By Rushmore State News Report |
May 14, 2023
U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today introduced the American Prairie Conservation Act. This bipartisan legislation would disincentivize the conversion of native sod to cropland by closing a crop insurance yield substitution loophole in all 50 states. Sodsaver, which has been implemented in South Dakota, Minnesota, and other prairie pothole states, is a cost-saving initiative that reduces incentives without preventing farmers from converting native sod to cropland. Farmers who choose to break up native sod and convert it to cropland face a reduction in crop insurance premium subsidy assistance and a reduction in guaranteed yields of insured crops.