U.S. Senate leaders named members from their respective political parties to serve on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry during the 115th Congress. In all, 11 of 21 Senate 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.
Read also: House Ag Committee has strong ‘dairy state’ representation
The Senate Agriculture Committee will be chaired by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas). Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) will serve as Ranking Member.
Republicans
As the majority party, Republicans have 11 total seats on the committee. The entire Republican membership includes:
Chairman Pat Roberts, Kansas
Thad Cochran, Mississippi
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
John Boozman, Arkansas
John Hoeven, North Dakota
Joni Ernst, Iowa
Chuck Grassley, Iowa
Jeff Sessions, Alabama
John Thune, South Dakota
Steve Daines, Montana
David Perdue, Georgia
Jeff Sessions has been nominated to be U.S. attorney general. If confirmed, his seat on the ag committee will be filled by another senator.
Democrats
As the minority party, 10 Democrats will serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee. They are:
Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
Patrick Leahy, Vermont
Sherrod Brown, Ohio
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
Michael Bennet, Colorado
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York
Joe Donnelly, Indiana
Heidi Heitkamp, North Dakota
Robert P. Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania
Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
Dairy represented
Dairy interests should be well represented on the Senate Ag Committee, with four Republicans and eight Democrats representing 11 states listed among the 23 “major” dairy states in USDA reports.
Among those states, Iowa has two members on the committee. However, 12 major dairy states have no members on the Senate Ag Committee: Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, 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.
Senate Ag Appropriations Subcommittee
Another panel with jurisdiction impacting agriculture and dairy is the agriculture subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) serves as ex-officio member of all subcommittees.
Republican members named to the ag subcommittee are:
Chairman John Hoeven, North Dakota
Thad Cochran, Mississippi
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
Susan Collins, Maine
Roy Blunt, Missouri
Jerry Moran, Kansas
Marco Rubio, Florida
Democratic members are:
Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, Oregon
Dianne Feinstein, California
Jon Tester, Montana
Tom Udall, New Mexico
Patrick Leahy, Vermont
Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin 
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