POLICY WATCH
Election Night Wins for NEFB – PAC Endorsed Candidates
Candidates receiving the endorsement of the Nebraska Farm Bureau (NEFB) – PAC did extremely well on election night. Fourteen of eighteen endorsed candidates secured seats in the Nebraska Legislature, while all four of Nebraska’s endorsed Congressional candidates were winners. Congratulations to all these candidates! A special thank you to all the Farm Bureau members who supported Nebraska Farm Bureau endorsed candidates (win or lose) in their campaign efforts!
NEFB-PAC endorsed winners include:
U.S. Senate
Ben Sasse
U.S. House of Representatives
Jeff Fortenberry – Dist. 1
Don Bacon – Dist. 2
Adrian Smith – Dist. 3
Nebraska Legislature
Julie Slama – Legislative Dist. 1
Mike McDonnell – Legislative Dist. 5
Joni Albrecht – Legislative Dist. 17
Mike Flood – Legislative Dist. 19
Mike Hilgers – Legislative Dist. 21
Bruce Bostelman – Legislative Dist. 23
Suzanne Geist – Legislative Dist. 25
Rich Pahls – Legislative Dist. 31
John Lowe – Legislative Dist. 37
Lou Ann Linehan – Legislative Dist. 39
Tom Briese – Legislative Dist. 41
Tom Brewer – Legislative Dist. 43
Rita Sanders – Legislative Dist. 45
Steve Erdman – Legislative Dist. 47
Farm Bureau Weighs In: Healthy Soils Task Force
Nebraska Farm Bureau has offered suggestions to a draft report of the Nebraska Healthy Soils Task Force. The task force was established by the Legislature’s passage of LB 243 in 2019. The group was tasked with developing a “healthy” soils initiative, action plan, and timeline for implementing an initiative. Among the issues raised by Nebraska Farm Bureau and other agriculture groups is the need to better recognize the numerous conservation practices farmers and ranchers have initiated in recent history to more accurately reflect modern conservation trends. The groups also urged the task force to re-evaluate parts of the proposal that would seem to expand beyond the mission of the group. Read the shared comments of the Nebraska Farm Bureau and other agriculture organization partners here.
FCC Ruling Jeopardizes Use of GPS Ag Tech
Farm Bureau and dozens of other organizations representing a broad range of industries are calling on lawmakers to help protect the satellite communications and GPS services that tens of millions of Americans rely on. This spring, the Federal Communications Commission granted a petition filed by Ligado to provide 5G services. Ligado’s planned use of its spectrum is so near bands used by GPS, it could diminish the reception capability of GPS devices. This could present a major problem for farmers and ranchers in their utilization of precision agriculture technology and GPS.
