How the Omnibus Spending Bill Impacts Agriculture

When Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill back in December, there were provisions giving additional advantages in form of deductions to producers who sold grain to cooperatives that did not exist for farmers selling to independent buyers.  When this was discovered, numerous Congressmen said this was an inadvertent error that would be remedied.  The spending bill corrected this “grain glitch”  in Division T, Section 101, which essentially does away with the deduction advantaged given to coops under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Congress passed the Fair Agricultural Reporting Method (“FARM”) Act.  This provision states that the reporting requirements of CERCLA do not apply to the application, handling, or storage of a FIFRA registered pesticide by an agricultural producer or to air emissions from animal waste at a farm. The spending bill includes language in Division L, Section 132 prohibiting funding being used by DOT for enforcing the FMCSA regulations related to electronic logging devices for livestock and insect haulers through September 30, 2018.  The House included an instruction in their Report to the FDA to develop a standard of identity for dairy products and to issue guidance to the industry on how to implement this standard.  The bill includes language that exempts farmers and ranchers from the System for Award Management “SAM” and Data Universal Numbering System “DUNS” reporting requirements when enrolling in conservation programs with USDA.