Senator John Thune (R-SD) believes a farm bill is “getting closer to the finish line” but he still has concerns about aspects of it.

“Particularly the lack of reform in the commodity title of the bill, I think that’s a real missed opportunity,” said Thune during a press call with reporters this week.

The South Dakota senator is also concerned about the conservation title in the farm bill “that they get the ‘sodsaver’ provisions made nationwide, that they don’t carve out regional exemptions from that.”

Thune believes there are some good provisions in the conservation title that provide for both wildlife production and land conservation and he supports linking conservation compliance to crop insurance. “Our farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of the land but we do need to have common sense policies that ensure sound conservation practices are going to continue to be implemented,” he said, adding that he hopes to see a farm bill on the floor of the senate next week.

Thanks to Agri-Pulse for providing us with this audio.
[wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/government/thune-fb.mp3″ text=”Sen. Thune comments”]