Bipartisan legislation recently re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would provide additional federal resources for the repair and maintenance of the infrastructure that keeps the food supply chain moving.
The Farm to Market Road Improvement Act would create a 10 percent set aside in the Rural Surface Grant Transportation Program for farm to market roads. A farm to market road would be defined as a road within a county that has an annual gross ag production value of at least $1 billion and agricultural production of at least $500,000 per square mile.
The bill also would require the U.S. Department of Transportation and the United States Department of Agriculture USDA to create, and annually update, a list of covered counties.
U.S. Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Jim Costa (D-CA), Vince Fong (R-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA) re-introduced the bill. Valadao first introduced the Farm to Market Road Improvement Act in the 118th Congress.
“The Central Valley is the backbone of our nation’s food supply, but after years of wear and tear from heavy trucks, many of our rural roads are in desperate need of repair,” Valadao said. “This bipartisan bill gives our communities access to the federal resources needed to repair and strengthen critical infrastructure, and I’m proud to lead this effort to support our farmers, grow our economy, and keep America’s food supply chain moving.”