(NAFB.com) -The American Farm Bureau Federation welcomed the release of Senate farm bill text and a scheduled markup by the Senate Agriculture Committee, calling it an important step toward advancing long-delayed legislation affecting U.S. agriculture. Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall praised Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman for releasing the legislation and expressed optimism that lawmakers can build bipartisan support to move the bill through Congress. According to Farm Bureau, the bill contains provisions to authorize year-round sales of E15 blended fuel, increase investments in specialty crops and address agricultural input price volatility. Duvall said the nation has lost 200,000 farms over the past decade and argued that a modernized farm bill would help stabilize the struggling farm economy. He called on the committee to approve the measure and send it to the full Senate for consideration.