WASHINGTON – At a June 28 meeting with Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson and North Dakota State University (NDSU) leadership the discussion included to establish a new agriculture policy research center at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo.

Toward this effort $2 million was secured in the Senate’s fiscal year 2024 funding legislation.

The center would:

— Help address farm and agribusiness challenges through in-depth policy and economic analysis.

— Bring North Dakota expertise to policymakers in Washington, D.C.

— Complement the work conducted at similar centers, including:

— The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri.

— The Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University.

— The National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“No one does agriculture better than North Dakota’s farmers and ranchers, and agriculture research plays a key role in our state’s competitive edge,” said Hoeven. “The ag policy research center that we’re working to bring to NDSU builds upon this strong foundation and would help ensure the policies being advanced in Washington, D.C. meet the needs of our farmers and ranchers in the Upper Midwest, complementing the work being done at institutions in Missouri, Texas and Nebraska.”

“A policy center made up of our 12 land-grant universities across the Midwest will be able to focus on the issues most important to midwestern agriculture, like crop insurance, livestock production and biofuels, just to name a few,” said Peterson. “This kind of coalition will foster the collaboration that we need to better inform Members of Congress, USDA and the Administration and to ensure strong farm policy for our region.”