National Bison Association 2023 Farm Bill Priorities

National Bison Association program manager Lydia Whitman says that they, along with the Intertribal Buffalo Council shared their farm bill priorities with members of Congress.

“Bison; There’s 700,000, maybe in the entire world that's such a small percentage of animals when you stack it up against beef, for example. So our ask is, that when we're writing when folks are writing the farm bill they use the term bovine or bison specifically for that language development. So there's not an accidental exclusion of the bison industry as the farm bill is drafted.”

In addition, Whitman says they are seeking funding for long-term increased meat processing capacity.

“Some aspects that helped bison and also help a whole lot of other people looking at support and development continuing for the local meat processing. Everybody needs to unlock or date and a hanging date. And it's in short supply across the nation. So encouraging the development of resources. There's money that's out there, that's like a one-time offer, and lacking that in for a long-term commitment would be amazing.”

Whitman says they also talked to members of Congress to make sure that bison producers are included in future disaster relief programs, they support young rancher and farmer programs, and the National Bison Association would like to make sure that bison is included in any land restoration funding discussions.