Committee assigns members to sections of S.323, a multi-part agriculture bill

The Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee reviewed S.323 and divided responsibility for sections among members to prepare future reports and discussion.

The chair outlined that sections 1'3 concern municipal regulation of agriculture and that section assignments include removing an accessory on-farm business provision, technical changes to pest-control and pesticide-exam requirements, seeds (sections 9'14), and mortgage/conservation-district technicals. Members volunteered to present milk-plant and farm-to-school contract sections and to follow up on hemp and seed provisions.

The committee did not take final votes on S.323 during the session and said some sections likely will return for further review; members agreed that technical sections will be covered by those with relevant experience and that the bill may be amended before being sent to the Senate.