U.S. House of Representative leaders named members from their respective political parties to serve on the House Agriculture Committee during the 115th Congress. In all, 28 of 46 House members named to the committee come from “major” dairy states.
The 115th Congress is expected to get an early start on writing the 2018 Farm Bill. A critical component of that will be a federal dairy safety net and potential adjustments to the current Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy), which expires at the end of 2018.
The House Agriculture Committee will again be chaired by Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Texas). Conaway named Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) as his vice chairman.
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) will again serve as Ranking Member.
Republicans
As the majority party, Republicans have 26 total seats on the committee. The entire Republican membership includes:
Chairman K. Michael Conaway (Texas)
Vice Chairman Glenn Thompson (Pennsylvania)
Bob Goodlatte (Virginia)
Frank D. Lucas (Oklahoma)
Steven King (Iowa)
Mike Rogers (Alabama)
Bob Gibbs (Ohio)
Austin Scott (Georgia)
Rick Crawford (Arkansas)
Scott DesJarlais (Tennessee)
Vicky Hartzler (Missouri)
Jeff Denham (California)
Doug LaMalfa (California)
Rodney Davis (Illinois)
Ted Yoho (Florida)
Rick Allen (Georgia)
Mike Bost (Illinois)
David Rouzer (North Carolina)
Ralph Abraham (Louisiana)
Trent Kelly (Mississippi)
James Comer (Kentucky)
Roger Marshall (Kansas)
Don Bacon (Nebraska)
John Faso (New York)
Neal Dunn (Florida)
Jodey Arrington (Texas)
Democrats
As the minority party, 20 Democrats will serve on the House Agricultural Committee. They are:
Ranking Member Collin Peterson (Minnesota)
David Scott (Georgia)
Jim Costa (California)
Tim Walz (Minnesota)
Marcia Fudge (Ohio)
Jim McGovern (Massachusetts)
Filemon Vela (Texas)
Michelle Lujan Grisham (New Mexico)
Ann Kuster (New Hampshire)
Rick Nolan (Minnesota)
Cheri Bustos (Illinois)
Sean Patrick Maloney (New York)
Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands)
Alma Adams (North Carolina)
Dwight Evans (Pennsylvania)
Al Lawson (Florida)
Tom O’Halleran (Arizona)
Jimmy Panetta (California)
Darren Soto (Florida)
Lisa Blunt Rochester (Delaware)
Dairy well represented
Dairy farmers should be well represented on the Ag Committee, with 14 Republicans and 14 Democrats representing states listed among the 23 “major” dairy states in USDA reports. Of those, four represent California (two from each party).
However, 10 major dairy states have no members on the House Ag Committee: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus
Those states may still have some say in future dairy legislation by virtue of membership on the Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus, a bipartisan group made up of federal lawmakers dedicated to educating other members of Congress on the importance of the dairy industry to the nation's economy.
Caucus members were still being named, but Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin) announced he had been selected to serve as a co-chair of that group.
Ag Appropriations Subcommittee
Another panel with jurisdiction impacting agriculture and dairy is the agriculture subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-New Jersey), serves as ex-officio member of all subcommittees.
Republican members named to the agricultural subcommittee are:
Chairman Robert Aderholt (Alabama)
Kevin Yoder (Kansas)
Tom Rooney (Florida)
David Valadao (California)
Andy Harris, MD (Maryland)
David Young (Iowa)
Steven Palazzo (Mississippi)
Democratic members are:
Ranking Member Sam Farr, California
Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut
Sanford Bishop, Jr., Georgia
Chellie Pingree, Maine
Progressive Dairyman will post Senate Ag Committee and Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus membership lists as they become available. 
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Dave Natzke
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