Indiana soybean farmers outline farm bill, biofuel, and trade priorities in D.C.

Farmer leaders representing Indiana Soybean Alliance Membership & Policy Committee (ISA M&P) joined staff in Washington, D.C. July 16-18 for various meetings and visits to Indiana delegation.

Indiana soybean farmer leaders included Phil Ramsey (Shelby County) and Mike Koehne (Decatur County). During their time in D.C., they attended American Soybean Association’s Board of Directors meetings and dedicated a full day to meeting with 10 offices of Indiana federal legislators.

The soybean farmers stressed the importance of enacting a new and improved Farm Bill in 2024. Soybean farmer leaders advocated for improvements to the safety net and funding for trade promotion of U.S. commodities globally.

Soybean farmers also expressed support for domestically sourced feedstocks in domestic biofuels programs, like the Clean Fuel Production Credit (45Z). It is important for biofuel programs to deliver reasonable compliance measures and reward environmental improvement throughout the value chain.

ISA farmer directors also made the congressional delegation aware of concerns over revoking Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status from China or imposing additional tariffs. China is the largest destination for U.S. soybean exports, and efforts to end PNTR would have negative effects on agricultural export markets.

The ISA M&P Committee directors are committed to continuing the conversations of our farm bill, biofuel and trade priorities with our federal legislators. There will be opportunities for you to engage in policy discussions with our federal and state legislators through our Shop Talks in August. Please follow this link for all scheduled Shop Talks and directions to register for the events.