yields (SAFETY) Act ( introduced on April 1, 2025), which would protect American food products from unfair trade practices by foreign countries; Thune’s Rural Internet Improvement Act, which would streamline USDA’s broadband authorities by merging and codifying the popular Rural e-Connectivity Pilot Program (ReConnect) with USDA’s traditional broadband loan and grant program; Thune’s Strengthening Local Processing Act ( introduced on April 29, 2025), which would provide support to America’s small meat and poultry processors to help strengthen and upgrade their operations; Thune’s Promoting Precision Agriculture Act ( introduced on February 11, 2025), which would facilitate the further adoption of precision agriculture technologies for farmers and ranchers; Thune’s Fertilizer Price Transparency Act ( introduced on March 19, 2026), which would provide American producers with more accurate information on prices for fertilizer and fertilizer products in response to longstanding concerns over rising input costs; Thune’s proposed one-time increase to the voluntary base acre update cap passed in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act to ensure all eligible acres can be enrolled in commodity programs; and Thune’s American Beef Labeling Act ( introduced on February 5, 2025), which would reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef. Thune has served on the Agriculture Committee in both the House and Senate. Thune has written four farm bills during his time in Congress, and the 2026 farm bill is his fifth. Agriculture is South Dakota’s top industry, with more than 42 million acres of agricultural land throughout the state.