A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is pushing for solutions to the West’s long-term drought and its impacts on farmers and ranchers.
The Senate is set to reauthorize the federal Farm Bill and the group, including Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, are urging leaders to include provisions supporting water conservation, watershed improvements, infrastructure, erosion protection and other measures.
They say agriculture is a key industry in the West and extreme drought in recent decades has affected producers and the broader economy and food system.
In a recent letter, the group said a changing climate has altered the natural pattern of droughts, making them more frequent, longer and more severe and that Congress must act to invest in water resilience initiatives.