President Donald Trump signed the 2018 farm bill on Thursday. When he did, standing not far behind him was Glenn Brunkow, director of the Kansas Farm Bureau’s first district which includes multiple counties including Pottawatomie County.
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly referred to as the farm bill, passed with support from both sides of the aisle in congress — the U.S. House of Representatives passed it 386 to 47 and the U.S. Senate passed it 87 to 13. It allocates $867 billion in funding for subsidies for farmers, $600 million of that for grants and loans to small communities and rural towns to improve their internet infrastructure, keeps crop insurance for producers as well as legalizes industrial hemp and more.
Brunkow spoke with KMAN about the experience of being present at the signing of the bill, saying it was “unbelievable.”
“To be 5, 6 feet away from the president as he signed the farm bill, [that’s] something this farm boy from Pottawatomie County never thought he’d see,” Brunkow said. “It was an overwhelming, surreal experience.”
Brunkow said there’s a lot to be happy about in the bill, including funding for natural resource conservation programs as well as academic research, but the biggest part of the bill was crop insurance.
“That was the major thing, the linchpin. That gives us the assurance to know that we’re going to get paid, we’re going to get the minimum,” said Brunkow. “Makes the bankers rest easy at night, makes us rest easier. This last year [with]poor crops and poor prices, crop insurance is what got us through.”
He talked about the importance of the bill at the local level for producers he represents in Pottawatomie County and beyond as well as those in Riley County.
“Agriculture in Pottawatomie and Riley Counties is the backbone, it’s what powers Main Street,” Brunkow said. “And anything that helps us as ag[ricultural]producers know that we can make it, helps us to survive, helps main street survive.”
Brunkow also commented on the expanded funding for rural broadband in the bill. He said that they have pretty good internet in Pottawatomie County, but many places in the state do not.
“As there’s more and more technology driving agriculture, internet [and]bandwidth is so critical,” said Brunkow. “We need to make sure that we can compete in rural america with our friends in the cities and towns.
