By Scout Nelson
The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law on July 4, includes many key provisions for agriculture, covering major tax priorities and important farm bill programs supported by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).
Tax Priorities:
The bill increases the death tax exemption to $15 million per individual or $30 million per couple, adjusted yearly for inflation. This allows more producers to avoid death taxes.
“NCBA supports fully eliminating the death tax, but until then, this increased threshold is a huge victory for protecting more family farms and ranches than ever before.”
The bill also makes the Section 199A small business tax deduction permanent at 20%, allowing farmers and ranchers to save on income taxes.
The Section 179 provision lets producers deduct up to $2.5 million in equipment expenses, with the phaseout threshold increased to $4 million. Both amounts will adjust annually for inflation.
Additionally, 100% bonus depreciation is now permanent, and casualty loss deductions for federally declared disasters are extended permanently.
Farm Bill Provisions:
For livestock producers, the Livestock Forage Disaster Program will now issue two monthly payments and trigger earlier, after four consecutive drought weeks instead of eight.
The Livestock Indemnity Program will cover 100% of market value for predator-related losses and 75% for weather-related losses, including losses of unborn livestock.
Voluntary conservation programs are funded for six years, including:
- $18.5 billion for EQIP
- $8.1 billion for CSP
- $4.1 billion for ACEP
- $2.7 billion for RCPP
Animal disease prevention funding increases to $233 million yearly, supporting the Vaccine Bank, Health Lab Network, and Disease Response Program.
The bill avoids controversial public land sales or expanding eminent domain, keeping the focus on strengthening agriculture.
Photo Credit: national-cattleman-s-beef-association
Categories: Kansas, Government & Policy, Livestock, Beef Cattle