As the Senate’s only active farmer, Jon has been front and center in the fight to protect family farms and ranches.

In 2011, Congress passed Jon’s responsible, bipartisan legislation to remove Montanas’ wolves from the Endangered Species List and return their management to back to the State of Montana. Jon’s delisting followed a judge’s controversial decision in 2010 to return wolves to the Endangered Species List, even though their numbers had fully recovered.

While other politicians offered only partisan grandstanding and radical plans that would never have passed Congress, Jon worked with Montana’s ranchers, hunters and conservationists on a common-sense measure that passed and was signed into law in 2011. The plan means that Montanans are managing gray wolves again, and that protections can be restored if their numbers ever fall too low.

Governor Brian Schweitzer said, “I appreciate Senator Tester’s efforts to shepherd this resolution through Congress for the benefit of all Montanans.” Today, wolves are back under the responsible management of the state because Jon got it done.

Jon knows that one-size-fits-all federal regulations often don’t cut it in Montana. That’s why he fought hard during the debate over a new Food Safety bill and successfully included an amendment to protect family-scale producers from new regulations aimed at industrial-scale producers. Building a coalition of family-scale producers and consumer advocates, Jon was able to include his measure to protect small producers and farmers and ranchers who sell directly to market.

Jon was an instrumental voice during the 2007 Farm Bill debate. Citing the legislation as a key to American food security, health, and needed support for farmers and ranchers, Jon helped write and pass the sweeping measure. He also successfully included a provision opening up crop insurance to producers of the biofuel camelina.

As part of the Farm Bill, Jon also helped pass country-of-origin-labeling into law–and worked to strengthen those rules as they were put in place–so that Montana consumers can make informed decisions about where they get their food.

Jon introduced the Meat Safety and Accountability Act, to ensure large industrial meat suppliers that ship tainted meat are held accountable, and not just the small processors they ship to. He successfully blocked a National Animal ID program that would have harmed Montana’s beef producers. And he worked hard to see that Montana’s producers are offered fair rates to ship their products to market, pushing railroads to offer fair shipping rates and better service. He also supports the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act to provide more options for rail shipping.

And after hearing from Montana cattle producers concerned about the checkoff process, Jon introduced the Beef Checkoff Modernization Act. Jon’s legislation would allow producers to vote to continue checkoff, would let checkoff funds to be used to specifically promote American beef, and diversify beef promotion funded with checkoff dollars to entities other than the National Cattlemens’ Beef Association.

Click HERE to see more about where Jon stands on protecting Montana’s family farms and ranches.