[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
=======================================================================
APPENDIX
TO THE
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL HEARINGS
FARM BILL LISTENING SESSIONS: PERSPECTIVES
FROM THE FIELD
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
----------
JUNE 25, 2022, COOLIDGE, AZ
JULY 7, 2022, FRESNO, CA
JULY 22, 2022, CARNATION, WA
JULY 25, 2022, NORTHFIELD, MN
AUGUST 22, 2022, FREMONT, OH
----------
Serial No. 117-27
----------
Part 2 (Final)
----------
Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture
agriculture.house.gov
APPENDIX TO A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL HEARINGS
PART 2 (FINAL)
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
=======================================================================
APPENDIX
TO THE
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL HEARINGS
FARM BILL LISTENING SESSIONS: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 25, 2022, COOLIDGE, AZ
JULY 7, 2022, FRESNO, CA
JULY 22, 2022, CARNATION, WA
JULY 25, 2022, NORTHFIELD, MN
AUGUST 22, 2022, FREMONT, OH
__________
Serial No. 117-27
__________
Part 2 (Final)
__________
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture
agriculture.house.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
49-906 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia, Chairman
JIM COSTA, California GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania,
JAMES P. McGOVERN, Massachusetts Ranking Minority Member
FILEMON VELA,\1\ Texas AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina, Vice ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD,
Chair Arkansas
ABIGAIL DAVIS SPANBERGER, Virginia SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri
ANTONIO DELGADO,\5\ New York DOUG LaMALFA, California
SHONTEL M. BROWN, Ohio RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois
BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
Northern Mariana Islands DON BACON, Nebraska
ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire DUSTY JOHNSON, South Dakota
CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York JIM HAGEDORN,\2\ Minnesota
STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands CHRIS JACOBS, New York
TOM O'HALLERAN, Arizona TROY BALDERSON, Ohio
SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
RO KHANNA, California TRACEY MANN, Kansas
AL LAWSON, Jr., Florida RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
J. LUIS CORREA, California MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota BARRY MOORE, Alabama
JOSH HARDER, California KAT CAMMACK, Florida
CYNTHIA AXNE, Iowa MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
KIM SCHRIER, Washington JULIA LETLOW,\4\ Louisiana
JIMMY PANETTA, California BRAD FINSTAD,\7\ Minnesota
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia
MARCY KAPTUR,\3\ Ohio
SHARICE DAVIDS,\6\ Kansas
______
Anne Simmons, Staff Director
Parish Braden, Minority Staff Director
(ii)
__________
\1\ Resigned from Congress April 1, 2022.
\2\ Deceased February 18, 2022.
\3\ Elected to Committee May 11, 2022.
\4\ Resigned from Committee May 13, 2022.
\5\ Resigned from Congress May 25, 2022.
\6\ Elected to Committee June 14, 2022.
\7\ Elected to Committee September 13, 2022.
Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry
ABIGAIL DAVIS SPANBERGER, Virginia, Chair
FILEMON VELA, Texas DOUG LaMALFA, California, Ranking
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine Minority Member
ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
TOM O'HALLERAN, Arizona RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
JIMMY PANETTA, California TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
J. LUIS CORREA, California DUSTY JOHNSON, South Dakota
KIM SCHRIER, Washington MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
BARRY MOORE, Alabama
Paul Babbitt, Subcommittee Staff Director
______
Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit
ANTONIO DELGADO,\8\ New York, Chairman
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY,\9\ New York MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota,
STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands Ranking Minority Member
RO KHANNA, California AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia
CYNTHIA AXNE, Iowa DOUG LaMALFA, California
BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota CHRIS JACOBS, New York
ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire TROY BALDERSON, Ohio
CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
------ RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
KAT CAMMACK, Florida
Emily German, Subcommittee Staff Director
______
Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research
STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands, Chair
ANTONIO DELGADO, New York JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana, Ranking
SHONTEL M. BROWN, Ohio Minority Member
KIM SCHRIER, Washington AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia
JIMMY PANETTA, California ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD,
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine Arkansas
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois
SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California DON BACON, Nebraska
AL LAWSON, Jr., Florida CHRIS JACOBS, New York
JOSH HARDER, California TROY BALDERSON, Ohio
J. LUIS CORREA, California MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
------
Malikha Daniels, Subcommittee Staff Director
(iii)
__________
\8\ Resigned from Congress April 1, 2022.
Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture
JIM COSTA, California, Chairman
ABIGAIL DAVIS SPANBERGER, Virginia DUSTY JOHNSON, South Dakota,
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut Ranking Minority Member
J. LUIS CORREA, California SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
JOSH HARDER, California VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri
RO KHANNA, California DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina
CYNTHIA AXNE, Iowa TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois DON BACON, Nebraska
STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota TRACEY MANN, Kansas
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia RANDY FEENSTRA, Iowa
------ BARRY MOORE, Alabama
------
Daniel Feingold, Subcommittee Staff Director
______
Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut, Chairwoman
JAMES P. McGOVERN, Massachusetts DON BACON, Nebraska, Ranking
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina Minority Member
SHONTEL M. BROWN, Ohio ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD,
BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois Arkansas
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
Northern Mariana Islands VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri
SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California JAMES R. BAIRD, Indiana
AL LAWSON, Jr., Florida CHRIS JACOBS, New York
ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas
JIMMY PANETTA, California KAT CAMMACK, Florida
------
Katherine Stewart, Subcommittee Staff Director
______
Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois, Chair
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia, Ranking
SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California Minority Member
TOM O'HALLERAN, Arizona ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD,
AL LAWSON, Jr., Florida Arkansas
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
------ DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina
TRACEY MANN, Kansas
MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
Joshua Tonsager, Subcommittee Staff Director
(iv)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Saturday, June 25, 2022--Coolidge, AZ
Bustos, Hon. Cheri, a Representative in Congress from Illinois,
opening statement.............................................. 1623
O'Halleran, Hon. Tom, a Representative in Congress from Arizona,
opening statement.............................................. 1625
Scott, Hon. Austin, a Representative in Congress from Georgia,
opening statement.............................................. 1624
Speakers
Lanning, Kimber, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Local First
Arizona/Rural Development Council, Phoenix, AZ................. 1627
Rodgers, Angie, President and Chief Executive Officer, Arizona
Food Bank Network, Phoenix, AZ................................. 1628
Aune, Carl, Ducks Unlimited, Tucson, AZ.......................... 1630
Udall, Chris, Executive Director, Agribusiness and Water Council
of Arizona, Mesa, AZ........................................... 1630
Rushdan, Khalil, Social Justice Program Manager, Arizona Faith
Network, Phoenix AZ............................................ 1632
Kitch, Tristin, Native American Programs Coordinator, VISTA,
Arizona Food Bank Network, Phoenix AZ.......................... 1633
Sheppard, David, Laveen, AZ; on behalf of Arizona Faith Network.. 1634
Steel, Kenneth, Healthy Communities Program Manager, Pinnacle
Prevention, Chandler, AZ....................................... 1635
Dierig, Ph.D., David, Manager and Plant Breeder/Geneticist, Agro
Operations, Guayule Research Farm, Bridgestone Americas, Eloy,
AZ............................................................. 1637
Hatley, Adam, producer, Mesa, AZ; on behalf of Arizona Cotton
Growers Association............................................ 1638
Ogden, Ph.D., Kimberly L., Professor and Chair, Department of
Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ..................................................... 1639
Smallhouse, Stefanie, President, Arizona Farm Bureau, Redington,
AZ............................................................. 1640
Thelander, Will, Partner, Tempe Farming Co.; Contract Grower,
Bridgestone Americas, Stanfield, AZ............................ 1641
Boyle, Ph.D., James, Owner, Casa Grande Dairy Co., Casa Grande,
AZ............................................................. 1642
Yerges, Brian E., General Manager, Electrical District No. 3,
Maricopa, AZ; on behalf of Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and
Drainage District.............................................. 1643
Becker, J.D., Maxine, Attorney Advocate, Wildfire, Phoenix, AZ... 1644
Cardenas, Ed.D., Jenni, Vice President of Student Services,
Central Arizona College, Coolidge, AZ.......................... 1645
Rovey, Jerry, Partner, Flying R Farms; President, Arizona Cotton
Growers Association, Buckeye, AZ............................... 1646
McCoy, Maureen, Senior Lecturer, College of Health Solutions,
Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ; on behalf of Higher
Education Food Security Coalition.............................. 1647
Ollerton, Paul ``Paco'', Owner, Tierra Verde Farms; past
President, Arizona Cotton Growers Association, Casa Grande, AZ. 1648
Sugrue, Andrew M., Assistant Director of Policy & Advocacy,
Arizona Center for Economic Progress and Arizona Children's
Action Alliance, Phoenix, AZ................................... 1649
Medler, Robert, Arizona Government Affairs Manager, Western
Growers Association, Phoenix, AZ............................... 1650
Morales, Ricardo, Community Organizer, Chicanos Por La Causa,
Tucson, AZ..................................................... 1651
Simpson, J.D., Michelle ``MJ'', Staff Attorney, William E. Morris
Institute for Justice, Phoenix, AZ............................. 1651
Suarez, J.D., Devon, President, Suarez Forestry, LLC, Heber, AZ.. 1652
Wang, Ph.D., Yadi, Founder and President, Vertical Resolutions;
Member, Leadership Council, Regenerate America, Tucson, AZ..... 1653
De Leon, Tamara, Executive Director, Rural Water Association of
Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ......................................... 1654
Caywood, Nancy, Coordinator, Caywood Farm Tours, Caywood Farms,
Casa Grande, AZ................................................ 1655
Goodman II, Mitchell, Program Manager, Family Assistance
Division, Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells, AZ..................... 1655
Supplementary Material
The Listening Session in Coolidge, AZ: A Visual Retrospective.... 1661
Thursday, July 7, 2022--Fresno, CA
Costa, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from California,
opening statement.............................................. 1677
Speakers
Jimenez-Sandoval, Ph.D., Saul, President, California State
University, Fresno, Fresno, CA................................. 1678
Errotabere, Daniel, Managing General Partner, Errotabere Ranches;
Member, Board of Directors, Westlands Water District,
Riverdale, CA.................................................. 1683
Gilkey, Kirk, President, Gilkey Farm, Inc.; Member, Board of
Directors, California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association,
Corcoran, CA; on behalf of National Cotton Council............. 1684
McKean, Mark, Owner, McKean Farms, Riverdale, CA; on behalf of
National Cotton Council........................................ 1686
Vanden Heuvel, Geoffrey, Director of Regulatory and Economic
Affairs, Milk Producers Council, Tulare, CA.................... 1688
Medeiros, Melvin, Chairman, Western Area Council, Dairy Farmers
of America; Member, Executive Board, National Milk Producers
Federation, Layton, CA......................................... 1690
Peill-Moelter, Ph.D., Nicola, Director of Sustainability
Innovation, Office of the CTO, Vmware, San Diego, CA; on behalf
of Regenerate America.......................................... 1692
McCarthy, Thomas D., General Manager, Kern County Water Agency,
Bakersfield CA................................................. 1694
Engstrom, Marc, California Director of Public Policy, Ducks
Unlimited, Sacramento, CA...................................... 1695
Kaye, Julia, Carlsbad, CA; on behalf of Regenerate America....... 1696
Caylor, Perri, Menlo Park, CA; on behalf of Regenerate America... 1698
Cunha, Jr., Manuel, President, Nisei Farmers League, Fresno, CA.. 1700
Matoian, Richard, President, American Pistachio Growers, Fresno,
CA............................................................. 1703
Schroeder, Jr., Ernie, Chief Executive Officer, Jess Smith & Sons
Cotton, Inc.; First Vice-Chairman, American Cotton Shippers
Association, Bakersfield, CA................................... 1704
Fernandes, Joey, Owner, Fernjo Farms; Board Member, Land O'Lakes,
Inc., Tulare, CA............................................... 1705
Mahoney, Gregory, Treasurer and National Outreach Chairman,
California Welfare Fraud Investigators Association, Mentone, CA 1707
Caples, Natalie, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Central California
Food Bank, Fresno, CA.......................................... 1709
Gutierrez, Itzul, Senior Policy Advocate, California Association
of Food Banks, Oakland, CA..................................... 1710
Grant, Jim, Director, Social Justice Ministry, Diocese of Fresno,
Fresno, CA; on behalf of Catholic Relief Services.............. 1711
Nelson, M.P.H., Alicia, Director, Wellness Services, Student
Health and Counseling Center, California State University,
Fresno, Fresno, CA............................................. 1712
Hildebrand, Allyson, Coordinator, The Amendola Family Student
Cupboard, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA...... 1713
Payne, Eric, Executive Director, The Central Valley Urban
Institute, Fresno, CA.......................................... 1715
Thaoxaochay, C. Lilian, Small Farms Community Educator, Small
Farm Workgroup, Cooperative Extension Fresno County, Division
of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California,
Fresno, CA..................................................... 1717
Kanter, Jessie, Assistant Specialist, Small Farms and Specialty
Crops, Cooperative Extension Fresno and Tulare Counties,
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of
California, Fresno, CA......................................... 1718
Dahlquist-Willard, Ph.D., Ruth, Small Farms Advisor, Cooperative
Extension Fresno and Tulare Counties, Division of Agriculture
and Natural Resources, University of California, Fresno, CA.... 1719
Chandler, Carol, Member, Board of Directors, Western Growers;
Partner, Chandler Farms, L.P., Selma, CA....................... 1721
Watkins, Keith, Vice President, Farming, Bee Sweet Citrus, Inc.,
Fowler, CA; on behalf of California Citrus Mutual.............. 1722
Parsons, Jim, Partner, Parsons & Sons Farming, LLC, Ducor, CA.... 1723
Borden, Tim, Sequoia Restoration and Stewardship Manager, Save
the Redwoods League, Fresno, CA; on behalf of Giant Sequoia
Lands Coalition................................................ 1724
Smittcamp, William S. ``Bill'', President and Chief Executive
Officer, Wawona Frozen Foods, Inc., Clovis, CA................. 1726
LeMay, Ian, President, California Fresh Fruit Association,
Fresno, CA..................................................... 1727
Houlding, Kimberly, President and Chief Executive Officer,
American Olive Oil Producers Association, Fresno, CA........... 1728
Reelhorn, Jon, Owner and President, Belmont Nursery; Member,
Executive Committee, AmericanHort, Fresno, CA.................. 1729
Cregan, Melissa, Agricultural Commissioner and Sealer of Weights
and Measures, Fresno County Department of Agriculture; Regional
Board Member, San Joaquin Valley, California Agricultural
Commissioners and Sealers Association, Fresno, CA.............. 1730
Sooby, Jane, Senior Policy Specialist, California Certified
Organic Farmers, Santa Cruz, CA................................ 1731
Montes, Benina, Managing Partner, Burroughs Family Orchards,
Denair, CA; on behalf of Regenerate America.................... 1732
Johansson, James D. ``Jamie'', President, California Farm Bureau
Federation, Sacramento, CA..................................... 1734
Engelhart, Ryland, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kiss the
Ground, Fillmore, CA; accompanied by Karen Rodriguez, Vice
President of Program Operations................................ 1735
Supplementary Material
The Listening Session in Fresno, CA: A Visual Retrospective...... 1739
Costa, Hon. Jim a Representative in Congress from California,
submitted article.............................................. 1758
Engstrom, Marc, California Director of Public Policy, Ducks
Unlimited, submitted report.................................... 1760
McKean, Mark, Owner, McKean Farms, Riverdale, CA; on behalf of
National Cotton Council, submitted statement................... 1784
Vanden Heuvel, Geoffrey, Director of Regulatory and Economic
Affairs, Milk Producers Council, submitted article............. 1784
Matoian, Richard, President, American Pistachio Growers,
submitted statement............................................ 1788
Grant, Jim, Director, Social Justice Ministry, Diocese of Fresno,
Fresno, CA; on behalf of Catholic Relief Services, submitted
statement...................................................... 1791
Borden, Tim, Sequoia Restoration and Stewardship Manager, Save
the Redwoods League; on behalf of Giant Sequoia Lands
Coalition, submitted policy brief.............................. 1793
Friday, July 22, 2022--Carnation, WA
Plaskett, Hon. Stacey E., a Delegate in Congress from Virgin
Islands, opening statement..................................... 1803
Schrier, Hon. Kim, a Representative in Congress from Washington,
opening statement.............................................. 1805
Speakers
Sandison, Derek, Director, Washington State Department of
Agriculture, Olympia, WA....................................... 1806
Hulbert, Ph.D., Scot, Associate Dean for Research, College of
Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, Washington
State University; Interim Director, Agricultural Research
Center, CAHNRS, WSU, Pullman, WA............................... 1807
Powers, Mark, President, Northwest Horticultural Council, Yakima,
WA............................................................. 1808
DeVaney, Jon, President, Washington State Tree Fruit Association,
Yakima, WA..................................................... 1809
Crnich, Stacey, Chief Executive Officer, Bonney Lake Food Bank,
Bonney Lake WA................................................. 1811
Kehne, Jay, Sagelands Heritage Program Lead, Conservation
Northwest, Omak, WA............................................ 1811
Wilcox, Jim, Chairman, Wilcox Family Farms, Roy, WA.............. 1812
Visser, Jeremy, Member, Board of Directors, Northwest Dairymen's
Association, Dairy Gold, Stanwood, WA.......................... 1813
Mensonides, Ryan D., Co-Owner, Co-Manager, Chief Executive
Officer, Mount Rainier Creamery & Market, Enumclaw, WA......... 1814
Lane, Claire, Director, Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition,
Seattle, WA.................................................... 1815
Gail, Scott, Bio-Farm Manager, Spokane Conservation District,
Spokane, WA.................................................... 1816
Meyer, Ty, Production Ag Manager, Spokane Conservation District,
Spokane, WA.................................................... 1817
Vrablik, Jeremy, Owner, Cascadia Produce LLC, Auburn, WA......... 1818
Geissler, George L., Washington State Forester, Deputy, Wildland
Fire and Forest Health/Resiliency, Washington Department of
Natural Resources, Olympia, WA................................. 1819
Green, Marci, farmer, Green View Farms, Inc.; Past President,
Washington Association of Wheat Growers, Fairfield, WA......... 1820
Voigt, Chris, Executive Director, Washington State Potato
Commission, Moses Lake, WA..................................... 1820
Meiklen, Britany, Food Distribution Center Program Director,
Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council, Wentachee, WA......... 1821
Freytag, Tony, Executive Vice President, Crunch Pak, LLC,
Cashmere, WA................................................... 1822
Clark, Brian, Issaquah, WA....................................... 1823
Wong, Christina, Director, Public Policy & Advocacy, Northwest
Harvest, Seattle, WA........................................... 1823
Werkhoven, Jim, President, Werkhoven Dairy Inc., Monroe, WA...... 1824
Pettit, Chris, Executive Director, Washington State Conservation
Commission, Olympia, WA........................................ 1825
Gilliam, Lindsay, Executive Director, Carnation Farmers Market,
Carnation, WA.................................................. 1826
Reseland, Angela ``Angie'', Farm Bill Coordinator, Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, WA................... 1826
Redder, Lulu, Owner/Operator, Feral Woman Farm, LLC, North Bend,
WA............................................................. 1827
Doglio, Hon. Beth, Woodinville, WA; on behalf of Gretchen Garth,
Founder, 21 Acres.............................................. 1828
Lewis, Nathaniel, Conservation Manager, Washington Farmland
Trust, Seattle, WA............................................. 1829
Murray, Todd, Director, Puyallup Research and Extension Center,
College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences,
Washington State University, Puyallup, WA...................... 1830
Lindemulder, Bobbi, Agriculture Program Director, Snohomish
Conservation District, Lake Stevens, WA........................ 1831
Purdy, M.S., R.D.N., Mary, Seattle, WA; on behalf of Coalition
for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture....................... 1831
Roberts, Ansley, Farm Manager, 21 Acres, Woodinville, WA......... 1832
Gruber, Joe, Executive Director, University District Food Bank,
Seattle, WA.................................................... 1833
Webster, Nick, Accounting Analyst, Community Action Council of
Lewis, Mason, and Thurston Counties, Lacey, WA................. 1834
Czyzewski, Aaron, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, Food
Lifeline, Seattle, WA.......................................... 1835
Ang, Hon. Kristin, Policy Engagement Director, Faith Action
Network, Tacoma, WA............................................ 1835
Morgan, Kathryn ``Kat'', Associate Director for Puget Sound
Conservation, Washington Chapter, The Nature Conservancy,
Seattle, WA.................................................... 1836
Neunzig, Linda, County Agriculture Coordinator, Snohomish County
Division of Conservation and Natural Resources, Everett, WA.... 1837
Seelmeyer, Sara, Food Security Program Manager, United Way of
King County, Seattle, WA....................................... 1838
Wright-Soika, Marcia, Executive Director, FamilyWorks Food Bank
and Resource Center, Seattle, WA............................... 1839
Atkinson, M.S., R.D.N., C.D., Ben, Assistant Director, Child
Nutrition/Dietitian, Child Nutrition Services, Auburn School
District No. 408; Delegate, Washington State Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics, Kent, WA.............................. 1840
Simpson, J.D., Aimee, Senior Director of Advocacy & Environmental
Social and Governance, Puget Consumers Co-op Community Markets,
Seattle, WA.................................................... 1840
Salzer, Tom, Executive Director, Washington Association of
Conservation Districts, Olympia, WA............................ 1841
Reynolds, Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Northwest Harvest,
Seattle, WA.................................................... 1842
Lee, Ali, Woodinville, WA; on behalf of Gretchen Garth, Founder,
21 Acres; Coalition for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture;
Anne Schwartz, Owner, Blue Heron Farm.......................... 1842
Hille, J.D., Keaton G., Real Estate & Construction Attorney,
Hanson Baker Attorneys, Bellevue, WA; on behalf of Ducks
Unlimited...................................................... 1843
Supplementary Material
The Listening Session in Carnation, WA: A Visual Retrospective... 1847
Sandison, Derek, Director, Washington State Department of
Agriculture, submitted infographic............................. 1871
Monday, July 25, 2022--Northfield, MN
Bustos, Hon. Cheri, a Representative in Congress from Illinois,
opening statement.............................................. 1873
Craig, Hon. Angie, a Representative in Congress from Minnesota,
opening statement.............................................. 1875
Speakers
Peterson, Bruce, Owner, Far-Gaze Farms, Northfield, MN........... 1876
Peterson, Thom, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of
Agriculture, Pine City, MN..................................... 1877
Glessing, Dan, President, Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation,
Wavery, MN..................................................... 1879
Wertish, Gary, President, Minnesota Farmers Union, Renville, MN.. 1879
Worth, Bob, President, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association,
Lake Benton, MN................................................ 1880
Baack, Vince, Chief Business Officer, New Fashion Pork, North
Mankato, MN; on behalf of Minnesota Pork Producers Association. 1881
Syverson, Richard, Agronomy Manager, Syverson Family Farms; First
Vice President, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Clontarf,
MN............................................................. 1882
Schlangen, Steve, Co-Owner, Schlangen Dairy; Chairman, Board of
Directors, Associated Milk Producers, Inc., Albany, MN......... 1883
Buck, Dave, Co-Owner, Bucks Unlimited; Member, Board of
Directors, Minnesota Milk Producers Association, Goodhue, MN... 1885
Zimmerman, John, Owner, P&J Products Co.; Secretary/Treasurer,
Executive Committee, National Turkey Federation, Northfield, MN 1885
Terry, Ed, Co-Owner, Terry Farms, Northfield, MN................. 1887
Legvold, Dave, Farmer, Legvold Farms, Northfield, MN; on behalf
of Land Stewardship Project; Clean River Partners.............. 1888
Graner, K.C., Senior Vice President of Agronomy, Central Farm
Service, Kenyon, MN............................................ 1888
Kleinschmit, Jim, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Other
Half Processing SBC and Tree-Range Farms/Regeneration Farms
LLC, Cannon Falls, MN.......................................... 1890
Mills, Deborah, Operator, Mills Dairy Farm; Vice President,
Minnesota Farmers Union, Goodhue County; Member, Board of
Directors, National Dairy Producers Organization; Member, Board
of Directors, Organization for Competitive Markets, Lake City,
MN............................................................. 1891
Hovel, Brad, Owner, Hovel Farms; Governing Board Member,
Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, Cannon Falls, MN........ 1892
Wolle, Harold, Member, Corn Board, National Corn Growers
Association, Madelia, MN....................................... 1894
Kanten, Jim, Secretary, Minnesota Corn Growers Association,
Milan, MN...................................................... 1894
Thalmann, Brian, Member, Corn Board, National Corn Growers
Association, Plato, MN......................................... 1895
Hokanson, Eric, Financial Officer, Compeer Financial, ACA,
Lakeville, MN.................................................. 1896
Maier, Matt, Owner, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, Clearwater,
MN............................................................. 1897
Clayton, Will, Senior Representative, Eastern Minnesota Region,
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, Mayer, MN................. 1899
Hoefs, Ruth, Le Center, MN; on behalf of Ducks Unlimited......... 1900
Gausman, Brad, Executive Director, Minnesota Conservation
Federation, St. Paul, MN....................................... 1900
Goldman, Sarah, Organizer, Regional Food Systems and Federal
Policy, Land Stewardship Project, St Paul, MN; on behalf of
Kristi Pursell, Executive Director, Clean River Partners....... 1901
Leach, Andrew, Sustainable Commercialization Associate, Forever
Green Initiative, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics,
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN.......................... 1902
Krause, Charles, Owner, Krause Holsteins Inc., Buffalo, MN; on
behalf of Dairy Farmers of America............................. 1903
Moriarty, Colleen, Executive Director, Hunger Solutions
Minnesota, St. Paul, MN........................................ 1904
Rychner, Anika, Senior Director, Community Action Center of
Northfield Inc., Northfield, MN................................ 1904
Zaavedra, Kelsey L., Owner, Heirloomista, North Branch, MN....... 1905
Watters, Nate, Managing Partner, Keepsake Cidery LLP, Dundas, MN;
on behalf of Land Stewardship Project.......................... 1906
Wallinga, M.D., David, Senior Health Officer, Food, Agriculture
and Health, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program,
Natural Resources Defense Council, St. Paul, MN................ 1907
Donkers, Gail, Member, Minnesota Farmers Union, Faribault, MN.... 1908
Mosel, Darrel, Member at Large, Board of Directors, Land
Stewardship Project, Gaylord, MN............................... 1908
Viana, Jason, Executive Director, The Open Door, Eagan, MN....... 1909
Rice, Nathan K., Communications and Marketing Director, Kiss the
Ground, Maple Grove, MN........................................ 1910
Buck, Ryan, Agent, Lakeshore Agency, Inc., Goodhue, MN........... 1910
Peterson, Mike, Owner, Twin Oaks Farm; Member, Minnesota Farmers
Union, Northfield, MN.......................................... 1911
Blustin, Ilan, Owner, IB Livestock Co., Webster, MN; on behalf of
Minnesota 4-H Agriculture Ambassadors.......................... 1912
Haslett-Marroquin, Reginaldo, Regenerative Agriculture Production
and Farm Manager, Salvatierra Farms; Founder and Co-Executive
Director, Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, Northfield, MN.... 1912
Gardner, Nick, Director of Operations, Perennial Pantry,
Burnsville, MN................................................. 1913
Checkel, James, Owner, Checkel Farm, Kasson, MN.................. 1914
Supplementary Material
The Listening Session in Northfield, MN: A Visual Retrospective.. 1917
Wallinga, M.D., David, Senior Health Officer, Food, Agriculture
and Health, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program,
Natural Resources Defense Council, supplementary material...... 1938
Monday, August 22, 2022--Fremont, OH
Bustos, Hon. Cheri, a Representative in Congress from Illinois,
opening statement.............................................. 1945
Kaptur, Hon. Marcy, a Representative in Congress from Ohio,
opening statement.............................................. 1947
Speakers
Vashaw, Kirk, Chief Executive Officer, Spangler Candy Company,
Bryan, OH...................................................... 1950
Logan, Joseph, President, Ohio Farmers Union, Kinsman, OH........ 1952
Chase-Morefield, Julie, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio, Lorain, OH..... 1953
Andre, Nate, Owner, Andre Farms LLC, Wauseon, OH................. 1955
Myers, Bill, Owner, Myers Farms, Oregon, OH...................... 1955
Herringshaw, Paul, Owner/Operator, Herringshaw Farms, Bowling
Green, OH...................................................... 1956
Ward, Adam, Director, Government Affairs, College of Food,
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH................................................... 1957
Poulson, Hilary, Growing Forward Specialist, Farm Credit Mid-
America, Archbold, OH.......................................... 1959
Dean, Eli, Operator, Timberlane Organic Farms, LLC, Bellevue, OH;
on behalf of Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association......... 1960
Logan, J.D., Tony, Principal Consultant, The Renewables Space,
LLC; former Ohio State Director, USDA Rural Development,
Columbus, OH................................................... 1963
Wise, Roger, Treasurer/Secretary, Ohio Farmers Union, Fremont, OH 1962
Askins, Vickie, Member, Ohio Farmers Union; Member, Lake Erie
Advocates, Cygnet, OH.......................................... 1963
Drewes, Tyler, Operator, Drewes Farms; District 2, Board Member,
Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association, Custer, OH............ 1965
Huffman, Angela, Co-Founder and Vice President, Farm Action;
Owner, Wide-Awake Farm, Wharton, OH............................ 1966
Cunningham, Jerome C., Fremont, OH; on behalf of Sandusky County
Farm Bureau.................................................... 1967
Woodall, Kristin, Director, Community Development Programs, Great
Lakes Community Action Partnership, Fremont, OH................ 1968
Miller, Sheldon, Operator, Sheldon Miller Farms; Member, Ottawa
County Farm Bureau, Oak Harbor, OH............................. 1970
Buskirk, Kristy, Operator, Clay Hill Organic Farm; Member, Ohio
Ecological Food and Farm Association, Tiffin, OH............... 1970
Kichler, Emily, Cleveland, Ohio; on behalf of Farm Action........ 1972
Jones, Jr., Robert ``Bob'', Co-Owner and Chief Executive Officer,
Chef's Garden, Huron, OH; on behalf of The IR-4 Project........ 1973
Demaline, Tom, President, Willoway Nurseries, Inc., Avon, OH; on
behalf AmericanHort............................................ 1974
Dake, Marissa, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, DNO
Produce, Inc., Columbus, OH.................................... 1975
Davis, Kathy, Young Stock Manager, Ayers Farms Inc.; Member,
Dairy Farmers of America, Perrysville, OH...................... 1976
Overmyer, Sheldon L., Owner, Shelamar Farms, Elmore, OH.......... 1976
Goecke, Mark, District 4, Member, Board of Directors, Ohio
Cattlemen's Association, Spencer, OH........................... 1977
Gordon, Ken, Co-Owner and General Manager, Purple Plains Farm,
Plain City, OH; on behalf of IFYE Association of the USA, Inc.. 1979
Baldosser, Gary L., Owner/Operator, Baldosser Farms Inc.; Region
5, Seneca County, Member, Board of Directors, AgCredit,
Republic, OH................................................... 1980
Inglis, Jim, Director of Governmental Affairs, Pheasants Forever
and Quail Forever, Upper Sandusky, OH.......................... 1980
Nickol, Reece, State Policy Chair, Ducks Unlimited, Piqua, OH.... 1981
Laubacher, Ronald, Operator, Laubacher Farms, Oak Harbor, OH..... 1982
Wilson, Mark, Farming for Cleaner Water Project Manager, American
Farmland Trust, Marion, OH..................................... 1982
Kuti, Ph.D., Morakinyo, Director, 1890 Land-Grant Programs,
Interim Dean, John W. Garland College of Engineering, Science,
Technology, and Agriculture, Central State University,
Wilberforce, OH................................................ 1983
Wedemeyer, Karl, Owner, White Diamond Farm; Organization Rep,
2022 Executive Committee, Ohio Dairy Producers Association,
LaRue, OH...................................................... 1984
Supplementary Material
The Listening Session in Fremont, OH: A Visual Retrospective..... 1987
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
(PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD)
----------
SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Coolidge, AZ.
The Committee met at 11:00 a.m., M.D.T., at 8470 N.
Overfield Road, Central Arizona College, Coolidge, AZ, Hon.
Cheri Bustos presiding.
Members present: Representatives Bustos, O'Halleran, and
Austin Scott of Georgia.
Staff present: Josh Tonsager, Ashley Smith, Carlton
Bridgeforth, Victoria Maloch, Trevor White, and Detrick
Manning.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHERI BUSTOS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM ILLINOIS
Mrs. Bustos. I will give everybody a second to sit down and
relax. I am really impressed with this turnout. This is nice.
I'm Cheri Bustos, and I am a Member of Congress from the
State of Illinois. I've served on the Agriculture Committee in
the U.S. House of Representatives for 10 years now, and I am
Chair of a Subcommittee called General Farm Commodities and
Risk Management.
And I have with me Austin Scott from the State of Georgia,
who you are going to hear from in just a moment.
I chair the Subcommittee. He is what is called the Ranking
Member. And all that means is because Democrats are in the
Majority I am the Chair, I am a Democrat. Republicans are in
the Minority, just by a little bit, but that is who the Ranking
Member is. He is the lead Republican.
And then, of course, Tom O'Halleran is on our Committee. He
is your Congressman, for anybody who lives in and around this
area.
As an editorial comment I do want to say I think you are
really lucky to have a guy like Tom O'Halleran representing
you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Did you know he does have some Illinois roots?
He was a Chicago cop. My husband is the sheriff of our county,
so I think that gives him a lot of street cred with me.
This is a really history-making, in a sense, because we are
doing a nationwide listening tour to prepare for the 2023 Farm
Bill, and this is our very first stop. And we chose to come to
Tom O'Halleran's district because, as a Member of the House
Agriculture Committee, he wanted to make sure that I, as a
Midwesterner, Austin as somebody from Georgia, understood the
kind of farming that you do around here. And we really just
want to get a full understanding.
We are in full-on listening mode. We are here to listen to
you. If you have questions, we can try to answer those, but we
really would like to spend the time listening to you as much as
possible.
We have several people from the House Agriculture
Committee, staff from the House Agriculture Committee. This is
being live-streamed, so our millions and millions of viewers--
--
[Laughter].
Mr. O'Halleran. You laughed at that.
Mrs. Bustos.--will be tuning in to watch all of this.
A few housekeeping things. We would ask that you fill out
those little cards in the back with your name and the
information that the staff is telling you that we need. That is
really for official reasons, so we can go back to that, and if
we need to follow up with you. But we want to know what you
think. If that is not comfortable for you, and you are not
comfortable speaking out, then pull us aside, or you can always
contact Congressman O'Halleran's office as well. But we want to
hear from you.
We have scheduled until 1:00, so about 2 hours, and we will
use every bit of that. We would ask if you could keep your
comments to around 3 minutes. I don't think we are going to be
overly strict, but the point there is that we want to make sure
that everybody has time to speak. That is just really important
that we are hearing from everybody.
We are calling this, A 2022 Review of the Farm Bill:
Perspectives from the Field. So we will kick this off. It is
now official, and all of this will be used to help us figure
out what is working from the 2018 Farm Bill, what is not
working, what do we need to stop, what do we need to start,
what do we need to keep. That is really what this is all about.
This is now the third farm bill that I have worked on since
I have been in Congress, and so I am happy to have that
background. Where I am from, we are corn and bean country, from
the State of Illinois, and so the thing that I would hear about
from our family farmers--keep in mind we have almost 10,000
family farms in the Congressional district I represent, so it
is a lot. But the number one thing I would always hear about is
crop insurance. And when we started crop insurance, after
having direct payments, the feedback was to keep crop
insurance, that it was working. So I am very interested in
hearing from all of you as well and what is most important to
you.
So with that, again welcome. Thank you so much for being
here with us. And I would like to turn over the microphone to
Congressman Austin Scott, from the State of Georgia, for his
welcoming comments as well.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. AUSTIN SCOTT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM GEORGIA
Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia. Thank you, Cheri and Tom.
Great to be in your district. All four of my grandparents were
involved in production agriculture, and none of their grandkids
are. I think that is one of the challenges that we face as a
country is who is going to be farming 10 years from now,
because if you are not farming today you are not going to be
farming tomorrow, and if you are not farming tomorrow what are
we going to do for our food over the next couple of decades?
I got a phone call from a farmer this past week, and I
think this is an important issue, so if you will bear with me
for a second. He has been farming for 40 years. He is a hog
farmer in rural south Georgia. His supplier of soymeal had cut
his allotment from two semi-loads a week to one semi-load a
week. In the 40 years he has been farming this is the first
time he has ever been rationed on his feed for his hogs, and
like most of the rest of our farmers he buys from ``Big Ag'' on
the supply side and he sells to ``Big Food'' on the other side,
and somehow he is supposed to make a living in between on very
small margins. And the supply chain disruptions that are
occurring in our food supply chain have created unprecedented
problems for those who are in production agriculture.
As we push forward, there are a couple of things that we
have to be very much aware of. One is our dependence on foreign
sources for fertilizer, chemicals, and other things I think has
put us in a dangerous position. If you look at what is
happening with Ukraine and the Black Sea, Russia is the number
one producer of nitrogen. Russia and Belarus are number two and
three in potash.
We should have never allowed ourselves to get into a
position where we are dependent on them for our inputs into ag
production, but we have, and we are going to have to work our
way out of that, just like we are going to have to work our way
out of being dependent on chemical production in China. So I am
very worried about the supply chains and how fast we are able
to address those issues.
The other thing I want to mention with production
agriculture, and then I will turn it over to Tom, if you will
bear with me for just a second, what is happening in the courts
with regard to the chemicals that we use is happening very fast
and it is changing our ability to use environmentally sensitive
practices like no-till in our ag operations. If you take
Dicamba off the market, if you take glyphosate off the market,
guess what? I can't use no-till anymore in production.
And so one of the things that I think we have got to come
to some agreement with as we push forward with the next farm
bill is making sure that the courts take into account the
impact on production agriculture and our food supply in the
rulings that they issue in the courts.
And with that I very much want to hear what you have to
say, and I am looking forward to working with Cheri and Tom as
we make sure we take care of production agriculture.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TOM O'HALLERAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM ARIZONA
Mr. O'Halleran. Thanks for being here, everybody. I really
appreciate it.
A little history on me too, I guess. I come from a farming
family, dairy farmers. They started out in South Dakota, around
the Fargo area, and ended up down in Harvard, Illinois. And
even I am not old enough to understand when we lost my
grandfather's farm after the Great Depression, but that is
where that Illinois connection comes in.
Just quickly, you mentioned potash. Northern Arizona is
full of potash. We have tons and tons, metric tons and
everything, of it, and here we are worrying about potash from
some foreign country. That is a problem. We have problems like
that across our whole mining industry in America. That is a
huge problem for all of us, and we are trying to make a
difference in that area.
I want to thank the Chair for being here today and the
Ranking Member. Our Committee is one of the most bipartisan
committees in Congress. We are made up of almost everybody on
the Committee has some lineage back to farming, and especially
family farms. That is really, truly something we talk about day
in and day out, and the importance of not only keeping today's
family farms but finding the workers and the heritage of the
family farm through the family to keep it up and going on a
continual basis.
It is great to have staff here today to. You look at us and
you go, well, it is good to be able to talk to a couple of
Congresspeople here. That staff is there all the time, and they
are our information source, and the object is obviously, as the
Chair said, to get an education on how different is this than
other sections of the country. And there is a difference, we
know it, but to highlight that is important.
The farm bill is the largest investment that Congress makes
into the U.S. food and agriculture industry. We were all here
for the 2018 Farm Bill, and I am glad to see that we are all
here for this one. Through the 2018 Farm Bill, Congress
expanded the broadband deployment that is ongoing, and also
will be part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill (Pub. L.
117-58, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), and it is
extremely important.
There are new challenges now, though, that we are focusing
on again. Wildfire is one of those that this Committee, and not
specifically this Subcommittee but the committee in total,
dwells on, and obviously we all know how important it is not
only to feed our fellow Americans and the rest of the world but
also to make sure that we keep on top of that economy as a
country.
We are not spared. We have experienced the worst drought.
You are going to hear a little bit about water today.
Washington, D.C. has plenty of water. They are not experiencing
a 1,200 year drought. And we are in the middle of a process
where I have lived in Arizona now for almost 30 years, and a
large majority of that has been during a drought. So my hat is
off to anybody that is in the industry that has to address
those issues. Whether it is rain coming from the sky or water
coming up from the pump, there is a cost to that and a cost to
agriculture in our area, and especially, you will find out
today, Pinal County, which is one of the fastest-growing
counties in America.
So I am going to cut short my brief remarks here, that were
too long, by my staff, and get to your remarks, which are the
most important pieces of listening sessions, to be able to
understand fully what you are going through. But please, don't
be shy when it comes to disagreeing with what you think and
what you want and what you need, because that is how we make
change, and to create that change by listening to you.
Thanks a lot.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Congressman O'Halleran,
for hosting us today. I also want to thank Central Arizona
College for allowing us to use this beautiful space here. We
appreciate it very much. And Officer Lawrence is in the back.
She is here to make sure that we are safe and sound, so thank
you, Officer Lawrence as well. We appreciate that.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. So what is going to happen now, the
microphones are going to be moved to those two little X's
there. Are we calling people to go up, Josh? I just want to
make sure that I know the next step. Josh is with our
Agriculture Committee staff.
Mr. Tonsager. They are supposed to line up.
Mrs. Bustos. Line up? Okay.
Mr. Tonsager. And bring a card.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. Line up behind either microphone, and if
you have a hard time standing then just maybe say you are in
line or whatever. That is fine too. And bring your card.
I have a lot of quotes hanging on my wall. One my favorite
quotes is, ``Candor is a compliment. It implies equality.'' The
next part is, ``It is how true friends talk.'' So consider us
your true friends up here. We really do want candor. We want to
be able to use the information that we are learning today, to
be able to help shape the 2023 Farm Bill. So you can be as
candid as possible.
So with that, go ahead and get in line if you would like to
do that. Again, if you have trouble standing maybe just say
that you have got a space in line. And we are going to start
with you.
Ms. Lanning. Fantastic. Thank you, Representative
O'Halleran. Thank you so much for hosting this here today.
Mr. Tonsager. Sorry. I need to get the card.
Ms. Lanning. Already? I have my notes on it.
Mr. Tonsager. Oh yes. We are supposed to grab the card for
Congressional records.
Mrs. Bustos. She has notes on it, so if she just wants to
read from her notes and maybe give it to you.
STATEMENT OF KIMBER LANNING, FOUNDER AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LOCAL FIRST ARIZONA/RURAL
DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL, PHOENIX, AZ
Ms. Lanning. I would love that. My name is Kimber Lanning
and I am the CEO at the Arizona Rural Development Council. I am
here to talk about three quick points. One is the Arizona Rural
Development Council is part of the national organization called
the State Rural Development Council. Our organization is called
Partners for Rural America. We have representation from
approximately 15 states, including Arizona and Illinois--we are
not in Georgia yet but we are working on it--Maryland,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, Iowa. We work together
across the country in a very collegial, bipartisan manner.
Our representation is required--it is a Federal
designation--we are required to have Federal, state, local, and
Tribal representation in each of our state councils. By design,
our mission is to eliminate duplicative and to work across
different governmental agencies and Tribal agencies to build
collaboration.
So I wanted to just highlight a couple of quick examples of
the type of work we have done in the last year. We advocated,
in the middle of COVID, for relief aid for our small businesses
in our rural communities across Arizona. We were able to start
with $10 million, which we were successfully able to distribute
in increments to small businesses, to help them with everything
from troubled debt relief to reimagining what their business
plan could look like in the middle of a crisis. That number is
now up to $43 million that we have been able to distribute
statewide.
In addition, we launched the Arizona Economic Recovery
Center, which is designed to increase capacity in our rural
communities, by deploying grant-writers, facilitators, project
managers, financial experts, and others to help them be more
successful at winning Federal, state, and foundation grants. We
desperately need those dollars in our rural communities, and so
that is what the Recovery Center is doing.
Just to give you some numbers, we have spent $225,000 to
date. We have won $6.4 million for our rural communities, and
we are only just getting started.
So the State Rural Development Councils have a $10 million
allocation built into the farm bill. It has not been
appropriated for the last 12 years. So I am here today to say
that we are stronger than ever. We would love to partner with
you and to consider helping us get through appropriations with
the $10 million that is already allocated there.
Thank you so much for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Kimber. How about if we go like
this. Is that good? We will go to this microphone, this
microphone, this microphone. All right. So go ahead and
introduce yourself if you would please.
STATEMENT OF ANGIE RODGERS, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ARIZONA FOOD BANK NETWORK, PHOENIX, AZ
Ms. Rodgers. Good morning. My name is Angie Rodgers. I'm
the CEO of the Arizona Food Bank Network, so I am going to talk
a little bit about the demand side of this conversation. I want
to thank Congressman O'Halleran. We have worked very closely
with you and your staff over the years, and I just really
appreciate the invitation today.
The Arizona Food Bank Network is a coalition of the 5 large
food banks and about 1,000 locations across the state. We
distribute food to all 15 counties, including the very remote
parts of the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
And I want to talk about three key solutions to hunger
today. First, The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the
Commodity Supplemental Food Program. These food boxes are
critical to the demand that we are seeing right now. As you all
know, you have seen pictures of the lines across the country of
food bank demand. Normally we serve about 460,000 people each
month. That doubled and even tripled at some point during the
pandemic and already we are starting to reach high levels today
because of what we are seeing in our lines.
What I would like to encourage you to do is to increase the
TEFAP baseline funding to at least $450 million a year, indexed
to inflation. I will note that this food does not only help
hungry people but TEFAP also has a strong impact on the farm
economy, giving Arizona growers and producers an average of 27
per dollar as opposed to 16 per dollar at food retailers. I
would like to you authorize $200 million for storage and
distribution and $15 million for TEFAP infrastructure grants.
Second, the local food purchasing program. We
wholeheartedly support the local food purchasing agreements and
hope that Congress will be mindful of the potential damage that
a hard stop to this program 2 years from now could have on
local farm economies as well as low-income families. We in
Arizona have been successful at securing a $500,000
appropriation to help support this program and are looking
forward to the USDA approving our nearly $5 million application
to continue this program in Arizona. So far we have purchased
more than 400,000 pounds of food from our small growers across
six counties.
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about our
country's most effective anti-hunger program, SNAP. SNAP helps
about 900,000 people in our state each month. About half of
them are children. Various waiver flexibilities allowed for
streamlined enrollment processes and simplified eligibility
during the pandemic, and we would like to continue that,
particularly for seniors, college students, immigrant families,
and other vulnerable populations. We are also recommending an
increase to SNAP benefits overall so that families have what
they need to be able to purchase healthier foods.
While increases resulting from the Thrifty Food Plan were a
welcome step in that direction, we aren't going to end hunger
by going from a $1.30 per person to $1.50 per meal.
Anecdotally, the SNAP emergency allotments, which ended
here in Arizona, were a game-changer for families living on the
edge. One woman told me that the one thing she didn't have to
worry about that month was groceries, which made for paying for
childcare, rent, gas, and the electric bill much more possible.
Finally, I understand the importance of work and helping
people reduce the need for SNAP and other benefits. In 2018, I
stood here, and the policy of the time limit for individuals
seeking work was a subject of large debate. At the time, we
expressed concerns to that policy which bear repeating. We have
very little in the way of work employment and training
programs. Nearly 300,000 people could be required to comply
with work requirements and we only have 125 job training slots
right now.
Current services fall far short for helping participants
get an education or improve employability. Please consider
these time limits in conjunction with vital work supports in
evaluating the goal of work and nutrition assistance programs.
Thank you so much for your time today. I also want to
recognize the incredible impact that P-EBT had on families and
flag our concerns about the return of the SNAP 3 month time
limit. I am happy to share additional comments through your
email, and thank you for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you. Tom is going to make some
introductions, and then we will continue.
Mr. O'Halleran. Yes. I would like to recognize Mayor Jon
Thompson from Coolidge, who is here today. Jon, where are you
at? There he is.
[Applause].
Mr. O'Halleran. It is great to be back in your community,
Mayor. And the Honorable Charlene Fernandez, former legislator,
who is now the State USDA Rural Development Director. Charlene.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thanks to both of you for being here. Sir, you
are up next. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF CARL AUNE, DUCKS UNLIMITED, TUCSON, AZ
Mr. Aune. Thank you. I am the Public Policy Chair for Ducks
Unlimited in the State of Arizona, and I really appreciate you
all taking the time to come here and listen to us.
Mrs. Bustos. What is your name?
Mr. Aune. Carl Aune. One of the important things about the
farm bill is conservation easements, as we look at not only the
perpetuity of farmlands and the importance of that community
but that community, how important it is for habitat
conservation. So I am here to please ask you to take that into
consideration when you all look at the farm bill. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you very much, Carl. Mr. Udall.
STATEMENT OF CHRIS UDALL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AGRIBUSINESS AND
WATER COUNCIL OF ARIZONA, MESA, AZ
Mr. Udall: Thank you, Madam Chair, Representatives
O'Halleran and Scott. I have to start out first by telling you
that I have roots in Illinois. My great-great-grandpa,
Christopher Layton, who I was named after, lived in Big Mound.
His first job was scaring crows out of wheat fields in North
Bedfordshire, England, before he emigrated. So we go back quite
a while.
Mrs. Bustos. I thought you were okay, but it was because of
those Illinois roots. Good to see you.
Mr. Udall. Thank you. My name is Chris Udall. I am the
Executive Director of the Agribusiness and Water Council of
Arizona. We were established back in 1978 to respond to
proposed water legislation, which was our Groundwater
Management Act. So we have been actively involved in that ever
since. We later became the state affiliate to the National
Water Resources Association, which has an office on the Hill.
We are also very actively involved with the Family Farm
Alliance. Our members serve on the board and advisory council,
two entities that represent irrigated ag in 17 western
reclamation states.
I figure I better go off my notes or I will end up
filibustering.
Collectively, we meet regularly to discuss Federal
priorities such as water infrastructure funding. We appreciate
the support of Congress and the President signing the
bipartisan infrastructure law last year which included water
infrastructure for agriculture. And we worked with Western
Water Infrastructure Coalition, Family Farm Alliance, NWRA,
California Farm Bureau, Association of California Water
Agencies, Western Growers, we worked with them and 220
organizations signed on in support of this effort, this
campaign, to get water included in the infrastructure bill. We
led an Arizona coalition. It was great to work with Arizona
Farm Bureau and others here locally to get that done.
Your staff, Representative O'Halleran, I think we met with
every Congressional office online at our board meetings. They
were able to visit with our irrigation district managers. They
were able to show what was needed as far as water
infrastructure, to kind of bring them up into the 21st century.
Other high priorities, of course, are addressing forest
health, to promote healthy watersheds and their water supply
capability, providing rural jobs, enhancing an environment for
everyone and everything.
Projects happen but not fast enough. I wanted to just
paraphrase from Family Farm Alliance President Pat O'Toole, who
spoke 2 weeks ago to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee. Unscripted and from the heart, he basically said,
``We need to quit nibbling at the problems and we need to start
going larger scale to really address our needs in
agriculture.''
Another high priority, of course, is the farm bill. We have
been actively involved in many of the farm bill discussions
over the years, campaigning for additional funding for EQIP.
The AWEP became the RCPP, something that our members have been
able to use on a regional level to improve water quality,
quantity. Pub. L. 83-566 is a big one. All those to improve
efficiencies on the ground.
NRCS and other agencies are great to work with, but I have
heard from some of our growers and members that the various
conservation programs and applications are cumbersome. I
understand that only 16 percent of American farmers are
involved in the farm program. It would be nice to see that
number bumped up. We would like to see less paperwork and more
applied conservation so the land can be improved upon.
Farmers and ranchers need programs through NRCS that can
assist with the purchase of infrastructure, including solar
panels, pipeline materials, well drilling, tanks, gated pipe,
and projects to develop water. These benefit food production,
food security, our wildlife, and our wetlands.
I don't know what you can do about environmental
litigation, but it drastically slows up on-the-ground
improvements or prevents it entirely. I could give you an
example of our own family ranching operations, which we had for
a century. We sold it because of the Mexican wolf
reintroduction and threats of litigation. Our rangeland looked
great but our carrying capacity was reduced on livestock
because of fear of litigation. That really must end.
With current drought conditions on the Colorado River and
elsewhere across Arizona the time to get projects approved and
accomplished is now and not 20 years from now. We need so many
things 20 years ago. It is time to quit nibbling. We need to
look out for the consumer with food security, which is part of
our national security, and you can certainly help us with that.
I appreciate your time, making a trip here to Coolidge,
Pinal County. They could certainly use your help right now.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Mr. Udall.
Sir, if you will introduce yourself and take it away.
STATEMENT OF KHALIL RUSHDAN, SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM MANAGER,
ARIZONA FAITH NETWORK, PHOENIX AZ
Mr. Rushdan. Good morning. My name is Khalil Rushdan and I
am the Programs Manager with the Arizona Faith Network. First
off, let me thank you, Congressman O'Halleran, for inviting us
to join you today, and then the rest of the Committee for
hearing us out.
We'll be talking about food insecurities and justice
reform.
The Arizona Faith Network's mission focus is criminal
justice reform, and then our Social Justice Committee has
worked with the Association of Food Banks and other partners to
eliminate the SNAP drug felon ban here in Arizona. As you know,
in 1996, Congress imposed lifetime bans for individuals
convicted of a drug felony from receiving food stamps or cash
assistance. In 2017, Arizona state legislators partially
repealed the ban, allowing people to participate in specific
drug treatment programs and agreed to random testing. If they
did that they would be considered for SNAP benefits.
Today, I want to ask you to fully repeal the ban
nationwide. It undermines efforts by individuals striving to
transition successfully into their communities and provide for
their families. People reentering society face significant
barriers already to employment, housing, health, and more. My
colleague, David Sheppard, will get into the impacts of people
who can't get access to SNAP.
But I can speak directly to the hardships also and can
share that there are a lot of people who are not able to buy
food. Making food more accessible by reinstating SNAP
eligibility not only addresses basic needs, it supports
individuals' overall capacity to succeed.
Even in ordinary times, formerly incarcerated people are
confronted with too many legal barriers and other
disqualifications as a result of their criminal record, and are
far more likely to experience unemployment because of a
criminal record. According to data released by the Bureau of
Justice Statistics earlier this year, jobless rates among
formerly incarcerated people have not improved as the economy
had begun to recover.
It is important to note that, on paper, asking people with
prior drug convictions to participate in treatment programs may
seem egregious, if, of course, you overlook the fact that they
have already paid their debt to society and should have their
rights fully restored.
In reality, drug treatment and drug testing are a huge
burden on people's time, money, and other resources. Going to
rehab and IOP costs money. Leaving your job to drug test costs
money. It requires transportation. It requires a job that will
let you leave early just to go take those tests, and sometimes
employers are not as lenient.
So with that being said, police and drug law enforcement
activity is typically concentrated in low-income communities of
color, resulting in higher drug-related convictions and
incarceration rates among Black and brown people as well as the
disproportionate impact of policies such a lifetime ban on SNAP
and other assistance. African American adults are five times
more likely to be incarcerated, and Latinos are one to three
more times likely to be incarcerated.
Here in Arizona there has been an increase with women being
incarcerated, but with that being said, we want you, as
Congress, to federally eliminate the ban, to make SNAP
accessible to people reentering the community after prison,
which would arguably take time. It would really assist them, so
thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your comments.
Please step up to the microphone.
STATEMENT OF TRISTIN KITCH, NATIVE AMERICAN
PROGRAMS COORDINATOR, VISTA, ARIZONA FOOD BANK NETWORK, PHOENIX
AZ
Mr. Kitch. Hello, everyone. My name is Tristin Kitch, and I
am also with the Arizona Food Bank Network. I would be remiss
if I didn't mention that I also have some Illinois roots. I
attended the University of Chicago, and I graduated in 2019,
and like many other people from the Midwest I am now in
Arizona.
Mrs. Bustos. Boo. I didn't like that part of it. I liked
the Illinois roots.
Mr. O'Halleran. Good job.
Mrs. Bustos. Well, it's good to have you here this morning.
Mr. Kitch. Thank you. As you heard from our CEO, Ms. Angie
Rodgers, earlier, our organization is a statewide coalition of
food banks with a vision of ending hunger in Arizona. We also
work with a number of community-driven coalitions and Tribes
around the state to address food security and food sovereignty.
I am grateful to be able to speak to all of you today about the
impact of the farm bill and Federal nutrition programs on
Arizona's Tribal communities.
We would like to pass on information that we have learned
through our work with Tribes and through conversations we have
had with program managers for the Food Distribution Program on
Indian Reservations. According to a 2021 survey by the Food
Research and Action Center and the Native American Agriculture
Fund, 49 percent of Native Americans faced food insecurity
during 2021. That is five times higher than the food insecurity
rate faced by the general U.S. population. In addition, many
Tribal communities are located an hour or more away from the
nearest grocery store, and many Tribal members lack
transportation that is required to get there.
On top of that, according to a 2018 First Nations
Development Institute report, staple items at reservation
grocery stores are over $1.00 more expensive per unit than the
same foods are at off-reservation grocery stores.
These factors mean that a SNAP dollar does not go as far to
provide nutrition assistance in reservation communities as a
SNAP dollar does in urban communities. Additional support is
needed to make sure the reservation communities receive the
same Federal nutrition support as urban communities.
Based on those conditions, it is critical for Tribal
members to have as many options as possible to access healthy
foods. Allowing individuals to dual enroll in both SNAP and the
Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations would go a
long way to effectively address the high levels of food
insecurity in Tribal communities.
Additionally, the managers of the FDPIR program that we
have spoken with are almost universally interested in being
able to buy food from local food producers and to provide those
to their clients. This supports Tribal growers and contributes
to local economy. You may know that Arizona has more Native
American farmers than any state in the country. Buying local
enhances Tribes' ability to purchase healthy ancestral and
traditional foods that help combat diabetes and other health
programs in Tribal communities.
Currently, only 8 out of the 276 Tribes benefitting from
the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations are able
to purchase local foods as part of their program. This was
authorized during the 2018 Farm Bill. Expanding this program to
all Tribes using FDPIR program and eliminating the matching
requirement will improve food access and health in reservation
communities around the country, contribute to Tribal economies,
and promote Tribal sovereignty.
Thank you all for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF DAVID SHEPPARD, LAVEEN, AZ; ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA
FAITH NETWORK
Mr. Sheppard. My name is David Sheppard and I don't know
about farming or agriculture except that being born in 1944 in
a small town in Texas I remember moving to a smaller town, in
Shiloh, Texas, where we didn't have to worry about electricity
or none of that type of stuff. We didn't have it and we didn't
have a job because we drew water from the well and my
grandparents and my parents did all the farming. They raised
everything that we had, including the chickens, everything.
So I moved to Arizona, though, in 1958, and the next thing
that I learned about farming was at Arizona State Prison, in
1964, because at that time we raised everything. We did all the
farming. We picked the peas, the corn. We did everything, the
slaughterhouses and all.
So I did all of that time, and then this college right
here, in 1968, I started in Florence and got 29 credits toward
my degree. I made the dean's list and honor roll and all that
stuff.
I talk a lot about me because of the experience that I have
had just in Arizona, coming from a segregated state to an
integrated one. The only thing that was integrated in Arizona
at the time was the Maricopa County Jail. I mean, that was
segregated, the jail was. But anyway, being in prison and
coming out, I have been out of prison now like 40+ years. And
what I have noticed since I have been out is I have worked with
people that were in prison. I have worked with people that
needed their rights restored. I have worked with people that
the barriers that people been going to prison has been a thing
that has damaged us a lot.
I was in prison with people that was doing life, and I
didn't realize that coming out of prison I would have to do
life. But coming out of prison I had to do life also because of
all the barriers--housing, employment, and now food. Food
should be accessible to everybody. It does not matter what the
situation is. And even getting off parole or getting all that
stuff in order to get it back I think is not the best way to
go.
I now work down at CASS. I don't work at CASS but I work
down at that shelter. I am a freedom navigator, so I help
veterans now that have been to prison get jobs, and I try to
help them with housing and stuff like that. But my biggest
problem is this whole thing about the SNAP program. I remember
when food stamps were just a paper thing, a little dollar sign
on paper and stuff like that. But I see people, and I work with
people every day that food is a basic necessity. Some of the
things are not necessary. Food is. And when you start to
eliminate things, access at getting food because I have been
convicting of something--I got my rights restored in 1985, so I
don't have to worry about that particularly. But to do that, I
think, is not the best way to go.
I think that Congress and however this whole--politics is
something I don't know a lot about either, but I know that the
SNAP program is necessary. Food is necessary for those people.
When people come out of prison they still have families. They
come out and they want to start over again, so they want to
raise their families in an environment that allows them to not
go back. Food stamps can help that family also.
It is very difficult to get jobs for people, for felons.
Like I said, I don't know a lot about politics, but the first
time I got out of prison in 1967, it was easy to get a job.
People didn't even seem to discriminate as much as they do now.
Of course, with the crime rate and all this stuff, now it's
like that.
But I'm just saying that people need to understand that
food is one of the things that should not be touched. Access to
it should not be touched, because a lot of that is going to
cause people to go back. Sometimes after being out this long, I
mean, when my back is up against the wall, I think about how I
used to survive, and now I don't do that no more. I don't act
on it. Food stamps also could do a lot for keeping people from
going back to where they were before.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Mr. Sheppard.
STATEMENT OF KENNETH STEEL, HEALTHY COMMUNITIES PROGRAM
MANAGER, PINNACLE PREVENTION, CHANDLER, AZ
Mr. Steel. Hi. Thank you, Madam Chair, Representatives, and
staff as well. My name is Kenneth Steel. I am the Healthy
Communities Programs Manager at Pinnacle Prevention. We are a
nonprofit based in Chandler, Arizona, but we do serve the
entire state, and we are working to cultivate a just food
system and opportunities for joyful movement for all Arizonans.
In doing so, we have been administrating USDA nutrition-related
programs for over 5 years, and we also convened the Arizona
Food Systems Network, which is a broad community of advocates,
practitioners, and leaders all across the state.
In my comments this morning I would like to share some
brief recommendations around the Gus Schumacher Nutrition
Incentive Program, or GusNIP, and then the Senior Farmers'
Market Nutrition Program, and also Climate-Smart Foodways.
GusNIP, which is the farm bill's SNAP fruit and vegetable
incentive program, which is known here in Arizona as the
Double-Up Food Bucks Program, has had an amazing impact on
nutrition security and farmer livelihood in our state's urban,
rural, and Tribal areas. We want to ensure that funding
continues for GusNIP while also reinforcing reduced or
eliminated match requirements, just to make implementation and
expansion of the program in an equitable way more possible.
There is so much more room to grow with this impactful
program, both in our state and across the nation. In our
efforts to expand the program here, especially to grocery
stores and to corner stores, smaller Arizona-grown stores, we
have also recognized the need for infrastructure enhancements.
So we propose the inclusion of additional set-aside funding
under GUSNIP for infrastructure. That would help stores with
their technology and point-of-sale enhancements. It would help
with their cooling and refrigeration options. And even farmers'
market sites are also in need of constant infrastructure to
support the comfort of their customers and the quality of their
products. Today is Saturday. A lot of farmers' markets in
Arizona need shade structures, misters, other refrigeration
elements as well.
With Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, currently
there are a limited number of opportunities for our older
adults and our elders when it comes to nutrition security. But
the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program under the farm
bill is one of those small but mighty programs that really
offers seniors local produce and also serves as an additional
source of revenue for our direct-market farmers, which we are
really focused on supporting.
This SFMNP program is also another touchpoint for our
seniors that continue to be isolated, and so we would love to
encourage Congress to provide increased and permanent baseline
funding for the program and then also to increase the maximum
amount of the seasonal benefit up from $50 per season.
Last, with Climate-Smart Foodways we are all feeling the
threat of the climate crisis here in our state, on farmer and
rancher livelihood and on the viability of agriculture and our
local food sheds. The Food Systems Network has engaged over 150
stakeholders around the state to develop an Arizona Statewide
Food Action Plan and Climate-Smart Foodways rose to the top as
one of the top four priorities.
So with that we would love to see a way to have more
innovation, to give farmers the tools that they need to be able
to expand climate-smart practices. We have a lot of interest
from farmers, from ranchers of all sizes, in soil health, water
efficiency, working with one another, learning from indigenous
farmers and the practices that they have done for generations.
So with that we also fully support what has been proposed
within the Agriculture Resilience Act (H.R. 2803) under the
farm bill, and also see that as an important solution for the
climate crisis.
And with that I will conclude my comments. Thanks so much
for your time and for your attention. Hope to continue the
conversation another time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF DAVID DIERIG, Ph.D., MANAGER AND PLANT BREEDER/
GENETICIST, AGRO OPERATIONS, GUAYULE
RESEARCH FARM, BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS, ELOY, AZ
Dr. Dierig. Good morning. My name is Dave Dierig. I am the
Manager and researcher for Bridgestone Agro Operations at the
Guayule Research Farm down the road in Eloy, Arizona. Over the
past 10 years, Bridgestone has invested over $100 million to
establish a domestic source of natural rubber. We don't have a
domestic source here. This has to be created, and this puts us
at risk.
I am here today with our collaborative partners from the U
of A and the Arizona farming community to describe a
significant opportunity for the Federal Government to help us
achieve this objective. Natural rubber is a key raw material
for many critical industries, including, defense, national
security, transportation, medical supplies, medical devices.
Globally, we use about 1 million metric tons of natural rubber
every year, and we spend billions on the import, so it has a
profound effect on the economy by depending on this foreign
source.
Natural rubber has been classified by the U.S. Government
as a critical material. Synthetic rubber is used, but it just
does not have the same performance and capabilities as natural
rubber does.
The entire world supply of natural rubber comes from one
biological source. It is a rubber true. It is a clonal tree
which makes it more susceptible because of the lack of
diversity to other diseases, and it also comes from one
geographic location, in Southeast Asia. So that is a risk,
because of climate change, labor shortages, and geopolitical
issues, similar to the fertilizer problem. If Taiwan ever got
invaded, what would happen to our supply that comes into the
U.S.?
So this is an opportunity to introduce guayule as a desert-
native, drought-tolerant crop with capabilities that can thrive
on as little as 2 to 2\1/2\ acre-feet of water. So this would
help us alleviate the water crisis that we are facing here. It
is a perennial crop with climate-smart capabilities, such as
sequestering carbon, because the roots are in the ground for a
long period of time, so there would be no-tillage practiced. It
would reduce greenhouse gasses because we are not using as many
chemicals, like pesticides or herbicides on the crop. And less
soil erosion and dust pollution due to less acres that would
have to be fallowed.
Scaling guayule as a domestic rubber source requires
planting hundreds of thousands of farm acres in conjunction
with an expansion of industrial processing capabilities. As the
new farm bill considers many responses from today, this would
address the drought and support growers.
So we are urging several policy options: investment into
water-saving technologies to provide minimal water use without
sacrificing yield; direct support to growers for needed
investment and production; support for scaling commercial
processing facilities to extract the rubber and other co-
products; promote domestic and export market opportunities for
co-products from the resin and bagasse; and then increased
investment into public research to improve rubber yield and
related traits.
Oh, one more thing. If you could get President Biden at the
State of the Union message to say guayule, that would also be
awesome. Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. I will leave that one up to Tom to get taken
care of.
I just want to do a time check. It is just a little bit
before our 1 hour mark into this. We have one hour left. So
take a look at the number of people in line and maybe make your
comments timely as possible so we can get through to everybody.
Sir?
STATEMENT OF ADAM HATLEY, PRODUCER, MESA, AZ; ON BEHALF OF
ARIZONA COTTON GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Mr. Hatley. Thank you, and I will make it brief. My name is
Adam Hatley and apparently I am the first producer of the
afternoon. My family and I farm east of Scottsdale on the Salt
River, Pima, Maricopa Indian community. We have been farming
there since 1976. We lease 3,400 acres, and currently growing
cotton, corn, alfalfa, and organic leafy greens. Today I want
to talk to you mainly about the cotton portion of the farm
bill. I want to speak to you briefly about some issues that are
important to my farming operation.
While cotton prices are stronger than in recent years,
higher input prices and severe supply chain issues have
resulted in significant increases in production costs. Most
producers are expecting a 25 to 40 percent increase in input
costs for 2022, largely due to higher fertilizer, energy, and
pesticide costs. As compared to a year ago, fertilizer prices
have increased by 55 to 120 percent. Supply chain and
logistical challenges have wreaked havoc on our ability to get
necessary inputs and equipment parts while creating major
disruptions in delivering cotton to our customers.
As producers, we must have an effective safety net. This
includes a commodity policy that provides either price or
revenue protection for prolonged periods of low prices and
depressed market conditions, similar to the PLC or ARC-CO that
we currently have. It also must include a strong and fully
accessible suite of crop insurance products that producers can
purchase and tailor to the risk management needs, similar to
STAX.
The Non-Recourse Marketing Assistance Loans Program for
upland cotton remains a cornerstone for farm policy for our
industry, regardless of market conditions. The marketing loan
is important to multiple industry segments to effectively
market cotton and provide cash flow for the producers.
There are important policy considerations for extra-long
staple cotton or Pima cotton, which is grown here in Arizona.
Overall, the ELS cotton competitive program and the ELS loan
program should be maintained with potential enhancements in the
next farm bill.
And I may add, in conclusion, that since this was written 4
days that the cotton prices have dropped 20 in the last 3
days, which compounds the problem that I have already talked
about.
So I appreciate your time. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Adam. Austin had a comment in
response.
Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia. I just want to mention this
because I want everybody in the room to recognize this. I know
we are talking a lot about the food supply, and whether it be
on someone's table who receives it from a food bank or someone
who goes in the grocery store and buys it.
We are in a position right now in our country where 90
percent our food comes from 12 percent of the producers out
there. I am not going to ask you revenue. If you have got 3,400
acres I feel sure it is above the threshold where people want
to stop providing crop insurance subsidies. But I want you to
know, without America's larger farmers we are going to pay a
whole lot more for our groceries, whether it is the food bank
that is buying it to deliver it or whether it is us, as a mom
and dad walking into the grocery store.
And so, again, a number that I think you need to hear, 90
percent of our domestic food supply comes from 12 percent of
the farmers, and those farm families take a tremendous amount
of risk, and I can tell you without crop insurance they would
not have survived some of the past couple of years. And with
the volatility in the commodity markets today and what is
happening with the input costs, I think it is more important
now than ever with protecting our domestic food supply.
So thank you for what you and your family do.
Mr. Hately. We are a family farm. My dad is 87, and he is
semi-retired, so he takes Sundays off. So I appreciate your
comments.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Adam, and thank you to your father
as well.
And just one response to what Austin just said. The name of
our Subcommittee is General Farm Commodities and Risk
Management. That is why it is so important, to the point that
Congressman Scott just made, risk management is critically
important, so this is an important conversation.
STATEMENT OF KIMBERLY L. OGDEN, Ph.D., PROFESSOR AND CHAIR,
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING,
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON, AZ
Dr. Ogden Thank you. Thank you, Congresswoman, for being
here today. I'm Kimberly Ogden. I am a Professor of Chemical
and Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona. And
most people would ask, ``What is a chemical engineer doing
here, talking about the farm bill?'', but many of us are
interested in domestic supplies of bioproducts and biofuels and
using those to replace the traditional petroleum products and
our greenhouse gas footprint.
Also, I have been a member of the Biomass Technical
Advisory Board for USDA at one point, that was funded by the
farm bill.
Today I'm talking to you a little bit because my current
research is funded by NIFA from USDA, and I am working on the
guayule product.
The title of the project is a ``sustainable, bioeconomy for
arid regions,'' and that's what we are really interested in,
and guayule hits all of the checkmarks for a bioeconomy in an
arid region.
As the project director for this, I have to wrangle the 300
people that have participated in the project, everybody from
high school interns to growers, undergraduates and graduate
students, and faculty and extension agents. But what is
important is that I keep everybody focused on the big goal,
which is a sustainable bioeconomy for arid regions.
Guayule is very interesting because you can get so many
products from it, and we want it to be known as a climate-smart
commodity. You can get the natural rubber that was mentioned,
and nature just does a lot better than what us chemical
engineers can do in terms of synthetic rubber. So we need
natural rubber for national security, so all those jet planes
that come down and so forth, they need natural rubber for our
national security.
We get latex from guayule, and I think COVID told us why we
need a lot of latex and gloves. We also get resins. Natural
resins, natural insecticides and pesticides all come from this
one particular plant. And then from the bagasse we can get
things like biofuels, that you can turn into jet fuel, and
things like that. Or we make termite-resistant particle boards.
So it is a very good commodity crop that we would like to
be mentioned in the farm bill, and as was mentioned before, it
takes 30 to 40 percent less water, and in our region, with the
rural growers and the Tribal nations that are getting water
rationing starting like now, it's extremely important for our
region. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF STEFANIE SMALLHOUSE, PRESIDENT, ARIZONA FARM
BUREAU, REDINGTON, AZ
Ms. Smallhouse. Good morning. My name is Stefanie
Smallhouse. I'm President of the Arizona Farm Bureau. My
husband and I farm and ranch. My kids are sixth generation. We
raise beef cattle and have some forage crops, and we grow
cactus on purpose, so we have a cactus nursery. It's hard to
believe you have to do that in Arizona but sometimes you do.
Thank you, Madam Chair, Congressman O'Halleran, and
Congressman Scott. I know having been an advocate for
agriculture for I guess I can say decades now the farm bill is
a heavy lift, and I thank you all for your service on this
Committee and the fact that this is a many-months-long process.
And as you can clearly see, and you know, of course, from the
audience here today, the farm bill touches everyone, not just
farmers, which is what most of the public believes.
I'm going to keep my comments fairly broad and conceptual
with the exception of one specific area of attention.
What we have found, today in agriculture, is that we are in
a totally different world than the 2018 Farm Bill. Lots of
things have changed, which is a challenge for you all and your
Committee and going through and looking at all of those
programs and saying, ``Okay, what needs to be tweaked, what
needs to happen based on where we have been?''
And one of those things is attention to regional
differences. There are a lot of programs within the farm bill
that are one size fits all. The world that we're living in, in
Arizona, right now, with what's being called a mega-drought,
has impacted all commodities, all different sectors, specialty
crops. It has impacted our access to water. It has impacted our
access to feed. It has impacted our commodity prices. And so a
lot of the programs that we have used traditionally to offset
those impacts are looked at, at a national level and not so
much at a regional level.
And so that is something, kind of a broad assessment, that
I think would be very helpful for those programs that are most
used in Arizona is what can we tweak to make them work better
than in the last couple of years, given those regional
differences.
We had a lot of ad hoc programs that came out of the
pandemic, and the market disruptions we had with trade. It's
great to know that the government can bring something to offset
a problem, but then we often end up with unintended
consequences with those ad hoc programs, and that goes back to
those regional differences and access to some of those programs
where there wasn't enough knowledge in who needed the programs.
It created some issues for some of our specialty crop growers
here in Arizona.
We are all well aware of the disruptions that have happened
because of the pandemic, because of drought. Wildfires--we are
obviously seeing a lot more intense wildfires in the Southwest
and in Arizona, and this is impacting a lot of our ranchers and
a lot of our rangeland production. Right now there are very few
programs that I think could be integrated into farm bill
programs to offset the losses that happened during wildfire.
Right now, emergency watershed protection, it is a very slow-
moving program. It is very cumbersome. And a lot of times, here
in Arizona, we get all of this water right after--well, we hope
we get all this water, let me clarify--in our hopes to get
water, it happens right after our wildfire season. And so what
we end up with, we end up with a ton of money and a ton of
resources going into a wildfire but then everybody picks up and
leaves and there's nothing left.
So the conservation title cost list, we need more
flexibility. Right now there are a lot of people canceling
contracts with the NRCS because the cost lists don't match
inflation. So the offset is much more minimal than it was in
the past.
Specifically, I want to talk about creative solutions
within the farm bill. And I know I have reached my time limit;
I'm trying to talk fast. Within ELAP and LIP we are working
with Congressman O'Halleran in looking at a coexistence program
to help our ranchers offset. You heard earlier from a rancher
who sold his ranch because of the Mexican wolf. Congressman
O'Halleran is aware of this program. He is championing it for
us, and we would just appreciate your support in that program.
And I'll end with climate-smart agriculture. It's a big
concern that that will be made a condition of participation
instead of an incentive for participation, and in Arizona a lot
of those techniques that are readily available around the
country are not available here and are not applicable.
Thank you very much.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Stefanie.
STATEMENT OF WILL THELANDER, PARTNER, TEMPE
FARMING CO.; CONTRACT GROWER, BRIDGESTONE
AMERICAS, STANFIELD, AZ
Mr. Thelander. Hi. My name is Will Thelander, a third-
generation Arizona farmer out here in Pinal County. I'm
currently working with Bridgestone and U of A people to bring
guayule out here, so I'm farming and trying to help other
farmers get involved in it.
As they said, guayule is a great product for the arid
region because it only uses 2 to 3 acre-feet of water. What's
important to understand also is it is 2 to 3 acre-feet over the
course of 12 months. So corn we grow out here for cows, it's
120 day corn, so all the water is used in 120 days. Guayule can
spread out the water, better use the rain when we do get in the
monsoon. So it's a really unique crop that could be a
complement to our current products, and if we could get help
moving that along it would be great.
As Dave mentioned, it is a 6 to 10 year crop, so it stays
in the ground longer so you don't need as much tractor work,
you don't need nearly the inputs you do of other things. So
much better for carbon output because you're not running the
tractors. And because the plant stays in the ground for so long
it sequesters the carbon in the ground too, so that is a huge
benefit.
It also helps with wildlife because the plant is out there
for 6 to 10 years. It creates a canopy. Bees, birds--it's a
habitat that's not usually there. Because when you have a corn
crop, you know, we come in, we cut it, and the habitat is gone.
This habitat is there for 6 to 10 years. So that's a good one.
I'll try not to take up too much time because they already kind
of hit on our points.
What could help us is help funding the projects we are
working on with U of A, and then mainly infrastructure because
wells are very expensive to drill. We lost basically all of our
water from the CAP (Central Arizona Project) Colorado River
this year. It's not going to be there next year at all, so we
are all on ground pumps, and they are very expensive to put in.
So those are the types of help we need to bring a new
industry to the Southwest, and like they mentioned, not depend
on Asia for our rubber is a huge strategic benefit to the
country and the Southwest.
Thank you for your time and listening. And I think you guys
are going to be touring our farm later today, so say hi to my
dad for me and tell him to finish those budgets.
Mrs. Bustos. Are you going to be there?
Mr. Thelander. No. I've got to go farm.
[Laughter].
STATEMENT OF JAMES BOYLE, Ph.D., OWNER, CASA GRANDE DAIRY CO.,
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Dr. Boyle. Good afternoon, Congressmen and Congresswoman.
I'm Jim Boyle. I dairy farm at Casa Grande Dairy Company, which
is 5 miles directly south of us here, so welcome to the
neighborhood. We milk 3,500 cows there and farm about 1,000
acres. And I bring that up because what I'm going to be
discussing is a little bit on dairy milk, pricing, which causes
everybody to glaze over.
But the important point is traditionally dairy has had very
hard caps on funding and the size of dairy operations that get
the full funding. In the 2018 Farm Bill, there was a change in
the pricing of Class I milk, which is fluid milk, and it was to
the detriment of dairy producers across the country,
particularly those in markets that sell a lot of fluid milk,
like Arizona. We don't bring milk into Arizona. All of Arizona
milk is produced here in the state, so we have a very large
Class I market.
Because of the pricing change in the 2018 Farm Bill,
Arizona dairy farmers, we suspect, lost about $21 million in
2020, due to just that simple change in the milk pricing
system.
Now you also have to understand there are only 50 of us in
the state. We have large dairies. The West has always had large
dairies. That differs from the Midwest, and that has always
been an issue with dairy policy in D.C., where it's much more
suited to smaller producers in the Midwest and Northeast.
So when the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program
was introduced to rectify that it was capped at 5 million
pounds of milk per year. That's about the equivalent of 220
cows. The average dairy in Arizona has 3,000. We estimate we
lost $21 million because of the Class I mover price. We were
compensated with II.
National Milk Producers and IDFA are working on the next
farm bill to come up with a solution to this problem, but in
the short-term we are asking the House, for Fiscal Year 2023,
to rectify that cap that will allow the dairy farmers to recoup
those losses greater than that 200 cow limit.
In terms of risk management, the 2018 Farm Bill came up
with a really great program, the Dairy Margin Coverage Program.
It's a successful program. It works much better than the
previous ones. But again, it's got that 5 million pound cap,
which really limits its use with larger producers out West. So
when we're looking at that in the next farm bill we would
really ask you to consider raising that. Certainly, it doesn't
have to be unlimited but it should, as every dairy in the
country is growing, not just the West but even the Midwest now
you see 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 cow dairies, that those producers
should be able to take advantage of the risk management
programs that smaller producers do as well.
So thank you.
STATEMENT OF BRIAN E. YERGES, GENERAL MANAGER,
ELECTRICAL DISTRICT NO. 3, MARICOPA, AZ; ON BEHALF OF MARICOPA-
STANFIELD IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE
DISTRICT
Mr. Yerges. Brian Yerges, representing Maricopa-Stanfield
Irrigation and Drainage District. If you hear an accent, it is
true I am from Wisconsin. I grew up in a community of 1,000
people. Rural is my background. I'm happy to be out here,
though, in Arizona.
Whether your perspective is historical drought, climate
change, or maybe even tragedy of the commons, it comes down to
this: we are in a water emergency. Our irrigation district has
65,000 farmable acres. In Pinal County, the ag value is about
$2.4 billion. We lost 70 percent of our CAP water this year and
the remaining 30 percent next year, so we will have no Colorado
River water.
Our supplemental water is groundwater. We've been impacted
by inflation immensely the last few years in terms of getting
materials, supply chain, inflation costs related to our wells
and infrastructure. But we do need to view this as an emergency
situation.
Manufacturing, how much of our country is our manufacturing
in other parts of the world. I don't think we want to outsource
our food and fiber. It's not just food insecurity. It's food
security. And so that's the way we need to view this.
With the loss of the CAP water we're also trying to work
with our neighbors, the Ak-Chin Indian Community. There is
concern with the loss of the Colorado Rover water that
additional groundwater supplies in the Santa Rosa Canal will
impact their water quality. So we are working with them as well
as Congressman O'Halleran. Thank you for your support on
various applications. We've been looking for Federal funding.
But we need to find another way to get water off of the
canal and distribute it through pipelines. We have over 11,000
acres that have no water and many thousands of acres that have
very limited water.
And so we need infrastructure funding for wells and
pipelines. That is the long-term solution. In the short-term,
we need emergency funding for our ag producers. We talk about
crop insurance, and that will certainly be helpful, but we need
crop insurance for an extended period of time as we find
solutions to get the infrastructure to catch up.
So with that I want to thank you for all of your work.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Where would the pipeline come from?
Mr. Yerges. Sure. We have 174 wells within our district,
and so when the system was developed we were using the Santa
Rosa Canal to distribute groundwater and our CAP water. So we
need to find alternatives ways to get the water where it's
needed, so we need an expanded pipeline infrastructure program
to connect wells, drill additional wells, and basically try to
divert water off of the Santa Rosa Canal.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Yerges. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Brian.
STATEMENT OF MAXINE BECKER, J.D., ATTORNEY ADVOCATE, WILDFIRE,
PHOENIX, AZ
Ms. Becker. Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Maxine Becker. I
am an attorney with the statewide antipoverty nonprofit
Wildfire. We work closely with about 60 nonprofits across the
state to help provide SNAP outreach to our folks across the
state who need to know about SNAP and get enrolled. And I'm
here to ask specifically for the farm bill to consider to
reinstate the pandemic level of SNAP benefits for our poorest
citizens.
The average amount of a SNAP benefit per person was $127
per month, and the pandemic relief provided another $92. I
think as our partners at the Food Bank Network said it was
really the first time we had a lot of folks reporting, ``We
actually have enough that we can actually eat.''
And, obviously, as farmers, in a farming community and the
environment, not everything is interrelated. In Arizona we see
poverty. It impacts every part of everyone's life. So we see
that we have a housing crisis, where our rental costs have gone
up almost 30 percent in 1 year.
Our senior homeless numbers have gone up 25 percent in 1
year. It is a silver tsunami of folks that we are seeing that
we can't keep housed, because as rental prices go up their
fixed incomes are not matching it. And we know that our SNAP
program is the best antipoverty program that we have out there
that keeps people just hanging on and fed and can help make the
difference in those rents as they increase.
Unfortunately, Arizona receives the lowest allotment of our
LIHEAP funds. We only have enough money to provide for six
percent of the need that we have.
So every little bit of resources helps our most vulnerable,
people who have disabilities on fixed incomes, our seniors,
and, of course, children. We thank you for considering
reinstatement of that allotment.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Maxine.
All I was going to say is that we are at quarter after, so
we have 45 minutes left. And just take a look at the line. So
please be considerate of those behind you and try to keep your
comments to about 3 minutes. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF JENNI CARDENAS, Ed.D., VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT
SERVICES, CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE,
COOLIDGE, AZ
Dr. Cardenas. My name is Jenni Cardenas, and first I'd like
to thank you for holding this today, the listening session, and
allowing citizens like myself an opportunity to speak and be
heard regarding important topics such as SNAP.
I have lived in this community for the better part of 40
years and have worked both in elementary education and higher
education, where I currently serve as the Vice President of
Student Services here at Central Arizona College. I'm also
happy that our Governing Board President, Evelyn Casuga, is
here with us today as well.
Growing up in Pinal County and working with youth and adult
leaders for more than 2 decades I'm no stranger to the
percentage of students with food insecurity in our education
system. Unfortunately, this is a common challenge, both in
Arizona and across the nation.
CAC, like many other colleges, serves a very diverse
student body. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, food
insecurity significantly impacted our learners. Once the
pandemic began, however, we saw a disproportionate impact on
our largest percentage of students, which are those who are
first-generation and low-income students of color.
In recent years, colleges have focused tremendous efforts
on equity and eliminating barriers to access and success. This
work has been done while maintaining academic rigor and
excellent preparation for our students as they prepare for the
workforce and prepare for universities.
In spite of this work, however, the unprecedented demand
for basic needs such as food over the last couple of years has
left students, in some cases, forced to choose between whether
they are going to eat or whether they decide to go into
education and come to college. We know that college is a key
pathway to economic mobility and well-being and that students
who commit to being full-time college students are both
retained at a much higher rate but also complete at a much
higher rate than those attempting to do so part-time.
The temporary exemption to the college student eligibility
rule for SNAP benefits eliminated the need for countless
students across the country to have to choose between food and
their education or to split their time between working to
juggle college life and working to put food on the table.
Student services leaders across the state join me in
support of permanently expanding SNAP eligibility to college
students, recognizing that attendance in institutions of higher
education is equivalent to work, thus fulfilling the
eligibility requirement.
As one college in the Maricopa Community College District
stated, ``The scope of need has been unreal, but waiving the
requirement has helped our students feed their families.'' We
have seen the tremendous benefit to students this exemption has
provided over the last year. Permanently expanding eligibility
to college students will not only help them to meet the basic
needs of our current students but also expand access to college
for those students who didn't feel like it was an option for
them previously.
Thank you again for providing this opportunity. I
appreciate the time. Thanks.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Jenni.
STATEMENT OF JERRY ROVEY, PARTNER, FLYING R FARMS; PRESIDENT,
ARIZONA COTTON GROWERS ASSOCIATION, BUCKEYE, AZ
Mr. Rovey. Committee Members, my name is Jerry Rovey. I'm
from Buckeye, Arizona. I'm currently the President of the
Arizona Cotton Growers. I farm about 2,500 acres of cotton,
alfalfa, corn, wheat, along with my two sons and their wives in
a family partnership under the name of Flying R Farms. I'm here
to talk about some points about the farm bill that are not in
the program but rather the programs have helped keep us in
business that are outside the farm bill and what that means for
the future.
Since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, there have been
several forms of other ad hoc assistance provided to the
agriculture industry outside of the farm bill. Whether it is
disaster assistance with WHIP, emergency relief programs, the
Market Facilitation Program, or the COVID pandemic relief, two
things are certain: they all were necessary for various reasons
and commodities and they were separate from the farm bill
because the existing policies and programs were not fully
meeting the extraordinary unpredictable needs.
As you well know, producers are also faced with a dramatic
increase in production costs that have weakened traditional
farm policy and crop insurance tools that protect revenue and
yield losses. The sharp increase in costs translate into a
significant decline in the effective safety net offered by the
PLC reference price.
As Congress plans the path toward the 2023 Farm Bill,
additional funding is necessary to address the challenges both
on the farm and throughout the supply chain. The dynamics faced
by the agriculture industry continue to change, evolve, and
become more volatile. With those changes, American farmers need
a farm bill that has the resources to ensure that the American
people and the world have a safe and affordable supply of food
and fiber.
Incidentally, I do have roots in Illinois. My grandparents
came here in 1912 from a little place called Farmersville. You
probably know where that's at.
Mrs. Bustos. But that does go back a few years.
Mr. Rovey. About 110. And my dad's relatives--I guess they
are my second cousins--are still farming back there.
Mrs. Bustos. Good to know. Thanks for sharing.
Mr. Rovey. Thank you for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Jerry. I appreciate it.
STATEMENT OF MAUREEN McCOY, SENIOR LECTURER,
COLLEGE OF HEALTH SOLUTIONS, ARIZONA STATE
UNIVERSITY, PHOENIX, AZ; ON BEHALF OF HIGHER
EDUCATION FOOD SECURITY COALITION
Mrs. McCoy. Hi. Thank you so much for the time today. I'm
Maureen McCoy. I'm here on behalf of the Higher Education Food
Security Coalition in Arizona, which consists of food pantry
leaders in community colleges and universities. And I am going
to echo what my fantastic colleague, Jenni, said. Twenty-five
to 45 percent of our college students are food-insecure. This
is definitely a growing problem that we need to address, and
those SNAP waivers for college students was definitely a big
piece of that. And I also ditto Jenni to continue that.
Additionally, when I'm looking at the walls here and says
``True Learning,'' no student can truly learn if they are
thinking about when their next meal might come and knowing that
it might not. So if we can do something to support that we will
put our students in a much better spot and increase retention.
Some additional ideas. Establish a work group between
Department of Ed and USDA to address college student hunger, as
the numbers are growing. Having one point of contact at each
USDA regional office as an expert on college student SNAP
participation, to help reduce barriers. Providing a method of
direct certification for FAFSA (Free Application for Federal
Student Aid) applicants with a parental contribution below the
SNAP gross income threshold, to set up more students for
success. It is hard enough to get students through FAFSA, so
FAFSA then SNAP are a lot of barriers for students.
Supporting projects connecting SNAP to state financial aid
offices, just making sure that there are those conversations
happening. Allow SNAP employment and training programs that
enroll people in college-based programs that result in
certifications or degrees to use a one-to-one match rate to
draw down Federal funds. Creating a unit that has the sole
function of inviting and timely facilitation of EBT
applications and restaurant meal programs applications from
colleges and universities that are using SNAP EBT on their
campuses for students to purchase food.
Allowing states to waive SNAP stocking requirements at
campus stores would facilitate more certification of on-campus
food retailers to accept EBT. And adding college students to
the list of people who can purchase a prepared hot meal on a
college campus that accepts EBT.
Thank you so much.
Mrs. Bustos. I appreciate you being solutions oriented, so
thank you for those ideas, Ms. McCoy. Sir.
STATEMENT OF PAUL ``PACO'' OLLERTON, OWNER, TIERRA VERDE FARMS;
PAST PRESIDENT, ARIZONA COTTON
GROWERS ASSOCIATION, CASA GRANDE, AZ
Mr. Ollerton. My name is Paul ``Paco'' Ollerton. I'm a
current farmer here, a third-generation farmer, in Pinal
County. And Representative Bustos, just so you know, I think
I've been part of more farm bills than you have. That's how
long I've been around. I'm on my 42nd cotton crop, and past
President of the Arizona Cotton Growers.
Mrs. Bustos. You've got me beat.
Mr. Ollerton. Well, I'm not bragging, okay. But anyway,
thank you for holding this listening session.
Arizona and virtually all parts of the West are suffering
from historic drought conditions. Farmers in our state and
others are not only facing this issue due to Mother Nature but
also due to severely restricted state water allocations as much
of our water is drawn from the Colorado River.
Farmers are always optimistic. Otherwise, we wouldn't be
farmers. I'm optimistic that what we are seeing today will
improve in the future. Unfortunately, the 1-in-4 rule
implemented by USDA's Risk Management Agency dampens that
optimism when it comes to insuring my crops. The 1-in-4 rule
requires a grower to insure, plant, and harvest a crop in 1 out
of the last 4 years to be eligible for prevented plant
insurance. This is extremely problematic due to the current
drought facing the West. The 1-in-4 rule was originally created
for farmland that was never really farmed or farmable due to
being too wet. Unfortunately, it was expanded to include
drought.
We have extremely productive and farmable land, and it has
a long history of being so. If this drought lasts longer than
an arbitrary number chosen by RMA, we will start losing the
coverage unless a change is made at least for our irrigated
crops.
In my personal experience, and I can't remember the
gentleman's name from Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation District,
but I farm in two CAP irrigation districts here in Pinal
County. And in one district I have 45 percent of the allocation
that I had last year. And the way it looks right now is I will
have no water for that farm next year. The other farm, I have
\1/3\ of what I had last year but I do have control of my wells
and there is some groundwater, but I don't have enough water to
farm the whole thing.
The other thing I wanted to mention is I'm the current
Chairman of the Arizona Environmental Quality Ag BMP Program
for Air Quality, and as most of you are probably aware, you are
in Pinal County and we've been declared a serious attainment on
PM10 emissions. And I beg you, please, to keep the
EQIP funding for air quality issues for us, to help us in the
central part.
Water and air are very critical to life, along with food,
and I don't know which one is more important. But we have
expressed our concerns to EPA because everybody wants us to
just throw water. It is not available for our fixes for
PM10 emissions.
Thank you for your time today, and from standing here, you
all have very comfortable shoes on, I noticed. It looks like
you're going to do some walking today. Enjoy my part of the
world, farming, and hopefully you've got lots of water to stay
hydrated.
Thanks again for coming.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Paul. Yes, we do have a lot of
water.
All right. What do we have? Seven left. Thirty minutes to
go. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF ANDREW M. SUGRUE, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF POLICY &
ADVOCACY, ARIZONA CENTER FOR ECONOMIC PROGRESS AND ARIZONA
CHILDREN'S ACTION ALLIANCE
Mr. Sugrue. I'll keep to the limit. Thank you, Members of
Congress. My name is Andrew Sugrue. I am with Children's Action
Alliance, which is an independent voice for Arizona's children
at the capitol and in the community. I'm here today in
partnership with Wildfire and the Arizona Food Bank Network to
report out on the impact that the Title IV provisions of the
farm bill could have. That is nutrition programs.
I just want to start with a couple of statistics. We've
been watching the rate of food insecurity, and complementing
the stories that you've heard from folks all around Arizona, we
have seen some statistics lately that have been pretty
troubling. More than 1 in 10 Arizona families are now
experiencing some level of food insecurity in the past 7 days,
and that is of earlier this month.
And Arizona households have also struggled to afford their
usual expenses. That rate has climbed to 40 percent, and I
regret to inform you that that is the highest that the
household poll survey has recorded in the State of Arizona
since it was used in 2020. Undoubtedly, this rate is higher for
Hispanic and Latino households as well as Black households in
Arizona.
When it comes to anti-hunger programs, specifically SNAP,
we know that hunger is a symptom of poverty and SNAP is one of
the most effective anti-poverty tools available to us.
Congress, through 2020 and 2021, made some really important
changes to SNAP, including boosting the benefit, issuing
emergency allotments, allowing the USDA to waive a lot of the
rules, and a lot of these together helped families through the
pandemic, through their bouts of food insecurity. So we want to
thank you for issuing that and working on that over the course
of the pandemic.
I want to home in on one specific aspect of the farm bill
with regard to SNAP, and that's the 3 month time limit for
individuals on SNAP. As I am sure you are aware, those that are
unemployed, between the ages of 18 and 50, that are working
less than 20 hours a week, in households without children, are
subject to a 3 month time limit for SNAP in cases where they
don't have kids, in over a 36 month period. This is true time
limit. It is not a work requirement. There is no obligation on
the State of Arizona or any other state to assist those that
are subject to the time limit to find a job, so it effectively
cuts off benefits for individuals that are seeking employment.
These are people that could be in really specific situations,
like former foster youth, like folks with mental health issues,
folks that are seasonal workers and the like, and we believe
that this element of the farm bill should be re-examined.
Thank you so much.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Andrew.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT MEDLER, ARIZONA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS MANAGER,
WESTERN GROWERS ASSOCIATION, PHOENIX, AZ
Mr. Medler: Good morning. I'm Robert Medler. I'm with
Western Growers Association. We are a fresh produce association
based out of California. We have members in Arizona, Colorado,
New Mexico primarily, but throughout the western U.S. Our
members grow a little over 50 percent of the fresh produce in
the United States.
Three things we would like to talk to you about today.
First, the labor situation in our industry is critical. Farmers
are not planting and instead are moving production to Mexico
because of the lack of, and high cost of, available farm labor.
As a result, we would like to see the farm bill provide some
assistance. While we know the House of Representatives already
passed a bipartisan immigration bill, which is awaiting Senate
action, we believe this farm bill needs to dramatically spur on
innovation around automating harvest and farm labor in our
sector.
Private companies in the fresh produce industry have taken
it upon themselves to fund research into automation. Western
Growers, as an association, has an innovation where we identify
startup companies working on labor-saving technologies. Our
sector is heavily engaged and highly motivated, but frankly,
the speed of innovation is not fast enough nor is the breadth
of what is being done.
While we have many larger companies working on specific
crops, we want to make sure innovation reaches producers of all
sizes and crops. As a result, we believe that Congress needs to
make a significant commitment to mechanization and automation.
A number of existing programs within the farm bill already do
this work but more needs to be done, significantly more.
Second, and speaking of innovation, we also need to spur on
innovation in crop protection products. As you all know, crop
protection tools are facing serious threats, due to a series of
losses but also, more importantly, changing consumer interests.
Our crops do not have the large number of acres to drive
private-sector research that our friends in the row crop world
do. As a result, many products that we use have been developed
as a secondary use of a row crop product, sometimes 10 years
after development for row crop use, and then research begins to
authorize use of that product for us, which takes years more.
Our community needs more assistance in product development,
both in terms of conventional products but also non-
conventional products, which is where it appears crop
protection is headed. We cannot wait 10, 15, 20 years for new,
non-synthetic crop protection tools. Again, the farm bill has
programs to help assist with that type of research but more
needs to be done.
Finally, I want to highlight the issue of food safety.
Western Growers members are committed to producing the safest
food in the world, but as Members of this Committee know,
farming is not done in hermetically sealed laboratories. As a
result, food safety incidents do happen.
As a result of the Food Safety Modernization Act (Pub. L.
111-353), farms are under increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Additional resources need to be provided to the produce
industry, both in terms of technical expertise to implementing
the resulting regulations but also funding for research and the
new innovations which will make the food supply safer.
Thanks so much for being here. I appreciate the time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF RICARDO MORALES, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER, CHICANOS POR
LA CAUSA, TUCSON, AZ
Mr. Morales. Good morning, Representative Bustos,
Representative Scott, Representative O'Halleran. Thank you for
the invitation. I'm here to talk about the SNAP program. My
name is Ricardo Morales, and I'm here on behalf of Chicanos Por
La Causa.
Following Chicanos Por La Causa's mission of economic and
political empowerment, I'm here today on behalf of my
organization and our President, David Adame, to support the
removal of the 5 year bar that denies critical care and aid to
people who are lawfully present in this country.
In Chicanos Por La Causa, we are committed to protect
immigrant families, and from firsthand I can tell you that we
know the fear of legally permanent residents, DACA recipients,
and victims of crime to apply for SNAP.
Among the Hispanic community we serve there is a wrong
perception that participating in SNAP could affect immigration
status or the chances for becoming a U.S. citizen. We believe
the lift of this ban will restore access to programs like
Medicaid, CHIP, and SNAP for lawfully permanent residents, by
removing the 5 year waiting period and other restrictions to
Federal public benefits.
Thank you for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you for your brevity. Thank you,
Ricardo.
STATEMENT OF MICHELLE ``MJ'' SIMPSON, J.D., STAFF
ATTORNEY, WILLIAM E. MORRIS INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE, PHOENIX, AZ
Ms. Simpson. Good afternoon, Chair Bustos, Ranking Member
Scott, and Congressman O'Halleran. Welcome. You are here in
Arizona in June, so congratulations. Not many people can say
that.
My name is MJ Simpson, and I'm from the William E. Morris
Institute for Justice. The institute focuses on inclusivity and
accessibility to safety net programs for low-income Arizonans
and our most vulnerable population of Arizonans. And I'm
hitting a bit of clean-up here, I think, in that we want to
advocate for lifting the drug felony ban that Mr. Sheppard
talked about today. It is cruel to continue to punish folks who
have done their time and to not have them have access to a
basic human right, which is food.
I'm also here to encourage you to lift the work-study
requirement that was part of the pandemic relief for college
students. There are not many universities or colleges that can
actually satisfy the work requirements for college students
that is required by the SNAP program, and so to continue that
exemption will help bring an end to the starving student trope
and make sure that our college students who are seeking a
better life for themselves are also fed while they do that.
In addition, what was just discussed, lifting the time
limit ban for able-bodied adults without dependents. A 3 month
limitation on, again, the basic human right of food, is cruel,
and we need to re-examine that issue. They are not folks who
are living off of the food stamps. They are trying to work. But
this particular requirement inevitably is actually cruel.
Also, lifting the bar for lawfully present immigrants in
Arizona. A 5 year ban for folks who are here, who are
contributing to society, who are contributing to our economy,
but don't have access to simply human rights and access to food
is something that we need to examine. There was a recent bill
proposed in Congress. We hope that you support that.
Finally, with respect to accessibility and inclusivity, we
would like for you to lift any barriers for access to these
life-sustaining programs by not having technology impede
people's ability to apply for these benefits. For example, many
people have talked about ID.me, which is something that the IRS
was going to implement this year, and almost immediately took
back because it has problems recognizing folks of different
races, it has problems with even people using the technology
and having access to the technology to comply with that
program.
So thank you again for being here. I have to say my only
attachment to Illinois and Georgia, being a native Arizonan, is
watching the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS. So there you
go. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, MJ.
STATEMENT OF DEVON SUAREZ, J.D., PRESIDENT, SUAREZ FORESTRY,
LLC, HEBER, AZ
Mr. Suarez. Hello. Good afternoon. Thank you for holding
this session. My name is Devon Suarez with Suarez Forestry. We
are a logging company out of northern Arizona. We do forest
restoration in the 4FRI footprint.
I want to talk to you about two specific problems that I
see in our industry in northern Arizona. The first one is the
availability of acres that are available for us to treat, and I
believe this puts our ability to treat acres and save forests
in northern Arizona in jeopardy.
It seems that the Forest Service is currently lacking the
capacity or maybe the willpower to issue acres to be under
contract for loggers like us to treat. A quick survey of the
logging industry in northern Arizona, it seems like every
logger only has less than 1 year, or about 1 year of contracts
under contract.
My company specifically works in the Kaibab and Coconino
National Forests, and our section of the industry needs about
13,000 acres per year. Last year, the Forest Service only
released 7,000 acres. We are already at a deficit. If they are
not releasing more, going forward, it puts us further into
deficit, and we have to ask ourselves, how are we going to
catch up?
When 4FRI Phase 2 was rescinded it seems like the Forest
Service didn't take into account the local industry at the
moment. So now the potential bidders of that 4FRI Phase 2, it
seems that instead of needing 13,000 now they have a new
sawmill going into Belmont and we are going to need to add
maybe an additional 5,000. So if we are going to need 18,000
acres next year, going forward, where are these acres coming
from? I think this is very concerning to companies like me.
Another big issue for us is biomass. The Forest Service is
requiring us to remove biomass from these projects where we
don't have a market. So if we are required to remove this, and
we are required to remove this in order to get new contracts,
where do we take this? There is a small market in eastern
Arizona, but it is prohibitively costly for us to take biomass
to this facility.
One last thing. We just experienced the Pipeline Fire in
northern Arizona. My company was obviously at a standstill,
wondering if we were going to be closed out of the forest, if
we were going to be shut down. If they did shut down the forest
it would be like a moment's notice, ``Hey, take you out of the
forest.'' So if we would be able to get your assistance in
finding ways to mitigate this problem. We do have fire
mitigation programs, protocols in our program, so it's not like
we're the general public that we're just out there, starting
wildfires. We are out there trying to save the forest, and we
are subject to these seemingly arbitrary deadlines.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you.
Mr. O'Halleran. Before you leave today, could you talk to
me for a second?
Mr. Suarez. Yes. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF YADI WANG, Ph.D., FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, VERTICAL
RESOLUTIONS; MEMBER, LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, REGENERATE AMERICA,
TUCSON, AZ
Dr. Wang. Hi. My name is Yadi Wang. I'm a first-generation
farmer by heart. After graduating from chemical engineering and
a Ph.D. in watershed management--in fact, my Professor was
right there speaking earlier--people think I'm crazy getting
into farming. But my father-in-law was a sixth-generation
farmer in Indiana, and I learned everything from him, in 2015.
He passed in 2016, in the field, at the age of 59. Everybody
said, ``Early age.'' And I made my lifetime commitment to
farming because it is a respected profession, first of all.
Last week I was able to go to Representative Bustos'
office, talking with USFS, and talking about dripless area
conversation. It is a unique area. And we all know conservation
is all unique location using different practices, but it is all
on the same principle. And growers need help getting more
access to EQIP programs, getting more funding, but not just
more funding but funding that can have deferred loans, that can
have the up-front capital cash flow to implement them. A lot of
growers can't do that because there are a lot of operating
loans and they have to pay the interest over time. So that is
one area that producers across the nation all need help.
I'm here representing Regenerate America, launched last
month, and then by ``Kiss the Ground'' team, which is a movie
on Netflix. If you haven't watched it we encourage you to watch
it. It is talking about soil health across the region, like our
nation. Representative Scott and a dear friend, White Oak
Pastures in Clay County, Georgia, 25 years regenerative
agriculture practice, 100,000 tons of CO2 sinking to
the ground, flood mitigation. There is no flooding situation
after 6" of rain every day. The neighbor has flood and runoff,
and because of the cover crop, because of the roots, those are
holding water that prevents those risk mitigation.
And here in Arizona we have the same situation. When Pinal
County cut water out, those fallow lands, that's where we get a
PM10 issue. If we have cover crops, conservation
cover on the surface, and then we are able to allow them--
there's no dust blowing. Two years ago I went to our farm west
of Gila Bend. There was blowing dust everywhere. I had
windshield brushing because I couldn't see anything. Today we
are 380 acres working land all covered and no dust blowing, and
conserve 350 million gallons of water by growing wheat,
compared to alfalfa in our region. Alfalfa is a big water-
sucker. And we need to find a newer commodity to be able to
solve big issues.
I thank you for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Mr. Wang.
Okay. We are down to three people, 10 minutes.
STATEMENT OF TAMARA DE LEON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RURAL WATER
ASSOCIATION OF ARIZONA, FLAGSTAFF, AZ
Ms. De Leon. I'll be short. Well, I am short.
[Laughter].
Ms. De Leon. My name is Tamara De Leon. I am an
environmental engineer and the Executive Director of Rural
Water Association of Arizona. Thank you so much for the
invitation.
For those who don't know us, we provide technical
assistance and support to small rural water systems all over
Arizona, defining small rural water systems as systems that
serve a population of 10,000 or less.
I want to say that I generally appreciate this conversation
that we are having. I have personally worked with other Federal
and state funding programs, and it is kind of sad to see good
initiatives go to waste just because those who wrote the
programs didn't understand the hurdles or the need of those
that really need that funding. So this is a beautiful
opportunity.
All I can suggest for this Committee is to consider, since
water is kind of an important deal in this conversation,
consider initiatives that promote robust programs for water
loss prevention. The way I see it, it's like taking my car to
the mechanic. I don't want him to look at the transmission
first. I want to check all the O-rings. So water loss
prevention is something that is easy. Our small systems really
don't have the tools or the knowledge on how to do it.
Organizations like ours can help them on that.
So if you are interested we are here to help. We can talk
and see how we can solve or do a little something to change
this. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you so much.
STATEMENT OF NANCY CAYWOOD, COORDINATOR, CAYWOOD FARM TOURS,
CAYWOOD FARMS, CASA GRANDE, AZ
Ms. Caywood. Hi. I want to thank you for being here. I
really appreciate it. My name is Nancy Caywood and I represent
Caywood Farms. We are a 90 year old farm, fifth generation, and
I want to thank you, Representative O'Halleran, because you
came out and visited it, and I hope you enjoyed the cookies.
Anyway, we're concerned about water and infrastructure, and
I've been listening to all of these food and nutrition programs
and about them, and their missions are so important. But we
can't help them accomplish their missions if there are no
farms. So the bottom line is agriculture is freedom, and we
need to sustain our farms. Nutrition does start on the farm.
As we look at infrastructure money, we're with the San
Carlos Irrigation District and we have to pay for 2 acre-feet
of water whether or not it is received. Our rates just went up
$29, and they can't deliver any water. Our canals were shut
down about 3 weeks ago, and we're just not getting any water
delivery whatsoever. So we are drying up. We cannot produce.
We would like for you to consider maybe a provision in the
farm bill to assist farmers that have to pay for water
allocations whether or not if it is received to be paid to the
farmers in order to help subsidize our water costs. Because we
are going to lose it. This is attached to our water and taxes,
and we're afraid we're not going to be farming too much longer.
We know that the Colorado River is getting lower and lower,
and the need for infrastructure money in our system is so
important, because we can't even qualify for other water unless
we have canal lining.
Anyway, once again I want to thank you, and we need to
sustain our farms. We need to preserve our farms. It is so
important. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Nancy. Last but not least.
STATEMENT OF MITCHELL GOODMAN II, PROGRAM MANAGER, FAMILY
ASSISTANCE DIVISION, TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION, SELLS, AZ
Mr. Goodman. Good afternoon. My name is Mitchell Goodman.
I'm from the Tohono O'odham Nation, Florence Village, right
down the road. I work for the Family Assistance Division as a
Program Manager and oversee food distribution program, burial
assistance, general assistance, and LIHEAP relief program for
energy assistance, so pretty much serving those in low-income
or, like you said, the vulnerable population.
I am just coming up to share we are thankful for our
program being 2 hours, 1 hour away from the urban area to get
sustainable food or having food on a consistent basis. We are
thankful for programs. We know that during the pandemic we saw
a lot of the effects with a lot of providers who have passed in
homes, a lot of hardship with not being able to do education
without the infrastructure in place for internet, to do online
schools, doing telemedicine.
We see a lot of our elders and youth and sole-parent
families being affected during this time where food is the
need. They are grateful when they come out to food banks, and
when they do sign up. Right now we have about 400+ regular
applicants, but the need is still out there. People call in. So
there is that barrier of the process as far as acquiring and
being eligible and being able to use electronic means or even
getting right to our area. So we're trying to figure out those
ways to reach the people and get the infrastructure in place
and the resources in place, the funds, to reach our elders and
our youth that are spread out through the nation.
We have 34,000 members, and the nation is the size of
Connecticut, so that is a large area to cover. We have six
staff that are distributing food throughout the nation. And
right there I just want to say if you use the seed as a
metaphor, it's a blessing because it just continues to give
with the right environment and the right support, the seed.
I think back right now it was O'odham New Year, which is
the picking of the baidaj, picking of the saguaro fruit, the
cholla buds. And so we want to get back to being self-
sufficient and resourceful and sustainable by utilizing our
environment. With the right funding and supports ultimately we
won't have to just use processed foods or have the long-term
effects of processed food, the toxins and things like that that
affect our people. So that is the ultimate goal, to be
sustainable, self-sufficient, and have small gardens.
We have the co-ops, San Xavier Farm, but as far as even
implementing our foods into food bank or commodity foods and
having it where each community has their own gardens and can be
self-sufficient and sustainable like that, the environment. We
have mesquite beans. We have cholla buds. We have prickly pear.
All the resources are around us. The grease or the shegoi is a
medicine, the tea. It's all around us. It's just a matter of
the resources to utilize those naturally growing goods and what
our ancestors, all these thousands of years, survived off of,
and how our families continue.
Because I was thinking of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The
basic need has always been food. But with the changing of
times, like they say, the top of the hierarchy is self-
actualization, and with the enterprises and the larger
businesses, I think the ultimate goal is to share, give and
donate, and it trickles down. So I think that right there, with
the family environment, right now we are just able to use what
we have and make it last. Don't live above your means. So I
think that's the ultimate goal and value right there. If you
have it, share it. So hopefully they can see that. That's goal.
So I just wanted to share on that. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much for those
comments.
All right, you guys. We are almost at the hour. I'm going
to let Austin have a couple closing thoughts, then I will share
a few, and then we're going to have your own Congressman close
everything out. Congressman Scott.
Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia. I want to thank you for taking
time to come here on a Saturday. We're going to have a
tremendous number of discussions on the food supply, whether
that be how it gets to the grocery store, how it gets to the
table through food banks or SNAP or other things.
One of the big debates we're going to have is going to be
on hot foods. I will tell you it makes no sense to me that you
can buy a Kit Kat but you can't buy a rotisserie chicken. Some
of the people back home called me the ``food police'' when I
suggested that I do not think we should be allowed to buy candy
bars with our SNAP benefits, not that I don't want a kid to
have a candy bar. But I do think we have a serious problem with
obesity in this country, and I think that we can do a better
job by implementing not exactly what we have with WIC but
systems that encourage the purchasing of more nutritional foods
than we currently have.
Dr. Wang, I wish you the best success, and if you are able
to do like the gentleman with White Oaks Farms has done, you
will create a niche market and you'll make a lot of money doing
that.
Dr. Wang. [Inaudible].
Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia. Fair enough. But I do want to
say this. If you go to his website, a pound of chicken is
$25.59 for one pound of boneless chicken breast. We, in this
country, 99 percent of Americans, including the one that's
talking right now, can't afford to pay $25 a pound for chicken
breasts. He has done a wonderful job building a business around
a niche market in agriculture, and there are a few people that
can pay $25 a pound for chicken. But Americans, as a whole,
want to be able to walk into a store and pay $5 to $7 for a
whole rotisserie chicken. I know in my family we do.
So I do think we have to be very careful about making sure
that when we talk about the food supply that we don't do things
that create a scenario under which it's not affordable for the
average Americans.
Again, 90 percent of the food supply comes from 12 percent
of the farms, and as we engage in the farm bill understand that
it's somewhat of a game of sudoku. If you spend more money in
one area that means there's less for another area, and finding
that balance is a pretty tough job.
So thanks for being here and sharing your thoughts, and I
look forward to working with you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Congressman Scott, for those
closing comments.
I just want to also say thank you to everybody for taking
your time to come out here. Again, you're making history here.
This is our first listening session. It's incredibly important.
I look at everything from drought, labor issues, mechanization,
automation, logs, first-generation farming, soil health, rural
water systems, the rubber crop. I'm not using the right word on
that but I'm very excited to learn more about that today. We're
going to tour. But incredibly healthy, food insecurity. This is
very, very helpful to us as we take a look at the 2023 Farm
Bill.
So I want to say thank you to everybody. I also want to
reiterate my thanks to Central Arizona College for hosting us.
Again, a beautiful location here. If we can have a round of
applause very quickly for the college for being such great
hosts.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. I want to thank the police force for making
sure that everything went smoothly. Thank you so much to our
police officers who are here today.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. And Congressman O'Halleran, thank you for
inviting us to your district. We have a couple of tours that
we're going to take before we go home. I think Congressman
Scott is going to take the redeye. So we're going to be working
pretty hard. I'm going to fly out first thing in the morning.
But, I very much look forward to learning a little bit more
about what is grown here in Arizona. Because if you're from
Illinois or if you're from Georgia, this is also a learning
experience for us.
So with that let me turn it over to your hometown
Congressman, Tom O'Halleran.
Mr. O'Halleran. Well, I want to thank everybody for being
here today also. It's a great thing to come out here and listen
to you. Now we just have to do. Stop the listening, O'Halleran,
and start doing.
Chris, you started out when you talked about it's got to be
faster, basically. We have to work faster at this stuff. We
can't wait to bring a bill forward and an idea forward and a
concept forward and then, 5 years later, still be bickering
back and forth on how do we accomplish the ultimate goal of
addressing public policy in a meaningful way. So that's one of
the messages that I heard very loud and clear, a few times here
today.
Education. We are short of people in our workforce across
the entire spectrum, and what we do know, and we should
correlate to much more, is that when we have students out there
that have to quit college because they have to go out and find
a job because they aren't getting fed enough, or they can't
afford housing and stuff, that is counterproductive to the
overall goal and objective of getting the type of labor force
that's competitive, not only here in our country but around the
world, because that is where our adversaries are at.
And I've got just something.
Mrs. Bustos. Well, if you'll just read this.
Mr. O'Halleran. I'm going to read that for you.
Mrs. Bustos. When you're done.
Mr. O'Halleran. I'm going to remind this Illinoisan that
this district is larger than the State of Illinois.
Mrs. Bustos. Really?
Mr. O'Halleran. Yes, by 2,000\2\ miles. And you know the
gentleman I have a debate with all the time, Culbertson, back
in Illinois.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes, I do.
Mr. O'Halleran. And I also would like to say to Mr. Scott
here that it was a pleasure talking to him on the plane a
little bit last night, but he noted that it's a long plane ride
out here. He's glad his is an hour and a half and mine is 5 and
a half.
But let's get back to this. We listened. You hold us to it,
and that's the bottom line. We have to understand that we have
to turn things over faster. It's been a frustration of mine,
I'm sure yours also, both of you. You know, you come from a
business background or a background that's structured very
purposely to get things done, and then you go to Congress and
you find this wave of ``Oh, we're interested,'' and ``Nope, I
guess we're not.'' ``We're interested.'' ``Nope.'' Because
other issues come around.
We just have to get more done faster. This is the
environment of our country. When you hear authority, integrity,
and leaders from around the world saying, ``We can just do it
faster. Just stick with us,'' we have to change.
So this is why these listening sessions are so critically
important. We aren't going to be able to change unless the
people of America voice their concerns and push us harder and
faster and being able to address the real issues that are
affecting you, day in and day out, and make that a priority.
So with that I really want to thank you. She is persistent,
isn't she? That's why she's Chair.
For those who didn't want to make their comments publicly
the Agriculture Committee will be rolling the opportunity for
farmers, ranchers, consumers, and taxpayers to share their
thoughts on the various farm bill programs.
That was a reading test, by the way, for her.
Madam Chair, thank you very much. Thanks for being here.
Mrs. Bustos. Thanks, everybody. I appreciate it.
[Applause].
(Thereupon, the listening session was adjourned at 1:05
p.m., M.D.T.)
[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
Supplementary Material
the listening session in coolidge, az: a visual retrospective *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseagdems/sets/72177720300093273/
Hon. Austin Scott, a Representative in Congress from Georgia;
Hon. Cheri Bustos, a Representative in Congress from Illinois;
Hon. Tom O'Halleran, a Representative in Congress from Arizona
Kimber Lanning, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Local
First Arizona/Rural Development Council
Angie Rodgers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Arizona
Food Bank Network
Carl Aune, Ducks Unlimited
Chris Udall, Executive Director, Agribusiness and Water
Council of Arizona
Khalil Rushdan, Social Justice Program Manager, Arizona Faith
Network
Tristin Kitch, Native American Programs Coordinator, VISTA,
Arizona Food Bank Network
David Sheppard, Laveen, AZ; on behalf of Arizona Faith
Network
Kenneth Steel, Healthy Communities Program Manager, Pinnacle
Prevention
David Dierig, Ph.D., Manager and Plant Breeder/Geneticist,
Agro Operations, Guayule Research Farm, Bridgestone Americas
Adam Hatley, producer, Mesa, AZ; on behalf of Arizona Cotton
Growers Association
Kimberly L. Ogden, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of
Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona
Stefanie Smallhouse, President, Arizona Farm Bureau
Will Thelander, Partner, Tempe Farming Co.; Contract Grower,
Bridgestone Americas
James Boyle, Ph.D., Owner, Casa Grande Dairy Co.
Brian E. Yerges, General Manager, Electrical District No. 3;
on behalf of Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage
District
Maxine Becker, J.D., Attorney Advocate, Wildfire
Jenni Cardenas, Ed.D., Vice President of Student Services,
Central Arizona College
Jerry Rovey, Partner, Flying R Farms; President, Arizona
Cotton Growers Association
Maureen McCoy, Senior Lecturer, College of Health Solutions,
Arizona State University; on behalf of Higher Education Food
Security Coalition
Paul ``Paco'' Ollerton, Owner, Tierra Verde Farms; past
President, Arizona Cotton Growers Association
Andrew M. Sugrue, Assistant Director of Policy & Advocacy,
Arizona Center for Economic Progress and Arizona Children's
Action Alliance
Robert Medler, Arizona Government Affairs Manager, Western
Growers Association
Ricardo Morales, Community Organizer, Chicanos Por La Causa
Michelle ``MJ'' Simpson, J.D., Staff Attorney, William E.
Morris Institute for Justice
Devon Suarez, J.D., President, Suarez Forestry, LLC
Yadi Wang, Ph.D., Founder and President, Vertical
Resolutions; Member, Leadership Council, Regenerate America
Tamara De Leon, Executive Director, Rural Water Association
of Arizona
Nancy Caywood, Coordinator, Caywood Farm Tours, Caywood Farms
Mitchell Goodman II, Program Manager, Family Assistance
Division, Tohono O'odham Nation
Hon. Austin Scott, a Representative in Congress from Georgia;
Hon. Cheri Bustos, a Representative in Congress from Illinois;
Hon. Tom O'Halleran, a Representative in Congress from Arizona
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
(PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD)
----------
THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2022
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Fresno, CA.
The Committee met at 10:00 a.m., P.D.T., at California
State University, Fresno, 5241 N. Maple Ave., Fresno, CA, Hon.
Jim Costa presiding.
Member present: Representative Costa.
Staff present: Daniel Feingold, Paul Babbitt, Victoria
Maloch, Faisal Siddiqui, Lisa Shelton.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JIM COSTA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM CALIFORNIA
Mr. Costa. Good morning, everybody. I think we've got a
good group of folks this morning, and we've got an ambitious
schedule to have a listening session as it relates to the
reauthorization of the 2023 Farm Bill that the Congress will
take action on next year in the next Congress. But in the
meantime, we are having listening sessions throughout the
country.
And as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock and
Foreign Agriculture, I absolutely indicated that we had to have
a listening session here in California, and I couldn't think of
any better place than at my alma mater here at Fresno State. Go
Dogs; right? So part of the Mountain West but who knows? Maybe
part of the PAC-10, soon to be. So I'm putting a plug in there.
But we're glad to have representatives from throughout the
valley here, and I'll go into more detail about that. But I
would be remiss if we did not begin by giving an opportunity
for the President of our university here, Fresno State, to
welcome us all at the campus and the important work that this
campus does. And I want to brag a little bit.
It's one of the premier universities, I think, in the West.
Certainly, the Ag School is absolutely well-known for all of
the academic products that it produces. We're on 2,000 acres.
People forget the farm is right here, and not only the efforts
with the dairy and the viticulture but the specialty crops, the
ag science, the ag business, all of that is an important
reflection of the number one agricultural state in the nation.
So it's fitting and appropriate that we do it here at the
university. President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval, my friend, the
ninth President of Fresno State University. Think about it.
Founded in 1911, and there have been nine Presidents of the
University of California at Fresno State. So we're very proud
of that fact.
The President will go on to talk about all the other
incredible things, the Kremen School of Education providing
master's programs, that Sid and Jenny Craig School of Business,
the Engineering School. The list goes on and on and on: 25,000
students, of which over 70 percent are the first in their
family to go to a university. Think about that. This university
is doing what it's supposed to do here in our Valley and in
California, and we're so proud of it.
So without further ado, let's give a warm welcome, and he
will give us a great greeting. The President of Fresno State
University, home of the Bulldogs, President Dr. Saul Jimenez-
Sandoval. President. Mr. President.
STATEMENT OF SAUL JIMENEZ-SANDOVAL, Ph.D., PRESIDENT,
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO, FRESNO, CA
Dr. Jimenez-Sandoval. Thank you so much. Thank you very
much for that, and it's great to welcome you all to Fresno
State. Fresno State, as Congressman Costa said, is the premier
university not only in the region but also in the West. And I
want to thank and recognize Congressman Costa for his
leadership on issues that are so important to our agricultural
community as well.
As somebody who grew up on a farm and as somebody who has
really a strong pulse of what's happening with agriculture in
the region, this is an especially important meeting for me
because agriculture in our Central Valley is the backbone of
our economy. Think about it: 60 percent of everything we do
economically here in the Valley is based on agriculture, and
the other 40 percent is directly tied to that 60 percent.
So with that, this is the type of forum that we need in
order to really press the issues of water and labor that are so
pressing to our farmers today, but not only to our farmers but
also to our community as well.
Food supply of California is now, of course, a national
security issue, which, of course, is going to become also an
international security issue. So more and more, the Central
Valley is going to take a premier central role in what the
future of California is going to become. We represent one
percent, one percent of ag land in the U.S., and yet we produce
25 percent of all agricultural products. That's it right there.
But the other counterpart to that, of course, is that by
the year 2050, we will be nine billion people in the world, and
we will have to produce 60 percent more food--60 percent more
food. That's quite a challenge for us. And the challenge then
is exactly what we need to take on right now.
This is our time. This is our moment in order to become
aware of the value that the Central Valley provides not only to
ourselves, to California, to the United States, but to the
world as well. It's ours. This is our value, and that value, of
course, comes with a price.
The price then needs to be, again, those two main issues of
water and labor. How do we resolve this issue then? We resolve
it by better engineering. With better engineering on the farm,
we get better products. We get more production on the farm. But
at the same time, we also need better laws. We also need better
legislation. We also need better policy that speaks to the
reality of the farm and of the community. It's the community at
the end that's at the stake of all of this.
With this in mind, then, the Central Valley is crucial I'm
going to say not only to the region but to California and to
the United States. It's crucial to the future of California.
There is no California without the Central Valley, and there is
no California without the ag of the Central Valley.
As a premier university, like the Congressman said, in the
top agricultural region in the world, we are the most
productive region in the entire world. What we have here is
something so unique, so unique. You see other parts of the
world. There are small farmers who are trying to produce, but
they just don't quite do it because we have an incredible
history of agriculture here, an incredible knowledge of
agriculture here.
Within this then, the repetition of Fresno State for
applied research on agriculture and water are uniquely
positioned to lead in strategies that directly address the
issues facing our farmers. And again, this has to do with these
two pillars that I'm going to present to you today. On the one
hand, it's engineering. Better engineering in the farm means
more production in the farm. And on the other hand, we have to
speak about policy, of course.
So with that, it's my honor then to welcome you to Fresno
State. It is my honor now to give the forum to Congressman
Costa. Thank you very much.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you very much. We've just heard from
the big dog, home of the Fresno State Bulldogs, and President
Saul, you are doing a terrific job and thank you very much for
the leadership you provide for our university and all the
schools contained within the university campus.
And we obviously have a partnership and a friendship that
speaks well of the President and he gives me directions and we
were very proud Tuesday with Secretary Jenny Moffitt to
announce a $20 million grant to the university to deal with
dairy sustainability. And so, it's a good fit with the
university, and it was good news to have her out here because
she's no stranger here.
And Karen Ross wanted to be here, and I think she's got
someone from the Food Board here, although I've not seen Don
Cameron here, but I know that he was going to try to be here.
And--but obviously, Karen Ross does a terrific job on behalf of
representing California agriculture and the Governor.
So I want to kind of lay out the rules here so we
understand before I make a few comments on how we're going to
proceed. We began precisely at 10:00, and we will go until
1:00. That is the plan.
On behalf of the House Agriculture Committee Chairman David
Scott from Georgia, I am pleased to chair this official
committee listening session entitled, A 2022 Review of the Farm
Bill: Perspectives from the Field, which all of you represent,
but in my view, setting the table, literally and figuratively,
the table that feeds America for the 2023 Farm Bill
reauthorization.
And I try my level best every day to be a strong advocate
on behalf of not only California but American agriculture
because food, as we all know, is a national security issue, as
President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval indicated.
This listening session will be to hear from you what's
working and what's not working with programs. This is my fourth
farm bill reauthorization since coming to Congress, and I want
to hear and the Committee staff that is here wants to hear
where you think we can make improvements in, in the 2023 Farm
Bill reauthorization.
Obviously, we represent the number one agricultural state
in the nation, almost \1/2\ the nation's fruits and vegetables,
20 percent of the dairy products in America, number one in
citrus production, 70 percent of the world's almonds, 50
percent of the world's pistachios. The list goes on and on and
on with over 300 commodities that we produce here in
California, making us the number one agricultural state, and on
any given year, depending upon prices at the farm gate, it's a
$46 billion to $50 billion a year industry.
But we're going through difficult times, as we know. The
three biggest challenges that we face, of course, are a
reliable supply of water, a reliable supply of labor, and
markets that have been constrained as a result of supply chain
issues that provide a level playing field so that we can trade.
And the farm bill has been modified over decades, but it's
basically a safety net for American agriculture. I--my initials
are J.C. and I wish I could make it rain, but we have extreme
drought conditions and we have parts of our water system that
are just not working right. They're broken.
And we ought to be able to get a bipartisan immigration
reform package, but that's remained elusive as well. And we're
working very closely with the Administration to fix--we're not
there yet but to fix the problems that we have with our ability
to get ships to export our products.
Forty-four percent of California's agriculture is exported,
44 percent roughly. And if we can't get our products on these
ships out of West Coast ports and otherwise, it's not fair
trade.
So these are among the major issues affecting, obviously,
California agriculture but also affecting the entire country.
So the safety net of the farm bill is critical to deal with a
lot of these other related issues.
We have multiple microphones that are set up here that we
will listen from our witnesses. And hopefully, you've all
signed in on your--the cards, the note cards. Hopefully, if you
haven't grabbed one, you'll go over. We have staff there.
You'll grab one, if you'd like to speak. I hope you'll all be
able to speak because I'm here to listen.
The cards ask for a bit of information that will help us
organize the speaking order, and the staff will provide me that
speaking order. And we'll ask you to fill out the note card and
hand it back to the staff as soon as possible. They're going
through them to organize them in speaking order.
And what I'm principally interested in are the 12 titles in
the farm bill. And I see a lot of agriculturalists here, but
they involve commodity programs, including dairy conservation,
Title II, Title III trade, Title IV nutrition programs, and I
see a number of our nutrition advocates who are here and I'm
looking forward to hearing their comments as well.
My constituency, the 16th District, ranks number two. It's
a real contradiction of sorts. One of the largest, wealthiest
agricultural areas in the entire country, therefore the world.
Yet, 24 percent of my constituencies are on SNAP, on food
stamps, working poor, young and old alike, and everyone in
between. So it's an interesting contrast when you think about
it. So nutrition programs are critical.
Credit. Farming's risky as it is, and Commodity Credit
Corporation and providing insurance for us to have a safety net
when prices are down are critical.
Rural development. We've got to do more in rural
development. We are making advances in broadband and other
areas, but more needs to be done.
Title VII research and related matters, land-grants, a lot
of research that's going on. Title VIII forestry. We've seen
the fires that have taken place that have been a result of a
combination of factors, drought, climate change, and the air
quality that I forget what university is outside of California
noted that 2020 and 2021 were the worst air quality years in
California history as a result of the fires.
Now, the good news is, and I've talked with Secretary
Vilsack about this, we're getting additional funding for the
U.S. Forest Service that's under the USDA. And I hope that in
the next 3 years we're going to do a better job in managing our
forests, and I think we've got some people here that want to
talk about that.
Title IX energy, Title X horticulture, Title XI--I'm sorry.
I combined both the commodity credit issue and crop insurance,
but Title XI is crop insurance, and Title XII is miscellaneous.
So we're looking forward to hearing on all of the above of
those areas, but I think it's important that we hear your
thoughts. The information from this listening session will
become a part of the record. It will become a part of the
record for the new farm bill, and as such, we require that you
gather your name and your contact information, and when you
begin your comments, please repeat your name and who you're
representing and your contact.
And we ask this because we're live streaming this. So the
cameras you see here being live-streamed through the
Agriculture Committee's YouTube channel, and it will also be
available for viewing later on.
So as I said, we have enough time to go into 1:00, which
should be, I think, a good conversation. I'm going to try--I
have Alexa Fox here, who's on my staff and has on her portfolio
agriculture, among many other things.
And for everybody who's going to be speaking, I want you to
go through this carefully now. We're going to try to keep it to
3 minutes. Raise the 3 minute sign. There we go. That's 3
minutes. That's your start. Then when you're down to 1 minute,
she'll put this up, and you got 1 minute. And then the last one
will be 10 minutes, and we'll--I mean, 10 seconds. Excuse me.
You probably would like to have 10 minutes, but it'll be 10
seconds. And then we'll try to wind up in an orderly fashion.
So we hope to get through this as effectively and as
efficiently as we possibly can. But, we want to hear about your
interests in the reauthorization of the 2023 Farm Bill. And I
may ask you some questions. I'm known to do that on occasion,
to get a little more detail.
Anyway, let me just--and do we have the order in the first
group that we're going to have? Okay. You have them here? So
why don't we have them come up at this point in time? I think
we've got four chairs here. Do we have four or we have three at
this time?
Okay. Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, please come forward. Kirk
Gilkey, Mark McKean. And were those all of them. Oh, one more.
And Daniel Errotabere. So we'll--oh, Melvin Medeiros. We have
five. Okay. I saw Melvin earlier. Where's Melvin? Oh, okay.
And, Daniel, let's just get another chair. There's a chair over
here. We've got five chairs there or--figure it out. It's not
complicated.
As you're getting seated and getting ready to go, I
probably don't think I need to introduce myself, but I'm Jim
Costa. I'm your Congressman for many of you here in the Valley.
Like many of you, I'm a local guy, local schools, Houghton-
Kearney Elementary, San Joaquin Memorial, and Fresno State. I'm
a third-generation family farmer. That is my primary source of
income, and I'm very proud of that fact. But I don't farm the
way my father did, and my father didn't farm the way his father
did.
And the incredible thing about those of you who put food on
America's dinner table every night is that you understand that
change is constant and change is hard, but change is constant.
And that's why we've been able to remain competitive as the
number one agricultural state.
The Subcommittee that I chair focuses on livestock, dairy,
trade, animal health, and international food assistance. And
with this invasion, this horrific invasion of Russia in
Ukraine, Samantha Powers thinks with the constraints, that we
may see as many as 20 million people this year die of famine in
northern Africa and the Middle East.
And of course, it's--but I was a part of a German Marshall
Fund conference last week, and I said, with regards to food
security, which is what we're concerned about here, this is
just a precursor. If there not--had not been the invasion, we
would still--in the next 10 years, the question of food
stability and the availability with the impacts of climate
change are going to really make a difference as to whether or
not we can feed nine billion people on this planet by the
middle of the century.
We got a little over seven billion. Some perspective: 200
years ago, we had 1.7 billion people. And so, I really believe
with the combination of factors that we're dealing with and the
increased world population, that in the next 10 years, whether
or not nation states can live together amicably is going to
depend upon the availability of us managing the impacts of
climate change and having water to grow our food.
We all know here in the Valley where water flows, food
grows. So we're very interested in the stakeholder focus here,
the programs from nutrition to conservation to rural
development, forestry, and many other issues. So please share
your thoughts.
And this is the second in the listening series. They were
in Arizona, I believe, last week. We thank you for your input.
So let me also introduce Blong Xiong, if you'll stand, please.
He's with the USDA Farm Service Agency. He's the State
Executive Director. Many of us know Blong when he was on the
city council in Fresno. Thank you for being here, and thank you
for your good work as Executive Director for the USDA Farm
Service Agency.
And there may be some other folks that are--have various
roles and titles, and I will introduce you as I recognize you
or someone tells me you're here.
So, without any further ado, I think I've spoken more than
I should have, but I'm really looking forward to hearing the
comments. And so, let us begin with Dan Errotabere here. So
you've got 3 minutes to give us your best thoughts.
STATEMENT OF DANIEL ERROTABERE, MANAGING GENERAL PARTNER,
ERROTABERE RANCHES; MEMBER, BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, WESTLANDS WATER DISTRICT, RIVERDALE, CA
Mr. Errotabere. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to
speak to the--these hearings. I think they're extremely
beneficial. And, Jim, I know you've covered a lot of these
topics over the time, but as we move into this drought, a lot
of things that weren't thought about in the past are certainly
up in front of us now on it and particularly with----
Mr. Costa. Dan, excuse me for a second. Please identify
yourself and who you're representing here this morning.
Mr. Errotabere. Yes. I'm Dan Errotabere. I'm representing
probably a lot of organizations I'm on, but primarily on the
water interests of Westlands and all growers who have these
similar issues.
Mr. Costa. I know you wear multiple hats.
Mr. Errotabere. But no particular one. And so, under the
new farm bill should include new programs for ecosystem
restoration in the West. There is a direct nexus between ag
production and water availability. Ecosystem restoration can
improve the water supplies and water supply reliability.
The current voluntary agreement that has been proposed by
the State of California is a good example of that idea, and we
hope the farm bill will can include funding for these programs
that stretch out not only in the Delta estuary that a lot of
the water projects depend on but also forest management that
is, as we've seen in these large fires, it doesn't become
unknown to a lot of people that, obviously, restoration should
be--or management--forest management that helps not only the
fires but to better yield water into the reservoirs that we all
depend on, and particularly as climate change has become front
and center to our conversation.
And with all the crops that we grow and much of them are
highest percentages of the U.S. supplies and the world
supplies, it makes it more important that agriculture gets
considered as a food security question on it.
SGMA (Sustainable Groundwater Management Act) is on our
doorstep, and it's becoming urgent that more investment in kind
of a long-term certainty of water supplies that supply much of
our crops become the issue on it.
The stress on the family farm is pretty real here. You only
have to look at the changing demographics of farming families
to a lot of them are non-family to tell you that the stress is
fairly high. So I appreciate the opportunity to make comments,
and if you any questions, let me know.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you, Dan, always for your
participation. What are you? Third generation now?
Mr. Errotabere. I am third generation.
Mr. Costa. Yes. And we want to keep the fourth generation
going. And I spoke with Secretary Vilsack about the issue on
the forestry and the impacts not just on the air quality and
the fire but the loss of water. We estimated last year that
because of the growth and lack of management of our forests, we
lost about 700,000 acre feet of water last year, and we could
sure use that this year.
Mr. Errotabere. Well, and I was going to suggest that with
SGMA and flow implication they're talking about maybe fallowing
a million acres just to comply. So it's a pretty big deal.
Mr. Costa. No. It is. It is. But, the good news is in the
USDA's budget under forestry, we've provided about $2.2--$2.3
billion for forest management each year for the next 3 years.
So anyway, now, this is on my time, Alexa. So it's part of the
conversation we're having.
But so, Vilsack understands and I've told him this last
year that we really--we've done a poor job, in my opinion, in
the last couple of decades, it doesn't matter which
Administration, in managing our forests, and we've got to do a
much better job. And we now got some resources to do it, and
we've got a guy from California who's heading the U.S. Forest
Service who's very familiar with the problems we've had here
with fires. So hopefully, we're going to make improvements
there.
Mr. Errotabere. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Next, is another family farming operation that
I've known for many years through my family growing up in the
large metropolitan area called Corcoran. Kirk Gilkey. Kirk.
STATEMENT OF KIRK GILKEY, PRESIDENT, GILKEY FARM, INC.; MEMBER,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, CALIFORNIA COTTON GINNERS AND GROWERS
ASSOCIATION, CORCORAN, CA; ON BEHALF OF NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL
Mr. Gilkey. Good morning, Chairman Costa, again, and good
morning, everyone. My name is Kirk Gilkey, and I'm a third-
generation cotton farmer in Corcoran, California, which is in
the middle of the San Joaquin Valley and about 60 miles
directly south of this location. My grandparents emigrated from
Canada to Corcoran in 1922, and the Gilkey family just
celebrated 100 years of farming in Corcoran.
I want to thank you for holding these hearings, and thank
you for allowing me the opportunity to briefly speak on some
issues that are important to maintaining the viability of my
family farming operation.
I believe that farming is an honorable profession. I
believe farming and agriculture in general should be a valued
industry in California and across the entire United States.
Sometimes, especially in California, I think the value of
agriculture is overlooked.
Farmers are very effective environmentalists as the green
plants and crops that we grow consume carbon dioxide and
produce oxygen every day. The U.S. ag industry is the most
responsible and highest producing farmers in the world.
American producers minimize inputs and maximize yield, leading
to a smaller carbon footprint.
Hopefully, the 2023 Farm Bill will remain strong for all
agriculture, and as I'm here today representing cotton, I'm
hopeful that the 2023 Farm Bill will continue to support all
cotton in the United States, including Extra Long Staple or
Pima cotton.
As producers, as you mentioned, we must have an effective
safety net. This includes all commodity policy that provides
either price or revenue protection for the prolonged periods of
low prices and depressed market conditions. We producers need a
continued Non-Recourse Marketing Assistance Loan to help with
effective marketing and cash flow.
This bill should also include a strong and fully accessible
array of crop insurance products that producers across the
Cotton Belt with different needs can purchase and tailor for
their risk management.
Federally supported prevented planting insurance has been
very important to growers in this area due to the natural and
legislative drought California currently endures. There are
important policy issues for Extra Long Staple, ELS, or Pima
cotton, which is grown mostly in California but also in
Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Overall, ELS cotton competitiveness program and the ELS
loan program should be maintained with potential enhancements
in the next farm bill. The 2018 Farm Bill raised ELS loan rate
from $0.82 per pound to $0.95 per pound. This rate should be
examined and potentially increased in the 2023 bill.
You've heard or will hear about the fact that fuel and
fertilizer have more than doubled in price over the past year,
putting more pressure and adding more challenges to the
American cotton industry, along with all agriculture in the
United States. Maintaining or increasing the ELS loan rate will
help Pima producers face these challenges.
Since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, there have been
several forms of Federal assistance and programs provided to
the agriculture industry outside the farm bill construct.
Whether it was assistance to address weather related crop
disasters as well as price declines due to COVID-19 pandemic or
trade retaliatory measures, two things are certain.
They all were necessary for various regions and
commodities, and they were separate from the farm bill because
the existing 2018 Farm Bill policies and programs were not
fully meeting the extraordinary and unpredictable needs and
challenges faced by U.S. agriculture.
As I mentioned earlier, producers across the Cotton Belt
faced dramatic increases in production costs. These increases
weakened traditional farm policy and crop insurance tools that
protect revenue and against yield losses.
These sharp increases translate into a significant decline
in the effective safety net offered by the Price Loss Coverage
reference price. Considering the big increases in production
input costs, the PLC reference price needs to be evaluated.
As Congress plans the path forward for the 2023 Farm Bill,
additional funding is necessary to address the challenges both
on the farm and throughout the supply chain. With these new
challenges, American farmers need a farm bill that has the
resources to ensure that we remain viable and the American
people and the world have a safe, reliable, responsible, and
affordable supply of food and fiber.
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your time, and I want
to thank you all for listening.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Gilkey. And I was
a little generous on your 3 minutes.
Mr. Gilkey. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. But I think the points are well-taken.
Certainly, this--Russia's invasion in Ukraine has impacted
fertilizer costs, among other input costs that we are seeing.
And, I've seen it in my own bills and stuff. So the input costs
and, of course, the incredible diversity that we have here in
California. Again, I remember when back in the 1990s, we had I
think at the height 1.4 million acres of cotton in California.
And today it's, I think, something around 170,000, plus or
minus. It's less than 200,000. 150,000.
Mr. Gilkey. Yes, 125,000.
Mr. Costa. Yes. Well, it takes water to grow cotton, and
obviously, that's been the challenge. But the Pima--I mean,
different from the Kayla that we used to grow years ago and now
we have organic cotton being grown, and so, again, change is
constant. And for all of you on your testimony--and we do want
to try to keep it to 3 minutes, if you can submit the written
testimony, and we will use that as well as we're setting the
table.
And I intend to have separate conversations with the
communities here that are representing the different interests
and the different farm bill titles over the course of the next
5, 6 months so that when next year comes around, we're
prepared, and I can do my very best job to represent all of
your interests as we go forward.
Another family. What are you? Third, fourth generation,
Mark McKean.
Mr. McKean. Third.
Mr. Costa. I remember your father well, but please begin
with your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MARK McKEAN, OWNER, McKEAN FARMS, RIVERDALE, CA;
ON BEHALF OF NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL
Mr. McKean. Thank you, Congressman. I'm a third-generation
farmer. I farm in southwestern Fresno County with my wife and
two sons. We farm quite an array of different crops there and
both permanent and row crops.
Thank you for holding this listening session. California
and virtually all parts of the West are suffering from historic
drought conditions, as you have mentioned. Farmers in our state
and others are not only facing this issue due to Mother Nature
but also due to severely restricted state and Federal water
allocations.
Couple this together with Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act, and productive farmland is being fallowed. We
are fallowing land on our own farm. This year we will receive
between zero and a ten percent allocation of water on our
different farms.
Farmers are always optimistic. Otherwise, they wouldn't be
farmers. I am optimistic that what we are seeing today will
improve in the future. Moving forward it is critical that
prevented plant coverage is maintained in crop insurance. We
will also need additional flexibility with prevent plant. The
current 1-in-4 rule implemented by USDA's Risk Management
Agency in regards to prevent plant dampens that optimism when
it comes to insuring crops.
The 1-in-4 rule requires a grower to ensure plant and
harvest a crop in 1 out of the last 4 years to be eligible for
prevented plant insurance. This is extremely problematic due to
the current drought facing the West. The 1-in-4 was originally
created for farmland that was never really farmed or farmable
due to being too wet. Unfortunately, this rule was expanded to
include drought.
We have extremely productive farmland, and it has a long
history of being so. If this drought lasts longer than the
arbitrary number chosen by RMA, we will start losing this
coverage unless a change is made at least for our irrigated
crops.
I have two more specific issues I wanted to talk about.
Under the EQIP, SWEEP (State Water Efficiency and Enhancement
Program), and other programs, growers cannot start construction
or implementation of a project or practice until notified by
NRCS that the project is funded. Many times this notice is
months, if not years in the coming. Producers simply cannot
wait that long for a decision.
I ask that the producers need only to complete the
application before starting the project or practice. This would
allow for the orderly progression of projects and not hold
producers hostage as they try to continue their farming
operations.
I realize the port issue is not a farm bill issue, per se,
however, an important issue to many other commodities. Although
there is some improvement, exporting commodities is still an
issue. We don't need promises here. We need direct action that
solves the problem. And I want to thank you for being here
today, Congressman.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you very much, Mark, and your
testimony is well taken. The issue with the problems as it
relates to the qualification standards, I will look at that
with regards to RMA. That's important that we take that into
account.
And I raised the issue with USDA on the coverage on the
2020 fire disaster. They included it in 2021 but not in 2020,
and I think when you look at the histories that we've had of
fires during the last 4 years, you need to go back at least
until 2020. So a lot of these issues are regional, and we need
to--you're well-taken to point that out.
And on the supply chain issue--and we'll talk, I suspect,
some more--and you're right. It's not part of the
reauthorization. But Vilsack and I have had numerous
conversations. The White House has put together a committee of
three Secretaries, Transportation, Agriculture, and Commerce.
And the pop-up ports I think is a good concept, but it's not
fully operational.
And we had some folks on Tuesday tell Under Secretary
Moffitt what we needed to do to improve and to get these pop-up
ports working in a way that could ensure that we have
containers that we can fill to get our products to market, but
we're still working on it. So thank you very much.
Our next witness is a gentleman I've also had the honor and
pleasure to work with going back to my days in Sacramento, a
dairy farmer who's got a smile on his face because he sold his
dairy and he's doing a little consulting now. Moved from Chino
Valley to Visalia. Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, who's well known on
issues related to water and dairy. Mr. Vanden Heuvel.
STATEMENT OF GEOFFREY VANDEN HEUVEL, DIRECTOR OF REGULATORY AND
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, MILK PRODUCERS COUNCIL, TULARE, CA
Mr. Vanden Heuvel. Well, thank you, Chairman Costa, and
thanks for the opportunity to participate in this farm bill
listening session. My name is Geoff Vanden Heuvel, and I'm the
Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs for Milk Producers
Council, which is a California dairy farmer trade association
founded in 1949.
As you mentioned, prior to taking this position, I was an
active dairy farmer in southern California for 39 years.
Given the limited time available this morning, I want to
focus on two things in particular that are relevant to the
upcoming farm bill discussion. First is on the safety net
programs for dairy. The Dairy Margin Coverage Program is a very
good safety net tool, but the vast majority of the benefit of
the program is concentrated in the first 5 million pounds of
milk a dairy farmer produces annually. Five million pounds is
about what 250 cows produce.
Mr. Costa. Which doesn't work very well in California.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel. Exactly. Dairy farms in California are
much larger than that on average. And so, while they receive
coverage for a small part of their production through this
program, the DMC fails as a safety net for most California
dairy farms.
We understand the financial and political constraints of
raising the benefit level significantly higher than the 5
million pounds. We accept the DMC at the 5 million pounds, and
we would oppose raising it any further.
On the other hand, the Dairy Revenue Protection Program, a
subsidized crop insurance program overseen by USDA's Risk
Management Agency which came into being in 2018, relatively
recently, is a dairy safety net program that is not size
discriminatory. I believe that this program provides the best
return for the government dollar in providing risk management
for dairy producers.
The program has been quite successful in its initial
rollout. It is a crop insurance product where the premiums are
set by an actuarially sound formula, and the government
subsidizes the premium with the producers paying the majority
of the costs. The subsidy level for 90 and 95 percent coverage
is 44 percent of the premium, which is paid by the Risk
Management Agency.
Those premiums have become larger in the last 2 years, and
if additional funds could be found, increasing the premium
subsidy by even five to ten percent would likely increase dairy
farmer participation in the DRPP.
If we just--just to get an idea on scale, if our goal was
to get 70 percent of U.S. production covered in the DRPP, it
would cost about $154 million to increase the premium subsidy
by $0.10 per pound of covered milk per hundredweight. And I've
got a little bit of that math I did hand in. I've got some
notes attached to this, and there's a nice scale there and the
math on how we came up with that number.
Mr. Costa. Good. And we can submit that to the Committee
for the record and get that information all in.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel. All right. I'm just about out of time,
but I want to talk about Federal Milk Marketing Orders. I did
happen to watch the exchange that you had with Dana Coale at
the hearing that you had in Washington.
Mr. Costa. Right.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel. We do need better data in our
manufacturing costs. I think you talked to her about that. And
so, we would support that, but it's important to remember that
data cost studies inform policy. They shouldn't dictate policy.
USDA has long held and the Federal Order program is
tremendously successful program that's been around 80 years.
It's allowed the dairy industry all over the country to grow
and to prosper and to take advantage of its comparative
advantages. But we don't think that USDA--we think that their
policies should be adopted through the hearing process.
Mr. Costa. Well, I agree and--but the data is a helpful
tool, and we need to update it because of the various factors
that go into the Federal Milk Marketing Order as we try to make
it balanced to the regional needs across the country.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel. We do. If I could, one--a very major
significant event happened in the dairy industry in California
in 2018 where we became part of the Federal Order program.
Mr. Costa. Right.
Mr. Vanden Heuvel. And just an update on that, Congressman
Costa. You were key in making that possible for producers to do
that. We believe that that added about $1 a hundredweight to
California producer income.
And the data for that is also in the notes that I
submitted, and it's comparing the California all-milk price to
the Federal--or mailbox price to the U.S. mailbox price during
the last 40 months of the state order compared to the 40 months
we've had since the Federal Order was implemented in November
of 2018.
And when you look at those comparisons, we were a $1.07 a
hundredweight in the 40 months prior to the Federal Order on
average behind the national mailbox price, and since the
Federal Orders happened in California, we're within $0.06 of
that nationally.
Mr. Costa. Well, I'm glad that you mentioned that, Geoff.
But, it's really a result of a lot of discussion by the
California dairy industry to come together, and Congressman
Valadao and myself and others helped carry the legislation to
allow California to participate in the Federal Milk Marketing
Order. And I think it's worked out.
It's not the solution to all the problems, but I think it
puts California on a more level playing field as it relates to
how we led our pricing out for milk across the country.
Okay. Winding up this panel here is a constituent of mine
and another second, third generation, Melvin?
Mr. Medeiros. Second. Second.
Mr. Costa. Second generation dairy farmer. You call
yourself from Layton or Riverdale?
Mr. Medeiros. Oh, Layton. I'm on the right side of the
island.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Right. That's what I thought. Anyway----
Mr. Medeiros. I got a rival sitting here next to me.
Mr. Costa. Please identify yourself for the record, and
let's try to keep it to 3 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MELVIN MEDEIROS, CHAIRMAN, WESTERN AREA COUNCIL,
DAIRY FARMERS OF AMERICA; MEMBER,
EXECUTIVE BOARD, NATIONAL MILK PRODUCERS
FEDERATION, LAYTON, CA
Mr. Medeiros. You bet. Melvin Medeiros, dairy farmer at
Layton, California. And I also am Chairman for DFA's Western
Council, and I sit on the National Milk Executive Board. So
pleasure to be here and, Congressman Costa, we really
appreciate everything you do for the Valley's ag.
So actually, we should--Geoff and I should have compared
notes because one of the topics I wanted to talk about was DMC
also. We recognize the improvements that's been made to DMC.
We also understand that we need to go a step further. When
you take a look at our industry and how it's--the consolidation
has happened in the industry, not just in California but across
the whole western United States, the size and magnitude of
dairies, we need to make some changes to this program and make
it more relevant for all producers.
We feel that these programs are designed as safety nets and
should be equitable for all sized producers and not just be
catering to one size or another. So it's something that we'd
like to be addressed and looked at, going forward.
Mr. Costa. Well, I think the point that both of you made as
it relates to the DMC program is important because it reflects
the fact that you're sensitive to the 5 million pound cap
because of the nature of dairy politics across the country.
Mr. Medeiros. Oh, absolutely.
Mr. Costa. It makes more sense, I think, to focus on the
DMC as a means of addressing some of these challenges that
we're facing than trying to lift the $5 million pound cap.
Excuse me.
Mr. Medeiros. Well, yes, because we want to keep this
industry united, border to border, coast to coast. We're losing
too many as it is, and we don't want a program to create
division amongst producers. We feel it's important that we
address it.
Also, we talk about what works; right? So we're looking at
the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development
Program. Funding of those programs is crucial for our industry.
It's crucial for exports and to keep developing our export
markets. So we totally support those programs and hope funding
can continue or increase in those programs.
When it comes to nutrition, it is a big part of what we do,
every one of us in agriculture. So we support the nutrition
program. We support the dairy donation program where it was
able to bring dairy producers and food banks together to feed
needy families. So we hope we can continue those programs,
going forward.
And when it comes to sustainability, we take a look at
sustainability and where we're at, especially California, and
what we have achieved and where we need to be. We've set some
pretty high goals here and to try to get to net-zero--
greenhouse neutral by 2050. And the dairy industry is taking
some huge strides in trying to achieve these goals, but we
can't do it without incentives.
We know that, Congressman, you were able to visit a
digester--pretty impressive digester the other day. And even
though digesters don't fit every operation, we need the
incentives to continue those projects. We also need incentives
for manure management systems and the combination of those two
not only bring us in compliance, but it also brings us with
some energy sources for everybody.
So we hope we can continue those programs. We hope we can
increase those programs. And when we look at enteric emissions,
we need a better track of getting those passed. It's cumbersome
to get those products passed. Manufacturers don't want to go
through that process because it's just like trying to get it
through antibiotics or hormones. It goes through that same
process where manufacturers are saying, ``Hey, we're going to
take it to another country and we're going to get it done
there.'' And so, it's kind of putting us behind the eight ball
here in that situation.
So we need to look at a better process of getting those
products into our system to where we can tackle the enteric
emissions problem. And I think I'm out of time. So again, thank
you for your time, and appreciate the opportunity.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Well, I want to expand on--and let me just
mention a factor. As I referenced, I was at a conference in
Brussels last week, and they asked me to speak on food security
and climate change. And I referenced--and I see the President
of California Farm Bureau here, Jamie. I thought I saw him back
here somewhere. There. There you are.
But in Ag Alert 2 weeks ago, they had a very good article
about 119 digesters in California dairies. I think we've got
about 1,200 dairies: 119, you can do the math. That's close to
over ten percent of the dairies. But being able to handle the
manure and the methane in such a way that they estimate it
reduces over a million and a half cars taken off the road each
year.
So you think of what the contributions, and California
agriculture, I think, is at the cutting edge in doing so many
important efforts to improve our air quality, to deal with
CO2 footprint, and the other factors that were
facing. But, we've got to figure out ways that we can do
better.
That facility I went and looked at on Tuesday, they said
that it took--what--8 years to get the permitting completed? I
mean, that's crazy. We've got state of the art turnkey
technology, and to take 8 years to get the permitting complete
so that we could improve the air quality is--we got to do
better. So anyway, thank you all. Let me announce the next
panel.
The next panel here is conservation, and we have the
following. Manuel Cunha from the Nisei Farmers League, come
forward. We've got Tom McCarthy from Kern County Water Agency,
General Manager. We've got Marc Engstrom from Ducks Unlimited,
Director of Public Policy. We've got Nicola Peill-Moelter,
Regenerate America. We've got from San Diego--you've come a
long ways. We've got Perri Caylor, a volunteer with Regenerate
America, and Julia Kaye. Are all three of you are going to--
are--you're speaking for the other two folks?
Ms. Kaye. Yes. The three of us, we haven't collaborated
together on our comments, but we are all representing----
Mr. Costa. And we're glad you're here.
Ms. Kaye.--Regenerate America and we're glad you're here.
Mr. Costa. You've come a long way. You drive this morning,
or did you come in last night?
Ms. Kaye. I'm a little bit of a wimp. I came in last night.
Mr. Costa. Oh, okay. That's all right. I don't--are you
Nicole?
Dr. Peill-Moelter. I'm Nicola. Yes. I'm sorry. Nicola.
Mr. Costa. Oh, Nicola.
Dr. Peill-Moelter. Sorry. I have bad handwriting.
Mr. Costa. Okay. No. That's fine. Well, we'll have you
first with Regenerate America and then Marc, I believe, and
Tom, and we'll get through this. Manuel Cunha who's our batting
cleanup. Okay. Please begin.
STATEMENT OF NICOLA PEILL-MOELTER, Ph.D., DIRECTOR OF
SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION, OFFICE OF THE CTO, VMWARE, SAN
DIEGO, CA; ON BEHALF OF REGENERATE AMERICA
Dr. Peill-Moelter. Thank you so much. Yes. I'm Dr. Nicola
Peill-Moelter from San Diego. And thank you, Representative
Costa, for this listening session and giving me the opportunity
to share my thoughts today as not only a farm owner in
Virginia, a consumer of food--and who isn't--a concerned
citizen, and someone who's affected by the farm bill.
I'm here also as a supporter of Regenerate America, which
is a bipartisan coalition of farmers, businesses, nonprofits,
and individuals. Together, we are amplifying the voices of
farmers and ranchers to urge Congress to shift resources to
make soil health and regenerative agriculture a key focus of
the 2023 Farm Bill.
Soil health is a vital solution for increasing farmer
profitability, creating jobs, reviving rural America, securing
our food supply chain, restoring biodiversity, cleaning our air
and waterways, and addressing climate change.
The evidence is clear that our current conventional farming
and ranching practices present a national security threat in
terms of our ability to feed our nation and sustain our health.
We are losing soil at the rate of almost 6 tons per acre per
year.
Soil compaction from tillage and the use of chemical inputs
that destroy soil microbiome mean that even late rains can
result in flooding, runoff, and erosion, followed by drought
and desiccated fields. Many of our aquifers have less than ten
harvests left and produce salty water. These are significant
and hidden costs to our food system we cannot afford.
Furthermore, our current system is adding four percent to
farm debt annually. How will we feed our nation, let alone the
world without soil, water, or pollinators?
Fortunately, there's a cost-effective solution. Thousands
of farmers and ranchers across the U.S. are proving that the
principles and practices of soil health and regenerative
agriculture work everywhere to restore ecosystem health, build
soil, provide economic prosperity and security to farmers and
ranchers, increase plant nutrient density and livestock health,
increase overall resiliency against flooding and increasing
storms and droughts.
America's farmers and ranchers and the institutions that
support them urgently need our support with soil health focused
regenerative policies that remove barriers and incentivize soil
health and risk reduction through Federal crop insurance and
lending, expand leading educational and technical service and
implementation assistance for soil health systems, ensure
equitable opportunity and access to all USDA programs, improve
regional access to infrastructure processing and markets,
increase farmland preservation and access, including for
historically underserved producers, and increase access to
healthy and regionally sourced foods.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you, Doctor. And you are a professor
at where?
Dr. Peill-Moelter. I got my doctorate is in environmental
engineering science at Caltech.
Mr. Costa. Okay.
Dr. Peill-Moelter. And I work in the high-tech industry.
Mr. Costa. Oh, good. You talked about some of the
importance of soil conservation. Are there any recommendations
you have as it relates to the programs under the Title II that
you would recommend that you could submit and testimony on
areas where we could improve the ability to deal with
challenges that you noted in your testimony about the loss of
soils and their ability?
I mean, clearly, we say where water flows, food grows, but
if you don't have good soils, it can't happen.
Dr. Peill-Moelter. Yes. We're happy to do that. And I'd
also say it's beyond the conservation into the crop--Federal
crop insurance to support farmers and ranchers who are
transitioning. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Good. Good. All right. I'm just trying to go in
the order that you folks at--Tom McCarthy, I believe you're
next, the Kern County Water Agency General Manager. Which
General Manager are you now at this point in time in the
history of the Kern County Water Agency?
Mr. McCarthy. In the history, I think I'm approximately
number six, I believe following Curtis Creel.
Mr. Costa. Yes. I worked very closely over the years with
Tom Clarke, and we miss him.
Mr. McCarthy. Of course.
Mr. Costa. In the days where I used to represent the Kern
County Water Agency and we got a few things done.
Mr. McCarthy. Yes. You both left quite a mark on water in
California.
Mr. Costa. Yes. Well, please begin, Mr. McCarthy.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS D. McCARTHY, GENERAL MANAGER, KERN COUNTY
WATER AGENCY, BAKERSFIELD CA
Mr. McCarthy. Thank you. Again, my name is Tom McCarthy.
I'm here representing Kern County Water Agency. We're a state
water contractor here in California. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak today.
Given limited time, I'll stick to two key areas, the
voluntary agreements and SGMA. As you know, the voluntary
agreements are an agreement between water agencies, the State
of California, and the Federal Government to bring regulatory
certainty to water operations in California.
Implementation of the voluntary agreements will require
additional water available to the environment. Some of this may
come from the market, but some of which could come from
existing agricultural uses through fallowing irrigated land and
reducing water supplies. Farm bill funding could mitigate
adverse economic effects to farmers and farm communities as
additional water is provided to the environment.
The voluntary agreements will also result in substantial
restoration of fishery habitat, which will include a number of
opportunities to partner with the USDA and their conservation
mission.
Implementation of the California Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act, or SGMA, will also require the retirement of
thousands of irrigated farmland acres in California in order to
bring water use in balance with supplies. Again, farm bill
funding could help mitigate adverse economic effects to farmers
in rural communities as SGMA is implemented over the coming
years to bring water use and water supply in balance.
Last, assuring both the VAs and SGMA are eligible for
Federal cost-share funding through farm bill conservation
programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program
and the Conservation Reserve Program, would be extremely
helpful in ensuring their success.
We would also like to ask that Congress consider expansion
of the conservation title to provide adequate funding and
authority for USDA to partner with these efforts in California
with state and local agencies. Thank you for the opportunity to
speak today.
Mr. Costa. Thank you. Thank you. And please give the Kern
County Water Agency and the board members my regards. We, as I
said, had a good working relationship in years past.
I think your points are well taken. I've been a big
supporter of the efforts to comply with the voluntary
agreements because, unless we get that worked out, I don't
think there's a chance that we can ultimately get the operating
agreement in place so that we can implement SGMA successfully.
And it's a challenge. It's a real challenge over the next
10 years, even if we're able to get the VAs done, the operating
agreement between the state and the Feds, and also therefore to
then try to comply with SGMA and which I think is critical if
we're going to keep agriculture in California.
However, your point about making the conservation titles
applicable in this instance is something that I really want to
see what we can possibly do there because there are
applications that can be done.
And I was talking with another witness who's going to
testify later this morning about using some of the programs
that are under the Department of the Interior. And there's
ought to be a way that we can use both funding levels, both in
Interior and within USDA, to try to allow us to get our--using
all the water tools, as I like to say, in our water toolbox, to
allow us to make this successful in the 21st century. That's
the challenge. So good points.
All right. The next witness that we have is Marc Engstrom--
and we're moving cards around here--representing Ducks
Unlimited, Director for Public Policy. And we're all or most
are familiar with Ducks Unlimited around the country but
principally here in the Valley, reflecting Grasslands Water
District, which is the largest specific Flyway Wildlife Refuge
in the Pacific Flyway between Canada and Mexico.
And it plays a critical role between late October and late
February, March for us to maintain our waterfowl. And with the
efforts of conservation that are in mind, we appreciate that
good work, and we'll look forward to hear testimony on the farm
bill titles that you think will be most appropriate. And we'll
try to keep it to 3 minutes because my staff is giving me a bad
time here about I'm not--and they say I'm talking too much,
which is usual. But go ahead, Mr. Engstrom.
STATEMENT OF MARK ENGSTROM, CALIFORNIA DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC
POLICY, DUCKS UNLIMITED, SACRAMENTO, CA
Mr. Engstrom. I will keep it to 3 minutes. I promise. Good
afternoon, Chairman Costa, and thank you for holding this
today. Again, for the record, my name is Marc Engstrom. I'm the
Director of Public Policy here in California for Ducks
Unlimited.
Ducks Unlimited is the largest waterfowl conservation
organization in the world, and to date, we have conserved over
15 million acres of wetland and habitat. And I appreciate the
opportunity to speak to you here today. We're proud of our long
history partnering with ranchers, farmers to deliver
conservation, and we look forward to continuing our work with
you to sustain our natural resources and our rural communities.
The conservation programs included in the farm bill are a
key part of the safety net used by farmers and ranchers to
maximize on farm efficiency and productivity and to maintain
soil health, water retention, water quality, and wildlife
habitat on their lands. Conservation is in high demand across
the country, and we and our partners respectfully ask that you
and your colleagues strengthen support for the most efficient
and important conservation programs in the farm bill.
We hope to see strong wetland and grasslands protections
continued in the 2023 Farm Bill. We support strong funding for
important working lands programs like Environmental Quality
Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
A robust Regional Conservation Partnership Program that
benefits waterfowl habitat and soil health through voluntary
collaborative conservation efforts like the Ducks Unlimited
Rice Stewardship Partnership, of which I do have their annual
report that I'd like to hand out to you after.
Mr. Costa. We'll submit it for the record.
Mr. Engstrom. Thank you. A robust Agricultural Conservation
Easement Program, and this is a nationally popular program
where demand far exceeds funding availability, and an improved
Conservation Reserve Program through expanded grazing
opportunities that improve wildlife habitat.
And with that, I would like to--again, to thank you for
holding this today and allowing us to give our remarks.
Mr. Costa. Well, we appreciate your testimony and concise
and to the point and within the 3 minutes. God bless you, and
also, the fact that these conservation programs are so
important in so many ways, if we're going to provide for the
next generation of Americans the same sort of opportunities.
And in a lot of areas, we got to try to do better. And
certainly, your comments and your suggestions I will take into
account.
I'm not sure--who is Julia and who's Perri.
Ms. Kaye. Julia.
Mr. Costa. Okay. I'm just in the order and then it's Perri?
Ms. Caylor. Perri. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Okay. You'll be after Julia. Does that----
Ms. Caylor. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. And, Julia, you came from Concord?
Ms. Kaye. No. I came from San Diego as well. Carlsbad.
Mr. Costa. Oh, okay. Why does it say Concord here?
Regenerative--Julia Kaye?
Ms. Kaye. I put--it's--I'm from Carlsbad.
Mr. Costa. No. Concord. No. Carlsbad. I'm sorry.
Ms. Kaye. I'm pretty sure it said Carlsbad.
Mr. Costa. Okay. You come up this morning or last night?
Ms. Kaye. No. Actually, Nicola and I drove up this
morning--I mean, last night and then halfway to Bakersfield.
Mr. Costa. Well, welcome to Fresno.
STATEMENT OF JULIA KAYE, CARLSBAD, CA; ON BEHALF OF REGENERATE
AMERICA
Ms. Kaye. Thank you very much. Good morning. And first of
all, I wanted to thank you also for hosting this important
hearing. My name is Julia Kaye, and I'm a CPA. I've already
covered that I live in San Diego. I'm here as a supporter of a
Regenerate America.
Nicola already alluded to this is a bipartisan coalition of
farmers, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals raising our
voices to ensure that the next farm bill shifts its resources
and support towards regenerative agriculture. So I'm here to
ask you guys to make soil health and regenerative agriculture a
primary focus of the 2023 Farm Bill.
My journey to becoming a soil advocate, because obviously
an account--accounting in my world, I have not been around
farmers or ranchers very much in my life, but it began several
years ago when I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. And
after my diagnosis, I began educating myself about nutrition,
and that's when I discovered how many pesticides and other
harmful chemicals are used in our food supply.
Just one of those chemicals, glyphosate, used to kill
weeds, began being used in the 1970s. By 1996, the U.S. was
using about 15 million tons, and by 2016 the usage had
increased to 280 million tons. Additionally, in 1960, the
percentage of children with autoimmune diseases was zero. In
2016, it was 52 percent, which really surprised me when I found
that out. That's a huge percentage.
With further research, I began to understand that the
industrial and monoculture practices lead to so much
degradation of our topsoil and a huge reduction in the nutrient
density of our food. Soil health is a vital solution for
increasing nutrient density in and for securing the resilience
of our food supply, restoring biodiversity, cleaning our air
and waterways, and addressing climate change, as well as
increasing farmer profitability, creating jobs, and reviving
rural America.
Excuse me. Regenerative agriculture can increase economic
resilience but also reduce erosion and the impacts from flood,
drought, and pests without the use of harmful pesticides.
Nicola already said all the asks that Regenerate America
have, and we will provide that to you. But I did want to
emphasize that in addition to the conservation role of the
reviving the topsoil is also some of the Federal nutrition
programs. And I know that's a large component of the farm bill.
By making more regional and local markets and processing
facilities and helping some of the smaller farmers in the local
areas be able to make this transition and many of them want to
but assisting them with programs would be very helpful for
those programs as well. So I think there's a lot of crossover
between the different areas.
Mr. Costa. Right. Well, and we're going to be hearing, I
hope, from some of these smaller farmers here this morning, but
it's awful difficult in terms of scale of economy for them to
qualify. And sometimes there are language barriers and other
types of cultural barriers, but we're going to try to make it
more user friendly in the next farm bill.
The issue of maintaining soil composition and its ability
to be sustainable is critical. I mean, if you can't--if you're
not a steward of being able to do that, then your ability to be
sustainable.
Let me ask a question. I know regenerative--and you may
want to answer it as well--has become a term that is now being
used more widely. I've used sustainability since I've been
doing this stuff forever, going back to my years in Sacramento.
For me, it means the same. If it's not sustainable, whether
it's our ability to maintain the quality and the environmental
ability to produce, you can't continue to be successful. Do you
see a distinction in the terms?
Ms. Kaye. Yes. There is a distinction, and I think it's a
very important one because our soils are so degraded at this
point that we really need to rebuild them and replenish the
amounts. We've lost so much of it.
Mr. Costa. Well, I would like you to provide in written
testimony----
Ms. Kaye. Absolutely.
Mr. Costa.--different examples of where you think the soil
composition has eroded to levels of the point that you made,
and we'll go from there. Okay?
Ms. Kaye. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you so much for your time.
Mr. Costa. Thank you. Well, thank you for your time. And
Perri Laylor.
Ms. Caylor. Caylor.
Mr. Costa. Taylor. Okay. The T didn't----
Ms. Caylor. It's Caylor with a C.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Good. And from Menlo Park? Did I get that
straight?
Ms. Caylor. That's correct.
Mr. Costa. Okay. I got my nephew lives in Menlo Park. So
you drove over this morning?
Ms. Caylor. I came to the Hilton last night.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Well----
Ms. Caylor. I'm a little bit of a late riser probably
compared to most of the farmers in this room anyway.
Mr. Costa. Well, welcome to Fresno and Fresno State.
STATEMENT OF PERRI CAYLOR, MENLO PARK, CA; ON BEHALF OF
REGENERATE AMERICA
Ms. Caylor. Thank you. My name is Perri Caylor. As a
suburban California resident from Menlo Park, that's
Congressional District 18, a member of American Farmland Trust,
and an advocate for the Regenerate America Campaign for Soil
Health, I really appreciate this opportunity to share my
thoughts as you prepare for the 2023 Farm Bill.
I'm here today because I care about Americans having
abundant, nutritious food and clean, fresh water. As you know,
the future of these resources is imperiled. Farmland and the
profession of farming are also at risk, threatened by failing
soils, over-development, and changing weather patterns due to
climate change, among other factors.
As our state and the Southwest cope with a 1,200 year
drought, I actually worry about whether the Central Valley will
continue to be a producer of \1/4\ of the nation's food and 40
percent of its fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
To support the farmers who are feeding our nation and the
world, we really need to reverse these ongoing threats, and we
can do so if we rebuild soil health by making that a priority
in the 2023 Farm Bill.
On behalf of the Regenerate America campaign and its
bipartisan coalition of farmers and ranchers, organizations,
and ordinary people, I ask that you--that you within the farm
bill allocate resources to six specific policy solutions that
can help farmers produce healthier soils and build a brighter
future for American farming and farm prosperity.
I'll reiterate these six priorities briefly. One, expand
access to education, technical service, and implementation
assistance for soil health systems.
Two, boost USDA program outreach to underserved and small
farmers so that they can attain success through program use.
Three, improve regional access to infrastructure processing
and markets to build secure regional food webs and enable small
processors and distributors to participate.
Four, change Federal nutrition program purchasing
requirements so that people have access to healthy and
regionally or locally produced food.
Five, increase farmland access for historically underserved
farmers and especially the young farmers. Use conservation
easements that can preserve working farmland and emphasize
regenerative agriculture in succession planning.
Six, remove barriers in Federal crop insurance and lending
programs that restrict soil healthy practices. Add incentives
that support soil health and risk reduction.
So as you navigate the labyrinth of really difficult
decision making you have ahead of you, I hope you'll be able to
consider ways that the farm bill can rebuild the nation's soil,
and this could be any number of ways. A land of vital,
resilient soils will lead to positive outcomes for all
Americans. We all envision a better future for ourselves and
our families, for our communities, and those who will inherit
the Earth.
Thank you so much, Representative Costa, for your time.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much. The 18th District, is that
Jackie Speier.
Ms. Caylor. Anna.
Mr. Costa. Anna?
Ms. Caylor. Anna Eshoo.
Mr. Costa. Oh, Anna's--well, both Anna and Jackie are good
friends. But Anna's--originally has some of her Armenian family
from Fresno. So she and I talk fondly about her memories of
Fresno when her parents used to live here many years ago.
Do you take distinction--I think the six areas that you
referenced are important, and we'll look at that as good
suggestions. I asked the question to the previous witness about
the issue of, in your mind, distinctions between sustainability
and regenerative. Do you have any comment on that?
Ms. Caylor. Absolutely. As you mentioned previously,
sustaining means continuing on the same path. So you can
envision it as a straight line parallel to the----
Mr. Costa. Well, I don't look at it that way.
Ms. Caylor. Okay. Sorry.
Mr. Costa. You know why? Because I don't farm the way my
father farmed, and my father didn't farm the way his father
farmed. Change is constant. I said that at the beginning. So to
make an assumption that sustainability means that we're doing
things the way we did them 20 years ago, 30 years ago, or 40
years ago, I think is incorrect.
Ms. Caylor. I think that we might be dealing a little bit
with semantics here, and I apologize for misinterpreting what
you said.
So the way I'm interpreting what you're saying now is that,
as you make these changes and the changes are constant, your
family over generations has improved the soil or improved your
practices.
Mr. Costa. Well, we like to think so.
Ms. Caylor. So that in itself would be regenerative.
Mr. Costa. Yes.
Ms. Caylor. And whatever practices----
Mr. Costa. I think it's important that we have this
conversation, and I'm not trying to be accusatory. I just want
to get some clarity. And frankly----
Ms. Caylor. I understand completely.
Mr. Costa. And I think that that's important as we discuss
the farm bill next year.
Ms. Caylor. And full disclosure. I'm also a soil advocate
with an English degree and no background in farming. So I come
to this humbled by the presence of so many people here who are
educating me with every word they say.
Mr. Costa. Well, we all get educated. I get educated every
day. I'm the co-chairman of the Soils Caucus and I don't have
an English degree but I'm trying.
Ms. Caylor. I think you probably know more about soil than
I have learned in the last year and a half of my study. But to
get back to the question that you asked, if you would give me
another second or two.
Mr. Costa. A second or two. We got--my staff is telling me
to--let's keep it going. Go ahead. Quickly.
Ms. Caylor. I sense that your family over time has improved
the land. That is what regeneration is.
Mr. Costa. Yes. Thank you.
Ms. Caylor. It is improving the land and soil.
Mr. Costa. But no. I think we've all got to improve. I
mean, we have less than four percent of the state's population,
and the same can be said nationwide, that is actively engaged
in putting food on America's dinner table every night. I mean,
it's kind of--our success is part of our challenge, I think.
And when you look at--I mean, we're trying to feed people
this year in parts of the world--and Vilsack and I've had this
conversation--where we're seeing potential famine and food
shortages. And it's costing us more to send the food there than
the value of the food. I mean, something's wrong with that.
Ms. Caylor. Yes.
Mr. Costa. When you have people that are at a status where
their famine could set in and it's costing us more to get them
food than the actual value of the food itself. So there's a--
and we waste a lot of food here in America. I'm not going to
get on my soapbox here, but we can do a lot better job. We
waste so much food, whether it's in different ways, but we need
to look at that as well.
Ms. Caylor. Well, thank you, Representative Costa, for this
conversation and for the opportunity to speak.
Mr. Costa. Yes. You're passionate about it. I'm passionate
about it. How about that?
Ms. Caylor. Right on.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Last on this panel, and he is a person
that really in this area here needs no introduction. He's been
a strong advocate, I think, his entire life on behalf of
California agriculture. The President of the Nisei Farmers
League, Manuel Cunha. Manuel.
STATEMENT OF MANUEL CUNHA, Jr., PRESIDENT, NISEI FARMERS
LEAGUE, FRESNO, CA
Mr. Cunha. Thank you very much, Congressman. I appreciate
the opportunity. First, I have a few accolades of thank you
that need to be said because we do forget sometimes to say
thank you to our Congressional folks.
I want to again thank you, Congressman Panetta, for your
efforts on the farm crop insurance in the appropriations,
helping our agents. Our agents are the key to help many of our
farmers to complete the applications, the forms, the
information they need for the RMA, et cetera. So again, thank
you very, very much for that opportunity, and it sits over in
the Senate as we proceed forward. So thank you.
Number two, it has a tremendous amount to do with
everything that's going to be talked about today, and I have to
say it because you know I will say it, is immigration reform
must be a part of this entire farm bill discussion by all
states to take care of those hardworking farmworkers that have
been here for 30, 40 years and still haven't got temporary
access. But yet we worry more about H-2A than we do about the
people that have made things happen for 30 years.
As well as the second part of the immigration is DACA
(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), those kids that have
been here since 2012 in that process. We need to get those
people made whole.
Number three is on this--this is a very different committee
for me to be on. Usually, it's controversial in the sense of
labor and immigration. But I will say that the farmers of this
country and this state, especially California, have the
toughest regulations than any other state.
Our small farm size has gone from a 60 acre, 80 acre grower
to a 200 to a 500 acre grower in the San Joaquin Valley, and
that is all due to regulatory requirements coming out of
Sacramento, the destruction of the 60 hour workweek to a 40
hour work week, comparing farmworkers like bank tellers and
like schoolteachers. School teachers work hard. Don't get me
wrong. I was a teacher and a professor.
So I do understand that, but we do have to have the tools
in our toolbox, and that includes pesticides. Pesticides are
not all bad. Our farmers are very responsible in how they use
them. Without them, we couldn't feed the world at all because
the insects would take over our forest and everything.
If we want to talk about soil resiliency and all of that,
then we better take care of the burning of our forests without
forest management. The 450,000 acres that's up here at Shaver
that the Congressman has toured and many others is a
devastation of poor environmental people wanting, and we have
to deal with that. So I think we need to start to take care of
those areas.
The last thing I will want to make sure in the EQIP funding
is that we have $37 million in there for air quality, that we
increase that to deal with that no agricultural burning will
take place in 2024 in this Valley. There are only state and the
only counties, eight counties that no longer will be able to
burn at all. So we have to grind and chip. And when you have
wire and metal that grows into these plants, it is very
difficult to deal with.
So the farmers do need the help. So we hope we can increase
the $37 million in the farm bill to $50 million, which will
help deal with agricultural burning. And again, thank you for
everything you've done, Congressman, your staff and everybody,
but also many of the other Congressional leaders.
And again, I want to thank you on behalf of our agents.
You've done one heck of a job in making that happen and it was
way overdue and our agents will now be made whole and we get it
through the Senate and get it to the President. I think that
will be great.
And the second is to get immigration done. And I know this
is not the place, but thank you.
Mr. Costa. Well, no. And I wish the Agriculture Committee
was in charge of immigration reform, but unfortunately, we're
not. But thank you for your passion always, Mr. Cunha, on all
of the above. And we're still trying.
I support comprehensive immigration reform and for DACA and
for our DREAMers and it's just--it's--these are some of the
hardest working people you ever meet in your lives. And the
fact is that it's irresponsible that we don't have
comprehensive immigration reform. The closest we came was 2013
when John McCain and a bipartisan group of folks, we thought we
were going to get it, but we couldn't bring it up for a vote in
the House. Otherwise, a lot of these issues would have been
addressed.
The Air Resources Board here in the Valley that I was
involved with many years ago when I was in Sacramento has
programs that use both state and Federal funding. And I know
for removal of orchards or vineyards, they provide support so
that you don't have to burn to deal with the issues of the
burning qualities.
Is it your understanding that the ability to provide that
support to--and obviously, the law is going to change, as you
noted in your testimony. But does that solely rely on state
funding, or do they participate in state and Federal funding?
Mr. Cunha. Right now, we don't have--we--it's pure state
funding through the $180 million we got for the ag burn.
Mr. Costa. Okay. We might want to look at that. I could
have participated, but----
Mr. Cunha. We asked for another----
Mr. Costa.--I mean, it was legally when I replaced my
orchard 3 years ago, one of my orchards. And I chose not to
because I didn't want to read in the newspaper that Costa was
participating. So I paid for the grinding up of the chips on my
own.
Mr. Cunha. SGMA will give you that opportunity because we
see more orchards going out because of the taking. So if we can
get funding to help these farmers from the state----
Mr. Costa. It's legal for me to participate in all these
programs.
Mr. Cunha. Yes.
Mr. Costa. I choose not to because I don't want people to
think that I'm supporting these programs and now----
Mr. Cunha. But you're a farmer.
Mr. Costa. I am.
Mr. Cunha. And so, your land is just as important as
anybody's.
Mr. Costa. All right. Thank you all. Let me give you an
order so people can know. The next panel is trade. And thank
you all for your--thank you for those who came a long distance.
Thank you for making the effort.
And the next one is nutrition. So you get an idea, and it's
11:30, and I think we're going to make it here before our 1:00
deadline. So we will begin with trade, and then we will follow
up with nutrition.
For the trade panel, I have here before me, Mr. Richard
Matoian. I have Joey Fernandes. I have Ernie Schroeder. And I
think the three of those--I thought I saw Joey--okay. Here
comes Mr. Schroeder, and here comes Mr. Fernandes.
And then the next panel will be nutrition. So Mr. Matoian,
you, like myself, have been around for a while.
Mr. Matoian. Yes.
Mr. Costa. So----
STATEMENT OF RICHARD MATOIAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PISTACHIO
GROWERS, FRESNO, CA
Mr. Matoian. Good morning, Congressman Costa. Thank you so
much for putting this hearing together. I am here on behalf of
American Pistachio Growers. My name is Richard Matoian. I am
President of American Pistachio Growers. We are a trade
association that represents pistachio growers and representing
their interests in both the state and also the Federal level.
Since 1976, the U.S. pistachio industry has moved from
producing 1 million pounds of pistachios to a high of 1 billion
pounds in 2021. A recent Rabobank analyst's analysis of the
U.S. pistachio industry reports that pistachio farmgate value
has grown six-fold over the last 15 years.
At the end of this decade, we expect to harvest a 2 billion
pound crop. Our current production is in the states of
California, Arizona, and New Mexico. And I also understand our
friends in Texas are dabbling in pistachios as well.
Clearly, the number one problem for pistachio growers at
this time is the drought and the reduction or elimination of
access to state and Federal water. We urge your Committee to
expand or adopt existing or new programs that will increase
water supplies for our growers.
The Market Access Program or MAP program, as it's called,
has proven to be very successful in helping our industry
promote overseas. MAP dollars, plus dollars that we put in as
an organization, assist in promoting and marketing American
grown pistachios throughout many of our export markets. Our
largest export markets are China and the European Union.
We recommend that the funding be increased to $400 million
since the current level has been at $200 million for decades,
and we believe this program has been of great benefit to
opening export markets.
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative program is also
paramount for the pistachio industry. Increasingly, specialty
crops are experiencing pest and disease problems because of
international trade and climate change.
We recommend an increase in program research funding. We
also encourage the Committee to include the SCRI program
matching funds waiver in the 2023 Farm Bill. This waiver is
needed for those in the specialty crop industry, of whom a
matching fund requirement is not attainable.
In conclusion, we strongly encourage the continuation of
these programs through the 2023 Farm Bill. Thank you for your
time coming here and for listening to my comments.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Matoian, and for
your good work and for your thoughtful comments regarding the
2023 Farm Bill. And we'll--and continue the conversation.
Our next witness is Ernie Schroeder, representing Jess
Smith Cotton.
Mr. Schroeder. Correct. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Please, begin.
STATEMENT OF ERNIE SCHROEDER, Jr., CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
JESS SMITH & SONS COTTON, INC.; FIRST VICE-CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN
COTTON SHIPPERS ASSOCIATION, BAKERSFIELD, CA
Mr. Schroeder. Thank you. Yes. My name is Ernie Schroeder.
I'm the CEO of Jess Smith & Sons. We're a Bakersfield based
merchandizing company for over 80 years. I am pleased to offer
comments today on behalf of the American Cotton Shippers
Association, where I currently serve as Vice-Chairman.
So I have three short points I'd like to address today.
First, on the supply chain disruption, U.S. cotton is 90
percent exported and has been impacted by supply chain
disruptions and poor service, creating tremendous risk for
cotton merchandizers and making U.S. cotton competitive.
We definitely applaud you, Chairman Costa, for the passage
of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 (H.R. 4996). We hope
there's swift implementation from the FMC and are very grateful
for the introduction of its companion, the American Port Access
Privileges Act of 2022 (H.R. 8243), which you authored with
Congressman Garamendi. So thank you very much for your support.
Mr. Costa. We've been working closely together with a host
of our other colleagues in a bipartisan fashion on this, and
the support of California agriculture has been very critical in
this effort, along with a lot of other folks.
Mr. Schroeder. Correct. Yes. That's very important. We
appreciate all the help you've been there.
Second point, Pima cotton. Pima or ELS, Extra Long Staple,
as you may see it written, this makes up about 80 percent of
the cotton grown in California is Pima. It's a specialty crop.
It's a very niche crop. No one else in the world can grow it
like the farmers in San Joaquin Valley can.
The issue with it, it does not have any price support. So
if you look at upland cotton, when prices drop, they have a
marketing loan gain and a loan deficiency payment, producer
option payment. Pima does not. Pima has zero, and that's a
tremendous problem. So when prices drop, that is something that
we need to protect this, and in my opinion, that is the only
way to protect the longevity of Pima grown out here.
So when the new farm bill comes up, we are going to be
working aggressively with yourselves, National Cotton Council
in establishing a price support system for Pima of getting a
loan deficiency payment or a producer option payment. That way
it makes it very unison and similar with upland cotton. So that
is something very, very important. So when you hear Pima, think
price support in the new farm bill, please.
Last point, getting some statutory support for the cotton
merchandizers. Our members suffered catastrophic loss during
the trade war and COVID-19. You yourself helped us out a lot
with leading the letter to the Agriculture Secretary of trying
to get us aid on our inventory and carrying costs. So we
greatly appreciate that.
We do request and hope to develop some policy, going
forward, providing a safety net for our industry's risk
managers who provide the liquidity and the support for the U.S.
cotton industry.
So it's been a pleasure to be here on behalf of the
American Cotton Shippers Association, and we definitely support
all the priorities established by the American Cotton Producers
Group. I have some of my industry colleagues here, Mark McKean,
Kirk Gilkey, that are going to be commenting later. And again,
I thank you for allowing me to visit and share my comments, and
I look forward to working with you in the new farm bill. Thank
you very much.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you for your comments, and you may
have missed them. Both Mark and Kirk testified earlier.
Mr. Schroeder. Oh, okay.
Mr. Costa. So but it doesn't hurt to reference that. The
importance of dealing with the challenges we face are clearly
pointed out in your testimony, and we thank you for that.
Mr. Schroeder. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Last on this panel, but certainly not least, Mr.
Joey Fernandes from Tulare.
STATEMENT OF JOEY FERNANDES, OWNER, FERNJO FARMS; BOARD MEMBER,
LAND O'LAKES, INC., TULARE, CA
Mr. Fernandes. Thank you, Congressman. Again, I am Joey
Fernandes along with my wife and three sons dairy farm in
Tulare, milking both Holsteins and Jerseys and----
Mr. Costa. Which generation?
Mr. Fernandes. I'm third. I call it two and a half. My
grandfather went in and out of the business.
Mr. Costa. I understand that.
Mr. Fernandes. We're talking trade. I want to just
reiterate, though, what my fellow dairy members had spoke to up
here. Again, I applaud what we've done with risk management,
but the improvements that we can make to DMC, I think, are just
so critical.
As it was mentioned earlier, the consolidation that's
happening, and particularly for the dairy farmer in California,
that safety net is fairly weak when you look at the size of our
operations.
But to that--and I had a lot here to talk about and
understanding the time limit and looking at specifically the
trade, I think that involved in trade is supply chain issues
that we can't ignore that have been plaguing this dairy
industry, especially in California.
We've encountered challenges shipping our finished products
to foreign markets. We rely on grain movement from the Midwest
to feed our milking herds, and receiving timely and accountable
services from major railway has really been a challenge.
We've also encountered significant challenges with finding
truckers to transport these goods. The supply chain challenges
have cost us billions of dollars over the past years and higher
just direct costs, reduced value, and additional labor costs
and lost sales.
I mean, with that, though, on the international scene, we
applaud the leadership of both Congress and the White House on
the recently passed Ocean Shipping Reform Act. On behalf of
Californian producers and Land O'Lakes, we encourage swift
implementation of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act to ensure
agricultural producers have access to foreign markets, and we
are able to address the global food security crisis.
We also applaud the continued focus on public-private
collaboration to make sure we create robust and innovative
solutions that impact the entire supply chain ecosystem. We're
pleased to be engaged in the U.S. Department of
Transportation's FLOW (Freight Logistics Optimization Works)
initiative, which is a public-private engagement that's a great
example of how the government and industry can collaborate.
And last, this lagging rail performance and disruptive rail
service continues to impact agricultural operations throughout
the state due to the sheer and big volumes of feed, fertilizer,
and crop inputs that are required to sustain our state's
agricultural productivity. And just ask policymakers to
continue monitoring and addressing the various issues driving
these performance challenges.
And so much of trade involves food security, which is
national security. Agriculture is a global business, and trade
disruptions, along with inflationary pressures, directly impact
our domestic production and profitability.
Domestically, I would urge this Committee to focus and
develop strengthened risk management mechanisms that enable
producers to withstand the volatility of commodity markets
within the economic environment.
Globally, we should all be concerned with the current trade
environment and its implication for food security, especially
in developing and the least developed nations. At this critical
moment, U.S. global leadership is needed to encourage and
maintain trade policies that foster multilateral trade
negotiations and collaborations.
And again, I want to thank you this opportunity. I'm here
speaking not only as a dairy farmer but a representative of
Land O'Lakes, as a board member and a board member of National
Milk. And thanks for this time. And in closing, I would just
like to thank you again, Congressman Costa, for this
opportunity.
Mr. Costa. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Fernandes. And I
want to thank all three panel members for your testimony. And
obviously, we need to work on the above, on the supply chain
issues, as already has been spoken, we've got it both--for our
exports, we've got the problem with the empty containers, and I
think we're getting better.
You were at that meeting on Tuesday and that list of
recommendations, Jenny Moffitt and I are going to be following
through on that, that were made in terms of the pop-up efforts
to figure out a way to fix this and make that concept work.
But we've got the other problem, as you noted, in terms of
the four to seven train loads a week that come in to California
to supply our dairies and our poultry operations. So we're
working on both ends of it, but we thank you for your
testimony.
And we'll begin with the next panel, which is nutrition.
I'm trying to do better on this and moving things along.
Allyson Hildebrand, please come forward. Natalie Caples, Itzul
Gutierrez, Jim Grant--let's see here--and Gregory Mahoney. I
think that is the list that I've got here on the nutrition
panel. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. And so, just sit
behind there and then we can go back and forth, whatever,
however that works.
I'm going to guess that your name--they don't have--Gregory
Mahoney?
Mr. Mahoney. Yes, sir.
Mr. Costa. Okay. I'm just trying to go down the order here.
Okay. Why don't we start with you, Gregory? And I know Jim
Grant is over there. Your name is?
Ms. Caples. Natalie.
Mr. Costa. Hi, Natalie. How are you doing?
Ms. Caples. I'm good. How are you?
Mr. Costa. Good. Thank you for being here. And are you
Itzul Gutierrez?
Ms. Gutierrez. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Good. I'm getting this figured out here. And,
Allyson, okay. You're there. And I know Jim is behind Itzul.
And we'll make it work. Okay. Mr. Mahoney, please go--begin
with your testimony.
STATEMENT OF GREGORY MAHONEY, TREASURER AND
NATIONAL OUTREACH CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA
WELFARE FRAUD INVESTIGATORS ASSOCIATION, MENTONE, CA
Mr. Mahoney. Thank you. Good morning, Congressman Costa.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this important topic
before us today. My name is Gregory Mahoney and I'm
representing the California Welfare Fraud Investigators
Association, or better known by our acronym of CWFIA. I am an
executive board member and the National Outreach Chairman.
Our organization has been in existence for over 50 years,
and has been ensuring that program integrity within
California's welfare system stays intact. Our members are the
law enforcement and eligibility workers who meet with the
recipients daily and see the end results of the policies
created by Congress regarding the SNAP program.
Our members are the subject matter experts in regards to
the actual fraud being comitted and policy effectiveness. I
myself work full time as a supervising fraud investigator with
over 30 years of law enforcement experience. CWFIA is also a
stakeholder with the California Department of Social Services
and the USDA's Food and Nutrition Services.
The topics which our organization would like to see
addressed within the next farm bill are focused on
strengthening the SNAP program wherein fraud can be measured
and effectively combated. Additionally we'd like to emphasize
that some of the current policies are having a negative effect
on the recipients. Currently fraud within the SNAP program is
not measured by any study nor accurate parameters which can
show the flaws which our membership sees.
CWFIA requests that the new farm bill to fund a definite
study on the actual amount of fraud versus the error rate. The
data which calculates the error rate does not capture the
actual fraud rate. Our organization believes that the actual
fraud rate is actually 20 percent or higher. We also request
that the temporary waivers which were implement during the
pandemic do not become permanent. These waivers are causing
opportunities for desperate people to make false claims to
obtain more aid than they're eligible for. Those false claims
cause criminal charges.
CWFIA further requests that the new farm bill does not
extend the reporting time periods for the recipients to claim
changes to their situations beyond the current 6 month time
period. Expanded reporting time periods result in higher money
loss levels which lead to criminal charges.
Both of those last two points are important because we are
watching the current policies make the SNAP program become a
gateway for the recipient's first criminal conviction. With
this current flaw, SNAP is failing to keep the tenet of
assisting people to rise out of their poverty situations.
Finally, CWFIA feels it's imperative that either dedicated
funding to fraud investigative units or required ratio of
investigators to recipients is necessary in the next farm bill.
Currently the investigative units are undermanned and do not
have resources necessary to complete their duties.
I wish to thank you and your staff for your time and
dedication to this topic and the upcoming farm bill. As always,
CWFIA is ready and available to assist your legislative offices
in any way needed. And we are free. So it's a comedy that--
accommodation that is rarely seen today. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Well thank you very--thank you very much, Mr.
Mahoney, for your testimony. And you're based in----
Mr. Mahoney. San Bernardino.
Mr. Costa. San Bernardino. Okay. Well we'd like to--if you
have some additional information. So when you say 20 percent,
you're talking about statewide?
Mr. Mahoney. That is correct.
Mr. Costa. Okay. And submit that for the committee and so
that we can get a better sense. And we will follow up with you.
Mr. Mahoney. We had done a private study of our own years
past. It actually came up into the 30 percent range. I state 20
percent for error. A new study is probably due. But if we can
pull one off before you start meeting in session, we will do
so.
Mr. Costa. Well that will be next year, so we'll talk some
more. Natalie, is it Caples?
Ms. Caples. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Co-CEO for the Central California Food Bank. Is
that correct?
Ms. Caples. That's correct.
Mr. Costa. Let me thank you and all of those associated
with the food bank that I'm familiar with here that I've worked
both in Fresno--I used to know the number off the top of my
head. But as much as I think 40 percent of the people that are
using the food bank had never been to a food bank in their
lives.
Ms. Caples. Yes. During the height of the pandemic we saw
about 35 percent of the individuals we were serving
[inaudible].
Mr. Costa. And the good work--I mean nothing was perfect of
course in the food box program and some of the other efforts.
But I've been involved and supportive of the food bank program
here for a long time. And I want to thank you for your good
work. Please open on your testimony.
STATEMENT OF NATALIE CAPLES, CO-CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FOOD BANK, FRESNO, CA
Ms. Caples. Thank you so much. Good morning. My name is
Natalie Caples and I'm the co-CEO of Central California Food
Bank located here in Fresno, California. In central California,
one in four adults and one in three children are food insecure.
We are the largest hunger relief organization in our region
serving Fresno, Madeira, Kings, Tulare, and Kern Counties. And
we work with over 300 feeding sites including community
organizations, faith based partners, schools, and healthcare,
serving 350,000 neighbors each month, a 25 percent increase
from pre-pandemic levels.
During the pandemic there was unprecedented Federal support
to swiftly meet the need of neighbors who require emergency
food support, some for the first time ever. That response
included investments in vital nutrition programs like TEFAP and
SNAP. Because of that Federal support and the expansion of food
bank feeding programs, we were able to distribute over 52
million pounds of food, and neighbors were able to access the
support they needed to get back on their feet.
In recent months however, rising prices for food, gas, and
many basic needs, combined with the winding down of Federal
support, has increased pressure on families, leaving many
seeking emergency food assistance once more. At the food bank
we're working diligently to meet the sustained need, but we're
doing so with a 42 percent cut in food available through The
Emergency Food Assistance Program, TEFAP, from just last year.
Pricing, transportation challenges, and manufacturing
delays, resulting in roughly half of our monthly loads being
canceled, have contributed to the decreased food availability
through this program. And although we've increased our own food
purchasing budget to continue to meet the demand, we simply
can't make up the difference on our own, and increased
purchases over a long period of time will not be sustainable
for our food bank and many sister food banks across the State
of California.
As current economic conditions continue to make access to
affordable food more difficult for our neighbors, we need your
help to meet the need of food assistance over the long-term,
and specifically we need more TEFAP. TEFAP has provided
critical support to food banks, and we would not have been able
to meet the need without the large investments made. Converting
back to pre-pandemic levels in the farm bill will leave food
banks ill prepared to meet the demands in our communities.
Considering the current economic conditions, I'd ask that
the farm bill should include additional mandatory funding for
TEFAP food. And TEFAP mandatory funds should be authorized at
least $450 million per year in the next farm bill. TEFAP
storage and distribution funds should increase to reflect the
actual distribution needs to $200 million per year. And TEFAP
infrastructure grants should remain at $15 million per year.
Additionally TEFAP bonus commodity purchases provide
support for agriculture markets when support is needed, and
provides the nation's food banks with access to additional
healthy food. Congress should ensure that USDA retains the
authority to purchase bonus commodities in times of high need
for emergency food relief, in addition to times of low
commodity prices so that the program is responsive to excess
supply and excess demand.
And additionally, and I know I need to wrap up, I urge you
to permanently strengthen SNAP by basing benefit allotments on
the Low Cost Food Plan instead of a Thrifty Food Plan, removing
the cap on the shelter deduction, and increasing the minimum
benefit level, and better accounting for medical expenses
incurred by SNAP participants who are older or have
disabilities.
Thank you for your leadership. I know that you are a big
supporter of TEFAP and SNAP. And we hope to work with you in
the future on these improvements.
Mr. Costa. Thank you. And we appreciate your advocacy and
the good work that you do for those most in need. And we'll
continue to work together. Your points are well taken. Itzul
Gutierrez, you are next.
STATEMENT OF ITZUL GUTIERREZ, SENIOR POLICY
ADVOCATE, CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF FOOD BANKS, OAKLAND, CA
Ms. Gutierrez. Thank you. Yes. Hi. My name is Itzul
Gutierrez, Senior Policy Advocate at California Association of
Food Banks. We represent our 41 member food banks across
California. Thank you so much for holding this session today
and giving us the opportunity to speak.
I also want to say thank you for your leadership on SNAP.
SNAP is our most effective anti-hunger tool, bringing $11
billion in Federal food benefits, $20 billion in total economic
activity, and 272,000 jobs statewide. There's also Disaster-
SNAP, known as D-SNAP, which helps in times of disaster such as
floods or fires, which are unfortunately becoming a yearly
occurrence.
One of the most important features overlooked is that D-
SNAP is only available under certain circumstances, and has not
included drought. And when that happens, it causes extreme
economic hardship in the Valley. But it doesn't destroy
infrastructure like fires or hurricanes. The farm bill needs to
recognize drought for the impact it has for food and farm
economy that is the life blood of this region.
I heard food banks talking about how SNAP is only $5.50 a
day, even after the Thrifty Food Plan increase. And you can't
buy much food with that. And that's especially true for us in
this district, a rural area where families and seniors need to
drive far to the store and are paying extra. We need to think
about this as you mentioned, 24 percent of people in district
who are on SNAP, we need to have a real conversation in the
farm bill on what an adequate benefit looks like in a region
like this, and improve equitable access to the benefits.
Why do we have special rules blocking access to our
neighbors in need? College students and immigrants are
contributing to the Valley economy. Restrictions on college
students here at Fresno State and immigrants who are powering
the economy in the Valley, the breadbasket that puts food on
the table for America.
All this can be fixed. SNAP benefits need to be made
adequate, not cut or restricted. And we need to talk about this
in the farm bill as it is an opportunity to make a strong farm
bill that will fight hunger. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Well thank you, Ms. Gutierrez for your passion
and your advocacy on behalf of people who need food. I
appreciate it. You came from Oakland?
Ms. Gutierrez. I actually live in Santa Rosa. Our offices
are based in Oakland, so I came from up there.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Well thank you. Another advocate and a
person who I've had the pleasure to work with over the years,
Jim Grant, with Catholic Relief Services, who is always
focused. And I appreciate your efforts. Mr. Grant, please begin
your testimony.
STATEMENT OF JIM GRANT, DIRECTOR, SOCIAL JUSTICE
MINISTRY, DIOCESE OF FRESNO, FRESNO, CA; ON BEHALF OF CATHOLIC
RELIEF SERVICES
Mr. Grant. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Jim Grant.
Today I'm speaking on behalf of Catholic Relief Services, a
ministry to the world which serves in 100 countries, 130
million people.
As we speak, 13,000 people will die today of starvation,
and 9.9 percent of our world's population, 811 million people,
will be alive but undernourished. Thank you for this chance to
speak on behalf of the world. We continue to see that because
of the conflict in Ukraine, along with the lingering impacts of
COVID-19, and all the other crises like the Horn of Africa
drought, mean that millions of people today are not only going
to go to bed hungry, but they will now be at risk of dying
because of lack of access to food.
During this time of an unprecedented and dire food
insecurity in the whole world, it's critically important to
reauthorize and expand the flexibility and efficiency of life
saving international programs authorized in the 2023 Farm Bill,
given that the work that it does towards ending hunger for the
people most marginalized and vulnerable is very successful.
Let me focus on four hunger issues that this addresses.
First, to continue to champion support to reauthorize four
existing international programs in the bill. They include Title
II Food for Peace, which includes the ability to use the
Community Development Fund for non-emergency Title II programs.
Second, the McGovern-Dole Food for Education. This program
provides school lunches for children who would get no other
food that day. Third, Food for Progress. This program helps to
strength value chains for vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, in
other countries. Finally, Farmer to Farmer. This program
leverages the agricultural knowledge here in the U.S., by
connecting expert volunteers to U.S. funded programs around the
world.
The second way to address hunger globally is to expand the
flexibility and the efficiency of international programs in the
2023 Farm Bill, specifically the Food for Peace, Title II, and
the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program. Catholic Relief
Services, USAID, and USDA, and others, have offered their
suggestions at the April hearings which you conducted. And I
hope that you will continue to work with these agencies to find
smart solutions at this dire time in our world when funding
will be an issue, but the needs are only greater than ever.
Thank you very much, Congressman.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much, Mr. Grant, for your concise
and focused testimony. And we appreciate your passion always.
The next--I hope I have this correct--Allyson Hildebrand?
Ms. Nelson. Actually I think my card was lost. Alicia
Nelson?
Mr. Costa. Okay. Alicia Nelson. And you are representing
who?
Ms. Nelson. I'm representing Fresno State college students.
I am the Director of Wellness Services and our Food Security
Project----
Mr. Costa. Is that part of the CalFresh Program here at
Fresno State?
Ms. Nelson. Yes. The Food Security Project is--or CalFresh
is one of the initiatives under our----
Mr. Costa. Okay. And Allyson is the Coordinator?
Ms. Nelson. That is correct.
Mr. Costa. Okay.
Ms. Nelson. She'll speak right after me.
Mr. Costa. Oh, okay. There we go. All right. Please.
STATEMENT OF ALICIA NELSON, M.P.H., DIRECTOR, WELLNESS
SERVICES, STUDENT HEALTH AND COUNSELING CENTER, CALIFORNIA
STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO,
FRESNO, CA
Ms. Nelson. Thank you. Again, my name is Alicia Nelson. I
am the Director of Wellness Services in our Food Security
Project here at Fresno State. College students across the
country are struggling to afford food and other basic needs. A
study in 2018 showed that the food insecurity rate here on our
Fresno State campus was 43.7 percent. And we assume that that
has increased based off of the pandemic.
Students are often forced to choose between necessary
school supplies and basic needs like food. At Fresno State, 57
percent of our undergraduate students are Pell eligible, and 77
percent of undergraduate students receive some form of
financial aid. That percent increases to 85 percent when we
look at our full time first year students.
Basic needs support for students have increased on our
campus each year. And this past year we've served 20--we had
two--I'm sorry. We had 20,261 visits to our on campus food
pantry. We've also supported in the last 3 years over 2,000
students to apply for CalFresh or SNAP benefits. And we've also
seen our emergency grants have supported over 1,000 students
just this year.
Because we see a significant utilization of our basic needs
programs, we know that there is a need for CalFresh or SNAP on
our campus. And streamlining the eligibility requirements is
necessary. During the pandemic, one of the best things for our
students here was changing the EFC and work study criteria,
which nearly doubled the amount of Fresno State students who
are eligible for CalFresh.
Food insecurity impacts students' mental and physical
health, and their academic performance, making it challenging
for some students to complete their degree. Therefore I urge
you to consider updating the eligibility requirements to
consider attending an institution of higher education a form of
qualification, just as work.
And also consider passing the H.R. 1919, EATS Act of 2021
(Enhance Access To SNAP Act of 2021), which would address the
inequalities college students have on the SNAP rules and to
expand eligibility for SNAP for college students. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much. I appreciate your
testimony. And keep up the good work here at Fresno State. Now
I think we have Allyson Hildebrand. Is that correct?
Ms. Hildebrand. Right. Now it's my turn.
Mr. Costa. All right.
STATEMENT OF ALLYSON HILDEBRAND, COORDINATOR, THE AMENDOLA
FAMILY STUDENT CUPBOARD, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO,
FRESNO, CA
Ms. Hildebrand. Good afternoon, everyone. I'll try to keep
it short. But my name is Allyson Hildebrand. I am the CalFresh
Coordinator here at Fresno State. And I'll be speaking on
Fresno State students specifically, but advocating for higher
education students as a whole.
As my colleague mentioned, we have high rates of food
insecurity on our college campuses. And Fresno State is no
different. And we can assume based on the students who are
utilizing our basic needs services that we do have a lot of
students who are eligible for CalFresh or SNAP benefits. But I
want to speak on another group that I interact with on a daily
basis. And that is the group of students who are not eligible.
As I speak with them, doing outreach assistance, helping
them with their applications, we will go through the criteria,
which is complex and it is inequitable. A lot of these students
cannot work the work rule requirement which is 20 hours a week.
And a lot of them do not meet the rest of the student
requirements when it comes to the student criteria.
As of now, besides this work rule, there are other student
exemptions that can make a student eligible. Specifically, I
want to focus on two of them, as mentioned that work rule, and
the added exempted program. When it comes to working, a lot of
students cannot work. And that can be due for a variety of
reasons that we cannot assume. It could be personal due to
kids. It could be financial reasons. And it can be due to the
academic workload.
When it comes to the added exempted programs, we appreciate
all the efforts done to make sure that we can expand the amount
to students who are eligible by adding specific programs or
majors that will increase the amount of students who can apply
for CalFresh and get those benefits.
However when we are considering which programs get added as
an exempted program, it's a complex system of needing to meet
specific employment and training requirements. And essentially
the ultimate goal of adding these programs is to say that in
this specific major these students are becoming more
employable.
But I want to make two arguments in reference to what I've
just said. When it comes to the work limit, school is work. And
a lot of these students are not only working hard in the
classroom, but they go home and have to work as well. And
again, we can't make an assumption as to why they aren't able
to fulfill this 20 hour work requirement.
And then when it comes to these added exempted programs,
and picking and choosing which ones make a student more
employable, I would like to say that it is all the students who
are attending college. They've made a decision to go through
their programs. They're all gaining skills both academic and
personal that will make them more employable when they
graduate.
Because of this we know students again have a high rate of
food insecurity. And we want them to be happy and healthy in
their journey. So I highly urge you to consider moving forward,
that when looking at student eligibility, so long as they meet
the basic criteria, that we make it to where if a student is in
higher education that is enough to be considered eligible when
it comes to the student exemption eligibility rules.
Mr. Costa. Well thank you, Allyson. And I appreciate your
point of reference. If you could provide to the committee at
some later date the snapshot on the CalFresh program as it
relates to the 23 state university campuses in California?
Because I think it would be important to get a sense of how
many of the 23 campuses--and I suspect a lot of it's similar,
the total percentages, numbers. Okay?
Ms. Hildebrand. All right. Thank you. I'll try to see if I
can get that data since a lot of it is actually dissimilar from
campus to campus and is not [inaudible].
Mr. Costa. Yes. No. Well you're--I'm sure you're very good
at this.
Ms. Hildebrand. Well I appreciate that very much. Thank you
for allowing me to speak today.
Mr. Costa. All right. Thank you. We'll have our next panel
on Title VI, Rural Development. And we have Eric Payne; we have
Jessie Kanter, I believe; Lilian Thaoxaochay, I think. I hope I
got that right, Lilian. And Dr. Ruth Dahlquist-Willard. Are
those--well if they're outside, that's a problem. Because I
can't hear them. Please ask them to come in. A little patience,
Eric.
And let me note, I mentioned earlier that Secretary Karen
Ross and I spoke yesterday. She was going to be out of state
this week. And even though Don Cameron had intended to be here,
I got a note, he probably doesn't want me to say this, but he
broke his foot and will not be here. But he'll submit his
testimony on behalf of Secretary Karen Ross. And he will I'm
sure have testimony for the Committee as to the snapshot that
the Department of Food and Ag--and they're so involved in so
much of what we're discussing here today.
Okay. We've got Eric. We've got--are you Lilian?
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Wonderful, Lillian. And are you Dr. Ruth
Dahlquist-Willard? Okay. And am I leaving someone out here? Oh,
Jessie. Hi. Is it Kanter?
Ms. Kanter. Yes.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Eric Payne, please begin.
Mr. Payne. Good evening, Congressman----
Mr. Costa. It's--it's just afternoon. It's not evening yet.
Mr. Payne. Oh.
Mr. Costa. I've got another appointment this evening. And
if it's evening, I'm in trouble.
STATEMENT OF ERIC PAYNE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE CENTRAL VALLEY
URBAN INSTITUTE, FRESNO, CA
Mr. Payne. Eric Payne, Executive Director of The Central
Valley Urban Institute. We are a regional nonprofit that
focuses on poverty alleviation between Kern County, Kings
County, Tulare County, Fresno County, and Madera County, and
Stockton to the north.
As we would like to celebrate your efforts and your hard
work in Washington, D.C., to fight on behalf of the 16th
Congressional District, and all that you do to elevate our
voices here in the Central Valley, I'm both thankful that you
are both my personal congressional member, as well as a
champion for the work that we do in our region. So thank you.
Mr. Costa. Flattery will get you everywhere. Please,
proceed.
Mr. Payne. As we look at rural economic development and the
nexus between the farm bill, we recognize that there are
veterans who are freezing on our streets, diabetics forgoing
insulin due to skyrocketing prices, and millions working two
and three jobs while remaining in poverty. These deplorable
conditions are not inevitable. They are created by an unjust
system. We can fix that system if we choose to do so.
Just this past year the number of Americans below the
Federal poverty line fell by nearly 45 percent as a result of
coronavirus relief bills like the American Rescue Plan (Pub. L.
117-2). Such results raised the questions, if we can cut
poverty by 45 percent, why not shoot for 100 percent. Some of
the things that we can begin to do is analyze an increased
language access to better engage outreach, educate, and better
understand the diverse needs of our community, specifically
among the native tongues of Punjabi and southeast Asian
community dialects such as Hmong and Cambodian.
Rural communities have seen a mass exodus of banks,
negating their Community Reinvestment Act (Pub. L. 95-128)
obligation. And it prevents current banking and mortgage
related discrimination, including but not limited to the
discriminatory actions as a result of artificial intelligence
and automated data analytics to better increase rural home
ownership and small business opportunity, by increasing access
to capital for low- to moderate-income, and low-low-income
based households.
We can increase the appropriation for Brownfield
remediation and superfund sites to increase and conserve ag
land. We can provide development incentives for businesses that
provide healthy foods, specifically grocery stores, farmers'
markets, in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods, to
address increasingly prevalent fast food swamps and experiences
of all people regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, or sexual
orientation.
We can enact Federal policy to adopt a K-12 Black studies
curriculum that introduces students to concepts of race and
racial identity. We can accurately depict historic racial
inequities and systemic racism that honors Black lives, fully
represents the contributions of Black people in society, and
advances the ideology of Black liberation.
We can identify and address the impact of environmental
racism on predominantly Black communities, including but not
limited to unequal exposure to pollutants associated with
roadway and heavy truck traffic, oil drilling, drinking water
contamination, and current or former heavy industrial, other
related pollutants in Black and Brown neighborhoods.
That requires funding, and to fund planting of trees to
create shade equity, and to minimize heat islands in Black and
Brown neighborhoods, and increase funding for wildfire
mitigation, and to create a pathway for diversity to those that
are formerly incarcerated within the forestry department----
Mr. Costa. Eric?
Mr. Payne. Yes.
Mr. Costa. I appreciate your passion.
Mr. Payne. Sorry.
Mr. Costa. No. That's okay. I'm trying to be generous to
everybody's time. I told one of the witnesses earlier on that
while my initials are J.C., I can't make it rain. And you're
going on some of the issues that will not be a part of the 2023
Farm Bill. And while I appreciate your passion, as always, we
want to try to confine your testimony to the farm bill,
something that I can do maybe something about. So if you would
please close.
Mr. Payne. Absolutely. Thank you. To summarize my
sentiments, increasing access to your SNAP program,
specifically eliminating those barriers for those who are
formerly incarcerated, to give them a leg up.
Mr. Costa. Got it. Thank you.
Mr. Payne. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much. And for all the witnesses
here, we have a lot of interests--I have a lot of interests.
But my focus today is on the farm bill next year. That's why I
want to give everybody a chance to talk about that. And by the
way, I think we have Denise and Shelly here representing
Senator Feinstein's office. And Luis Martinez representing
Senator Caballero's office. If you raise your hand so we all
know you're here. Thank you.
Lilian, you'll have to help me, Thao----
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Thaoxaochay
Mr. Costa. Thaoxaochay. Okay. Good.
Ms. Thaoxaochay. It's the X and the Y, it trips everyone
up.
Mr. Costa. All right. That's okay. I'm learning every day,
as I said. Representing Fresno Small Farms Program, right?
STATEMENT OF C. LILIAN THAOXAOCHAY, SMALL FARMS COMMUNITY
EDUCATOR, SMALL FARM WORKGROUP,
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION FRESNO COUNTY, DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE
AND NATURAL RESOURCES, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, FRESNO, CA
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes. Again, my name--thank you for having
us today and thank you to all representatives who are here. My
name is Lilian Thaoxaochay. I've been with the UC Cooperative
Extension Small Farms Program for about 18 months now.
My family has farmed in the Central Valley for over 30
years. And actually I'm a seventh generation farmer, despite
their best efforts to send me away to college. I have both a
bachelor's and a master's degree from Stanford and UC Santa
Cruz in anthropology. And they were like, how is this useful
both for my family as well as my job. And one of the ways it's
useful is that I'm able to talk about how our histories of
resistance and revolution have a lot to do with our passion for
the land. And basically just the desire as refugees and
immigrants----
Mr. Costa. It's your heritage. So many of the farm families
around here are immigrants past and immigrants present.
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes.
Mr. Costa. It's part of your culture.
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Absolutely. And it----
Mr. Costa. And you know what they say, they can't take the
farm out of the farm girl.
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes. And our goal at the end of the day is
to set down roots, is I think what I tell folks about all of
the----
Mr. Costa. So let's focus on the farm bill.
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes. So all the communities who come to
Fresno are interested in setting down roots. But in the
Southeast Asian community only 20 percent of folks actually own
their farms. The rest of them lease land. So land access, as
has been pointed out, is a tremendous issue, going forward.
But one thing that both the renters and the leases that we
work with have in common is difficulty getting over paperwork.
So again, from anthropology, their literacy and their native
languages is kind of hit or miss. They're more likely to read
and write in English. But we could all use some help figuring
out some of the legal jargon.
And so that's been what my job has been at least the last 4
or 5 months, is helping folks navigate access through things
like a grower whose water--two and a half weeks ago ran out of
water. So even just figuring out how to get help for her home
domestic water use, as well as her farm, it took 2\1/2\ weeks
of just being on the phone constantly translating. And she's--
she was able to get water yesterday. So she doesn't have to
haul water from another source.
So again, I was hired through CDFA CUSP funding. And there
are six other community educators throughout this state at the
moment. We speak a total of approximately eight languages.
Mr. Costa. Eight?
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Not including Spanish. Or including
Spanish, not including English because that's what we all share
in common. But again, we are wildly understaffed. There is a
report due this--to mark the 1 year----
Mr. Costa. Yes. I'm very interested getting that material
submitted in the testimony----
Ms. Thaoxaochay. When it's ready----
Mr. Costa. You're with the Ag Extension Service, right?
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes. CDFA CUSP, they will have the
report----
Mr. Costa. And so you act as a translation and others with
the Farm Services Agency, FSA?
Ms. Thaoxaochay. No. We work with the UC Davis Ag and
Natural Resources. And so we're separate. And we're funded
through CDFA's CUSP program----
Mr. Costa. But that's another barrier----
Ms. Thaoxaochay. That is.
Mr. Costa.--and challenge that small farmers have with
language barriers.
Ms. Thaoxaochay. Yes. And I know in the last farm bill
there was a goal to understand why small scale growers didn't
access some of the federally available programs especially made
through the last farm bill. I hope that work continues. I'm
happy to--I'm excited to read that report actually in my new
capacity.
But I think, as you mentioned earlier, right, none of us
farm like the generation before us. That comes with a desire
for change, but as well as a response to the times. Like this
drought, a lot of growers are changing the way they farm from
like flood irrigation to drip. And there are some struggles to
understand both what is the science and what is the practice of
this.
My colleague, Jessie, will talk a little bit more about how
the programs that exist pay for some of the funding--some of
the needs, but not all of them. And so my particular
[inaudible] more staff or access to language for folks, because
that's been one of the biggest hurdles is just language access
for individuals.
Mr. Costa. Thank you. Got it. Jessie Kanter?
Ms. Kanter. Yes. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. With UC Cooperative Extension, correct?
Ms. Kanter. Yes. That's correct.
Mr. Costa. You're at the Kearney Station?
Ms. Kanter. Yes. I do a lot of work at Kearney.
Mr. Costa. I got to get out there soon. I haven't been
there in a while.
STATEMENT OF JESSIE KANTER, ASSISTANT SPECIALIST, SMALL FARMS
AND SPECIALTY CROPS, COOPERATIVE
EXTENSION FRESNO AND TULARE COUNTIES, DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE
AND NATURAL RESOURCES, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, FRESNO, CA
Ms. Kanter. Yes. It's a good place. But, yes, my name's
Jessie Kanter. And as mentioned, I work with UC Cooperative
Extension Small Farms Program. So I work very closely with
Lilian. And my background is in soil science. So I've helped
with a lot of the implementation of some of the state and
Federal programs around soil conservation and how do we
increase the health of our soils.
And I think it's really important that there's funding for
these programs in the farm bill reserved for historically
underserved farmers. But again, kind of reiterating that this
idea of representation without consideration for what resources
someone might start with or access to language services, is not
quite getting at the equity piece that these programs require.
And so again, decreasing language barriers is one of the
asks. And I think the other big thing too is thinking about how
can these programs also include access to resources to
implement some of these practices so it's not just paying for
compost, or cover drop seeds, or whatever it might be, but also
how do they get the equipment and technical support needed to
actually implement them.
And then the other thing with that too is really honing in
on the application process. Applications, while efforts have
been made to streamline them, are still pretty onerous for
small scale historically underserved farmers to access the
benefits. And so hoping that that can also be taken into
consideration.
And then finally, as Lilian mentioned, a big thing is land
access with a lot of these historically underserved farmers.
And it's really hard to implement some of these conservation
programs when you don't own your land. Because something like
building healthy soil takes a really long time.
And so one of the things that we've talked about, as
mentioned before, as land is fallowed with drought, can we
think about how to kind of repurpose some of this land. And I
know conservation or putting it back into native habitat has
been one of the things that's mentioned.
But the other thing that we kind of invite you to think
about as well is can some of this land be transitioned to
farmers who have historically not had access to land, to plant
more drought tolerant or diversified cropping systems that use
less resources, but also benefit the local community. So thank
you.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Thank you very much. And I'll have to get
out there to the Kearney Station sooner than later. Maybe in
August I'll have some time. On this panel, last certainly but
not least, is Dr. Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, small farm advisor,
is that correct?
Dr. Dahlquist-Willard. That's right. I'm a small farmers
advisory with US Cooperative Extension. And Jessie and Lilian
also work with my program.
Mr. Costa. So you're out of the Kearney Station too?
Dr. Dahlquist-Willard. We're actually based in Fresno
County. We work out of Kearney a lot----
Mr. Costa. Oh, okay. Got it.
Dr. Dahlquist-Willard.--but we have an office in Fresno
County, the Cooperative Extension.
Mr. Costa. Yes. When I was in 4-H, I used to visit that.
Dr. Dahlquist-Willard. That's great.
Mr. Costa. Just a few years ago.
STATEMENT OF RUTH DAHLQUIST-WILLARD, Ph.D., SMALL FARMS
ADVISOR, COOPERATIVE EXTENSION FRESNO AND TULARE COUNTIES,
DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE AND
NATURAL RESOURCES, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
FRESNO, CA
Dr. Dahlquist-Willard. Well thank you again for the
opportunity to speak. I think that the previous speakers have
given a really good big picture of the need for greater equity,
inclusion, and access in USDA programs, for small scale and
socially disadvantaged farmers. And we all work as technical
assistance providers for a number of different state and
Federal programs.
And I think maybe I can comment on some of the details of
those that could be improved for access. One of those is the
crop insurance. So there's the NAP program, which has some of
the farmers that we work with have been able to access, but not
many. Partly because it's one crop at a time and it doesn't
work for a diversified farm. It's also often the reward for
getting all the paperwork in isn't considered sufficient for
the amount of work that it takes.
There's also the Risk Management Agency Whole Farm
Insurance, which is a newer program, which I think is very
promising for diversified small scale farms. And yet there's a
gap in how to access it because it's not offered through the
FSA office.
So that's just one example of how maybe programs could be
streamlined and improved with gaps identified and addressed, so
that like there's this Whole-Farm Insurance Program, but it's
through RMA, so you have to go through a private insurance
agent. The FSA office can't necessarily recommend one over
another. So there's a gap in technical assistance for how can
farmers access that program.
So that's something that could be addressed through more
technical assistance or some kind of modifications to that
program that would allow FSA staff to connect farmers to agents
that can offer it. But just one example of how the devil's in
the details of whether people can actually access the program.
So I just want to mention that I know there has been many
conversations over the years about how to improve access, how
to make programs more accessible. There has been a lot of
technical assistance funded through the section 2501 program
and other programs like that. And sometimes it takes I think a
lot of people sitting in a room and just hashing out the boring
details of where the gaps are and where the barriers are to
make the programs more accessible.
So I just want to offer that we and our--also there are
many nonprofit partners that can be brought into the
conversation, are very willing to help with that, if there's a
desire for really looking at the programs and identifying how
they can be better accessed by farmers that currently aren't in
the loop as much.
Mr. Costa. Terrific. I appreciate it very much, all four of
you. Thank you for your time and your testimony. And we'll move
on here. Many of you have been waiting here since we started,
10:00 this morning. And you're probably wondering where we are
in the lineup here. We're trying to go through in an orderly
fashion. And Title VII is research and extension. And for that
we'll have Carol Chandler, who's been patient, and Keith
Watkins, who I hope is still here. And Jim Parsons. That will
deal with the research and extension. We have three witnesses
there.
And then we have forestry. And given all the challenges we
had, I thought we'd have more folks here. But we have one
witness on forestry on Title VIII. And then the big group is
horticulture, obviously specialty crops and the like. And we
have a series of folks that are part of that. And we will be
looking forward to hearing you.
And then we have Title XI and XII. But we're getting there.
So be patient. And Carol Chandler, let's begin with you. You've
worn many hats over the years. And you and I worked together on
a whole lot of different stuff. Please begin.
STATEMENT OF CAROL CHANDLER, MEMBER, BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, WESTERN GROWERS; PARTNER, CHANDLER FARMS, L.P.,
SELMA, CA
Ms. Chandler. Yes. We have. Good afternoon and thank you so
much for this opportunity. I'm Carol Chandler. I farm with my
family in the Selma area. We grow citrus, almonds, and wine
grapes. And I'm here today as a board member of the Western
Growers, and to talk about and focus on three areas.
The first being our labor situation. And the lack of and
cost of available farm labor has caused us to look for
assistance in the farm bill. And I know the House of
Representatives has already passed a bipartisan immigration
bill, which is awaiting Senate action. But we believe the farm
bill needs to dramatically spur on innovation around automating
harvest and farm labor in our sector.
For example, on our farm we've had to transition away from
high labor crops like raisin grapes and tree fruit, in order to
go to more mechanized crop--able to harvest more mechanized
crops. And so private companies in the fresh produce industry
have taken it upon themselves to fund research, such as Western
Growers with their innovation center in the Salinas area, where
we identify startup companies working on labor saving
technologies.
Our sector is heavily engaged and highly motivated. But
frankly the speed of innovation is not fast enough. And we want
to be sure innovation reaches producers of all sizes and crops.
Second, innovation in crop protection products is important to
us. Our community needs assistance in production, in the
product development, both in terms of conventional products,
but also non-conventional crop protection products.
It appears that a major focus within the world of crop
protection is to develop non-conventional biologically based
products. That's where lots of the research is headed. We
cannot wait 10, 15, or 20 years for new non-conventional crop
protection tools. We need to be part of the cutting edge there
to have more tools in our toolbox. Again, the farm bill has
programs to help assist in that type of research, but more
needs to be done.
Finally, we know that Congress is looking to determine ways
to make the farm bill safety net more effective in order to
reduce the size and scope of disaster programs. For the product
industry, that means a focus on crop insurance. For some of our
industry who have products who will want to work with Congress
to make those products more effective, such as covering
shallower losses for orchard crops with insurance policies.
For those crops that do not have any crop insurance
products, our focus will be both on how to create effective
universal products that would help everyone, as well as how to
make it easier to develop new crop insurance products for
individual crops. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much. Next is Mr. Keith Watkins.
STATEMENT OF KEITH WATKINS, VICE PRESIDENT, FARMING, BEE SWEET
CITRUS, INC., FOWLER, CA; ON BEHALF OF
CALIFORNIA CITRUS MUTUAL
Mr. Watkins. Thank you. Thank you for the time to speak
today, Chairman Costa. I'm here representing the California
citrus industry. My name is Keith Watkins. I'm a citrus grower
and Vice President of Farming for Bee Sweet Citrus in Fowler,
with operations in Fresno, Tulare, Kern, San Luis Obispo, and
Imperial Counties.
I also serve as Vice Chairman of the California Citrus
Mutual, a Board Member and Treasurer of the Citrus Pest and
Disease Prevention Committee, and a past board member of the
Citrus Research Board. We appreciate you coming to Fresno to
hear the needs of citrus growers and the agriculture industry
as we struggle to maintain global competitiveness and safe
affordable food for a healthy diet.
The single greatest challenge facing the citrus industry is
the deadly disease citrus greening, Huanglongbing, or HLB. In
Florida, the presence of HLB in commercial citrus groves has
led to the removal of hundreds of thousands of acres, and a
decline in production capacity from roughly 250 million boxes
to around 50 million boxes today.
Florida was once the nation's largest citrus producing
state. Now with HLB present, Florida citrus growers and rural
economies are faced with extreme hardship. And the only
solution is to find a cure. Here in California we have been
fortunate to keep HLB out of commercial citrus orchards through
the diligent work of the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention
Committee, the Citrus Division of the California Department of
Food and Agriculture, industry partners, extension education,
and outreach programs.
[Inaudible] outreach programs and cooperative growers and
residents in southern California, where the disease is
confirmed and spreading in residential areas. The citrus
industry is diligently working to prevent the movement of Asian
citrus psyllid, ACP, a vector that transmits HLB from one
quarantine area to another. Bee Sweet Citrus ourselves, we've
invested over $1.3 million to build a wash line on the Central
Coast that we could treat the citrus before moving it here to
the San Joaquin Valley, so we wouldn't move ACP, to minimize
the risk.
A vital part of the fight against HLB comes from the farm
bill. The farm bill supports the citrus disease subcommittee
and dedicated $25 million per year to the USDA NIFA to bring
top researchers across the country to find a cure. On behalf of
the California citrus industry, I respectfully request that
funding for the important program be continued in the upcoming
farm bill.
We desperately need a cure, which is the focus of the NIFA
funding, and the ultimate solution that can restore the lost
production and maintain the competitiveness of the U.S. citrus
industry. We greatly appreciate the support and cooperation of
Congress and our administrative partners. And we look forward
to continuing this vital public-private partnership in the
future. Thank you for your time.
Mr. Costa. Well thank you for very much, Mr. Watkins, in
representing California's citrus industry in so many facets
that you enumerated. I know over the 18 years, and then even
before then, the importance that these disease programs have
played in terms of trying to deal with eradication of various
kinds, not only of disease, but like Med flies and other
challenges that we have felt. You know Mr. Casey Cramer?
Mr. Watkins. Yes. I do.
Mr. Costa. Do you think he does a pretty good job?
Mr. Watkins. I'm not sure if he works for us or I work for
him sometimes.
Mr. Costa. I think he does a pretty good job.
Mr. Watkins. Yes. I think so too.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Mr. Jim Parsons, you're the last in the
last panel, and then we're going to get to horticulture here,
folks. Be patient. Be patient. Mr. Parsons?
STATEMENT OF JIM PARSONS, PARTNER, PARSONS & SONS FARMING, LLC,
DUCOR, CA
Mr. Parsons. Good afternoon, Congressman Costa. I
appreciate you being here today. I want to include research--I
think Mr. Watkins was talking about it. And it's important to
me also. I do raise citrus, but I am a grain farmer, dryland
grain farmer. I am the third generation here on the farm. The
fourth generation is at home harvesting and working. Of course
I'm working also.
Mr. Costa. Yes.
Mr. Parsons. It seems like research never gets the funding
that it should. It seems like I'm always coming back to D.C. to
talk, to get more funding for research. It seems like it always
gets the short end of the stick in the farm bill. The farm bill
says that it can have so much monies, but they never get it to
them. For some reason it is not funded, fully funded. This last
year I think about--I'm not sure--it just got a lot more
funding than it has in the past. And I do appreciate that.
Mr. Costa. We're trying.
Mr. Parsons. That's good. The other thing I wanted to talk
about is crop insurance. I use it. I wish it was a little more
lucrative in the wheat.
Mr. Costa. Yes.
Mr. Parsons. And I understand why some of the areas that I
farm in, I can't get crop insurance. I put up with it. I don't
like it, but I put up with it. But that's the nature of
farming.
Mr. Costa. Yes, it is.
Mr. Parsons. And there's some of us down there that aren't
doing it. I am going to say that I'm going to backtrack a
little bit. I'm glad that Congress and the Senate has seen to
put money towards getting the Friant-Kern Canal repaired. It is
going on.
Mr. Costa. Been working on that for a while.
Mr. Parsons. Yes. Yes. You have. I want to thank you for
being here today. I do appreciate----
Mr. Costa. Makes it easier than you having to come to
Washington.
Mr. Parsons. Well it's cheaper. Let's put it that way.
Mr. Costa. That too. That too. Now I come home almost every
week and I--this is home. Thank you for your testimony, Mr.
Parsons. I appreciate it very much.
Mr. Parsons. You're welcome.
Mr. Costa. And whether it's in Washington or here, I'm
always there. Okay?
Mr. Parsons. Okay. You'll probably see me next September.
Mr. Costa. All right. I look forward to it. I look forward
to it. All right. For those of you who are in the horticulture
panel, we have forestry. But the good news is we only have one
person on the forestry. So Mr. Tim Border?
Mr. Borden. Tim Borden.
Mr. Costa. Borden. Okay. With Save the Redwoods League. And
we've got some legislation we're working on as we speak.
STATEMENT OF TIM BORDEN, SEQUOIA RESTORATION AND STEWARDSHIP
MANAGER, SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE, FRESNO, CA; ON BEHALF OF
GIANT SEQUOIA LANDS
COALITION
Mr. Borden. Yes. We do. And I'd love to speak to some of
that today too because I think it could be part of the farm
bill. So thank you for having us here. I'm Tim Borden, Sequoia
Restoration and Stewardship Manager for Save the Redwoods
League. And I'm representing our nonprofit and the Giant
Sequoia Lands Coalition, which are dedicated to protecting the
globally unique giant sequoia.
Today wildfires exacerbated by drought, climate change, and
practices of fire exclusion, are occurring at a frequency and
severity that if allowed to continue at the current rate could
wipe out our irreplaceable and magnificent giant sequoia
groves. Today's wildfires are killing large mature trees, which
is largely unprecedented. Since 2020, we have lost 20 percent
of all giant sequoia on the planet to fire.
We know what to do to meet this emergency. The League and
our partners have advocated for multiple solutions. One, we
must allocate the funding and resources needed to conduct fuel
reduction treatments based on silvicultural and ecological
goals, [inaudible] burns and cultural burns led by indigenous
practitioners.
Two, we need more time in the calendar year for forest
treatments, pile burning, and broadcast burning is acceptable.
Three, Federal agencies need an increased ability to quickly
share resources in the form of skilled people, equipment, and
materials. Four, we need a streamlined permitting process for
the Endangered Species Act, and the National Historic
Preservation Act, while upholding species protection and
cultural resource protection.
Five, we need a paid, on-call, skilled workforce for active
management and prescribed fire available year round. And six,
our society needs to recognize and support the wisdom and skill
of indigenous communities in forest stewardship and cultural
burning. We need their stewardship active on the land with
fewer barriers to access.
I'd like to submit this brief, Save the Giant Sequoias:
Emergency Actions for 2022-2023, which outlines the solutions
in depth into the record for this listening session. So on to
the answer, House Resolution 8168, the Save Our Sequoias Act,
recently introduced and cosponsored by yourself, includes these
provisions and is a solution to the crisis. This is the
blueprint to follow. The provisions outlined in it should be
considered a priority for inclusion in the 2023 Farm Bill.
The Save Our Sequoias Act is supported by a broad range of
environmental groups, including the Tule River Indian Tribe,
Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Climate and Energy
Solutions, Outdoor Industry Association, and Save the Redwoods
League. It also includes supporters from the broader
agricultural community, including the Association of California
Water Agencies, California Cattlemen's Association, California
Farm Bureau, and the California Forestry Association.
This bipartisan group of supporters understands the
cascading benefits of protecting these groves and the
surrounding forest. This bill would help prevent the
catastrophic wildfires that have plagued California, provide
safe consistent sources of water for our neighbors, including
those in the farming and ranching communities, and provides the
best drinking water in the world. It will provide cleaner air
to breathe, and it will continue to draw millions of visitors
every year to our Valley, to visit and be inspired by these
ancient giants. There is a reason visitors to the Fresno
airport emerge into a giant sequoia grove.
In conclusion, we need to include the provisions in House
Resolution 8168, the Save Our Sequoias Act, into the 2023 Farm
Bill. Thank you very much.
Mr. Costa. Thank you, Mr. Tim Borden, for your advocacy.
And we'll submit that for the record. And please bring that
forward. And I think any of us who have ever spent any time
with sequoia redwoods, wherever the groves you visited, humbles
you when you put it all in perspective. And we had a bipartisan
group visiting a grove that I had not visited before. And it
was a good experience. And we do have bipartisan support. And
I'm very hopeful that we're going to move that forward. Thank
you.
All right. Our next group here, our folks that have been
waiting very patiently, a panel ten, Title X, the farm bill.
Although I suspect with horticulture and especially crops who
have some other things they want to mention. But try to keep it
within 3 minutes. Ian LeMay, representing California Fresh
Fruit Association; Bill Smittcamp, representing Wawona Frozen
Foods; Kimberly Houlding, representing the American Olive
Producers Association; Jon Reelhorn, representing Belmont
Nursery.
Let's see, we got some more folks here. Some are going to
have to sit in seats right behind there and we'll go--Melissa
Cregan, our Fresno County Ag Commissioner; Jane Sooby,
representing CCOF outreach and policy. And then we have two
witnesses, hopefully one of them can cover the field, from the
Burroughs Family Orchards. And I've got--I'll let them decide
which one of the individuals wants to testify. Benina Montes
or--my handwriting--my reading of the handwriting is not that
good, clearly.
Let's begin. Okay. You guys switched up the order on me.
Mr. Smittcamp, Bill, please begin. Then followed by Ian LeMay,
and Kimberly, and Jon, and our Ag Commissioner, and we'll just
make it work. And Jane. Mr. Smittcamp?
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM S. ``BILL'' SMITTCAMP, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WAWONA FROZEN FOODS, INC., CLOVIS, CA
Mr. Smittcamp. Congressman Costa and team, thank you for
the opportunity to speak with you today about the Farm Bill
2023. It gives me great opportunity to talk to you. I'm Bill
Smittcamp, President and CEO, Wawona Frozen Foods, located
right here in Fresno County.
Mr. Costa. Third generation.
Mr. Smittcamp. Third gen---I'm second, my kids are third,
and my grandchildren that are working right now are fourth.
Mr. Costa. Good.
Mr. Smittcamp. Thank you. At Wawona Frozen Foods we grow
and process over 125 million pounds. And for the past 35
years--excuse me--we have been honored to partner with USDA
serving families and specifically the USDA National School
Lunch Program, providing over 100 million frozen fruit cups
annually to the school program.
We believe households are best served when they have access
to all forms of nutritious foods. We know that the USDA
nutrition programs have been successful in bringing fresh
fruits to the recipients. However there's an opportunity to
include and promote frozen foods to enhance these programs, and
help ensure families have access to high quality nutrition
throughout the year, regardless of their geographic location.
Number one, feeding programs intended to increase produce
consumption should promote all forms of produce, fresh, frozen,
canned, and dry. And I would be remiss if I didn't say American
grown. Speaking of frozen fruit industry, we believe we are the
safety net for the fresh industry. Ourselves as well as 64
outside growers that deliver to Wawona Frozen Foods and fresh
packing houses, consider that freezing is a natural [inaudible]
for the fruit.
Data indicates that many consumers do not eat more product
because they do not know how to prepare it. Frozen vegetable
are peeled, trimmed, ready to cook, with easy to follow cooking
instructions. In addition, research shows that the nutritional
value of frozen fruits and vegetables are equal to and in some
cases better.
Fresh frozen promotes a sustainable food system, especially
one that minimizes food waste. Frozen foods are critical to
fighting food waste due to the frozen shelf life and pre-
portioned servings that help individuals prepare the
appropriate amount for each meal.
We often hear also in number three, we often hear due to
the lack of freezing and freezer capacity across the nation,
schools, food banks, and pantries, that these outlets don't
have the capacity that we need to have. In conclusion, we would
just like to make sure that the language in the farm bill
accepts all forms, and that we also try to build-out and get
infrastructure for freezers in our local food banks across the
nation.
Mr. Costa. I think those are all good suggestions. And your
family have been tremendous advocates over the years. I was
able to get some donations of some of these frozen containers
or trucks to some of our food banks in past years. They were
surplus that were being recycled from grocery operations and
other operations. And those have worked out fine. But we do
need to increase capacity. And I will continue to do whatever I
can on my end.
Mr. Smittcamp. Great. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Mr. Ian LeMay, California Fresh Fruit
Association. Good to have you here.
STATEMENT OF IAN LeMAY, PRESIDENT, CALIFORNIA FRESH FRUIT
ASSOCIATION, FRESNO, CA
Mr. LeMay. I appreciate it. Good afternoon. My name is Ian
LeMay and I serve as the President of the California Fresh
Fruit Association. CFFA represents growers and shippers of 13
permanent fresh fruit commodities here in the State of
California. Those commodities are peaches, plums, nectarines,
apricots, table grapes, apples, pears, persimmons,
pomegranates, blueberries, cherries, figs, and kiwis.
Our growers are based as far as Lake County in the north,
and as far south as Coachella Valley. And we've been advocating
on their behalf for 86 years. We appreciate the opportunity to
make comments today regarding the 2023 Farm Bill. It goes
without saying that the farm bill is an extremely important
piece of legislation for our members, and with each
reauthorization brings with it renewed hope and expectation for
our industry.
At a minimum it is our members' belief that Congress should
approach this reauthorization with a goal of maintaining
baseline funding. But in all truth, we know that U.S. growers
deserve a bolstering of resources that can help propel our
industry towards a sustainable and competitive future. Global
consumers rely and trust the U.S. agriculture industry more
than any other agricultural production region in the world.
The production of our food and fiber is not only a national
security issue, but a global security issue. We have the
opportunity to fortify that security with the reauthorization.
And it is CFFA's hope that Congress will be bold enough to make
the meaningful investment necessary to meet that moment.
We have comments on multiple Titles today. With regards to
Title I, the California Fresh Fruit Association is a proponent
of the creation of a permanent disaster relief program. That is
with a focus on our changing climate and the way it impacts
California growers. Title II, California Fresh Fruit is a
proponent of the continuance of funding for programs like EQIP,
which has helped us create efficiencies in our irrigation and
other conservation practices.
As it was stated earlier with regards to Title III, we are
a proponent of the doubling of MAP funding. It is an over-
prescribed program, but one that has significant success, and
one that requires equal if not more investment from industries
like ours, so that we can go out and market our fresh
nutritious produce across the globe.
Nutrition was touched on today. We are proponents of the
fortifying and bolstering of SNAP, as well as TEFAP. Just this
year California stone fruit has been a recipient of a Section
32 purchase, which has been extremely helpful and pivotal as we
have continued to have slow downs at the ports, and have
created inability for us to move our fruit on a global scale.
One fix to Section 32 and TEFAP would be instead of a low
cost bid award, we would like to see through the farm bill a
change to a best value assessment. We think that, one, that
would create a supply of better quality produce into the
programs, but also in turn help to foster and fortify growers
who are sending fruit into those programs.
With regards to research and innovation, we need to invest
not only in research, but applied elements of new technologies,
to innovate and create safer work environments within our
collective industry.
And last on Title XI, which is crop insurance, it has been
an imperative tool for our commodity sector and one which we
would like to see the continuance of, the fortifying of funding
for, as well as the availability of expanding crop insurance to
multiple commodities. Again, we'll submit further comment into
the written record, but appreciate the opportunity to comment.
Mr. Costa. And we always look forward to the further
information and material you can provide us. You done good,
Ian. Proud of you. Give your family my best.
Mr. LeMay. Thank you, Congressman.
Mr. Costa. All right. Next, Kimberly Houlding, another
family operation, but representing today the American Olive Oil
Producers Association. And I did not realize you're now
President and CEO. Congratulations.
STATEMENT OF KIMBERLY HOULDING, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER, AMERICAN OLIVE OIL
PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, FRESNO, CA
Ms. Houlding. Thank you. Thank you, Congressman Costa. My
name is Kimberly Houlding. I am the President and CEO of the
American Olive Oil Producers Association. Congressman Costa, on
behalf of the American Olive Oil Producers Association members,
we would like to thank you for your continued support of our
industry.
And today I would really like to share with you some
tremendous news and a milestone for us. After 2 years of
collaborating with our organization, the North American Olive
Oil Association that represents importers, and Deoleo, the
largest producer of olive oil in the world, yesterday we
submitted a standard of identity citizens' petition to the FDA
for the first ever mandatory olive oil standard in the U.S.
Mr. Costa. Hooray.
Ms. Houlding. Yes. It has been a tremendous amount of work.
But our farmers know that consumers' trust in the olive oil
which they purchase is absolutely paramount to driving demand,
which will increase investment in our U.S. olive oil industry
and throughout rural communities in the U.S. So we truly see
this as a win/win for consumers and farmers alike, if the FDA
will adopt this.
Thank you for indulging me. I will now turn to my comments
to the farm bill. We're continuing to review our opportunities
for our growers in the 2023 Farm Bill, and look forward to
submitting some additional comments at a later date. But I
would like to highlight that the specialty crop research
programs and the Specialty Crop Research Initiative program
specifically, continues to be vital to supporting the growth of
our U.S. olive oil industry.
I will take a moment to echo Richard Matoian's comments
regarding the matching funds. The rules that changed when the
implementation of the last farm bill came in partway through
the grant cycle actually required us to withdraw our petition
and not be able to submit a full grant, because it was
impossible for us to come up with those matching funds. So
that's a really important fix that we look forward to in this
cycle.
As well, important tools such as risk management, and
recovery tools like crop insurance, and for our growers outside
of California that do not have the crop insurance availability,
especially the NAP and TAP programs are incredibly important
for them. Although olives are positioned, as you know, as a
drought tolerant crop and use only part of the water that many
other tree crops use, we still face challenges especially when
it comes to freeze.
Although our farmers utilize all the tools available to
them, they fall short in a year like this in which we
anticipate losses to exceed $30 million because of the
devastating freeze that occurred in our state at the end of
February. I understand that the House Appropriations Committee
passed disaster assistance placeholder language for $10 million
for disasters occurring in 2022. I would implore you and the
Committee to support an increase in funding and provide
determinant disaster relief to include freeze damage. Thank
you.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much, Kim. And Jon, you're next.
STATEMENT OF JON REELHORN, OWNER AND PRESIDENT, BELMONT
NURSERY; MEMBER, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, AmericanHort, FRESNO, CA
Mr. Reelhorn. Thank you. Jon Reelhorn, Belmont Nursery,
Fresno, California. I'm representing AmericanHort, our national
nursery association. I serve as Vice Chairman. Thank you for
letting the landscape and nursery association be a part of this
hearing. As we talk enough a lot about food, but I want to
remind us all that trees, and flowers, and shrubs in our
landscapes are certainly part of our crops here in California.
California is a top state in horticulture sales, selling
$2.6 billion in farmgate value in 2019. Our industry does what
we can to step up and address practical and applied research
and development challenges through our own research and
foundation, Horticulture Research Institute. However, long-term
and more basic needs exceed our capacity to self-fund. And we
look to key Federal key programs for leverage and partnership.
A few of the programs that have supported our industry in
California and throughout the nation include the Specialty Crop
Research Initiative, the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program,
and the successful Plant Pest and Disease Management and
Disaster Prevention Program, as well as the National Clean
Plant Network.
I would concur with the pistachio and the olive message
here that virtually all USDA administered grant programs that
require the awards to be matched at some level is a challenge
to us. And so fixing that would be very appropriate.
And finally, finding ways to mitigate pest and disease is a
top priority for the horticulture industry. The National Clean
Plant Network is a major success story, now considered as
crucial infrastructure serving high value crop sectors with
high consequence pathogen threats. Improved access to clean
plants for nursery crops such as tree fruit, citrus, berries,
grapes, and roses, enhances the competitiveness of these
sectors, benefitting growers, entire market chains, and
ultimately American consumers.
As an industry of stakeholders we intend to advance policy
and funding proposals in the context of the next farm bill that
allows clean plant centers to continue to serve the grower
community into the future. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Thank you very much, Jon. I appreciate it. And
we'll continue this conversation. Our very own Fresno County Ag
Commissioner, Melissa Cregan. And help me wind up here because
we've got about four more witnesses in the span time.
STATEMENT OF MELISSA CREGAN, AGRICULTURAL
COMMISSIONER AND SEALER OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, FRESNO COUNTY
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE;
REGIONAL BOARD MEMBER, SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY,
CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL COMMISSIONERS AND SEALERS ASSOCIATION,
FRESNO, CA
Ms. Cregan. All right. I'll try to be within time. Good
morning or actually good afternoon at this point now, Chairman
Costa. My name is Melissa Cregan. I am the Fresno County Ag
Commissioner and Sealer of Weights and Measures. Today I have
the privilege to be representing all of California's 58
counties through our professional association, the California
Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association.
CACASA is requesting your favorable consideration for two
important policies for the 2023 Farm Bill. First, the Plant
Protection Act. Chairman Costa, your leadership was
instrumental in developing bipartisan support in the U.S. House
in passing language in the 2008 Food, Conservation, and Energy
Act (Pub. L. 110-234) that amended the Plant Protection Act,
and initiated a pest and disease program that has been
incredibly successful.
The program was continued in the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills.
Congress authorizes a total of $750 million in the 10 year
budget baseline for these programs. USDA is required to make
the funds available from the Commodity Credit Corporation in
the amount of $750 million per year beginning in Fiscal Year
2018 and each fiscal year thereafter.
The program is administrated by USDA Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service. Each year, states, universities, and
other stakeholders, enter into cooperative agreements with
APHIS to receive funds for peer reviewed targeted projects that
identify high risk pest pathways, and are used to support the
U.S. Comprehensive Coordinated Network of local, state, and
Federal partners, combating pests and diseases.
Since Fiscal Year 2018, the total funding requested for
pest and disease projects submitted to USDA APHIS has exceeded
$100 million in all but 1 fiscal year. Given the program's
overwhelming success, we are urging Congress to authorize the
Plant Protection Act Program at $100 million each year.
Second, you may have noticed we have one of our best four
legged inspectors here with us today, Brodee, he's a little
hyper this morning, alongside his very capable handler, Kaitlyn
Demott. Brodee and Kaitlyn work in Fresno County and in
[inaudible] and surrounding counties including Tulare, Merced,
and Stanislaus.
Each day Brodee and Kaitlyn, along with 12 other teams
throughout California, conduct interior agricultural canine
inspections in warehouses, mail and package facilities, to
detect a range of invasive pests and diseases like citrus
greening, and fruit flies, and other prohibited agricultural
items.
This team just returned from the USDA National Detector Dog
Training Center in Newnan, Georgia It takes 7 weeks and up to
$25,000 to conduct initial training for both a dog and its
handler, and over 2 months of acclimation work before the team
becomes fully functional once they return home.
That's why we believe it is imperative that the U.S. funds,
builds, and maintains the infrastructure pipeline necessary to
provide an adequate supply of dogs and handlers needed to focus
on interior U.S. pathways, to protect our nation's agricultural
industry and the environment. There is tremendous need for a
more formalized domestically focused agricultural canine
inspection program, with an adequate standalone mandatory
authorized level of annual funding. We appreciate your
consideration and look forward to future dialogues on these
policies.
Mr. Costa. Well let's talk more about this, okay?
Ms. Cregan. Absolutely.
Mr. Costa. What's the dog's name?
Ms. Cregan. Brodee.
Mr. Costa. Is Brodee going to testify?
Ms. Cregan. Well Brodee would love to meet you afterwards.
But I think he snuck in a little testimony earlier and I
apologize for that.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Well that qualifies. Jane Sooby. Jane,
please come forward. And then we have--I don't know who's going
to determine to testify--thank you, Bill--between the Burroughs
Family Orchards. But we'll have one of you. But we can't have
both of you. Time does not allow. Okay. Jane?
STATEMENT OF JANE SOOBY, SENIOR POLICY SPECIALIST, CALIFORNIA
CERTIFIED ORGANIC FARMERS, SANTA CRUZ, CA
Ms. Sooby. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Congressman Costa for
hosting this really important listening session. It's been
fascinating and a lot of important topics have been discussed.
I'm Jane Sooby with California Certified Organic Farmers, CCOF.
We represent 3,000 organic farms, ranches, dairies, and food
businesses across the United States--across California, and
another 1,000 operations across the U.S.
Mr. Costa. And growing.
Ms. Sooby. Yes, indeed. That's one of our big points. We
hope the 2023 Farm Bill expands USDA support for organic,
because organic farming and ranching have key roles to play in
meeting the demands of our modern food system, as you know.
Because organic food must be grown and raised using
ecological methods and biological inputs, organic farming and
ranching is climate-smart and resilient agriculture. Organic
practices sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
and build healthy soils, as shown by data collected by long-
term comparison studies at UC Davis.
You may be interested to know that the top organic
commodity in California is dairy. And various specialty crops
fill in the rest of the top ten. California is the largest
organic producer in the United States, and accounts for 36
percent of organic production. Consumer demand for organic
products is strong and growing. Here in California, organic ag
commodity sales were $12 billion in 2020. And in 2021 organic
processed products reached sales of $34.5 billion. It's a
little known fact.
We are excited to hear more about USDA's vision for an
organic transition program that provides farmers with more
tools for going organic, and how such a program will fit into
the farm bill. Organic represents an economic opportunity that
more and more farmers are interested in pursuing.
To support and expand organic production, our farm bill
priorities include increasing organic certification cost-share
reimbursements. Certification cost-share has been an important
tool in making certification affordable for small-scale and
socially disadvantaged producers; providing financial,
educational, and technical support for farmers and ranchers who
wish to transition to organic; building small-scale and organic
livestock slaughter infrastructure; and significantly increased
funding for organic research, education, and technical
assistance which will benefit all farmers.
This is probably the most important farm bill that we've
seen in our lifetimes. The next 6 years will be critical in
addressing the climate and economic challenges we face. Farmers
and ranchers are hard working and innovative. We've got to
build on that innovation and come up with creative solutions,
putting organic farming at the forefront. Thank you very much.
Mr. Costa. And I couldn't agree with you more. Keep up your
good work. Last on this panel is the Burroughs Family Orchards.
And you are----
Ms. Montes. Benina.
Mr. Costa. I'm sorry?
Ms. Montes. Benina Montes.
Mr. Costa. Glad to meet you.
Ms. Montes. You too.
Mr. Costa. Please begin----
Ms. Montes. I think you've spoken with my folks----
Mr. Costa. Yes. I have.
Ms. Montes. Well thank you for hosting this----
Mr. Costa. You have a passionate mother.
STATEMENT OF BENINA MONTES, MANAGING PARTNER,
BURROUGHS FAMILY ORCHARDS, DENAIR, CA; ON BEHALF OF REGENERATE
AMERICA
Ms. Montes. That's right. You know it. You don't forget
her. I'm a farmer from Merced County. And we raise organic
almonds, walnuts, olives, and sheep, on 1,200 acres. We've been
farming organically for over 17 years, and are the first
certified regenerative organic almond farm in the world. We
follow five principles, no- or low-tillage, keeping the soil
covered, having diversity, not using synthetic pesticides,
herbicides or fertilizers, and integrating grazing livestock.
I'm here to speak on behalf of Regenerate America, a
national bipartisan coalition of farmers, businesses,
nonprofits, and individuals, alongside thousands of farmers and
ranchers across the country. We're asking you to make soil
health and regenerative ag a primary focus in the 2023 Farm
Bill which we've heard many times today.
We would specifically ask that you support these six soil
health focused and regenerative policies that will expand
leading education, technical service, and implementation
assistance for soil health systems; ensure equitable
opportunity and access to all USDA programs; improve regional
access to infrastructure, processing, and markets; increase
access to healthy and regionally sourced food; increase
farmland preservation and access, including for historically
underserved producers; and remove barriers and incentivize soil
health, and risk reduction through Federal crop insurance and
lending.
I've seen the benefits of soil health and regenerative farm
agriculture on our operation, including increased resilience,
not just economic, also reduced erosion, and impacts from
drought and pests, increased climate resilience and
biodiversity, and increased soil organic matter. For example,
our increase in soil organic matter in the past year has led to
an increase in water holding capacity on our farm, of more than
4 million gallons.
Our entire coalition is ready to work with you on the farm
bill. And I appreciate your time today.
Mr. Costa. Well thank you for your testimony. We look
forward to working with you and the organic farming throughout
the country. And please give your mom and dad my regards there
in Merced County. And I still hope to get up there and see it.
Ms. Montes. Any time you're welcome.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Thank----
Ms. Montes. Can I just add one quick thing? Years ago when
we were at the farmers' market, some of these programs where
people came with cards to be able to purchase food. I think it
was through like EBT. Fresh fruits and vegetables were on
there. But we had meat, we had almonds, we had olive oil, and
eggs. And none of those products were able to be purchased
through the card. And I'm not sure if that has been changed.
But that was just one comment----
Mr. Costa. I think there have been modifications to that.
But let us get back to you on that----
Ms. Montes. I just wanted to make sure because at the time
I was like this is----
Mr. Costa. We'll follow up and get back to you. We've got
your card here.
Ms. Montes. Awesome. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Okay? Okay. A gentleman has been waiting very
patiently, Mr. Jamie Johansson, President of the California
Farm Bureau, which I and so many other thousands of farmers in
California are members of.
And he's checked conversation and trade programs, but
representing California Farm Bureau. He could speak on all 12
titles of the farm bill. And it's good to have you here. And
thank you for your patience. And a regular back in Washington,
D.C., and testify with some regularity before the House
Committee there as well.
STATEMENT OF JAMES D. ``JAMIE'' JOHANSSON, PRESIDENT,
CALIFORNIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, SACRAMENTO, CA
Mr. Johansson. Thank you, Congressman. And thanks to
Chairman Scott for allowing you to have this hearing out here.
I am Jamie Johansson, President of the California Farm Bureau.
I'm also a farmer up in Butte County, farm olives and citrus.
Speaking on crop insurance, as well as bringing in disaster
relief programs, California's farmers, ranchers, and foresters,
are all too familiar with changing weather conditions,
including but not limited to changing hydraulic conditions that
result in cyclical reoccurring drought and catastrophic
wildfires that are burning more intensely and no longer limited
to a season.
Excuse me. With the impacts of disaster only intensifying,
disaster and crop insurance programs have been an essential
part of keeping farmers whole. With such a diverse set of
commodities and practices in California, we must remain focused
on improving and expanding these programs.
As of May 22nd, the Congressional Research Service
estimated that only about 80 specialty crops were covered
through crop insurance programs, from the roughly 400
agricultural commodities grown here in California. We must find
solutions to overcome limitations inherent in the current
system, and provide RMA with the necessary tools and structures
they need to close this gap.
Additionally, California Farm Bureau supports adequate
funding levels for programs such as ELAP, Livestock Indemnity
Program, Livestock [inaudible] Disaster Program, and Tree
Assistance Program, Dairy Margin Coverage Program, and others.
We also should recognize two--and highlighting the only 80 of
the 400 crops grown in California being covered, the
difficulties of getting crop insurance for these crops covered
here.
We were happy to see a pilot program started in Florida for
strawberries introduced in California. In meeting with the RMA
Administrator and other crop insurance salespeople, we're
disappointed to hear that that program has not been well-
received in terms of people signing up. And certainly it is
because, as we know in agriculture, and as what we certainly
know in California agriculture, one size doesn't fit all. So we
need those resources to adjust these crops, not just to how
they're grown in the Southeast or in the Midwest, but how we
farm in California.
As you've heard continually about those crops that aren't
covered, depend on the whole farm plan, a very difficult
program to understand, one that isn't readily available unless
there's been recent change in terms of the number of crop
insurance agents who deal with that program. But we need to
simplify--continue to simplify that program to make up--to
cover that hole that exists for a lot of us in the specialty
crop world there as well.
So with that, thank you for your time. I do want to throw
in there too that the crop insurance program should be for risk
management. Risk management based on markets and production on
the historical farmland production. We are very much in favor
and we have a lot of thoughts on the conservation program and
expanding those. And certainly known as more active in
conservation programs offered through the farm bill than the
California farmer.
And in fact, one of the most popular one is EQIP. Been
around for a while. And greatly utilized by California farmers.
In 2020 alone, 408,000 acres, treated acres under the EQIP
program, were in California. And there were 1,473 active EQIP
programs in California. Those two are separate titles. And
they're separate titles for a reason.
And so going back to the crop insurance, we must preserve
the integrity of the crop insurance program while also
expanding our conservation program. And I know it was mentioned
earlier up here, maybe--that maybe the two could meet. But we'd
be strongly against that, that we maintain the integrity of the
crop insurance program as a risk management tool.
Mr. Costa. Well thank you. Thank you very much, Jamie, for
that good testimony and pointing that out. I think it's
important as we go forward. And I know that we're going to
continue to work together as a leader on behalf of California
agriculture and the California Farm Bureau. We'll look forward
to your continuing input as we set the table for next year's
farm bill reauthorization.
And I always am excited when you and your friends come to
Washington. It's a little easier today.
Mr. Johansson. Yes. Thank you.
Mr. Costa. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. We have
two last witnesses on Title XII on miscellaneous. And I'd like
them to come forward. And if you'll be kind enough to--we have
Karen Rodriguez from the Kiss the Ground VP Program Operations,
which is based in Los Angeles. And I have never heard before
the Kiss the Ground VP Program. Looking forward to hearing more
about that.
Actually we have two witnesses. Are you going to both
cover, because--all right. And Mr. Ryland Engelhart. You can
stay forward there if you want to add a couple comments. But
the last, but certainly not least. Thank you for being here.
And coming all the way from Los Angeles.
STATEMENT OF RYLAND ENGELHART, CO-FOUNDER AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KISS THE GROUND, FILLMORE, CA; ACCOMPANIED
BY KAREN RODRIGUEZ, VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAM OPERATIONS
Mr. Engelhart. Yes. Thank you so much for the time and for
making this listening session happen. My name is Ryland
Engelhart. And I am one of the co-founders and the Executive
Director of a nonprofit organization called Kiss the Ground----
Mr. Costa. Mr. Engelhart, could you pause for a moment? For
all of you who have been here, I would be remiss if I did not
thank the House Agriculture Committee staff who have come here.
And you see them kind of squirreling because they're trying to
catch a--I think it's a 2:00 or 2:30 flight. So they have to
get back on their plane.
But Lisa, and Victoria, and Daniel, and I'm probably
leaving some--Don Grady looks like, Paul, and--Faisal, who sat
next to me last night. Thank all of you. Let's give them a
round of applause for--obviously without their participation,
we couldn't make this possible. Have a safe flight back to
Washington. And I'll see you next week. I'm sorry, Mr.
Engelhart. Please go ahead.
Mr. Engelhart. Thank you. So as I said, I'm the Executive
Director of a nonprofit organization started in Los Angeles
called Kiss the Ground. Our mission is to awaken people to the
possibilities of regeneration, specifically focused on the
importance of healthy soil and regenerative agriculture, as the
basis of a healthy infrastructure for society.
And we produced a film that came out on Netflix about a
year and a half ago, it's been seen about six million times,
bringing the awareness and the importance of soil health to a
broader audience. And so I'm here today because we've launched
and are part of a campaign called Regenerate America. Soil is
our common ground.
And the objective of the campaign is to get the general
public really in support of soil health and regenerative
agriculture. And really driving awareness for that to bring the
importance of that for our 2023 Farm Bill, such that we can
reallocate funding towards the importance of soil health. For
instance, I know that at this point there's about maybe one
percent of the funding in the farm bill that is going to
conservation and helping rebuild healthy soil.
As we are seeing prices of fuel, as we're seeing fertilizer
prices going up, it's never been a better time to focus on a
resilient agricultural system. And focusing on soil health and
regenerative agriculture, we see that as the biggest priority.
I'm not here today speaking as a farmer or rancher, but both my
sister and my father are small-scale specialty crop farmers
here in California in Solano County and Filmore in Ventura
County.
And so, yes, we're here to share that our request to you,
and to Congress, and to those that are deciding on how the
funding will be allocated for the 2023 Farm Bill, that there is
a big strong focus on soil health and regenerative agriculture.
And specifically touching policies or titles in the farm
bill, expanding and leading education around technical service
and implementation assistance for soil health system, ensure
equitable opportunity and access to all USDA programs, improve
regional access to infrastructure and processing and markets,
increase access to healthy and regional sourced food, increase
farmland preservation and access including historically
underserved producers, and remove barriers and incentives for
soil health risk reduction through Federal crop insurance and
lending.
Mr. Costa. Terrific. And you can share any additional
thoughts you might have in terms of written testimony to the
Committee. Karen, do you have any additional thoughts you'd
like to add that would complement his?
Ms. Rodriguez. Yes. Absolutely. Just, you know, context is
different for all Americans across the whole country. But I
know that soil health really can address many of the challenges
that we're facing today. And especially like in my community,
the communities that I come from, it's nutrition and food, it's
resilience of our ecosystems. And as a country it's just time
to really tend to that.
And so I just see a lot of opportunity. And there are so
many answers to many of the things that we face. All of the
things that Ryland touched on, they help, we're a resilient
people. Humans are resilient. Farmers are resilient. But
without the support in the farm bill for the health of soil,
those barriers are just getting bigger.
We can see it in our every day life today. And so this is
just--it's just time to refocus and put the tending to life----
Mr. Costa. I agree. And food is a national security issue.
But it's a world security issue. And with climate change and
other factors that we're dealing with, it's critical that we
try to do our very best on the farm bill. And I said I think on
the outset, a lot of the challenges and the titles that you
referenced here have played an important role. And this
information you give us is helpful for me and I think for the
other Committee Members as well.
We're going to have a problem with the baseline funding.
Because a lot of these programs are oversubscribed. And
Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, Senator Stabenow from Michigan and
I had a conversation about this several weeks ago. And we're
trying to figure out how we can increase the baseline funding
on some of these programs that have worked very well and that
have been oversubscribed.
And we want to make other modifications based upon
suggestions that you've made to us today and others have. And
so flexibility is I think what we're trying to do. And the farm
bill tends to be historically one of the more bipartisan pieces
of legislation we work on. And Lord knows we're going to need
that next year when we're trying to put this together. So thank
you.
Mr. Engelhart. Can I ask one question?
Mr. Costa. No. Go ahead.
Mr. Engelhart. Our objective with Regenerate American is to
create a bipartisan coalition. We have over about 75 groups
that are signed on----
Mr. Costa. Okay. And the question.
Mr. Engelhart. And the question is, how can we, gathering
public support, back you up to make the decisions and move the
levers that you have access to--how do we----
Mr. Costa. Well I mean it's a continued conversation. And
keep us apprised of and updated, as with everybody. That's how
this process works. And we're very accessible. We try to do our
best. And I really appreciate everybody's testimony here today.
And we'll do our very best in the next Congress to reauthorize
the farm bill in a way that satisfies and reflects the needs of
not only our nation, but the world.
Because American agriculture really is--provides the
leadership in so many of these areas. Whether you call it
sustainable or regenerative, the fact of the matter is that I
don't think any other place in the world do they do it any
better in providing, and producing, and processing, and
providing for our consumers the highest quality and nutritious
food anywhere in the world.
And if our eating habits were better and we wasted less
food, it would be a reflection of that. But that's part of our
own determination. And we have to teach kids in schools and
that's why--we didn't talk about it today, but the school lunch
and breakfast program for many kids is the best meal they get
of the day.
And we need to continue to work on that and teach good
eating habits, which is so critical. As my mother used to say,
``An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.'' And it all
begins with eating healthy.
And so anyway, thank all of you. Thank you for your time,
your patience. I didn't quite stick to the 1:00 thing. But it
was important for me to listen to all of you. And I am--mother
nature is calling--I'm going to make a quick pitstop here, but
I will be available if you want to talk a little bit after I do
that. Okay? Thank you. This listening session is now over. I'm
supposed to say a few magic words here.
I thanked all of you. And now we do this, and for those who
didn't get a chance to testify, the Agriculture Committee is
publicly looking on rolling out a link and a portal that we can
take further testimony, information on, for consumers, for
farmers, dairymen and dairywomen, and all of those who are
interested in the various farm bill programs.
So there will be an opportunity to provide further
information through the portal and the links that we can all
participate in as we set the efforts for next year's
reauthorization. And I would be remiss if I did not thank my
alma mater, one of the premier universities in this country,
home of the Bulldogs, Fresno State, for hosting us here today
and allowing us to use their facilities.
Thank you very much. And now the listening session is
finished. What's that? Somebody left a tie. How would I know
that? I mean, geez. I'm just trying to make this hearing go
well.
(Thereupon, the listening session was adjourned at 1:15
p.m., P.D.T.)
[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
Supplementary Material
the listening session in fresno, ca: a visual retrospective *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseagdems/albums/
72177720300213765.
Alexa Fox, Senior Legislative Assistant for Mr. Costa.; Hon.
Jim Costa, a Representative in Congress from California; Daniel
Feingold, Staff Director, Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign
Agriculture
Saul Jimenez-Sandoval, Ph.D., President, California State
University, Fresno
Daniel Errotabere, Managing General Partner, Errotabere
Ranches; Member, Board of Directors, Westlands Water District
Kirk Gilkey, President, Gilkey Farm, Inc.; Member, Board of
Directors, California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association;
on behalf of National Cotton Council
Mark McKean, Owner, McKean Farms; on behalf of National
Cotton Council
Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and Economic
Affairs, Milk Producers Council
Melvin Medeiros, Chairman, Western Area Council, Dairy
Farmers of America; Member, Executive Board, National Milk
Producers Federation
Nicola Peill-Moelter, Ph.D., Director of Sustainability
Innovation, Office of the CTO, Vmware; on behalf of Regenerate
America
Thomas D. McCarthy, General Manager, Kern County Water Agency
Marc Engstrom, California Director of Public Policy, Ducks
Unlimited
Julia Kaye, Carlsbad, CA; on behalf of Regenerate America
Perri Caylor, Menlo Park, CA; on behalf of Regenerate America
Manuel Cunha, Jr., President, Nisei Farmers League
Richard Matoian, President, American Pistachio Growers
Ernie Schroeder, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, Jess Smith &
Sons Cotton, Inc.; First Vice-Chairman, American Cotton
Shippers Association
Joey Fernandes, Owner, Fernjo Farms; Board Member, Land
O'Lakes, Inc.
Gregory Mahoney, Treasurer and National Outreach Chairman,
California Welfare Fraud Investigators Association
Natalie Caples, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Central
California Food Bank
Itzul Gutierrez, Senior Policy Advocate, California
Association of Food Banks
Jim Grant, Director, Social Justice Ministry, Diocese of
Fresno; on behalf of Catholic Relief Services
Alicia Nelson, M.P.H., Director, Wellness Services, Student
Health and Counseling Center, California State University,
Fresno
Allyson Hildebrand, Coordinator, The Amendola Family Student
Cupboard, California State University
Eric Payne, Executive Director, The Central Valley Urban
Institute
C. Lilian Thaoxaochay, Small Farms Community Educator, Small
Farm Workgroup, Cooperative Extension Fresno County, Division
of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
Jessie Kanter, Assistant Specialist, Small Farms and
Specialty Crops, Cooperative Extension Fresno and Tulare
Counties, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
University of California
Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, Ph.D., Small Farms Advisor,
Cooperative Extension Fresno and Tulare Counties, Division of
Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
Carol Chandler, Member, Board of Directors, Western Growers;
Partner, Chandler Farms, L.P.
Keith Watkins, Vice President, Farming, Bee Sweet Citrus,
Inc.; on behalf of California Citrus Mutual
Jim Parsons, Partner, Parsons & Sons Farming, LLC
Tim Borden, Sequoia Restoration and Stewardship Manager, Save
the Redwoods League; on behalf of Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition
William S. ``Bill'' Smittcamp, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Wawona Frozen Foods, Inc.
Ian LeMay, President, California Fresh Fruit Association
Kimberly Houlding, President and Chief Executive Officer,
American Olive Oil Producers Association
Jon Reelhorn, Owner and President, Belmont Nursery; Member,
Executive Committee, AmericanHort
Melissa Cregan, Agricultural Commissioner and Sealer of
Weights and Measures, Fresno County Department of Agriculture;
Regional Board Member, San Joaquin Valley, California
Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association
Kaitlyn Demott, Handler; Brodee, Agricultural Detector K-9
Jane Sooby, Senior Policy Specialist, California Certified
Organic Farmers
Benina Montes, Managing Partner, Burroughs Family Orchards;
on behalf of Regenerate America
James D. ``Jamie'' Johansson, President, California Farm
Bureau Federation
Ryland Engelhart, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kiss the
Ground; Karen Rodriguez, Vice President of Program Operations
______
Submitted Article by Hon. Jim Costa, a Representative in Congress from
California
[https://www.agalert.com/story/?id=15850]
Commentary: Dairy farmers are working to address climate issues
Issue Date: June 1, 2022
By John Talbot
Each year we use the month of June to recognize our dairy farm
families and the delicious, nutritious foods they help bring to the
table. On the heels of Earth Day, we are leaning into the topic of
dairy sustainability for this year's Dairy Month celebration to
showcase California dairy's commitment to slowing climate impacts.
Our state remains one of only two major global regions to establish
a statutory mandate to reduce methane from the dairy sector and is on
track to meet its ambitious target of a 40% reduction in manure methane
by 2030.
California dairy farm families have a long commitment to providing
products that keep the state's finite resources and environmental
balance in mind. For example, the amount of water used per gallon of
milk produced has decreased by more than 88% over a 50 year period, due
to improved feed crop production, water use efficiency and the use of
byproducts as feed ingredients.
Dairy is the leading agricultural product in California, making it
crucial to the well-being of the fifth-largest economy in the world.
However, California's dairy sector, which includes 1.7 million dairy
cows, accounts for only 4% of the state's total greenhouse gas
emissions.
That's due to California dairy farmers' continued strides in
reducing methane emissions through investment and innovation. According
to a 2020 study published in the Journal of Dairy Science, greenhouse
gas emissions per gallon of milk produced in California have decreased
by more than 45% over the past 50 years.
The use of anaerobic digesters, which turn manure methane into
renewable electricity, renewable natural gas or hydrogen fuel, are
driving much of this progress. California has roughly 206 digester
projects capturing methane from 217 dairy farms, with 89 digesters
currently in operation and the rest in various stages of development.
Over the next 25 years, collective dairy methane reduction projects
across California, including digesters and alternative manure
management projects, are estimated to reduce more than 55 million
metric tons of greenhouse gases. That's an annual emissions reduction
equal to taking more than half a million cars off the road.
At Calgren Dairy Fuels in Pixley, biogas from cow manure collected
at 16 Tulare County dairies is converted to renewable compressed
natural gas, or CNG, and introduced directly into the Southern
California Gas Co., which serves 21.7 million customers.
Phase one of this dairy digester pipeline cluster is capturing
150,000+ tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases and
displacing more than 3 million gallons of fossil fuel-based
transportation fuel annually. The CNG is made available as a near-zero
emissions fuel for heavy-duty trucks, replacing existing fossil-fuel
diesel.
Another step is innovation to reduce methane emissions from the
source. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, are
conducting studies to help dairy farmers adjust their cows' diets. For
example, diets that include alfalfa, flax and other plants high in
omega-3s such as seaweed have shown to reduce enteric methane from
cattle digestion.
Cattle have a unique digestive system that enables them to unlock
nutrients from plants in a way we cannot. This means dairy cows can
upcycle byproducts of food and fiber production that are inedible for
humans, minimizing waste and reducing emissions from landfills. These
byproducts, including almond hulls and citrus pulp, account for upward
of 40% of a California dairy cow's diet in the state.
Dairy farms are also focused on water-smart management practices.
Water recycling is commonplace on California dairies, with the same
drop of water used four to five times.
Clean water cools milk tanks and is then used to water and wash the
cows. The same water heads to a holding pond for storage, where it is
used multiple times to flush manure out of barns, becoming rich with
plant nutrients such as nitrogen. It is then blended with irrigation
water to ``fertigate'' crops in the fields.
Dairy farmers experimenting with drip irrigation to grow feed crops
are using 47% less water while increasing crop yields. Regenerative
agriculture practices such as crop rotation and no-till farming are
also critical.
Farmers depend on cows for their livelihood. To produce high-
quality milk, dairy cows must be healthy and cared for, which is why
farmers focus on a nutritious diet, appropriate veterinary care and
healthy living conditions. In turn, cows produce one of the healthiest
and most sustainable products on the market.
Because 99% of the dairy farms in California are family-owned, many
of these sustainability practices have been passed down from generation
to generation and improved upon over time.
The time-tested, future-forward approach of the Golden State's
dairy industry is focused on continued success on its journey toward
climate neutrality and--ultimately--net-zero emissions.
(John Talbot is the CEO of the California Milk Advisory
Board. He may be contacted through [email protected].)
Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made
to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this
item.
______
Submitted Report by Marc Engstrom, California Director of Public
Policy, Ducks Unlimited
Rice Stewardship_Annual Report 2021
``Louisiana NRCS has taken measures to adapt, grow capacity,
and serve landowners, producers, and partnerships. All while we
remain committed to our motto, `Helping People Help the
Land'.''
Chad Kacir, NRCS State Conservationist.
Pictured: (left to right) Chad Kacir, NRCS, Hine Unkle, Rice
Producer.
Leadership Message
U.S. Rice Production in the New Millennium--Change Prevails
The USA Rice-Ducks Unlimited Rice Stewardship Partnership reached
an important milestone in 2021 and that is over 1,000 individual and
unique farms served for the betterment of working ricelands, water, and
wetland wildlife. One might ask ``is this significant progress since
our inception in 2013''? Please allow us to put things into
perspective.
Based on research by nationally known agricultural economist, and
friend of the rice industry, Dr. Nathan Childs, change indeed prevails
in today's U.S. rice industry. As the total number of farms growing
rice declined 52% from 9,627 in 1997 to 4,637 in 2017 (most recent
Census), total planted rice acres also dropped from about 3.5 to 2.5
million acres. However, the average acres of rice per farm expanded
significantly now up to over 600 acres per year. And yields per acre
are at an all-time high. Therefore, Rice Stewardship has reach 22% of
farms in operation today and these farms are aggressively growing more
acres and witnessing unprecedented yields.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Statistics from: McBride, William D., Sharon Raszap Skorbiansky,
and Nathan Childs. U.S. Rice Production in the New Millennium: Changes
in Structure, Practices, and Costs, EIB-202, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Economic Research Service, December 2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Childs and colleagues go on to explain that the most
significant change in rice production technologies in the new
millennium is the introduction and adoption of new rice seed varieties.
Southern rice producers increasingly planted hybrid and non-genetically
modified herbicide-tolerant seed. Precision farming technologies also
proliferated, especially the use of yield monitors, global positioning
systems for rolling equipment (e.g., spray rigs), automation for
stationary equipment (e.g., irrigation wells), and more. The adoption
of new technologies in rice farming pushed per-acre production costs
higher, but as rice yields also increased, higher costs were offset.
Rice Stewardship is proud to have RiceTec Seed Company and Horizon Ag
as long-time financial sponsors and technical advisors. And indeed,
increasing technology efficiencies on the farm are a mainstay of our
everyday operation.
Another mainstay of our everyday operation is the Rice Stewardship
field staff and the technical assistance provided to rice producers and
the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Field Offices.
In this annual report you will see more on the depth and diversity of
this field team, from our veterans to our ``Women of Rice'', from
expertise in program administration, to irrigation, to advancing
technology as detailed above.
Indeed, change prevails in the world today and within our U.S. rice
industry. And Rice Stewardship embraces this change. May we not rest on
our laurels and successes with the first 1,000 rice farms served but
remember we have another 3,000+ farms in front of us. We thank the
NRCS, our supply-chain financial sponsors, and many other in-kind
supporters, for the progress made to date. Let us continue the
momentum, the economic and environmental impact, through tomorrow and
beyond. And let us all remember what is good for rice is good for
ducks!
Jeff Durand Al Montna
Co-Chairman Co-Chairman
Women of Rice
By Emily Austin, Communications Specialist, Ducks Unlimited
Pictured: Michaela Lee.
Rice is one of the world's most important crops. Each year the U.S.
rice industry distributes nearly 40 million pounds of rice around the
world to combat food insecurity. Rice is also important to waterfowl,
providing critical habitat in the most important migration and
wintering landscapes of North America. The USA Rice-Ducks Unlimited
Rice Stewardship Partnership (Rice Stewardship) has been working side-
by-side with rice producers to help keep farms producing quality crops
and vital habitat.
This overall effort is done thanks in no small part to all those
who work behind the scenes making sure producers have the technical
assistance, guidance, and access they need. Technical assistance is
provided by 18 dedicated Conservation Specialist, including our Women
of Rice: Misty Adams, Amy Carr, Michaela Lee, Megan Martin, Annie
Pearson, and Emily Woodall. ``The people who work behind the scenes of
Rice Stewardship are not always who you think they are,'' said Scott
Manley, DU Director of Conservation Programs. ``We have a very diverse
group of individuals, including six women, who work tirelessly to
ensure our producers have the resources they need to sustain the future
of rice.''
Amy Carr, who works with producers in south Arkansas, has been part
of the rice team for 3 years. Her work includes spending time with farm
families and helping them work towards improved irrigation practices.
``I have been involved with agriculture in one form or another all my
life,'' Amy said. The daughter of a farmer and an avid sportsman, it is
clear to see that conservation is a passion of Amy's, not just
personally, but professionally as well. ``I grew up here, my family is
here, I've known some of these producer families my whole life. When I
retired from Bayer, I knew I still had a lot to give back to my
community. When I had an opportunity to help producers through Rice
Stewardship, there wasn't a moment's hesitation. I knew this was
something I needed to do.''
Covering north Arkansas is Misty Adams, mother of five, who is also
working on her degree in Ag Business at Arkansas State University.
``Being able to help producers enhance their farms as well as provide
habitat for migrating waterfowl has been an amazing experience,'' said
Misty. ``Being part of a program that allows me to not only have a
positive impact on my community, but also spend time with my family and
further my education, has truly been life changing.'' Misty has been
able to work with producers to make better use of surface water for
irrigation via strategically placed tailwater canals and pumps.
Rice Stewardship wouldn't be the program it is today without the
leadership of USA Rice and the technical assistance and support they
provide. ``Working for USA Rice gives me a unique perspective when it
comes to Rice Stewardship,'' said Emily Woodall, Manager, Rice
Conservation Services for USA Rice. ``Being a voice for our producers,
hearing what they need, and being able to secure additional
conservation funding has been very rewarding.'' Emily, who has been a
part of the program since 2017, works with state Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) offices and other Partnership staff to
ensure rice producers are receiving the financial and technical
assistance they need as well as ensuring grant reporting requirements
are being met.
Michaela Lee, who joined the Rice Stewardship team in 2019, works
with producers in south Louisiana. ``When I joined USA Rice and DU in
May of 2019, I never imagined the impact our work would have for
producers,'' Michaela said. Her work with the rice growers of Acadia
Parish includes surveying fields for irrigation land leveling, taking
measurements for grade stabilization structures, providing technical
assistance for management practices such as nutrient management,
reduced tillage and pest management. ``I truly love working with
farmers helping them better their business. Seeing growers become more
successful through programs such as Rice Stewardship assures me that we
are using practices that are best suited to make their operation
improve and grow each year.''
One of the most important behind the scenes part of Rice
Stewardship involves mapping and data processing. This is where Megan
Martin and Annie Pearson come in. ``We have been working on a new
method of winter water classification of rice fields,'' Megan said.
``Here, we are evaluating if it plausible to use satellite imagery to
determine if fields have water, rather than having our field staff make
visits to our growing list of farms, to determine if every single field
is holding water.'' The finished product would ideally be a report for
each farm depicting where fields are flooded. While this project is
still in the experimental stage, Megan is hopeful that this will be the
future of winter water classification. Megan, who joined Rice
Stewardship in 2020 after finishing her master's degree at Mississippi
State University, has also been working on a project to determine the
return on investment for surface water irrigation systems.
``All the data we collect each year from producers helps the
program evolve,'' said Annie Pearson. Annie started as an intern
working on Rice Stewardship in 2019. She recently earned her bachelor's
degree from Delta State University and currently serves a vital role as
part of the Rice Stewardship team. ``In order to have a sustainable
program, we must follow the data and make adjustments along the way.''
Growing up in the Mississippi Delta surrounded by farms, Annie learned
a lot about agriculture. ``Rice Stewardship has allowed me to work with
some really great producers. Being able to work with and help those
producers is truly fulfilling.''
They are daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. They are
scientist, surveyors, economists, and producers . . . they are
the Women of Rice.
For the Rice Producer
Diversification of Technical and Financial Resources
By Scott W. Manley, Ph.D., Ducks Unlimited, Director of Conservation
Programs
Today's world is no stranger to diversification. Financial
diversification means lowering your risk by spreading money across and
within different asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, and cash. It's
one of the best ways to weather market ups and downs and maintain the
potential for growth. Agricultural diversification, that is growing a
diverse selection of crops, can expand your markets and offset
commodity price swings. Overall, the economic picture improves with
strategic crop diversification. With our goal of conserving working
ricelands, water, and wildlife, we too must diversify our technical and
financial resources for you, the rice producer. Beyond our foundational
progress with the USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program
(RCPP), here's how we are diversifying our efforts today.
Our Efforts:
Cooperative Agreements for Technical Assistance
The technical assistance needed for rice producers and NRCS program
delivery has far outstretched the 13 RCPP awards to date. To weather
the up-and-down support of these various projects over the years, the
NRCS has awarded Rice Stewardship cooperative agreements for added
technical assistance in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
Here contributions from our financial sponsors are leveraged for
additional NRCS technical assistance funds to purely support boots-on-
the-ground. The total value of the cooperative agreements in place is
$2.5 million and will help ensure support to producers and NRCS Field
Offices through 2024.
Louisiana's Deepwater Horizon Nutrient Reduction Strategy
The next decade will host unprecedented opportunities for the Gulf
Coast rice industry to benefit from the Deepwater Horizon remediation
funding streams. What is called the Louisiana Trustee Implementation
Group is developing restoration projects and plans to accomplish the
significant work needed for the Gulf. Development of these projects is
guided by an Implementation Plan finalized in 2016 as part of the legal
settlement with British Petroleum. We have received the first award of
$5.3 million to improve water quality by reducing nutrient runoff from
crop and grazing lands through targeted implementation of conservation
practices in critical areas within select watersheds. We will remain
vigilant to additional Deepwater Horizon opportunities in the coming
months and years ahead.
California's Drought Relief Waterbird Program
In response to extreme drought-related concerns for Pacific Flyway
waterbirds, the California Rice Commission has teamed up with the
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to fund a special $8.0
million Drought Relief Waterbird Program. This program seeks to create
waterbird habitat through the operation of groundwater wells to winter
flood rice fields for migratory birds. In normal years the rice
industry provides roughly 270,000 acres of post-harvest flooded rice
and 7 to 10 million migratory waterbirds have learned to rely on these
surrogate wetlands. Current drought conditions have restricted surface
water use and we expect that without any additional programs there will
only be 20% of normal flooded rice acres this year. In partnership with
DWR the Commission will increase the number of flooded acres for
migratory waterbirds with this critical program. Given the significant
need for habitat and the constrained timeframe this program will be
rolled out on an expedited schedule in early fall 2021.
Photo: calrice.org.
Photo: calrice.org.
A Message from the California Rice Commission
By Paul Buttner, Manager of Environmental Affairs
This year we expanded our habitat work to accomplish new innovative
wildlife habitat conservation outcomes. These efforts were implemented
jointly by our two California Rice organizations working
collaboratively to benefit the Pacific Flyway--the California Rice
Commission and the California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation
(Foundation).
We've been able to do all this work with significant support from
NRCS and by leveraging our Foundation's donor contributions to attract
even more investments. Our current NRCS-supported activities include
cutting-edge work through our newly branded conservation program
delivery system called Bid4Birds, the use of winter-flooded rice fields
to grow salmon with the goal of increasing their survival out to the
Pacific Ocean, and efforts to increase sustainable funding sources for
the Foundation.
Using funds from our many donors, we've expanded our core mission
of providing world class habitat on flooded rice for shorebirds. We now
have the dedicated services of Luke Matthews, our waterbird biologist,
working for the California Rice Commission who oversees our increasing
number of projects. He and our conservation partners visit our project
sites regularly to monitor field conditions and ensure that our donors'
investments result in high quality habitat for all birds that benefit
from programs. Our plans for next year include a renewal of our salmon
work to pilot-test the new interim conservation practices on full-scale
farms, our first coordinated effort to provide quality nesting cover
habitat throughout the full nesting season, and expanded efforts to
double our shorebird habitat acres in the spring and fall seasons.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is what we've accomplished over the past year
b Ongoing habitat enhancement projects including 3,500 acres of
shorebird habitat through Bid4Birds and 1,000 acres of nesting
waterfowl habitat through RCPP.
b Continuation of Phase I of our $1.4 million salmon habitat pilot
project with University of California-Davis and our conservation
partners to develop techniques to use winter-flooded rice fields to
help salmon. We had great results from our 2020 field work, where
there was a four-fold increase of our rice-field reared salmon
making it safely to the ocean over our controls (no rice field
rearing). Our dedicated project website, www.salmon.calrice.org,
includes great photos and video clips of our field work on this
project along with a full listing of our many donors including NRCS
and Syngenta.
b Initiation of our Drought Relief Waterbird Program with California
Department of Water Resources in response to extreme drought-
related concerns for Pacific Flyway waterbirds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about California Rice activities can be
found at www.CalRice.org and www.CalRiceWaterbirds.org.
Luke Matthews, left, works with producers to monitor field
conditions. He oversees many projects to ensure that our
donors' investments are being used to benefit all birds.
Photo: calrice.org.
Brandon Bauman
Arkansas' Grand Prairie Producer
By Emily Austin, Communication Specialist, Annie Pearson, Rice
Technician, Ducks Unlimited
Located just outside Stuttgart, Arkansas, Bauman Farms is a prime
example of how Rice Stewardship works to sustain rice production
through conservation of land, water, and wildlife resources. ``When I
first started farming, I rented some land not far from where we are
today. It was a crop share that needed a lot of conservation
improvements,'' said Brandon Bauman. ``I went to the NRCS to ask for
help.'' Brandon learned about Environmental Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP) and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and began working on
improving irrigation practices based on their recommendations.
``My dad was a farmer, and I grew up watching him work the land.
When I graduated from college, I used my father's equipment to work the
farmland I was renting at the time.'' Brandon said. Eventually Brandon
was able to buy his own equipment and in 2014 when his father retired
from farming, Brandon took over 100% making Bauman Farms a seamless
7,000 acre operation.
Working the land and being able to see the link from farm to table
has been an inspiration to Brandon. ``Being a part of something from
the beginning, seeing it take hold and grow, is what farming is all
about. I've also been involved with Rice Stewardship since its
beginning. The impact it has had on countless farmers and in turn
consumers has been nothing short of amazing.''
Photo: calrice.org.
``There are a lot of mouths to feed around the country and around
the world, that depend on rice,'' Brandon said. ``We have to be
responsible with the resources we have. Rice Stewardship helps farmers
develop best practices when it comes to preparing the soil and
irrigation practices. Practices that we can implement, improve upon,
and sustain year after year.'' Practices like using surface water
reservoirs for irrigation. ``Thanks to targets and goals set forth in
Rice Stewardship, our farm operates with more than 50% surface water
irrigation.''
Brandon believes in being able to tell the story of working the
land and being able to leave it better than he found it. He feels it is
important to align with partners who hold true to this vision and
support sustainable farming practices by overcoming challenges. One of
the biggest challenges farmers face in Arkansas centers around
groundwater decline therefore making surface water irrigation
techniques so important.
Part of telling the story of farming and ensuring the future lies
in educating the next generation. ``An unexpected opportunity came out
of COVID quarantines and lockdowns. We had a captive audience to teach
about rice farming.'' Brandon explained that when local schools
shutdown in-person learning, students were looking for something to do,
so he hired them to work on the farm. ``It became a bit of a
competition among the students. They would post on social media about
what they were doing that day in the fields. There were a lot of kids
who would never have thought about farming, out here doing just that.''
In addition to his work with Rice Stewardship, Brandon works with
other producers by serving on the Riceland Foods Board, a role he has
held for 9 years. He is also very involved with USA Rice and an active
member of the Arkansas County Soil and Water Conservation Board.
Brandon uses these various positions to help share perspectives on the
relationship between rice and ducks.
Photo: Bauman Farms.
``There are a lot of mouths to feed around the country and
around the world, that depend on rice.''
Brandon Bauman.
A Message From Louisiana NRCS
By Chad Kacir, NRCS State Conservationist
Chad Kacir, NRCS State Conservationist, with Kona and
Bureaux.
As we wind down 2021 and prepare for the new year, I'm looking
forward to new beginnings and continuing with the great work that we
accomplished in 2021. Together, we emerged on the other side of the
challenges of COVID-19 stronger, wiser, and more connected to each
other and to the land than ever before. Louisiana NRCS has taken
measures to adapt, grow capacity, and serve landowners, producers, and
partnerships. All while we remain committed to our motto, ``Helping
People Help the Land.''
Although I'm not new to NRCS, I am relatively new to Louisiana. I
began my tenure as the Louisiana State Conservationist in December of
2019. I'd like to share my conservation story with you. I grew up in
the south Texas town of Victoria, Texas, graduated from Texas Tech
University with B.S. in Agricultural Economics. It was while working in
a private sector position that I realized I was missing out on my
passion for agriculture, and eventually owned and operated a successful
cow-calf operation. It was during those years I was introduced to NRCS
and learned first-hand about the technical expertise and cost share
assistance it provides to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.
I also learned about the integral role the local Soil and Water
Conservation Districts (SWCD) play in the delivery of conservation
practices to private landowners. I was so impressed with NRCS and my
local SWCD and the services they provided to me, I decided to pursue a
career with NRCS. My first job was as a soil conservationist at two
locations in Texas. Next, I became the District Conservationist in
Oahu, Hawaii, and then the Assistant State Conservationist for field
operations in Oklahoma. When the opportunity to come to Louisiana
presented itself, my wife and I were excited to make the move!
One of the major accomplishments that NRCS has achieved since I
arrived in Louisiana is an adjustment to the internal organization of
our offices throughout the state. To better serve our producers,
ranchers, and forest landowners, we made some operational adjustments
by standing up Louisiana Resource Units (LARUs). This system groups
local field offices into areas each with a District Conservationist, a
lead planner, soil conservationist and each area having access to
specialists who can assist landowners with specific resource concerns.
This adaptation of organizational structure allows our 44 offices
located throughout the state to be more flexible and better able to
assist customers quickly.
Another major accomplishment is the recruitment and on-boarding of
additional NRCS staff to better serve our customers. Over the last
year, more than 50 new employees have started or are continuing their
careers with Louisiana NRCS. We have been fortunate to hire the best
and the brightest from within Louisiana and from across the U.S. Each
of these new employees brings a fresh perspective along with a desire
to assist producers and provide excellent customer service.
Last, we are extremely proud of the NRCS Pathways Program (student
internship) that attracts a diverse group of students from universities
across the state and country to learn about natural resources
conservation as a student intern. During internships students learn
about NRCS and explore potential careers while still in school and
receiving a stipend, an extremely important perk for college students!
Our hope and the goal of Pathways is students who intern with Louisiana
NRCS will become the next generation of conservation professionals.
These are just a few of the Louisiana NRCS accomplishments over the
last 2 years. None of which would have been possible without the
dedication and professionalism of the 202 employees located across the
state. My belief is that if we operate and function as a team, we can
provide the most up-to-date conservation information and expertise to
our customers. As the eighth State Conservationist for Louisiana, my
commitment is to you, our customers, and partners, as we continue the
legacy of strong conservation in our state. My door is always open.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me with ideas, questions, or
concerns.
Photo: calrice.org
``Over the last year, more than 50 new employees have started
or are continuing their careers with Louisiana NRCS. We have
been fortunate to hire the best and the brightest from within
Louisiana and from across the US. Each of these new employees
brings a fresh perspective along with a desire to assist
customers and provide excellent customer service.''
Chad Kacir, NRCS State Conservationist.
The Schiurring Family
Texas Gulf Coast Producer
By Slade Schiurring; Lance Cheung, USDA Photographer; Mary Smith,
Wharton County SWCD; Dennis Neuman and Raul Villarreal, Ducks Unlimited
Since 1910, four generations of the Schiurring family have
harvested rice on the 3S Ranch near El Campo in Colorado and Wharton
counties. The family grows approximately 1,500 acres of long grain rice
annually and markets through American Rice Growers, Inc.
Third generation, J. Brent Schiurring, was one of the first farmers
to grow organic rice and helped start the organic movement in Texas.
Besides rice farming, the family runs a waterfowl hunting operation
on the ranch dating back to the late 1940s. They helped pioneer
commercial waterfowl hunting in their local area of Texas. ``Rice
farming and duck and goose hunting go hand-in-hand. What is good for
rice, is also good for ducks,'' said owner and fourth generation
producer Slade Schiurring. ``We flood about 1,500 to 1,800 acres a year
for the hunting operation. Tens of thousands of wintering waterfowl
including ducks, geese and sandhill cranes, roost and feed on our farm
and neighboring farms each year.''
The Schiurring's use conservation programs to improve their rice
fields, boost production and waterfowl populations, all the while
increasing their efficiency and reducing fuel costs. ``I was lucky
enough to carry on our family history of rice farming and our waterfowl
hunting operations alongside my mom and dad after I graduated from
Texas A&M University in 2016,'' Slade said. ``I have served on the
board of the Wharton County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)
since 2019 and have been a local Ducks Unlimited volunteer since
2010.''
The family received conservation technical and financial assistance
from the NRCS through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program
(EQIP) to implement land leveling for efficient use of irrigation
water. The family also created additional wildlife habitat through the
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). Both efforts were part of a
larger effort by NRCS and the Rice Stewardship Partnership.
``Land leveling and improving our rice farms would be nearly
impossible due to the cost of building the infrastructure on our fields
and farm for rice production,'' said Slade. ``Each bench levee we
construct has two to three aluminum water control structures to help
control water levels in each bench cut. Land leveling and installing
these permanent water structures not only saves on water usage and the
overall cost of water, but also on labor and time as well. We now can
use rainfall better than ever because we can hold more rainfall due to
bigger and better levees and not having to deal with blow outs causing
water loss on conventional levees adding to our advantage savings on
all of the above.''
After harvest is complete, Slade always leaves crop residue in the
fields. This helps protect the land from wind and water erosion but
also provides food for wintering waterfowl. The residue aids in
conserving soil moisture, increasing water infiltration, and improving
soil tilth.
``We have also done a lot of work with DU, NRCS, and Texas Parks &
Wildlife Department through the Texas Prairie Wetland Project (TPWP),''
said Slade. ``TPWP is a key program for waterfowl conservation
alongside the larger Rice Stewardship Partnership that is helping to
create and restore the loss of wintering waterfowl habitat on the Gulf
Coast of Texas.''
``The Schiurring's are one of more than 100 Texas rice farming
families voluntarily participating in the Rice Stewardship,'' said
Kirby Brown, conservationist outreach biologist for DU. ``Through these
partnerships, we can target NRCS program funding to assist producers in
conserving water for irrigation, improving water quality, and providing
habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors and many other
wildlife species. These valuable conservation incentive programs are a
win-win-win for rice producers, NRCS, the public, and particularly our
wetland wildlife.''
Outstanding conservation efforts were recognized in 2019 when the
Wharton County SWCD honored Slade as their Outstanding Farmer of the
Year. Slade said he wants to be able to pass the rice farming operation
onto his future children one day. He, along with his ancestors, knew
that taking care of the land is the best way to ensure this family's
legacy continues.
``Rice farming and duck and goose hunting go hand-in-hand.
What is good for rice, is also good for ducks.''
Slade Schiurring.
Photo: USDA.
Trusted Advisor: Bob Young
By Emily Austin, Communication Specialist, Annie Pearson, Rice
Technician, Ducks Unlimited
What is it like to make natural resources conservation in
agriculture a major part of your life for over forty years? If you
spend much time with Rice Specialist Bob Young, you will come away with
an understanding of his passion and commitment to helping producers and
wildlife alike. Bob shares his knowledge and experiences with rice
producers, partners, fellow employees, and others on an almost daily
basis.
As a teenager, Bob worked on a family member's farm where he
developed a love for the land and recognized that more attention needed
to be given to agricultural land use. Bob began his career with the
NRCS in the summer of 1979 as a technician while attending Arkansas
State University (ASU). After graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of
Science in Agriculture, Bob went to work for the Louisiana NRCS. Over a
6 year period as a soil conservationist and district conservationist,
Bob was instrumental in expanding no-till farming and worked on
watershed projects for flood and erosion control and water quality
improvement. Returning to Arkansas in 1988 Bob was promoted to Area
Resource Conservationist. One of Bob's proudest achievements was
bringing small farmers and the community together to form one of the
best farmers' markets in the state on the ASU campus. Bob was promoted
to the Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations in 2010
where he managed a multidisciplinary team throughout northeast
Arkansas.
Although Bob retired from NRCS in 2014, he worked as an agronomist
under contract with them and managed the farmer's market. He also
formed and managed agreements with a nonprofit corporation to provide
contract employees to the NRCS in multiple counties.
In August of 2015, Bob was hired on with Rice Stewardship. Bob is
passionate about Rice Stewardship and finds the program very rewarding.
When asked what he would consider the biggest challenge with Rice
Stewardship Bob said, ``not enough funding''. He sees many good
projects on the farms he works with go unfunded every year. When asked
what advice you would have for rice producers, Bob commented that he
would like to see more rice producers thinking about managing at least
a portion of their farm for ducks. Rice fields contain highly
nutritious food for waterfowl. Ducks dabble in the shallow water for
waste grain, weed seeds, and aquatic invertebrates. ``I feel blessed to
have enjoyed conservation work for over forty years. Rice Stewardship
fits my life and provides a great deal of satisfaction knowing that I
get to help others that believe conservation in agriculture will
provide sustainability for future generations''.
Photo: Emily Austin, Ducks Unlimited.
Trusted Advisor: Dave Wissehr
By Emily Austin, Communication Specialist, Annie Pearson, Rice
Technician, Ducks Unlimited
Photo: NRCS.
Dave Wissehr has been part of Rice Stewardship as a Rice Specialist
for more than 6 years. ``It was opening day of the Missouri 2015 early
teal Season. I was in our local grocery picking up ingredients to make
stir-fried teal for dinner that night,'' Dave recalls when thinking
about how it all started. ``My phone rang it was an unknown number, but
I decided to answer it anyway, it was Mark Flaspohler, Director of
Conservation Programs with Ducks Unlimited in Missouri. He wasted no
time offering me a job with Rice Stewardship as a Rice Specialist.''
Raised in South St. Louis, Missouri, Dave graduated from St. John
the Baptist Catholic High School and then went on to complete course
work for a degree in Ecology/Wildlife Management from Lindenwood
College in St. Charles, Missouri.
Dave worked for 35 years with the Missouri Department of
Conservation (MDC) in a variety of positions. In 1986 he moved to
Southeast Missouri as a Private Lands Specialist for the Department,
working extensively with landowners in an eleven-county area. During
this time much of his work was assisting farmers as they applied for
and navigated their way through programs like the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP), Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).
After retiring from MDC, Dave went to work for the NRCS. This
position allowed Dave to work with landowners who enrolled in the
Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), later known as Wetland Reserve Easement
(WRE) program.
Dave is a people person. Well known to producers, NRCS staff and
other related agency partners, he does his best to see all program
participants at least twice yearly. As well as being versed in rice
production it doesn't hurt that he can talk ``ducks''. Rice producers
are often duckaholics too!
In his current role as a Rice Specialist, Dave works with NRCS
staff and rice farmers in nine counties, promoting conservation and
encouraging rice producers to apply for assistance through farm bill
programs. Dave attends field days, often serving as an instructor,
promoting program practices that assist rice farmers as they increase
production while reducing costs and improving natural resource
conservation. Program and field monitoring is also a significant part
of Dave's responsibilities. Over the last 3 years he has assisted in
the development of a satellite-based monitoring system which will
hopefully reduce staff field time and miles.
We know that Dave is greatly trusted by rice producers and NRCS
staff and is a significant player in the Rice Stewardship Partnership
in Missouri.
Out First Thousand Producers Salute Our Rice Stewardship Top-Tier
Financial Sponsors
This year marks an important milestone for Rice Stewardship and
that is 1,000 individual farms served for the betterment working
ricelands, water, and wildlife habitat.
These first 1,000 farms, their owners, operators, workforce, and
surrounding rural communities, salute our top-tier Rice Stewardship
financial sponsors, who have collectively contributed over $7.7 million
towards their support.
Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas
By Emily Woodall, USA Rice, Manager of Rice Conservation Services
The Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas, the largest single ag
lender in the state, is the first agricultural lending entity to invest
in the Rice Stewardship Partnership. Arkansas is the largest rice-
producing state in the country with many rice producers receiving loans
through the Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas and serving on the
respective boards of these member-owned associations.
``The Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas is one of the premiere
ag lenders in our state that is truly customer-focused'' comments Jeff
Rutledge, a rice producer from Jackson county and a member of the
AgHeritage Farm Credit Services Board. ``As an organization, they are
committed to protecting their customers best interests, sustaining our
natural resources, and ensuring we as producers can remain profitable.
This commitment is demonstrated in their contribution to the Rice
Stewardship Partnership's efforts.''
The Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas understands the importance
of ensuring the success of the state's rice producers. They recognize
the positive financial impact that implementing voluntary conservation
practices have on producers' livelihoods, but also recognize that these
practices can often be costly and risky to implement.
Greg Cole, CEO and president of AgHeritage Farm Credit Services
states, ``Conservation practices can deliver economic value for not
only farmers, but also local communities, landowners, and their
financial partners. The Farm Credit Associations are excited to support
this work, expanding voluntary conservation opportunities for our
members and Arkansas' rice farmers.''
``This financial support will aid the Partnership in delivering our
Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) projects on the
ground.'' stated Josh Hankins, USA Rice Director of Grower Relations
and Rice Stewardship Partnership. ``These funds allow us to continue to
offer the technical assistance and outreach that is necessary for these
projects to succeed.''
The Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas are part of the national
Farm Credit System which has supported rural America since 1916. In
Arkansas, each of the four independent associations is owned by its
members and serves a different part of the state. Farm Credit of
Western Arkansas serves the western region, AgHeritage Farm Credit
Services serves the central region, Farm Credit Midsouth serves the
eastern region, while Delta, Agricultural Credit Association, serves
customers in the state's four most southeastern counties. Collectively,
their 11,000+ members include both traditional and non-traditional
farmers, rural homeowners, livestock operators, and landowners.
Photo: Farm Credit Associations of Arkansas.
Developing Surface Water for On-Farm Irrigation in the Mid-South
Phase I Results
By Scott W. Manley, Ph.D., Ducks Unlimited, Director of Conservation
Programs
Over the last several years the NRCS in Arkansas, Louisiana, and
Mississippi, in collaboration with many partners, has worked tirelessly
with agricultural producers to improve irrigation efficiencies and
reduce groundwater use. Programs like the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP) have been used to provide financial and
technical assistance for practices such as irrigation water management,
pump improvements and automation, soil moisture sensors, and more, all
to reduce groundwater withdrawals while maintaining crop yields. Much
progress has been made.
The next primary strategy for reducing groundwater use is more
effective use of available surface waters for irrigation. Natural
rivers, bayous, oxbow lakes, and drainage canals, along with
constructed tailwater and on-farm reservoir storage (where feasible),
all provide an ample source of irrigation waters that can be used first
and foremost each growing season. Turning to available surface-water
irrigation offers significant relief for groundwater resources. This
coupled with efficiencies as stated above are the combined solution for
stressed groundwater resources.
Over the last 2 years Rice Stewardship staff worked with Louisiana
and Mississippi NRCS to hold EQIP sign-ups for surface water irrigation
development and improvements. The table on the next page details
general statistics and importantly, the amount of time these irrigation
projects will take to pay for themselves, based upon surface water
replacing groundwater use. Or in other words, what is the return on
investment for the total project cost, and then just the producer's
portion of that total cost.
Our Phase I results show that even if surface water replaced
groundwater 100%, payback time for total project cost would range from
14 to 17 years in the Mississippi Delta, and 6 to 7\1/2\ years in
Southwest Louisiana. However, with significant financial assistance
from the NRCS and EQIP, the producer's out-of-pocket expense would be
recovered in 54 years in the Delta and 52\1/2\ years in Southwest
Louisiana.
As the proportion of annual irrigation supplied by surface water
decreases, the payback time significantly increases. Based on our Phase
I results it appears that any irrigation project supplying less than
25% surface water per year takes an excessively long period of time to
return our investment.
From the 85 projects under our Phase I efforts, we learned much
more about producer's perceptions and developing surface water
irrigation projects. First, abundant surface waters need be in close
proximity. Anything more than a quarter mile was deemed impractical to
develop. Approximately 75% of producers were already experimenting with
surface water irrigation and ready to expand their visions to more
volume and more acres. And 70% of producers intended to convert their
project acres to full surface water supply turning to groundwater only
in the driest of years.
We have initiated Phase II of developing surface water for on-farm
irrigation in the Mid-South. We plan to add another 80 projects by the
end of 2023. Our current analyses have many assumptions such as crop
rotations, ratios of surface and groundwater used, and differences in
pump efficiencies based on pump type and size, fuel source, and static
water levels. But we look forward to perfecting our rate of return on
investment analyses going forward, and importantly, learning about
overall project effectiveness and impact from our leading producers.
Using surface water for irrigation allows rice fields to
cleanse sediment and nutrients from water bodies such as this
Louisiana bayou.
Surface Water for Irrigation--Return on Investment
Phase I Results
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project General Totals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. of Total Acres Total Costs Producer Annual
Projects Cost Irrigation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mississippi Delta 72 18,658 $11,137,942 \1\ $2,547, \2\ 352,254
147 AC-IN/AC
Southwest Louisiana 13 4,810 $1,303,442 \3\ $426,17 \4\ 95,228
2 AC-IN/AC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Payoff Time in Years by Total and Producer Only Costs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100% Surface
75% Surface
50% Surface
25% Surface
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Producer Total Producer Total Producer Total Producer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diesel \5\ 14.1 3.2 18.8 4.3 28.2 6.5 56.5 12.9
Electric \6\ 17.4 4.0 23.2 5.3 34.7 7.9 69.5 15.9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Payoff Time in Years by Total and Producer Only Costs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100% Surface
75% Surface
50% Surface
25% Surface
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Producer Total Producer Total Producer Total Producer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diesel 6.1 2.0 8.1 2.7 12.2 4.0 24.4 8.0
Electric 7.5 2.5 10.0 3.3 15.0 4.9 30.0 9.8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Producer cost is a portion of total cost and in the Mississippi Delta averaged 23%.
\2\ Annual irrigation requirements based on an acre rotation of 40% rice, 40% soybeans, and 20% fallow. Base irrigation amounts published by Massey, et
al., 2017, Long-term measurements of agronomic crop irrigation made in the Mississippi delta portion of the lower Mississippi River Valley. Irrigation
Science 35: 297-313.
\3\ Producer cost is a portion of total cost and in southwest Louisiana averaged 33%.
\4\ Annual irrigation requirements based on an acre rotation of 40% rice, 20% crawfish aquaculture, and 40% fallow. Base irrigation amounts published by
Baisakh, et al., 2019, Developing rice varieties suitable for alternative irrigation regimes in Louisiana, LSU AgCenter Winter Research Bulletin. W.R.
McClain and R.P. Romaire, 2007, Louisiana Crawfish Production Manual, LSU AgCenter Publication #2637.
\5\ Diesel pumping plant costs based on farmgate fuel price of $2.50 gallon.
\6\ Electric pumping plant costs based on power charge of $0.13 per kilowatt hour.
Financials 2020-2021
Rice Acres Impacted
RCPP = Regional Conservation Partnership Program EQIP =
Environmental Quality Incentive Program CSP = Conservation
Stewardship Program.
Financial Support
(July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020)
Where the Money Goes
Financial reporting does not include in-kind contributions of
time and talent.
Thank You To Our Leading Financial Supporters
In-Kind Supporters
We sincerely [appreciate] the time and talent offered by so
many in-kind supporters, without whom, Rice Stewardship could
not be such a success.
Ag Council of Arkansas Louisiana Rice Growers Assn.
Agri-Drain [Corporation] Louisiana Rice Mill
American Carbon Registry--Winrock Louisiana Rice Research & Promotion
International Board
Applied Geosolutions Louisiana State University AgCenter
Arkansas Assn. Conservation Lower Colorado River Authority
Districts
Arkansas Chapter--The Nature Lower Mississippi Valley Joint
Conservancy Venture
Arkansas Farm Bureau Lower Neches Valley Authority
Arkansas Natural Resources Mars
Commission
Arkansas Rice Federation McCrometer
Arkansas Rice Research & Promotion Mississippi Rice Research &
Board Promotion Board
Audubon Texas Missouri Department of Conservation
Bay City Chamber of Commerce and Missouri Rice Producers Group
Agriculture
Bunge North America National Black Growers Council
Californa Rice Commission National Watershed Coalition
Californa Rice Research & Promotion Northern California Water Assn.
Board
Central Valley Joint Venture Syngenta
Chambers Liberty County Navigation Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Service
City of Eagle Lake, TX Texas A&M Institute for Renewable
Natural Resources
Coastal Bend Groundwater Texas A&M Wintermann Rice Research
Conservation District Station
Colorado County SWCD Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Colorado County, TX Texas Rice Producers--CWIC
Delta Council Texas Rice Producers Legislative
Group
Delta F.A.R.M. Texas State Soil & Water
Conservation Board
Delta Wildlife Texas Water Resources Institute
Eagle Lake Chamber of Commerce The Climate Trust
Entergy The Landscape Flux Group
Enviromental Defense Fund The Rice Foundation
Field to Market Unilever
Garden Highway Mutual Water Company USA Rice Council
Gulf Coast Joint Venture USA Farmers
Gulf Coast Water Authority USA Rice Merchants' Assn.
Independent Cattleman's Assn. USA Rice Millers' Assn.
Kellogg's Wharton County SWCD
Louisiana Department of Agriculture White River Irrigation District
and Forestry
Louisiana Department of Yellow Rails and Rice Festival
[Environmental] and Quality
Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries
``We thank the NRCS, our supply chain financial sponsors, and
many other in-kind supporters, for the progress made to date.
Let us continue the momentum, the economic and environmental
impact, through tomorrow and beyond. And let us all remember
what is good for rice is good for ducks!''
Jeff Durand, Producer and Co-Chairman, Rice Stewardship
Photo: calrice.org.
Thank You . . . for your support and dedication to conserving
our Nation's working ricelands, water, and wetland wildlife.
Photo: calrice.org.
For More Information Please Contact
Ducks Unlimited USA Rice
Scott Manley Josh Hankins
[email protected] [email protected]
601.956.1936 501.398.6678
www.ducks.org/ricestewardship www.usarice.com
______
Submitted Statement by Mark McKean, Owner, McKean Farms, Riverdale, CA;
on behalf of National Cotton Council
Thank you for holding this listening session. California and
virtually all parts of the West are suffering from historic drought
conditions. Farmers in our state and others are not only facing this
issue due to Mother Nature, but also due to severely restricted state
and Federal water allocations. Couple this together with SGMA and
productive farm land is being fallowed. We are fallowing land. We will
receive between zero and 10% of normal on our farms
Farmers are always optimistic, otherwise we wouldn't be farmers. I
am optimistic that what we are seeing today will improve in the future.
Moving forward it is critical that prevented plant coverage is
maintained in crop insurance. We also need additional flexibility with
prevent plant. The current 1-in-4 rule implemented by USDA's Risk
Management Agency in regards to prevent plant dampens that optimism
when it comes to insuring crops. The 1-in-4 rule requires a grower to
insure, plant and harvest a crop in 1 out of the last 4 years to be
eligible for prevented plant insurance. This is extremely problematic
due to the current drought facing the West. The 1-in-4 rule was
originally created for farmland that was never really farmed or
farmable due to being too wet. Unfortunately, it was expanded to
include drought. We have extremely productive and farmable land, and it
has a long history of being so. If this drought lasts longer than an
arbitrary number chosen by RMA, we will start losing this coverage
unless a change is made, at least for our irrigated crops.
I also have two more specific issues.
(1) Under the EQIP, SWEEP and other programs growers cannot start
construction or implementation of a project or practice
until notified by NRCS that the project is funded. Many
times this notice is months if not years in the coming.
Producers simply cannot wait that long for a decision. I
ask that the producer need only to complete the application
before starting the project or practice. This would allow
for the orderly progression of projects and not hold
producers hostage.
(2) I realize the port issue is not a farm bill issue, however [it
is] an important issue to many commodities. Although there
is some improvement, exporting commodities is still an
issue. We don't need promises here we need direct action
that solves the problem.
Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today
______
Submitted Article by Geoffrey Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and
Economic Affairs, Milk Producers Council
[https://www.milkproducerscouncil.org/post/mpc-provides-testimony-on-
dairy-safety-net-programs-federal-milk-marketing-orders-at-farm-bill-
list]
MPC Provides Testimony on Dairy Safety Net Programs, Federal Milk
Marketing Orders at Farm Bill List
Geoff Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs
Yesterday, Representative Jim Costa (D-16) hosted a listening
session entitled ``A 2022 Review of the Farm Bill: Perspectives from
the Field'' at California State University, Fresno. I provided
testimony at the session, which was designed to gather input from
farmers, agricultural businesses and consumers as lawmakers prepare to
draft a new farm bill.
Below are my prepared remarks submitted to the Committee. You can
also watch my remarks here.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ https://youtu.be/_Jrqtv4W-Xc?t=4170.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. House Agriculture Committee Listening Session
July 7, 2022, Fresno, CA
Remarks of Geoff Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and Economic
Affairs, Milk Producers Council
Chairman Costa and Members of the Committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this farm bill
listening session. My name is Geoff Vanden Heuvel. I am the Director of
Regulatory and Economic Affairs for Milk Producers Council, a
California dairy farmer trade association founded in 1949. Prior to
taking this position I was an active dairy farmer in Southern
California for 39 years.
Given the limited time available I want to focus on two things in
particular that are relevant to the upcoming farm bill discussions.
Safety Net Programs
The Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program is a very good safety net
tool but the vast majority of the benefit of the program is
concentrated on the first 5 million pounds of milk a dairy farmer
produces annually. 5 million pounds is about what 250 cows produce
annually. Dairy farms in California are much larger than that on
average, and so while they receive coverage for a small part of their
production through this program, the DMC fails as a safety net for most
California dairy farms. We understand the financial and political
constraints of raising the benefit level significantly higher than the
5 million pounds. We accept the DMC at 5 million pounds and oppose
raising it any further.
The Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP) program, a subsidized crop
insurance program overseen by USDA-Risk Management Agency is a dairy
safety net program that is not size discriminatory. I believe this
program provides the best return for the government dollar in providing
risk management for dairy producers. The program has been quite
successful in its initial roll out. It is a crop insurance product
where the premiums are set by an actuarial sound formula and the
government subsidizes the premium with producers paying the majority of
the costs. The subsidy level for 90% and 95% coverage is 44% of the
premium is paid by the Risk Management Agency. Those premiums have
become larger in the last 2 years and if additional funds could be
found, increasing the premium subsidy by 5-10% would likely increase
dairy farmer participation in the DRP. Assuming our goal was to get 70%
of U.S. production covered in the DRP, it would cost about $154 million
to increase the premium subsidy by 10 per cwt. of covered milk. See
Note #1.
Federal Milk Marketing Orders
I am a huge supporter of the Federal Milk Marking Order program
(FMMO). Dairy farmers need to sell their milk every day to a buyer that
does not have to buy it every day. This fundamental imbalance in market
power means there needs to be a referee. We are very appreciative of
Congressman Costa's vital assistance in facilitating the adoption of an
FMMO in California. This has made a meaningful difference in California
producer income. See Note #2.
The FMMO system has been around for over 80 years. In my view it is
one of the most successful government market regulatory programs in our
country. It has allowed the dairy industry to innovate and grow. Over
the decades, many regions have been able to exploit comparative
advantages to build their dairy industries. The main reason for the
success of the FMMO program is that it does not pick winners and
losers. It does not dictate milk prices; it discovers the value of milk
from prices established in the free market and then converts those
prices into a pricing structure that is used for pricing producer milk.
And just as important, for all uses of milk, except Class I beverage
milk, the enforcement of those milk prices is voluntary. As the dairy
industry continues to grow, which is a sign of health of the industry,
it is true that the percentage of milk formally covered by the Federal
Orders is decreasing, but this is not a sign of failure. In fact, the
prices established by the FMMO for the various classes of milk are
vital benchmarks used by the industry to establish contracts and
pricing relationships between producers and processors even for milk
that is not regulated by the FMMO.
The FMMO system is probably due for a little updating, but not
reforming. The basic structure of pricing milk based on its ultimate
usage is still a valid concept. Class I beverage milk, which is
formally regulated by the FMMO system, while declining in market share,
is still a huge usage of milk in America. The Class I formula would
benefit from some thoughtful examination by USDA and the industry. The
formal USDA hearing process is the best place for that to occur. As for
the other classes of milk, the longstanding USDA policy of having a
single national price surface for milk used in manufactured products is
very important. We have a national and international market for
manufactured dairy products and the government should not put
themselves in a position of picking winners and losers in the regional
competition for market share.
There is a need for better data so that USDA can carry out their
function of updating the pricing formulas. Currently USDA does not have
the legal authority to mandate access to manufacturing cost data. The
manufacturing cost studies that USDA has commissioned lack credibility
because participation is voluntary. We would support Congress giving
USDA authority to access manufacturing plants cost data. And we would
support providing funding for USDA to regularly conduct and update
studies which would track the product yields and manufacturing costs
from plants that participate in the mandatory dairy product price
reporting program.
The final point we want to emphasis is that while getting accurate
data is critical, the purpose of that data is to inform policy, not
dictate it. For over 80 years USDA has had the job of balancing the
interests of the producers, the processors, and the public. They do
this through an open hearing process where all interested parties can
participate. While the amount of time it takes to do a hearing can be
frustrating, we have found through the decades that the results of this
process are a regulatory program that is stable and accepted by the
industry. That stability allows the industry participants to plan and
the market to work.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important
process.
Geoff Vanden [email protected]
Tulare, CA
Note #1
Cost to increase Dairy Revenue Protection crop insurance premium
subsidy by 10 per cwt.
220 billion pounds of annual US milk production = 2.2 billion cwts.
A 10 per cwt. increase in the premium subsidy on 70% of that
volume = (2.2 billion .70) 10 = $154,000,000
Effective Percentage of U.S. Milk Production Covered by Dairy Revenue
Protection by Quarter
Chart ID: 56.
Source: USDA RMA.
Note #2
California became a Federal Milk Marketing Order as of November 1,
2018.
USDA has published the Mailbox Milk Price for individual states and
a composite All FMMO monthly number for many years.
The California Mailbox price for the 40 months since November 2018
averages $17.93
The average All FMMO Mailbox price for that same time period is
$17.99 a difference of 6 per cwt.
The California Mailbox price for the 40 months preceding November
2018 averaged $15.41
The average All FMMO Mailbox price for the 40 months preceding the
start of the CA FMMO is $16.48 a difference of $1.07 per cwt.
Conclusion: The CA FMMO increased mailbox prices for California
producers by an average of $1 per cwt.
______
Submitted Statement by Richard Matoian, President, American Pistachio
Growers
The American Pistachio Growers (APG) is pleased to have the
opportunity to submit our views for the 2023 Farm Bill. Since the
enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill, the U.S. pistachio industry has
significantly increased production, sales and capital investment, and
we expect this trend to continue through the life of the next farm
bill. The new farm bill is of great interest to the U.S. pistachio
industry, and we look forward to working with you, Chairman Costa and
your colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee, as you draft this 5
year legislation that impacts every sector of the U.S. agriculture
industry.
Since 1977, the U.S. pistachio industry has moved from producing 1
million pounds of pistachios to a high of 1 billion [] pounds in 2021.
A recent Rabobank analysis of the U.S. pistachio industry reports that
pistachio farm-gate value has grown six-fold over the past fifteen
years. At the end of this decade, we expect to harvest a 2 billion
pound crop. In 2000, there were approximately 96,308 pistachio acres;
today there are 406,766 bearing acres with 111,128 non-bearing acres
that will soon come into production. Our current production is in
California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
APG is a grower and processor trade association representing the
interests of the U.S. pistachio industry. We are governed by a
democratically elected board, comprised of 18 members. The mission of
our organization includes nutrition and health research, food safety,
marketing (both domestic and international), and government relations.
Today we want to share with you our industry's thoughts on general
issues our industry experiences and some of the specialty crop programs
in the existing farm bill.
Water/Drought
The drought situation in California, [Arizona] and New Mexico where
pistachios are being grown is catastrophic. We recognize the lack of
rain and snow melt is the root cause of the drought but we urge your
Committee to consider new programs that USDA could implement.
Pest and Disease Pressure
A significant [] pest facing the California tree nut industry
(almonds, pistachios and walnuts) is the navel orangeworm. This
devastating pest causes losses from harvest and all the way to the
domestic and export markets. The navel orangeworm feeds on immature
nuts and the pest damage directly leads to aflatoxin and other
mycotoxin contamination and grade standard problems. With increased
navel orangeworm damage, our pistachio industry knows that aflatoxin
contamination increases, which leads to increased rejections at our
global export markets' borders. Aflatoxin is highly regulated across
the world, and our industry employs all tools available to combat this
contamination. Our tree nut industry has partnered with USDA to
establish a pilot program to suppress and hopefully eradicate the navel
orangeworm; we hope this pilot program is, additionally, an avenue to
reduce pesticide use in pistachios. The NOW pilot program and
subsequent ARS research is a high-priority for our industry.
With climate change, we believe pest and disease pressures will
rise along with temperature. For example, we are seeing the navel
orangeworm move into areas where previously the pest was not a concern.
We encourage the House Committee on Agriculture to increase research
directives and funding for specialty crop industries as they battle
increased temperatures, pests and disease.
Trade
When the Uruguay Round was implemented, we believed non-tariff
barriers would be removed. Unfortunately, certain countries are
interpreting the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) rule incorrectly
resulting in impediments to our pistachio exports. Trade rules are
administered government to government, and we have to depend on USDA
and USTR to represent our distributors. Routinely, pistachios, other
specialty crops and crops from other countries exporting to Europe are
experiencing SPS barriers. It seems every month the EC announces a new
regulation that makes exports more difficult and forces changes in
production practices in California.
We are pleased with the cooperation we have received from USDA and
USTR, and we urge your Committee to adequately staff and fund the
offices responsible for removing these unfair trade barriers. You and
your staff are to be congratulated for working with USDA and USTR and
bringing the WTO compliance problem to the attention of your friends in
Europe.
Market Access Program
The Market Access Program (MAP) has proven to be a very helpful
resource to our industry. We found it difficult to break into many
Iran-dominated markets like Europe because of the direct trade
competition, but the MAP, plus APG dollars, assisted in promoting and
marketing generic pistachios throughout Europe. MAP funds also assist
in competing against Iranian pistachios in Asia, particularly in China.
China is now our number one export market, followed closely by the
European Union.
We understand the budgetary limitations of the Congress, but we see
this program as an important tool in achieving our nation's policy to
increase exports. A decade ago, the Administration's trade objective
was to see U.S. agriculture exports increase by 50 percent over 5
years. I'm proud to report our pistachio exports increased during the
last 10 years by 97.5 percent.
We appreciate the reorganization of the farm bill trade programs in
the 2018 Farm Bill and recommend that the MAP program emphasize generic
promotion. We recommend also that the funding be increased to $400
million since the current level has been $200 million for decades.
Inflation and rising input costs take considerable bites out of the
available program funds.
Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program
The Foreign Market Development Program (FMD) aids the U.S.
agriculture industry in creating, promoting and expanding long-term
export markets. We encourage the House Committee on Agriculture to
continue to support this program, which is essential to specialty crop
businesses. The FMD program is vastly different than MAP, and therefore
we also encourage the Committee to keep these programs intact and
separate.
Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops
The U.S. pistachio industry has encountered various trade barriers
to our exports. Our pistachio industry has been able to use Technical
Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) for problems encountered. We have
worked diligently throughout the years to eliminate export trade
barriers, and TASC has proven to be helpful in defraying many of the
costs that amass when dealing with these issues. The annual National
Trade Estimate report provides an insight on foreign governments trade
barriers. We emphasize the word ``government'' because this is a
government-to-government issue to be resolved with assistance by the
impacted crop industry. We encourage the continued support by the House
Committee on Agriculture of this very important program for the
specialty crop industry.
Emerging Markets Program
In the last decade, developing countries, especially India, have
emerged to offer new trade opportunities for pistachios. In India there
is a strong and growing middle-income consumer class that has the
ability to purchase our products. These consumers are health-conscious
buyers prepared to purchase quality U.S. products. Additionally, export
credit and insurance programs are a necessity if specialty crops are to
participate and benefit from the relatively new WTO trade rules. We
greatly appreciate the Administration's renewed efforts in removing
foreign sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, but if small- and medium-
size exporters are to benefit, new export programs are and will be
necessary.
Sanitary & Phytosanitary and Quality Export Insurance Program Study
The fruit, vegetable and tree nut industry exported in excess of
$11 billion in 2021. For most exports, the shipments are delivered to
the foreign buyer without any problem. Occasionally, a container is
prevented from entering the foreign country because of an alleged
Sanitary or Phytosanitary issue or quality problem, despite being
cleared for export by the various U.S. Government inspections. If the
container is prevented from entering the country, this can amount to a
serious financial problem. (The current supply chain problem is
contributing to product rejections.) A destroyed container could
bankrupt a business, and since the Federal Government is encouraging
small- and medium-sized businesses to export, these businesses need an
insurance program. We envision a study that would determine the extent
of SPS or quality problems, and creation of a self-funding export
insurance program and its premium.
Tree Assistance Program
In 2017 U.S. pistachio growers experienced a natural disaster when
some 30,000 acres of pistachio trees were removed because of an unknown
disease. Many of the growers who lost their pistachio acreage were
small farmers. The farm bill's Tree Assistance Program provided
assistance to small pistachio growers who could not have recovered
their losses without the program. We urge Congress to continue the
program.
Section 32 Bonus Buy Purchases
The Section 32 Bonus Buy program purchase of fruits, vegetables and
tree nuts helps our schools, food banks hospitals and growers and we
urge the expansion of the program.
Specialty Crop Research Initiative
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) is paramount for the
pistachio industry. Increasingly specialty crops are experiencing
increased pest and disease problems because of international trade and
climate change. The California tree nut industry is losing
approximately $800 million each year because of the navel orangeworm
pest; pistachio growers incur an expense of $500 per acre for navel
orangeworm prevention. This pest is not only a cost to the pistachio
industry but also a loss of Federal and state tax revenue. We recommend
an increase in SCRI funding authorization and appropriation; we also
encourage the Committee to include the SCRI matching funds waiver in
the 2023 Farm Bill. This waiver is needed for those specialty crop
industry members of whom a matching fund requirement is not attainable.
Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program
(Plant Protection Act Section 7721)
The U.S. pistachio industry, along with other California tree nut
industries, combats the navel orangeworm, which causes loss of product,
sales and consumer confidence. The navel orangeworm damage is directly
linked to aflatoxin and other mycotoxin contamination. The U.S.
pistachio industry and other California tree nut industries worked with
APHIS and ARS to secure a PPA Section 7721 grant to research the
effectiveness of a sterile insect release pilot program within APHIS.
The APHIS Sterile insect release pilot program endeavors to suppress or
eradicate the navel orangeworm in the same manner as the pink bollworm
in cotton. The PPA Section 7721 program and funds are an important tool
for the specialty crop industry, and we encourage the continuation of
this program as it is currently written. We encourage the House
Committee on Agriculture to increase the funding of this program.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we strongly encourage the continuation of these
programs through the 2023 Farm Bill. Pistachios represent a significant
part of the U.S. specialty crop industry, and our challenges are vastly
different than those of program crops. Fruit, vegetable and tree nut
producers work without the same safety net of program crops, and yet
our competition continues to increase annually both in the U.S. and
foreign markets, with more imports reaching U.S. shores.
We thank you for this opportunity to present our thoughts on farm
bill programs, and we look forward to working with you further as this
process moves toward completion.
______
Submitted Statement by Jim Grant, Director, Social Justice Ministry,
Diocese of Fresno, Fresno, CA; on behalf of Catholic Relief Services
Thank you, Congressman Costa for this opportunity to continue
conversing about the farm bill reauthorization work you and your
office, as Chairman of the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture
Subcommittee, are doing. I would like to thank you specifically for
holding an oversight hearing on the international food assistance
programs this spring and for championing programs like Food for Peace.
As a Catholic following Pope Francis' call to hear and respond to
the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor, I speak today for
Catholic Relief Services, a global ministry serving over 130 million
persons in 100 countries. As we speak, today 13,000 people will starve
to death, while 9.9% of the world's population, about 811 million
people, will remain alive, but undernourished.
We continue to see global hunger levels rise. The conflict in
Ukraine, along with the lingering impacts of COVID-19, and other crises
like in the Horn of Africa drought mean that millions of people are not
only going to bed hungry every night, but they are now at risk of dying
from lack of access to food. During this time of unprecedented and dire
food insecurity in the world, it is critically important to reauthorize
and expand the flexibility and efficiency of lifesaving international
programs authorized in the 2023 Farm Bill given they work towards
ending hunger for the people most marginalized and vulnerable.
I'd like to focus on addressing hunger globally in the farm bill in
two ways:
First, I'd like to continue to champion support to reauthorize four
existing international programs in the 2023 Farm Bill. This would
include:
First: Title II Food for Peace, including the ability to use
the Community Development Fund for non-emergency Title II
programs.
This program supports emergency food assistance and
non-emergency programs to help communities recover and
build resilience to face the impacts of the crisis.
Second: McGovern-Dole Food for Education.
This program provides school lunches to children
around the world. For many children, as you know, it is the
only meal they will get in the day.
Third: Food for Progress.
This program helps strengthen value chains for
vanilla, chocolate, and coffee in other countries.
And finally, Farmer-to-Farmer.
This program leverages the agriculture knowledge here
in the U.S. by connecting expert volunteers with U.S.-
funded programs around the world.
The second way to address hunger globally is to expand the
flexibility and efficiency of international programs in the 2023 Farm
Bill, specifically with Food for Peace Title II and the McGovern-Dole
Food for Education program.
Catholic Relief Services, USAID, USDA and others offered
their suggestions in the April hearing, and I hope that you
continue to work with these agencies to find smart solutions
that will help us fight hunger around the world, and I am happy
to continue to share more information on these areas.
Thank you again for your time and the work you continue to do to
prevent and end hunger here at home and around the world.
I also have a summary of improvements here, in case you want these
in the back pocket (i.e., if there are questions or additional
clarification), but the Government Relations team felt best to
structure the 3 minutes most specifically around the points above.
Related to Food for Peace Title II programs, it would be
important to increase the cost efficiency and ability to
respond to the different needs of communities participating in
Food for Peace Title II programs and allow for increased
sustainability activities and interventions. This includes a
request for full flexibility of funding for Title II non-
emergency resources.
In terms of the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, a key
improvement would be expanding Local and Regional Procurement
activities to enhance sustainability.
This improvement is needed in Food for Peace Title II
because:
USAID does not have enough flexibility within the
Title II funding to allow its programs to be tailored to
the needs of each individual community. Current budget
category constraints required for Title II funding make it
difficult for USAID to cover the costs of quality program
design and increasingly expensive emergency logistics needs
at the same time as the non-emergency programs. The
availability of the Community Development Fund, which is
fully flexible, can help relieve some of these issues in
the non-emergency programs, but there are not enough of
these funds to address all the issues. Ideally, funding
would be available for multi-sector support activities such
as creating savings groups, helping farmers improve
resource management, or working with new moms on nutrition
for themselves and their baby.
This improvement is needed in Food for Peace Title II
because:
Since Fiscal Year 2020, McGovern-Dole has been
combined with Local and Regional Procurement (LRP) to allow
McGovern-Dole programs to source food locally thereby
supporting sustainable connections with local agricultural
producers and markets within and around communities and
enhancing the dietary diversity of school meals by
including local produce. Local and regional procurement
activities are important to ensure there is an increase in
nutritious food available to students (like eggs, fruit, or
leafy greens). These activities also help local schools and
farms create the lasting ties needed to successfully budget
for food grown to meet a school's needs over the course of
a school year. Following a change in the 2018 Farm Bill, it
has been easier to purchase food locally and regionally.
However, it has become more difficult to prioritize the
activities that support the farmers with growing and the
schools with learning to run the program. I'd like to
encourage Congress and USDA to find a way to separately
support these other activities without taking away from the
current nutrition and education successes the program is
achieving.
Thank You for your incredible support and for being a steadfast
partner with CRS!
______
Submitted Policy Brief by Tim Borden, Sequoia Restoration and
Stewardship Manager, Save the Redwoods League; on behalf of Giant
Sequoia Lands Coalition
Save The Giant Sequoias:Emergency Actions for 2022-23
Cover: A prescribed fire is conducted in Yosemite National
Park's Mariposa Grove to reduce the buildup of vegetation that
could fuel severe wildfires. Prescribed fires are one of the
priority methods for reducing fuels to save giant sequoias.
Photo by Kristen Shive, National Park Service.
For more than 100 years, state and Federal policies have been
to extinguish almost every Sierra Nevada fire as soon as it
ignites; fire suppression and historic land management
practices have resulted in unnaturally high numbers of trees in
giant sequoia groves. Combined with longer fire seasons driven
by drought and climate change, the dense forests create a
tinderbox in our groves.
Wildfire at Black Mountain Grove in Giant Sequoia National
Monument has killed 50 mature giant sequoias. To reach into the
trees crowns, fire likely took advantage of unnaturally high
fuel loads resulting from decades of fire suppression. Unlike
its coast redwood cousins that can resprout from living roots,
when a 2,000 year old giant sequoia dies, it is gone forever.
Photo by Linnea Hardlund.
Severe Wildfire Has Killed 20% of Giant Sequoias, World's Largest Tree
Species
An unprecedented challenge
An estimated 20% of all the mature giant sequoias in the world have
been lost since 2015, when wildfire magnitude and severity sharply
increased in California's Sierra Nevada. Many of these trees were more
than 1,000-3,000 years old. As wildfires in the West have reached
unparalleled severity, they pose an existential threat to giant
sequoias, some of our most iconic national treasures. Having thrived
through countless fires over millennia, thousands of these trees have
perished in today's climate-driven fires. Thankfully, elected officials
and policymakers can protect the remaining giant sequoias with
immediate policy and legislative action. Save the Redwoods League, our
partners, and other giant sequoia land managers must treat 2,000 acres
in the most at-risk groves before the 2023 fire season.
Tinderbox in the groves
Incredibly large and majestically tall, the breathtaking giant
sequoias grow naturally only within a narrow range in the Sierra Nevada
extending from Placer County Big Trees Grove in the north to Deer Creek
Grove in the south. These groves have a rightful place alongside our
country's greatest natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon and
Yellowstone National Park.
Today, most ancient giant sequoias live in Giant Sequoia National
Monument and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, with nearly 80% of
the naturally occurring sequoia range in these two parks. Almost all
the roughly 78 naturally occurring groves are managed by ten state,
Federal, and county agencies and the Tule River Tribe. Most recently,
Save the Redwoods League secured the protection of the Alder Creek and
Red Hill properties, the largest remaining private giant sequoia
forests.
Between natural fires and Indigenous cultural fires across
millennia, giant sequoias evolved to thrive with low- to moderate-
intensity fires occurring every 8-15 years. The protective bark of a
mature tree can be up to 2 thick, and fire helps their cones open and
release seeds, fostering reproduction. However, for over 100 years,
state and Federal policies have been to extinguish almost every Sierra
Nevada fire as soon as it ignites; this suppression and historic land
management practices have combined to create unnaturally high densities
of understory and midstory trees in giant sequoia groves.
Old-growth giant sequoias need our help if they are to
survive.
Combined with the drier conditions and longer fire seasons
associated with drought and climate change, the result is a tinderbox
in our groves. Severe fire entering these dense groves burns up through
the younger trees and into the canopies of mature sequoias, killing
them. Unlike its coast redwood cousins that can resprout from living
roots, when a 2,000 year old giant sequoia dies, it is gone forever.
In 2020, the Castle fire killed 10-14% of all mature giant
sequoias. The following year, the KNP Complex fire and Windy Fire
killed another 3-5% of these magnificent trees. That's an estimated
total of 19% of all giant sequoias killed in only 14 months.
Scientists and park officials predict more catastrophic fires in
the years ahead. Old-growth giant sequoias need our help if they are to
survive. Organizations that steward giant sequoias must proactively
manage all giant sequoia groves at a landscape level, but for the next
few years they must focus efforts on the groves at greatest risk.
Giant Sequoia Groves At Highest Risk from Wildfire
These groves have not burned from wildfire since 2015 so are
expected to have the highest fuel loads and therefore need
priority treatment.
Map produced by Save the Redwoods League. Map 2022 using ESRI
software.
The most at-risk giant sequoia groves that urgently need
treatment before the 2023 fire season, according to an initial
League analysis of groves that haven't burned since 2015.
Ongoing research will likely change this map slightly. All the
groves will need treatment in the next 5 years.
Goal: Treat 2,000 Acres in the Most At-Risk Groves Before the 2023
Wildfire Season
Saving the sequoias
The priority now must be to reduce the unnatural buildup of
vegetation in the groves using the following methods:
Removal by hand crews or using machinery, with subsequent
safe burning of vegetation piles.
Prescribed burning--carefully planned and executed fires
managed by experts.
State and Federal agencies, as well as Tribes, have conducted this
type of management for years, but not nearly at the necessary scale.
Where it has been used, it has worked spectacularly.
As fire ravaged other sequoia groves in 2021, the beloved Giant
Forest in Sequoia National Park and Trail of 100 Giants in Giant
Sequoia National Monument survived with little damage to the trees
because of fuels management and prescribed burning.
Funding
It is estimated that fighting wildfire costs more than 30 times as
much as preventative land care and prescribed burning. The estimated
cost to fight the 2020 SQF Complex (Shotgun and Castle) fire is $144
million alone.
These are the funding steps needed to save giant sequoias:
1. Appropriate $500 million over 5 years to treat at least 60,000
acres of the most vulnerable giant sequoia groves and
provide treated buffer zones around them.
2. Allocate funds from the Federal Infrastructure Investment and
Jobs Act for reducing wildfire risk in the wildland-urban
interface and for ecosystem restoration targeting grove
treatments in appropriate areas.
3. Allocate funding toward reforestation of fire-damaged groves to
avoid type conversion to shrubland.
4. Support the California Blueprint, which proposes $2.7 billion
over several years to bolster ``critical wildfire
resilience programs to increase the pace and scale of
forest health activities and decrease fire risk,'' and
target some of this funding specifically for giant sequoia
grove resilience treatments.
All hands on deck
As a society, we simply cannot allow the loss of 5-15% of giant
sequoias every year. At that rate, the natural range of these
spectacular giants will be gone in our lifetime. This emergency calls
for a united response.
To prevent the loss of the world's spectacular remaining
giant sequoias, we urge giant sequoia land managers, elected
officials, and policymakers to take action on funding,
personnel, policy changes, and fuels reduction now.
Crews reduce fuels at a property next to Calaveras Big Trees
State Park.
Photo by Save the Redwoods League.
Personnel and resources
Treating so many groves in such a short time will require a huge
number of personnel and a high degree of coordination. Crews must be
ready to deploy when those conditions are favorable. Lining up these
resources requires the following:
1. Living wages for the Federal workforce.
2. Full time, year-round Federal fire and restoration crews. Build a
pipeline of employees and train this workforce.
3. Funding to develop and support the Tribal workforce.
4. Support for nonprofits and private entities to engage in forest
restoration efforts.
Policy and permitting
To save the giant sequoias, a consensus on policies and permitting
is needed among giant sequoia land management agencies. Agreement is
also needed on the following actions for useful application of
permitting processes to ensure that work can be completed in time:
Expedite projects by supporting designation of an Emergency
Action as defined in the Federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act
that allows USDA Forest Service projects to move quickly by
expediting environmental review under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other statutes. Employ
Categorical Exclusion designations (for compliance with NEPA)
and programmatic Biological Assessments (for Endangered Species
Act compliance), where appropriate for groves on Federal lands
to speed up administrative approvals.
Return stewardship roles to Tribes, which have managed land
for thousands of years.
Promote Prescribed Burn Associations, which help private
landowners obtain skilled crews to conduct burning on their
lands. Enhance the flexibility for existing contractors to
conduct prescribed burn activities.
Approve wider burn windows and more flexibility from the
California Air Resources Board and local air districts so that
more prescribed burns are allowed when conditions are safe.
A future for the giant sequoias
The protection of California's giant sequoias is at the heart of
the American conservation movement. During the Civil War, President
Abraham Lincoln signed The Yosemite Valley Grant Act, transferring
Federal lands in Yosemite Valley and nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove to
the State of California, ``upon the express condition that the premises
shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation, and shall be
inalienable for all time.''
Amidst the challenges of his time, Lincoln took action to secure
the giant sequoias for future generations. That same opportunity is in
the hands of giant sequoia land managers, elected officials, and
policymakers right now.
Yosemite National Park and its Mariposa Grove of Giant
Sequoias were protected for future generations by President
Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Today, giant sequoia land
managers, elected officials, and policymakers have the chance
to protect the world's remaining giant sequoias in their native
range.
Photo by Aflo Co. Ltd./Alamy Stock Photo.
A crew conducts prescribed burning in 2019 to reduce fuels
next to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Treating the most
vulnerable giant sequoia groves before the 2023 wildfire season
will require a huge number of personnel.
Photo by Anthony Castanos.
The survival of old-growth giant sequoias depends on help
from giant sequoia land managers, elected officials, and
policymakers now.
Giant sequoias face down a 2020 wildfire in California's
Sierra Nevada. Since 2015, severe wildfire in these mountains
has killed 20% of all the world's mature giant sequoias.
Photo by Max Forster, @maxforsterphotography.
Save the Redwoods League
Save the Redwoods League is one of the nation's longest-
running conservation organizations, and it has been protecting
and restoring redwood forests since 1918. The League has
connected generations of visitors with the beauty and serenity
of the redwood forests. The nonprofit's 29,000 members have
enabled the organization to protect more than 216,000 acres of
irreplaceable forests in 66 state, national, and local parks
and reserves. For information, please visit
SaveTheRedwoods.org.
Garrison Frost,
Director of Communications
Save the Redwoods League
111 Sutter Street
11th Floor
San Francisco CA 94104
[email protected]
415-820-5837
SaveTheRedwoods.org
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
(PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD)
----------
FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2022
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Carnation, WA.
The Committee met at 10:00 a.m., P.D.T., at Remlinger
Farms, 32610 N.E. 32nd Street, Carnation, WA, Hon. Stacy E.
Plaskett presiding.
Members present: Representatives Plaskett and Schrier.
Staff present: Malikha Daniels, Lyron Blum-Evitts, Detrick
Manning, and Carlton Bridgeforth.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. STACEY E. PLASKETT, A DELEGATE IN
CONGRESS FROM VIRGIN ISLANDS
Ms. Plaskett. Good morning, everyone. Let me stand up. Good
morning, everyone. Good morning. Thank you, guys, for coming
out here this morning. I'm going to sit down. I'm hoping you
all can still see me as I am seated.
I want to thank you for joining us today. It's great to be
here in Washington State. This is my first visit. I'm an East
Coast girl. So, I'm thoroughly, thoroughly impressed with the
beauty and the warm welcome that I've received thus far from
the people of Washington.
On behalf of the House Agriculture Committee and our
Chairman, David Scott of Georgia, I'm very pleased to be here
to chair this official Committee listening session entitled, A
2022 Review of the Farm Bill: Perspectives from the Field. I
want to thank my good friend and colleague, Congresswoman Kim
Schrier for hosting this event.
So, the purpose of this hearing is to hear from you about
what is and what is not working in the farm bill, the 2018 Farm
Bill, as we're preparing ourselves to begin drafting the next
farm bill and to guide and inform the Agriculture Committee on
the policy discussions in our next reauthorization policy.
As you can see, we have two microphones set up in the room,
and when we're ready, I'll call upon the audience members, four
at a time, to line up behind those microphones to speak.
I want to also recognize a couple of people in the audience
and thank them so much for being here. Derek Sandison, Director
of Washington State Department of Agriculture, George--yes. We
can--George Geissler, Washington Department of Natural
Resources State Forestry, Roylene Comes At Night, Washington's
Deputy Equal Opportunity Officer for USDA, and Ben Thiel, USDA
Risk Management Agency, Spokane Regional Director.
So, if you would like to speak and did not pick up a note
card, one of these note cards on the way in, the staff that's
here, the Agriculture Committee staff can provide you with one.
Please complete your note card and hand it back to the staff
member as soon as possible. This will place you in the queue to
offer public comment. And know that the public comments will be
part of the official transcript and the official record as
well.
The information from the listening session will become part
of the record to prepare for the new farm bill, and as such, we
will require your name, contact information, and whether you're
speaking to your experiences or on behalf of an organization.
For everyone's awareness, the listening session is live
streamed to the Agriculture Committee's YouTube channel and
will be available for viewing later. We have enough time to
keep this going until 12.00 p.m., until lunch time, which
should allow for some great conversation and not to become
``hangry''.
In order to hear from as many people as possible, please
keep your comments to two minutes. That way everybody can get a
chance to speak. We will have a timer running and a staffer
holding up a sign that says, ``Time is up,'' if you go over
your 2 minutes. While we will be flexible, as flexible as
possible, we really want to hear everyone's comments.
Before we turn it over to you, myself and the Congresswoman
will take a moment for brief opening remarks. So, let me begin,
and then, of course, we're going to let your Congresswoman be
the last voice you hear before we begin.
As I said, my name is Stacey Plaskett, and I represent the
Virgin Islands in Congress, and I'm the Chair of the
Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research Subcommittee. The
U.S. Virgin Islands is a small district, and it's located in a
tropical climate.
Our local farmers produce various crops, which include many
tropical crop varieties. So, I appreciate the opportunity to
see completely different climate and farming operations here in
the Pacific Northwest. We have a markedly different crop
production and other types of agriculture.
While the Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research
Subcommittee is responsible for specialty crops, apiculture,
organic agriculture, pest management, research, education, U.S.
cooperative extension, and biotechnology, during this listening
session, we want input on all titles of the farm bill, so not
just those that are related to our Subcommittee--my
Subcommittee.
I know we will have stakeholders with interest in programs
ranging from nutrition to conservation, rural development, crop
insurance, dairy, specialty crops. We want to hear it all.
Thank you for taking the time to be with us today during the
third in a series of listening sessions.
I just want you all to know that the high esteem with which
Members hold your Congresswoman, Kim Schrier, and her voice has
really been strong on the Agriculture Committee. She makes it a
point to speak and ask questions that are related to the issues
that are important to this district, what you all are
experiencing, how we can be helpful.
And many Members want the Agriculture Committee to come to
their districts, but we think that this is really important.
Kim's voice has been really strong that we need to come out
here and provide some support and input from you all. And
that's why we're here today. So, thank you, Congresswoman
Schrier, and let's hear what you have to say about your
district and the people here and what we can expect.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. KIM SCHRIER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM WASHINGTON
Ms. Schier. Okay. Here's your little taste of Congress.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome. It is so nice to see
so many friends here today from all over the state. I am so
delighted that you all made the trek because this is your
opportunity to speak directly with the House Committee on
Agriculture about what you would like to see in the 2023 Farm
Bill.
I am excited that you get to meet our Subcommittee Chair,
Representative Plaskett, who, as you just heard, comes from the
Virgin Islands. Couldn't be more different. Yes. Welcome.
Joining us today, as you heard, are leaders in Washington,
including Washington State Department of Agriculture Director
Derek Sandison. Thank you for being here. Farmers, ranchers,
dairy farmers, those who protect and manage our wild lands,
including foresters, rangers, and forest landowners,
conservation district experts, people who manage farmers'
markets, food banks, fight hunger, and more.
I think I've spoken already this morning with
representatives from every one of those groups, and I'm very
excited that you, Madam Chair, will get to hear about their
experiences and what they need.
The Pacific Northwest is a very unique region. I'm going to
highlight, as you saw driving in here, our abundant forests but
also that Washington grows more than 300 crops and mostly
specialty crops. We also, just on the other side of the
Cascades, have the most prized hay in the world, Timothy Hay.
And also, on the other side of the Cascades, we boast the apple
capital of the world and I would say also the cherry capital of
the world.
The farm bill is a huge undertaking. It's really all-
encompassing, agricultural research, trade, foreign market
access, crop insurance, other programs to limit risk, forestry
and conservation programs, rural development, housing, rural
broadband, FSA and extension programs to support farmers, SNAP,
and other nutrition programs.
So, this is a tremendous opportunity for all of you to have
your voices heard, to bring your comments to the table. And as
the only Member of the Agriculture Committee from the Pacific
Northwest, I want to welcome you, Chair Plaskett, to today's
listening session.
I hope everybody gets a chance to speak today. If you
don't--and I'll be quiet in just a second here. If you don't,
we have your papers, and we will get back to you and factor
those comments in, as you already heard. So, welcome, and I
yield to you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm going to--
we've received some cards already, and so I figured I'll call
people up four at a time for the cards that we have. Does that
make sense? And then if there are any other additional
comments, people can come after that.
Ms. Schier. Can we just--how can we make sure that if
questions pop up, do we have--can somebody from ag staff come
to the front so that if somebody raises their hand, you can see
them? Does that--does that work so you know how to how to get a
card if you need one?
Ms. Plaskett. Sure.
Ms. Schier. Thank you. Excellent.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. So, Derek Sandison, Scot Hulbert, Mark
Powers, and Jon DeVaney.
Mr. Sandison. Good morning.
Ms. Plaskett. Good morning.
STATEMENT OF DEREK SANDISON, DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON STATE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OLYMPIA, WA
Mr. Sandison. Well, thank you, Congressman Plaskett, for
making the trip out here. It's a long way, I'm sure, but it is
a beautiful part of the country, as I'm sure your Virgin
Islands are as well.
I want to also thank Congressman Schrier for making this
possible. She's been so active in the agricultural world and
everything agriculture since coming on board. And we're really
appreciative of her work.
We provided for you--I hope it's there, but kind of a
little placard of--it kind of gives you a snapshot of
Washington agriculture. We grow over 300 crops and commodities.
We do that in about 37,000 farms. So, we have farms of all
sizes, scale, down to very small few-acre farms to 2,000+ acre
farms. So, it's, again, very--kind of a very diverse
agricultural industry.
Those 300 crops and commodities, as Congresswoman Schrier
pointed out, many of them are specialty crops. And we're very
appreciative of the work you're doing in the farm bill and
making sure that some of the important titles are going to be
either improved or otherwise modified to make sure that it's
really serving U.S. agriculture and, selfishly, the farmers in
our state; right?
So, though we have, as you'll see, Washington State
University, our important research land-grant university, we
have industry reps, food bank representatives. We have hunger
advocates, community members that are here to provide more
detailed information than I will. I'm just doing the overview
here.
But certainly, we're a trade dependent state. The trade
title Market Access Program's extremely important, conservation
programs, [inaudible] in terms of providing wildlife habitat
and protecting sensitive species. EQIP, more recently Public
Law 83-566. We've got a major program in central Washington,
Columbia Basin, in that that's receiving funding through that.
Nutrition title, we learned in the pandemic that meant we
really needed the nutrition title. But we know now more about
the importance of SNAP as a foundational element and how we can
better move food assistance from within our own local
communities.
Research, I mentioned WSU. We need to stay on the cutting
edge, and with 300 crops and commodities, you need a WSU having
your back.
Horticulture, the Specialty Crop Block Grant program. I
know Representative Schrier hosted an event up in Wenatchee
last winter and there was an outpouring of support for that
program from industry.
So, again, that's just a--just--I'm just touching on some
of the major issues. But really appreciate you being here and
welcome to Washington and thank you for the opportunity.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Ms. Schier. Thank you.
Dr. Hulbert. Just keep going?
Ms. Plaskett. Yeah.
STATEMENT OF SCOT HULBERT, Ph.D., ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH,
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, HUMAN, AND
NATURAL RESOURCE SCIENCES, WASHINGTON STATE
UNIVERSITY; INTERIM DIRECTOR, AGRICULTURAL
RESEARCH CENTER, CAHNRS, WSU, PULLMAN, WA
Dr. Hulbert. Okay. I'd like to thank the Congresswoman for
the opportunity to describe what some of Washington State
University's priorities for the farm bill. I'm Scot Hulbert.
I'm the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Ag,
Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. So, I'm just representing
the ag research at WSU.
I'm just going to focus on two things today. One of them is
Federal funding programs that WSU competes for ag research to
support the ag in the state and our stakeholders, and the other
one is the ag research infrastructure.
The latter, I'm going to let Todd Murray cover that more.
He's also here from WSU and he's one of the directors of our
research and extension centers. We've also provided a letter
concerning the ag infrastructure, and a lot of the stakeholders
here are probably signatories on it.
Ms. Plaskett. Are you guys saying it's good? It's bad? You
need more? Less?
Dr. Hulbert. We need ag infrastructure funding.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay.
Dr. Hulbert. Really, yeah. That's probably our biggest
priority. We're kind of actually pretty fixated on it since the
Build Back Better (Pub. L. 117-169) kind of gave us a taste of
the possibility of getting infrastructure funding to repair our
ag infrastructure. So, we've--with Representative Schrier can
tell you we've been kind of fixated on it last--since then.
But I'm going to talk about some of the Federal programs
for funding that we rely on pretty heavily. Mostly, these are
USDA NIFA program, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
It's competitive grants. WSU competes pretty well for this
funding because our priorities are pretty well aligned with
NIFA.
Some of the grants that we have from NIFA now support
development of new crop varieties that are adapted to our
region, robotics to save labor in a lot of our specialty crops
that are really labor intensive, genomics research to assist us
in developing new varieties of plants and animals, precision
agriculture techniques that help us apply the correct amount of
inputs across the landscape where we need it and not where we
don't need it.
Helps us conserve water and fuel, a lot of high carbon
inputs like fertilizers and pesticides and stuff. It helps us
manage our pests and diseases and improves the health of our
farm animals and also trains the next generation of ag
researchers and farm managers.
So, within NIFA, as Derek said, SCRI is a really important
program to us because a lot of our ag is especially crop
oriented. So, WSU supports renewing and making permanent
programs that require direct mandatory farm bill funding like
SCRI, especially crops research initiative.
And we would support increasing--okay. My time is already
up. So, boy, two minutes goes fast. So, along with SCRI, the
AFRI programs are really, really important too. So, thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. And just remember, as you said,
you have a letter, but if there's much more information you'd
like to submit, please know that the record does stay open for
ten days for the hearing for you all to submit written
testimony as well.
STATEMENT OF MARK POWERS, PRESIDENT, NORTHWEST HORTICULTURAL
COUNCIL, YAKIMA, WA
Mr. Powers. Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning,
Representative Schrier. My name is Mark Powers. I'm the
President of the Northwest Horticultural Council. That's a
trade association that represents the growers and shippers of
apples, pears, and cherries here in Washington State and the
greater Pacific Northwest.
Our growers are under incredible economic pressures that
are basically changing their businesses, and I'd like to point
out a couple of those. One would be wage rates, which I know
are not directly under the farm bill, but it's 60 to 70 percent
of our cost structure. And basically, one example that I can
point out to you is under the adverse effect wage rate in
Washington State has increased roughly 64 percent over the past
decade, which is significant.
That pressure, combined with some of the retaliatory
tariffs that we're experiencing in overseas markets where we
export roughly 25 to 35 percent, given any particular year, are
really hurting us.
Traditionally, tree fruit growers have not relied on the
farm bill for direct payments. That's no surprise. But it is
different from some of the other commodity programs. Instead,
we've relied on research, pest and disease programs, market
development programs, those kinds of things to keep us
competitive and innovative. And that's how we compete.
And so, those investments are very important. A lot of them
had their genesis in the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of
2004 (Pub. L. 108-465) but not all. For instance, the Market
Access Program is one that we utilize. It's very successful,
and it helps us to promote overseas. We're hoping to see a
doubling of funding for that program.
Also, the TASC program, Technical Assistance for Specialty
Crops, relatively small at $9 million but still very targeted
and very effective.
In addition, when we switch to the Title X and horticulture
organics, our growers are all in on organics. 90 percent of the
nation's organic apples are produced in Washington State.
Having said that, there are some revisions or some reforms to
the National Organic Program and OSB that are being
contemplated. Some of those we support, some of those we do
not. There's more detail in our--in my written testimony.
The plant pest and disease issue is also critically
important. We have an epidemic here of little cherry disease
that we're hoping to have Congresswoman Schrier's already
helped us with initially to get some funding there. That's
causing all kinds of program problems.
In conclusion, the farm bill programs are significant value
to tree fruit growers here in Washington State. We urge the
continued funding of those that I have mentioned and others
such as a Specialty Crop Research Initiative, Specialty Crop
Block Grants, Whole-Farm Crop Insurance, Tree Assistance
Program, and others. Thank you for this opportunity.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF JON DeVANEY, PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON STATE TREE
FRUIT ASSOCIATION, YAKIMA, WA
Mr. DeVaney. Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair and
Representative Schrier. My name is Jon DeVaney. I'm the
President of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association based
in Yakima. We represent the growers, packers, and marketers of
apples, pears, cherries, and other tree fruits here in the
State of Washington.
Those crops taken together represent about 28 percent of
the state's farmgate agricultural production value. So,
specialty but not minor.
I'd like to start by thanking you and your colleagues in
Congress for your past support of disaster assistance. We've
had some extreme weather and other issues that agriculture are
used to dealing with, but these have been some extreme events.
We really appreciate your help and support there.
Disaster programs, though, do still need improvement, and
we encourage you to work with the Department to provide greater
flexibility on assessing damages. Often, the damages on
specialty crops are not fully known until after harvest is
complete, or in the case of crops like pears and apples, which
go into storage, sometimes months or even a year later. So, we
do encourage you to work with the Department on that issue.
While disaster assistance is largely reactive, we prefer to
be out in front of solving problems ahead of time through
scientific research and innovation. Our orchardists make
significant investments in research through their mandatory
assessments they vote in on themselves through the Washington
Tree Fruit Research Commission.
Just this last year, we invested $4.5 million in research
projects ranging from food safety to pest and disease control
and response, and the development of new technologies,
including labor saving automation.
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative in the farm bill has
been extremely important in leveraging those grower investor
dollars to make sure that programs are effective and can be
deployed quickly. We do ask that you maintain this program and
that you restore the waiver of the 100 percent match
requirement, which will allow emerging issues to be dealt with
quickly before additional matching dollars can be located.
At least as successful as the Specialty Crop Research
Initiative has been the Specialty Crop Block Grant program,
which is both flexible and impactful in dealing with a variety
of industry issues, whether that's research, training for
growers and their employees, marketing of products and
promotion, and pest and disease response.
This program is already oversubscribed. The State of
Washington added $16 million in applications last year for $4
million in funding. So, we do ask that you maintain that and
extend that program but not expand the definition of specialty
crops to further dilute the limited sources of funds that are
already available.
Finally, as Mark Powers mentioned, farm labor is the single
largest variable cost for orchardists in our state, as well as
being increasingly difficult to secure. It's hard to attract
and retain those folks. Labor challenges alone are forcing many
growers out of business.
Our industry is prioritizing automation and labor-saving
technologies, and we encourage you to work with USDA to
prioritize and expedite research projects in technology
deployment. I provided some additional information in my
written comments, and again, thank you very much for the
opportunity to speak with you today.
Ms. Plaskett. May I ask you a question?
Mr. DeVaney. Of course, Madam Chair.
Ms. Plaskett. When you talk about labor challenges, can you
describe some more what some of those challenges?
Mr. DeVaney. Yes. We require a large labor pool of short-
term seasonal workers to harvest fruit crops, which if you--
sometimes as much as--or as little as a day late of your target
harvest date, the crop's quality suffers or you may not even
have a marketable crop.
But in an economy with very low unemployment and lots of
year-round, perhaps indoor job opportunities available, it's
hard to find people who are looking for seasonal work, combined
with changes in our immigration policy.
So, we really need to make sure both that we have workable
guestworker programs, as Mark Powers alluded to, like the H-2A
program that can function better, but also that we are
investing in labor efficiency and automation so that we can
provide growers some alternatives to trying to find people on a
short-term basis.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Thanks.
Mr. DeVaney. Thank you very much.
Ms. Plaskett. While we call up the next four people, I've
been asked to have no applause between so we can get to as many
people as possible. Okay. Stacey Crnich or Cronich? I can't
tell from this. Jim Wilcox, Jeremy Visser, and Ryan Mensonides.
Thank you.
Ms. Crnich. Hi.
Ms. Plaskett. Hi. Good morning.
STATEMENT OF STACEY CRNICH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BONNEY
LAKE FOOD BANK, BONNEY LAKE WA
Ms. Crnich. Good morning. Thank you so much, Chair
Plaskett, and we're representing Representative Schrier's
district, a project that we call The Market that is a food
security community-based project that is a free grocery store.
We're on a farm in East Pierce doing some innovative
things, and I could tell you a lot about some of the funding
streams that have been made available to us to connect us
deeply to agriculture and the farmers in our area, but I think
it would be better if I told you who that was impacting and
what that looked like.
So, in June of 2020, a farmers' market truck pulled up,
Tacoma Farmers Market, through a program mobilized through
Pierce County Economic Development called Fresh Express. And I
remember when the doors opened of that truck and I looked
inside and saw all the fresh produce. A seed was planted, and I
thought, this is how this should always be. This is how the
story should have always been.
And when I took the raspberries and the blackberries and
the blueberries out of the truck, I went immediately to a
customer and showed them to her, and she cried. And I thought,
I can't ``unknow'' this. Her access to those, it did not exist.
And she said, you mean I can have all? And I said, of course.
And then the next week when I saw her, she brought me the
jam that she made, and we had a conversation about food that
changed the narrative and the entire landscape and my
perspective on what we were doing in food security forever. I
can't unknow that. We were talking about food, not about the
lack of but a universal language that all of us speak.
So, when we moved out to the farm in East Pierce, I wanted
to make a statement about how deeply rooted we were in
protecting--oh, my goodness. I've got so many stories. So, we
work with local farmers, and as my farmer Pat from Mom's
Microgreens tells me, the supply chain doesn't break down when
the supply chain is 20 away.
Our work with Mecarios Acres, where we're able to curate
pork and beautiful animals and preserve every last bit of that
animal and have people of all cultures see things that they
want to prepare for their families. When people come into the
market and tell me, Stacy, this is what my doctor wants me to
eat. You have the things my doctor wants me to eat. I feel so
special when I'm here.
I just can't unknow these things, and I want all efforts to
continue to forge, fortify, and sustain those relationships
with local farmers to continue forever. Thank you so much.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Now you know how Kim Schrier and I
feel when we only have one minute on the floor.
STATEMENT OF JAY KEHNE, SAGELANDS HERITAGE PROGRAM LEAD,
CONSERVATION NORTHWEST, OMAK, WA
Mr. Kehne. Thank you for this time to speak today. My name
is Jay Kehne. I work for Conservation Northwest for the last 13
years. I live in Omak, Washington. Prior to that, I worked for
the Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation
Service for 31 years. It's all just too much fun to give up.
I'm here to talk today about what the 2018 Farm Bill did
that affects CRP and particularly safe acres in Douglas County.
I've been working with ranchers and farmers my whole--both
careers, and this really could have a negative effect starting
in 2023.
The waiver that used to exist that allowed crop acres to be
put into CRP and SAFE--SAFE is a program that came after CRP--
that waiver was done away with in the 2018 Farm Bill. Starting
in 2023, if that waiver is not fixed in the next farm bill, up
to 73,000 acres of prime CRP ground that supports three
endangered species in Washington State, sage grouse, sharp
tailed grouse, and pygmy rabbits could come out.
So, this would have a huge effect on the community. Right
now, these dollars coming in the community to ranchers help
support them. It helps support the wildlife that we're very
much interested in, and it helps support the community. So, it
could have a very negative effect.
The legislation struck the broad waiver language that
allowed a county to crop plant acreage enrolled in CRP to
exceed 25 percent and makes only Conservation Reserve CRP
eligible for the waiver, when previously, SAFE was also
eligible.
The two requests that I have would be that Congress
reinstate the cap waiver for state acres for wildlife
enhancement in the next farm bill. And two, to take Section B
of Section 1244(f), which says operators would have a
difficulty complying with conservation plans are not allowed
for the waiver. That needs to be changed to, or that grounds
exist that are beneficial for water quality, have benefits for
wildlife, which these acres clearly do, then that waiver would
be allowed.
I have a legislative video that we produced with four or
five ranchers and farmers that talk about this that I could
supply for you. And I have any opportunity to come and help
explain this in Washington, D.C. I'd be glad to do that.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Mr. Wilcox. Good morning.
Ms. Plaskett. Good morning.
STATEMENT OF JIM WILCOX, CHAIRMAN, WILCOX FAMILY FARMS, ROY, WA
Mr. Wilcox. Thank you very much, Chair Plaskett and you,
Congresswoman Schrier, for being here. And Congresswoman
Schrier, I want to publicly thank you for all the help you've
given us in the past.
I'm Jim Wilcox from Wilcox Family Farms. We're a business
that has been around for about 115 years. I'm the retiring
third generation, and we want to keep going. Unfortunately,
we're right in the middle of a real disease crisis. I'm sure
all of you have heard about the avian flu. And frankly, we
don't sleep at night. This has the ability and the potential to
put us out of business.
In this country and Canada so far, between 35 and 40
million birds have been euthanized because they've contracted
the avian flu. And so far, there really isn't much that can be
done for it.
I'm asking you folks in Congress to support our state and
our national extension services and our land-grant colleges in
having the resources that can come up with a vaccine or a
solution to this problem.
Every person that consumes eggs has felt the impact of this
because the shortages due to the euthanizations causes
shortages and that results in higher prices. So, it's a problem
for all of us, and I would ask your consideration. Thank you
very much.
Ms. Plaskett. Mr. Wilcox, what do you grow on your farm?
Mr. Wilcox. Well, we grow eggs. We produce eggs. We--our
eggs are mostly cage free and pasture, and we grow a lot of
crops that they consume as they're moved on a periodic basis
from paddock to paddock.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Ms. Schier. Madam Chair, if you go to Costco in Washington
State, you will see Wilcox Eggs, and they take the hen houses
around to different areas of pasture every day.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay.
STATEMENT OF JEREMY VISSER, MEMBER, BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, NORTHWEST DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION, DAIRY GOLD,
STANWOOD, WA
Mr. Visser. Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. My name
is Jeremy Visser. I am a fourth-generation dairy farmer in
northwest Washington representing Dairy Gold, the marketing and
processing subsidiary of Northwest Dairymen's Association,
which consists of now 350 dairy farm families across
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. We operate 11 plants
throughout the Northwest.
Ten years ago, there were 550 family farms that were in
that organization. Through the last passage of time, it's been
a difficult slog. It's a lifetime commitment to be in the dairy
business, and everyone who's in it enjoys it and chooses to do
it every day. We have a passion for caring for our cows, our
crops, our land, and our people that help us get it done.
I'd like to thank you for additions to the farm bill
through the Dairy Revenue Protection Program. It's been a very
useful tool that farmers can choose to protect their milk price
and use forward contracting tools that are also authorized in
the farm bill. Very helpful.
And like most crop insurance, those things allow farms to
use any quantity of protection. As a family farm would grow,
they would be able to insure more of their milk.
The one program that doesn't change with time is the Dairy
Margin Coverage Program, which has been a very useful program
for those who use it. It allows price stability and in terrible
margin periods. It was great during 2020.
That program, unlike all Title I farm insurance programs,
has a cap that has really stopped a lot of farms from being
able to use the benefits of that. And if you could look into
making it more size neutral or something that could accommodate
all farms and all people who choose to purchase it. Thank you
very much for the opportunity.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF RYAN D. MENSONIDES, CO-OWNER, CO-
MANAGER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MOUNT RAINIER CREAMERY &
MARKET, ENUMCLAW, WA
Mr. Mensonides. Good morning. Thank you guys for the time
letting us come up and speak. My name is Ryan Mensonides. My
wife Haylee and I own and operate an organic dairy farm in
Enumclaw, Washington, about an hour away. We are the poster
children for new farming programs.
We got an FSA loan to start our farm, buy cows, and to buy
our farm. We have spent almost $500,000 for the EQIP program to
improve our nutrient management programs with the farm that was
old and outdated. We are starting a creamery here.
We just received a rural development grant for some of the
infrastructure so that we can provide local products to our
local community. We are also recipients of the Value-Added
Producer Grant that we'll use once we start going. So,
literally, any place that we can try to take advantage to get
going.
We are an anomaly. I come from a long line of dairy
farmers, but my wife and I started from scratch, which is
really weird in the dairy industry. You can ask anybody in it.
Oddly enough, I grew up about 15 minutes away from Jim Wilcox.
My dad and him used to trade corn. When somebody didn't get
corn, they would bring truckloads back and forth. And I know
Jeremy very well because at a time I was with Dairy Gold as
well. We are also members of Organic Valley.
A couple other things before she gives me the 30 second
deal. The margin protection or the revenue protection program
for dairy does not have anything for organic, and that's
frustrating because for us then it's not a useful tool because
it's basically just like going down to the casino and gambling
because it doesn't really affect any of our margins.
So, right now, the dairy--conventional dairy market is
doing very well, and organic is getting crushed because our
cost of inputs are through the roof and our price hasn't
changed. So, I would love to have something looked at for that.
I would love for the FSA programs that we are beneficiaries
of to increase their levels because the dollar amounts for
purchasing farms aren't keeping up with the dollar amounts of
actual retail and real estate.
The other thing is in infrastructure, we're building a
processing plant so that we can actually produce local and sell
local. There is nothing in any of these programs to buy
equipment, and equipment is going to be 70 to 80 percent of our
cost. So, if you guys could look into something like that, that
would be very helpful. Thank you for the time.
Ms. Plaskett. May I ask a question?
Mr. Mensonides. You can ask lots. I got all kinds of
answers.
Ms. Plaskett. One of the things that we've spent quite a
bit of time on the Committee is how to bring new farmers in. We
know that many farmers are becoming more mature and that we
need to bring in a younger crop of farmers.
Which one of you mentioned so many--and I'm so glad that
you were able to avail yourselves of these programs. Which ones
have been the most helpful for you as a new farmer, and have
there been impediments to the process to actually get the loans
or the grants?
Mr. Mensonides. Yes. So, to your point, I'm considered a
young farmer and I'm 42 and I've been doing it for ten years.
That's kind of crazy.
Ms. Plaskett. Well, I'm older and I consider myself young.
Mr. Mensonides. But you get what I'm saying? I think the
average age of the dairy farmer is 69. So, it is--to your
point, you are correct. We have an issue. In Washington in
general, land values are through the roof. It doesn't matter if
you're on this side of the state or the other side, that is an
impediment.
What has been an impediment for us in the program? We're
actually trying to work through the SBA right now. I know
that's not specific to agriculture, but SBA is run through
financial institutions.
Ms. Plaskett. Yeah.
Mr. Mensonides. And I'm in the middle of that process right
now, and it's been a year-long process. Those funds are very
hard to access, and it's very hard to get that through them--
through the SBA right now.
I don't know how to improve that. Like I said, we're in the
middle of the process. The guy I'm working with, with the bank
I'm working with has been really working his tail. But I think
some of the constraints on that program need to be improved.
That would probably be a good place to sit down with someone
like myself and the bank in the future somehow like that.
And the other big thing for us, like with starting off,
literally, we bought cows and rented a farm. The dollar
amounts, while they were raised the last farm bill, still
weren't raised enough, at least for out here on the West Coast.
So, there are these programs, but they're not substantial
enough to buy enough property or buy enough to produce to
sustain yourself. I guess that's the best answer I could give
you on that.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Mr. Mensonides. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. Next group is Claire Lane, Scott Gail,
Ty Meyer, and Jeremy Vrablik.
STATEMENT OF CLAIRE LANE, DIRECTOR, ANTI-HUNGER AND NUTRITION
COALITION, SEATTLE, WA
Ms. Lane. All right. I'm shrimpy. Hello and welcome to
Washington State and thank you so much especially to
Representative Schrier. My name is Claire Lane and I'm Director
of our statewide Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition. And I
want to talk today about how SNAP eligibility works in the farm
bill and doesn't work for hungry people in our communities.
Washington's SNAP program--thank you. Washington's SNAP
program is actually known as a model for other states, and I'm
proud of what our state agency and our state legislators have
done to ensure that we maximize all the opportunities in the
farm bill to feed hungry neighbors and to provide effective job
training and doing savvy nutrition education. But there are
still real barriers to SNAP.
Our coalition is asking this committee to examine how the
next farm bill can do more to lower barriers to eligibility for
low-income people everywhere. Adults who don't have kids faced
unconscionable time limits on SNAP. They're only able to get
SNAP for 3 months every 3 years unless they can document they
worked 20 hours a week every week.
This puts enormous pressure on homeless people, people with
seasonal jobs, people with variable work schedules or gig work,
and more. The Improving Access to Nutrition Act of 2021 (H.R.
1753) would reduce hunger for these very vulnerable adults so
they can focus on getting ahead and not just getting food on
the table.
Similarly, I think you'll hear a little more about this.
Low-income college students must also document 20 hours of work
each week to qualify for SNAP, as well as being enrolled at
least half time and meeting all of other income requirements.
Most low-income college students do work, but too often this
rule means hungry students don't get the help they need to
successfully complete school and get ahead. The EATS Act (H.R.
1919, Enhance Access To SNAP Act of 2021) would change that.
The current farm bill also allows other populations to be
barred entirely from SNAP, even though they struggle with
hunger. Native Americans who receive commodity foods through
the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations are barred
from also receiving SNAP.
There is no other population that has to choose between
their food bank and SNAP. Native people in Washington face some
of the highest rates of food insecurity, and they shouldn't
have to make this choice.
Despite the SNAP ban in the farm bill, Washington was the
first state to lift the bar for legally residing low-income
immigrants from getting food stamps.
But just as in other states who do this, Washington has to
pay for that ourselves. If you live in the U.S. legally, where
you were born or how long you've lived here shouldn't dictate
whether you have enough food to eat. And the LIFT the BAR Act
of 2021 (H.R. 5227, Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits
Access Restoration Act of 2021) would do this.
There are other significant barriers, but I just want to
say thank you so much in the last farm bill for protecting
SNAP, and we encourage you to do more this next go around.
Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT GAIL, BIO-FARM MANAGER, SPOKANE CONSERVATION
DISTRICT, SPOKANE, WA
Mr. Gail. Hello. We can make this go up. My name is Scott
Gail. I'm the Bio-Farm Manager from the Spokane Conservation
District. I was asked to come here and speak on behalf of the
bio-farming program, which is kind of interesting. I do 2 day
talks, and I'm more nervous here than I am doing my 2 day
talks.
Following are some comments we had from a recent farming
podcast. ``Don't get into farming. We can't make a living. Move
to town. It's all negative. Are we actually looking for
solutions? Then in the same sentence we say, why don't the
young people come back to the farm? Why doesn't anybody come
back to farming? Why do we need a farm bill if there are no
farms?''
``What do we want? Any and all of you in the ag industry,
what do you want? Do you want people to farm? Do you want to
save the farm? Why would kids come back and farm if all we do
is complain and tell them how hard it is?''
But there's a group of us, and we're looking for solutions.
We want to save our small-town communities. They have
hospitals, schools. They have homes. They have infrastructure,
and we're banding them at record rates. We knew it was going to
be hard, and hard times aren't coming. They are already here.
We were running on razor thin margins. So, what did we do?
We started the bio-farming group, a group of like-minded
individuals, all with a common goal and tenets. How do we cut
chemical use by 50 percent?
And we've done it on trials. How can we farm a different
way? What is that way? We're developing an entirely different
farming system, and the roadblocks are monumental.
Today we have two groups, 26 members. We own or lease
150,000 acres that we directly control every input that goes
into it. We've spent well over $\1/4\ million of our own money
on regenerative trials. Why? Because the current system is
broken.
Our soil health is an indicator of our nation's health and
it has fallen apart. We are the sickest, most medicated first-
world country on the planet. What can we do?
What can our group do? We can steward the soil. What is our
ethos, our meaning of life? I believe, like Marcus Aurelius, it
is to live in accord with nature, but we need help. That's
where you guys come in.
We thought we could just cut things out, chems and
fertilizers, but the system, the soil is so broken it can't
take it. We actually need to put more into the system to grow
healthy plants, and those healthy plants will fix our soil.
We need you to come to our Farm and Food Symposium November
9th and 10th in Spokane where we unpack what we did this year,
the successes, the failures, and what we are going to do next
year.
We need you to help us with carbon-based products that will
help us transition to regenerative practices. Come join us.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Any time you put Marcus Aurelius
and the Agriculture Committee together, you got me. George
Geissler. Oh, sorry. One more. Yes.
STATEMENT OF TY MEYER, PRODUCTION AG MANAGER, SPOKANE
CONSERVATION DISTRICT, SPOKANE, WA
Mr. Meyer. No problem. Thank you very much for hosting this
hearing. My name is Ty Meyer, and I'm the Production Ag Manager
for the Spokane Conservation District. So, we appreciate the
opportunity to be here.
I've been working with farmers for 20 years, focused on
direct seeding and no-till farming, and that's been a big part
of our programs over the years working on conservation. As
Scott said, we've established a regenerative ag program in
2019, and the farmers are really working to solve challenges
with their soil and plant health on their farms.
As a conservation district employee, I've seen the benefits
of investing in soil health and regenerative agriculture. The
producers we are working with have seen promising results and
some failures throughout the last 3 years, but the benefits of
making those changes are clear.
They've seen the ability of their system to manage climate
changes better than in the past. They've been able to reduce
input costs and increase profitability. They have become
believers in the need to produce high quality, nutrient dense
food for society.
I'm here to ask Congress to prioritize soil health and
regenerative agriculture by making it the emphasis of the farm
bill. More specifically, we ask that you focus on soil health
building practices on the land and providing technical
assistance to farmers wishing to transition their farms.
More education is needed to help producers understand why
they should change and how this can impact their farms and the
people they are feeding. Barriers to Federal crop insurance
need to be removed when implementing cover crops and other
biological approaches in dryland agriculture.
The importance of this transition to regenerative
agriculture is immeasurable, but the impact will be
transformative, if we can build healthy soil on our farms
leading to healthy, nutrient dense food and a healthier
society, as our food takes on the characteristics of the
regenerated soils.
We support the Regenerate America Coalition that's been
built to work with you on this farm bill. Simply stated, we
must do more at a quicker pace, and I thank you for the
opportunity.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. We have George Geissler. Oh, I'm
sorry.
Ms. Schier. Jeremy.
Mr. Vrablik. That's good.
Ms. Plaskett. Oh, this is Jeremy. Okay.
Mr. Vrablik. I'm Jeremy.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF JEREMY VRABLIK, OWNER, CASCADIA PRODUCE LLC,
AUBURN, WA
Mr. Vrablik. Madam Chair, Congresswoman Schrier, thank you
for this time. I'm going to speak towards barriers to access
that I believe should be addressed in the farm bill. I have two
topics under that.
My company, Cascadia Produce, has the unique perspective of
having been awarded the USDA Farmers to Families award back in
2020 and 2021. And we are now currently very honored to be
working with the WSDA under the We Feed WA pilot program.
What we have learned from the transition from a Federal
program into a state program is that, while the Federal program
worked out very well for some, it was really focused more
towards larger farms.
And with the We Feed WA program, what we found is that
directing funding to the state to be able to use those funds
with the farms that they know through either aggregators or
directly to those farms, allows farms like Sky Island Farms,
Bill Thorne, who made a delivery to our warehouse yesterday and
thanked us because he was going to throw in the towel and we
were about to lose another farm.
And because of the payments that came from the state
program, he's continuing to farming, and we're continuing to
purchase produce from him. We have a number of small women-
owned BIPOC farms that we work with that we're able to redirect
this Federal funding through the state to them to encourage
these farms to continue to do what they do.
The second barrier to access is a little more technical,
although it definitely drives into a barrier as well, which is
the single audit requirement of receiving more than $750,000 in
Federal funding at a time. If you reach that threshold, you
then have to hire an auditing company to go through and look at
your books, and it can cost $20,000 to $30,000 to $40,000 to do
it. And for a small organization to do that, it's a significant
dollar amount for sure.
The OMB at one time did waive the requirement under the
Farmers to Families Program. That requirement was waived for
all of us as award holders. And so, I believe that through
discussions with the OMB and entering it into the farm bill,
having a waiver for small, BIPOC, women-owned, socially
disadvantaged farms and producers to not have to go through the
single audit would benefit them greatly. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Okay. George Geissler, Marci
Green, Chris Voigt, and Britany Meclan or Miker. I can't read
that.
STATEMENT OF GEORGE L. GEISSLER, WASHINGTON STATE FORESTER,
DEPUTY, WILDLAND FIRE AND FOREST HEALTH/RESILIENCY, WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL
RESOURCES, OLYMPIA, WA
Mr. Geissler. So, good morning, Congresswoman. This is
George Geissler. I'm the Washington State Forester. I'm also
the deputy supervisor over DNR's wildland fire programs. I have
to admit, I was not planning on talking today. So, you're going
to get George Geissler off the cuff and talking about farm
bill. But that's okay.
I mean, basically, what I'd really like to highlight is the
importance of the farm bill to Washington's forest, as well as
Washington's wildland fire preparedness. One of the big
components in the farm bill is really the good neighbor
authority.
That was authorized a few years ago, and with the amount of
funding that's now coming through related to IIJA (Pub. L. 117-
58, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) and National Forest
funds, here within the state, we've done about 30 major
projects and they range everywhere from forest harvesting to
forest restoration, even road restoration, and we're getting
more and more involved.
One thing that we do here in Washington State is working
with our Federal partners. Really, we like to take on that
their problems are our problems. So, when working with them
directly related to authorities like Good Neighbor, we're
trying to fill the gaps where the Forest Service cannot meet,
whether it's a road engineer, a timber engineer, or any of
those type of positions, and really so that we can increase the
pace and scale on the landscape.
Other things that really have helped that are in that are
the cross-boundary funding that you would receive. There are
Stevens funds within the farm bill. Those amounts have gone
down over the years, but it is critical that that is something
that allows for, again, cross-boundary work.
And then just the basics of what is in the cooperative
forestry programs, working, getting the funding we utilize EQIP
and other forms of funding to get landowners work on the ground
as well as recover from after disasters. Individual landowners
can apply for funding through the farm bill that allows them to
reforest their lands.
So, there's a lot in the forestry title there, and I work
with the Congressmen all the time. And so, any time that you
need help, we are very glad to come out and explain and work
through any of the forestry title with you. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF MARCI GREEN, FARMER, GREEN VIEW FARMS, INC.; PAST
PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF WHEAT GROWERS, FAIRFIELD,
WA
Ms. Green. Hi. I'm Marci Green, and my family and I farm
south of Spokane. My sons are seventh generation on our farm.
I'm here today representing Washington Association of Wheat
Growers.
So, just to get right into it, probably our biggest
priority in the farm bill is crop insurance. Last year we had
major drought throughout the whole state in 2021, and our
yields were cut by \2/3\ to \1/2\ across the state. Crop
insurance keeps us in business for another year. So, that's--we
would support enhancing any crop insurance programs.
Also, the Title I programs, ARC and PLC, those are all part
of our safety net, and we utilize those. Biggest change we
would ask for there would be an increase in the reference price
of $5.50 per bushel. Reference price for wheat isn't even close
to break-even. The last number I heard our break-even is closer
to $7, but I also know in the last year our input costs have
doubled and tripled. So, I'm sure our break-even is probably
higher than that at this point.
Also, conservation programs. We support voluntary crop--or
conservation programs. So, anything that can be done to enhance
those is good, and they need to have a wide range of options
because not every situation and every farm can utilize the same
practices.
And then also trade is very important to us. So, we're on--
the MAP and FMD funding, we'd like to see an increase there.
So, I think those pretty much cover my main topics, and my
time is up. But thank you very much for inviting us.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF CHRIS VOIGT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON STATE
POTATO COMMISSION, MOSES LAKE, WA
Mr. Voigt. Chair Plaskett, Representative Schrier, thank
you so much. My name is Chris Voigt. I'm the Executive Director
of the Washington State Potato Commission, representing the 250
potato farmers that we have in the state, the family farms.
You asked what was working and what's not working. Let me
simplify it for you. On a potato perspective, the TASC
(Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops) program is working.
Let's keep that. We've been trying to get fresh potato access
to Mexico for the last 25 years. If it was not for the TASC
program, the technical assistance that that funding provided,
as well as the legal assistance that we needed to get through
the Mexican Supreme Court, our potatoes would not have gotten
there, but we now have access to Mexico because of the TASC
program.
The MAP program is also working, but it hasn't been
increased in over 15 years. And so, we're asking for an
increase to $400 million for the Market Access Program. What
also is working----
Ms. Plaskett. I'm sorry. An increase of how much?
Mr. Voigt. To $400 million.
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative, I know that's also
been brought up today. That has been critical in helping us
solve a lot of pest and disease issues as well as we got a big
grant for soil health to help us essentially grow more food
using less resources. So, that program is working, and that's
really important to us.
The block grants, especially crop block grants, are also
working. It gives a lot of states flexibility not only for
research projects, but we're also utilizing that funding. We're
the executive producers of a TV show called Washington Grown,
and it's really educating the public about specialty crops, how
to eat--what the nutrition content is, how to select the
perfect tomato or apple or potato, as well as healthy cooking
recipes back home. And you get to learn where that food came
from and interview with the farmer.
What also is working--and this is every--every few years
as--we're becoming empty nesters, my family. But one of the
projects that we took on every year was the food stamp
challenge. And what we learned through that exercise is the
food stamp challenges were actually trying to live off of what
a food stamp recipient would get.
We started out at $3 per person, per day, $4 or $5 now. And
what we learned is you can get enough calories utilizing those
dollars in the SNAP program, but what you miss out on is the
produce. We had to reduce our produce consumption by over 80
percent. So, a FINI program or now the Gus Schumacher Nutrition
Incentive Program is really critical in delivering nutrient
dense fruits and vegetables to those that most need it. Thank
you so much for your time.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF BRITANY MEIKLEN, FOOD DISTRIBUTION CENTER PROGRAM
DIRECTOR, CHELAN-DOUGLAS
COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL, WENTACHEE, WA
Ms. Meiklen. Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair,
Congresswoman, and staff, for giving Washington State this
platform to address the farm bill today.
I wanted to--my name is Britany Meiklen. I am representing
Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council. I am the Program
Director for the Food Distribution Center, and I would like to
address a few programs that are working well but I would like
to see them strengthened.
WSDA has brought forth a farm to food pantry program, which
allows me to contract directly with small farms, specifically
looking at women, BIPOC, and veteran farmers. This is not only
better for access to fresh produce for our low-income and
individuals who visit the food banks, but it is also great for
our small farms.
We also have the We Feed WA Fresh Box, which works with
many food hubs in Washington State to bring fresh produce to
our food pantries.
We also have the farm to food bank program, which allows us
to go in and glean unwanted crops from farmers which might
otherwise go to waste. These are all benefits to our low-income
individuals that would not otherwise have access to fresh
produce and fresh foods.
A couple of things that I would like to touch on as well is
eligibility. I would like to get rid of the eligibility clause
altogether with T-fat foods. We have found that with cost of
living, Corona, the eligibility is just kind of all over the
place. And we are seeing many, many more families in the,
quote-unquote, ``middle class'' coming to visit our food
pantries.
I am representing two counties that I guarantee are not
lazy people. Our unemployment rates are at about 3.3 percent,
and yet my food bank numbers are still rising since the
pandemic. We need access to fresh foods. We need the
eligibility to go away. Regardless of how much dignity I try to
give these people, it is not a preferred way to shop at food
banks. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Next group is Tony Freytag, Brian
Clark, Christina Wong, and Jim Werkhoven. Tony, Brian Clark,
Christina Wong, and Jim Werkhoven. Great. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF TONY FREYTAG, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CRUNCH
PAK, LLC, CASHMERE, WA
Mr. Freytag. Thank you, Madam Chair. We welcome you to the
Northwest where, as nice and cool and beautiful as it is here
today, you can go about an hour and a half over that hill, the
Cascade Mountains, and it'll probably be close to 100 today.
So, that's where we grow the apples.
About 22 years ago--and, Congresswoman Schrier, thank you
again for setting this up today and your staff.
Twenty-two years ago, we started a company in Cashmere,
Washington called Crunch Pak Sliced Apples. Today, we produce
millions of slices every day. So, we're in strong support of
the apple growers that are here, the apple--any of the fruit
producers. But I'm really speaking here today on behalf of
support of the SNAP program.
It's very, very important that that program continue.
Partially for the reason is that in recent studies, close to 30
percent of the basket that is purchased by families are
producing--or purchasing fruits and vegetables is done through
the SNAP or other supportive programs for families.
This is probably the only way they can afford to buy the
produce that has gone up--produce and vegetables that has gone
up over the last years just due to all the reasons that we're
well aware of. So, any support, any additional support,
anything that can be done, we strongly, strongly encourage it.
Last, the crop insurance program is very important this
year. This crop that will be coming off the trees in August and
September and through the fall has had tremendous damage due to
the heat from last year, hailstorms, and various storms this
last year. So, thank you very much for letting me speak today.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF BRIAN CLARK, ISSAQUAH, WA
Mr. Clark. Hello. I'm disabled, and I'm receiving SSDI.
Each month, I struggle to be able to consistently eat healthy.
My struggle is to be able to get enough food to eat healthy
each month. I'm told when applying through the State of
Washington DSHS that my SSDI is too much for me to qualify for
anything more than close to the bare minimum of SNAP benefits.
This then prevents me from ever being able to do anything
financially positive or constructive for myself. As an example,
without a more reasonable amount of SNAP benefits to help
subsidize my reasonable need to eat healthy, any money that I
might have been able to use for clothes, dental needs, haircut,
or et cetera is instead spent on food.
This is just a brief explanation of my trouble with getting
a more suitable amount of SNAP benefits each month. I'm like
many other people who worked before becoming disabled, and
because of this, I do not automatically qualify for things like
SNAP and Medicaid. I do not get a large SSDI check each month.
Plus, I'm a single person with zero dependents, and because of
this, I qualify for even less.
In closing, I would like to say that before the pandemic
made it possible for all people who qualify to receive monthly
SNAP benefits to get the maximum amount of SNAP each month, I
struggled to afford to be able to consistently eat healthy.
Unfortunately, with the monthly snap benefit amount of
about $30, my affordable options are limited, and I'm unable to
eat healthy at all times.
So, I'm speaking today to request the 2023 Farm Bill to
make changes that will increase SNAP benefits to a more
adequate amount so that disabled and low-income people can eat
more nutritious and healthy foods, especially with current
increasing food costs. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF CHRISTINA WONG, DIRECTOR, PUBLIC POLICY &
ADVOCACY, NORTHWEST HARVEST, SEATTLE, WA
Ms. Wong. Good morning. For the record, Christina Wong,
Director of Public Policy for Northwest Harvest, Washington's
independent statewide food bank serving 375 programs. Thank you
for giving the people of Washington this opportunity to speak
to our challenges and our collective effort to build resilient
food systems.
I also thank Representative Schrier for your leadership in
securing resources for our struggling families and our
struggling family farms.
SNAP is our first line of defense against hunger. It helps
one in eight Washingtonians and one in nine Washington workers
put food on the table. SNAP redemptions generate over $1
billion for our state each year. Yet despite recent changes to
the Thrifty Food Plan, the average SNAP benefit is still less
than $2 per meal.
Far too many low-income seniors and people with
disabilities with fixed incomes by Social Security receive the
minimum benefit of just $20 per month. With food prices 12
percent higher compared to this time last year, SNAP is not
enough to afford the most basic of dietary needs.
We have been talking with SNAP recipients throughout our
state, from the mom in Curlew who can no longer afford the 70-
mile round trip to the nearest affordable grocery store, to the
senior in Bellingham who keeps her fridge unplugged to save on
energy costs to pay rent. People need flexibility to use SNAP
based on options where they live or where they are in life.
So, we ask you to do the following. One, make SNAP benefits
more adequate by using the Low-Cost Food Plan, which is
designed to better support a nutritious and affordable diet.
Two, do not further shame people when they're down by
restricting what SNAP can buy. One father of four told me he
feels like a lesser parent because he can't afford the food he
knows is better for his children. Instead, expand GusNIP to
make buying fruits and vegetables more affordable.
Three, expand access for using SNAP online for grocery
delivery, including prohibiting additional fees.
And four, allow purchasing of hot prepared deli items and
expand certified retail options like senior centers for the
restaurant SNAP program so that people with limited physical
ability or places to prepare meals don't go hungry.
And remember, increased SNAP access decreases hunger and
yields more economic activity. So, it's a good investment.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF JIM WERKHOVEN, PRESIDENT, WERKHOVEN DAIRY INC.,
MONROE, WA
Mr. Werkhoven. Good morning. My name is Jim Werkhoven. I'm
a second-generation dairyman. I farm about 20 minutes down the
road. We're moving to the third generation. I'm above average
in that I'm over 59 years old.
Dairy is the second largest agricultural commodity in the
State of Washington. I think it's important to the economic
environment here in Washington, and I'm proud to be a part of
that. I really have three things I want to touch on.
The dairy production program is a great improvement over
what we've had in the past, but I will tell you, in Washington
State and in the West in general, the size limitations are
really problematic. Oftentimes covers only a small fraction of
our production and would be far more useful if it was higher.
Talking about market, the Market Access Program in dairy in
this state, about 70 percent of the milk we produce moves out
of this region. Over half of it or about half of it moves
overseas, and that is just critical to us. I'd love to see more
funding involved into that, and it's a big part of our ability
to stay in business, to move product overseas.
And last, I would really like to have robust funding for
the SNAP program. I think right now in this time of pandemic
and high inflation and high food inflation, it's just critical
that that have robust funding. And it's important for these
families to get nutrient dense food. And so, with that, thank
you for the opportunity.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Our next group is Chris Pettit,
Lindsay Gilliam, Angie Reseland, and Lulu Redder and Beth
Doglio.
STATEMENT OF CHRIS PETTIT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
WASHINGTON STATE CONSERVATION COMMISSION,
OLYMPIA, WA
Mr. Pettit. Good morning, Madam Chair. I'm Chris Pettit,
the Executive Director of the Conservation Commission. We're
the state agency that you heard from Ty and Scott, the
wonderful work that they're doing out in Spokane. We get to
have the privilege of working with our leaders in locally-led
conservation.
We appreciate Congresswoman Schrier. We've been able to
work with her office on any number of wonderful things. You
heard Ty mention the Soil Health Initiative. We have a state
program, sustainable farms and fields, that the Congresswoman
and her office has been vital in helping us with and looking at
some of the wonderful grant opportunities out there.
In terms of the farm bill, we really wanted to touch on a
couple of things today that tie into those vital pieces that
you're hearing, the concerns you're hearing from the
conservation districts, the concerns you're hearing from the
producers, the increased needs for conservation technical
assistance on the ground through the farm bill that allow the
districts to get out and do the great work that they do. The
ability to increase the flexibility in the RCPP program to make
things a little bit easier on the ground.
You heard a little bit about CRP. We have a wonderful state
program called CRP. We're able to partner with the NRCS and FSA
in getting really good conservation on the ground. We've been
having some challenges with rental rates there.
Training, you're hearing about the demographics in the
industry, in the conservation industry. We also have
significant needs to make sure that we have that expertise,
those folks that have been involved for years and years, the
ability to train that next generation.
At the wonderful conference that the districts put on here
in Washington this year, the new employee orientation was
extremely full. And you've got young, passionate folks coming
in and the ability to train them to put the plans together, to
get the relationships, to work with the wonderful producers
that we have the privilege of working with.
These are the folks that demonstrate that locally-led
conservation works, and the state and Federal programs to
provide that funding are what allow the conservation districts
to do their great work and work with those producers that we're
so lucky to work with this. This title is extremely important.
One last thing I will mention. You heard from DNR. We have
the privilege of also working and the districts do an amazing
job on Firewise, on forestry issues, and we'd like to continue
doing that as well. Thank you, ma'am.
STATEMENT OF LINDSAY GILLIAM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CARNATION
FARMERS MARKET, CARNATION, WA
Ms. Gilliam. Hello. Hello, Chair Plaskett and Congresswoman
Schrier. My name is Lindsay Gilliam. I'm the Executive Director
of the Carnation Farmers Market. So, we're your local farmers'
market here in this vital agricultural production region.
Welcome to our beautiful, fertile valley. Thank you for this
opportunity.
I'd like to thank you for your support of farmers' markets
and specifically for your support of the critical programs such
as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP,
matching funds programs funded by GusNIP, and Senior Farmers'
Market Nutrition Program, SFMNP. I urge you to include these
priorities in the 2023 Farm Bill.
These farmers' market programs directly increase the number
of consumer dollars spent with our farmers while providing
direct access to healthy food for food-insecure households.
Farmers' markets and these programs increase the consumption of
locally produced food, which increases farmers' ability to
produce more food.
These programs create inclusive environments in diverse
communities, bringing services to at-need populations in a
stigma free environment. By continuing to support farmers'
markets and vital programs such as SNAP and SFMNP, the
Congressional House Agriculture Committee continues to support,
preserve, and grow thriving farms.
The first household to utilize our SNAP program was a hard-
working, vibrant, food-insecure family that came to market
weekly, buying what they could and cheering us along as we
challenged our organization's capacity in order to implement
these critical programs and services. They return week after
week, along with many other households, to participate in
direct access to locally grown food.
Farmers' markets and programs like SNAP, SFMNP increase the
stability of our nation's farms. Thank you for this opportunity
to speak with you today.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF ANGELA ``ANGIE'' RESELAND, FARM BILL
COORDINATOR, WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE,
OLYMPIA, WA
Ms. Reseland. Hi, Chair Plaskett and Congresswoman Schrier.
My name is Angie Reseland, and I am the Farm Bill Coordinator
for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Like Jay and several other people here today, I'm here
today to discuss issues affecting the Conservation Reserve
Program's State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Initiative
that's better known as SAFE. DFW, along with the Farm Service
Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Washington
Association of Conservation Districts partner to implement this
program.
With approximately 1.2 million acres enrolled, the CRP is
one of Washington's most successful conservation programs. The
SAFE Initiative, an offshoot of CRP that accepts enrollment on
a continuous basis, plays a particularly essential role in
restoring and recovering wildlife by establishing habitat
through voluntary conservation efforts.
It also highlights CRP's success in Washington because it's
tailored to the type of landowner and their land and the
importance of local, state, and Federal partnerships in
perpetuating success.
As of 2022, SAFE has over 121,000 acres enrolled,
representing just under ten percent of the CRP acres in
Washington. SAFE is particularly important in Douglas County,
home of the last concentration of 500 greater sage grouse and
coarse sharp tailed grouse populations on mostly private
working lands.
Because of the shared benefits for people and wildlife,
Douglas County agricultural producers have embraced the farm
bill's incentive-based conservation programs and enrolled
nearly 73,000 acres in SAFE in Douglas County.
Unfortunately, the efforts and partnerships formed through
SAFE in Washington, as well as in Idaho and Texas, have been
hindered by the changes in the initiative in the 2018 Farm
Bill. The legislation struck the broad waiver language that
allowed the counties cropland acreage enrolled in CRP to exceed
25 percent--okay. I'll talk fast--and makes only the CRP
program eligible for the waiver.
In Washington, Douglas County has reached its CRP cap and
cannot enroll additional acres in the program, leaving
producers to potentially resume farming operations or sell
their land to development. The loss of CRP acres will impact
habitat on much of the 600,000 acres of prairie grouse habitat
impacted by the fires in 2020.
The solution to the issue is needed by 2025, or else large
amounts of SAFE acres will start expiring. We, along with our
partners, request that the farm bill reinstate SAFE's
eligibility for the cap waiver. Thank you. I'm sorry.
STATEMENT OF LULU REDDER, OWNER/OPERATOR, FERAL WOMAN FARM,
LLC, NORTH BEND, WA
Ms. Redder. Good morning. Thanks for being here today. My
name is Lulu Redder, and I'm a first-generation farmer, an
owner/operator of Feral Woman Farm in North Bend, Washington.
It's a 10 acre farm where we raise pastured pork and chicken
and teach educational workshops and offer opportunities for
kids to interact with farm animals and learn about agriculture.
This is Rosie. She is a second-generation farmer and my PR
manager. So, as a livestock farmer, access to state and USDA
licensed processing facilities is essential to my ability to
sell my products and the survival of my business and also that
of many other small-scale farmers in the region. We have a lot
of little farmers around here.
In the past few years, we've seen a couple regional USDA
processing projects start and not yet reach the point of
completion where they can serve customers. We have also during
this time seen several state licensed processing facilities
either have to close, move, or not make it as a business. And
this is dangerous and a debilitating situation for a lot of
small farmers who raise meat products.
With the fallout of COVID-19, this has exposed some huge
gaps in our commercial meat processing systems, and our
customers are demanding more locally produced meats than ever
before. Our meat products need to be processed through local,
state licensed facilities, and these facilities have not been
able to keep up with the demand of many of our local farmers,
leaving us scrambling to process our livestock.
Many need to make appointments for butcher services as far
as a year and a half in advance, sometimes before our livestock
are even born. And so, I would love to see the government step
in to financially and infrastructurally make essential meat
processing services reliably and conveniently available
regionally to the low-volume meat producers that need them
most. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. May I ask, do you work
cooperatively with other small producers, and how do you try
and create the logistics for the meat processing?
Ms. Redder. I actually did a Kickstarter campaign last year
and raised through my community $25,000 to fund the build of a
WSDA poultry and rabbit processing unit, which is currently in
construction. I hope to have it done by the end of the year.
And so, through that, I hope I can co-op with some of my local
farm neighbors to make that available to people.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. Thank you.
Ms. Redder. Thanks.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you very much.
STATEMENT OF HON. BETH DOGLIO, WOODINVILLE, WA; ON BEHALF OF
GRETCHEN GARTH, FOUNDER, 21 ACRES
Ms. Doglio. Well, thank you so much for this opportunity. I
have learned an incredible amount today. So, I really
appreciate you doing this here in Washington State,
Representative Schrier.
I'm Beth Dolio. I'm testifying on behalf of Gretchen Garth,
who is the owner of 21-acre regenerative farm in Woodinville,
Washington. And I first want to just thank all the farmers in
the room who help bring food to my table and to tables across
the state and across the nation and even in the world.
I also just want to reiterate SNAP benefits. I want to make
sure that every baby has the same big cheeks that Rosie has.
So, I hope that that will be expanded.
So, the farm bill really offers an opportunity to scale up
funding in climate-smart agriculture and forestry and support
the rural clean energy economy. The funding can help farmers
invest in regenerative agriculture practices, improving soil
health, utilize soil to sequester carbon, and move toward
electrifying operations.
The 2023 Farm Bill can break significant ground on the
pathways for regenerative agriculture, and we would like to see
the following prioritized.
Cover crops. A regenerative practice that offers a
multitude of benefits, cover crops can help farmers maintain
productivity in the face of climate change. Congress should
expand on this important program and authorize a permanent
incentive for farmers who use cover crops and build soil
health.
And then more on soil health. The 2018 Farm Bill created a
visionary program operated by the Natural Resources
Conservation Service to test the implementation and adoption of
soil health practices. Would love to see that program become
permanent and expanded to allow more farmers and more regions
to benefit from innovations in advancing soil health.
Finally, I have spent many years working on the REAP
program. This is a program that encourages solar energy, wind,
electrification on the farm, and we have a great opportunity to
expand and strengthen that program to decarbonize energy
sources and electrify energy uses.
So, we encourage Congress to substantially increase REAP
mandatory funding from the $50 million up to the ask is $500
million per year, and would love to see an initial investment,
particularly as we're trying to electrify all aspects of how we
power ourselves, and that would be really good on the farm. So,
thank you so much, and I really appreciate this hearing.
Ms. Plaskett. Okay. Nathaniel Lewis, Todd Murray, Bobbi
Lindenmulder, Mary Perpy, and Ansley Roberts. Again, Nathaniel
Lewis, Todd Murray, Bobbi Lindenmulder, Mary Perpy, and Ansley
Roberts.
STATEMENT OF NATHANIEL LEWIS, CONSERVATION MANAGER, WASHINGTON
FARMLAND TRUST, SEATTLE, WA
Mr. Lewis. Hi there. Nate Lewis, Washington Farmland Trust.
I want to thank you all. Representative Schrier, you have a
pretty diverse district. It goes from 60" of rain over here to
less than 10" over there, and commend you for representing the
district gracefully.
And, Representative Plaskett, we had the honor of meeting
you when you were first appointed in D.C. when you addressed
the Organic Trade Association. So, I appreciate your unwavering
support of the organic industry and your insistence that the
organic industry remain open to new forms of agriculture. It's
refreshing.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. You farmers haven't run this city
girl away yet. I'm still in it.
Mr. Lewis. I want to talk a little bit about conservation
programs that relate to land access. The Washington Farmland
Trust has 28 protected farms across the state, over 3,000 acres
that will never be developed and remain in agriculture.
We're continuing to see land access as being kind of the
number one barrier for young farmers to get into farming. The
people are out there. People want to farm. They just don't have
access to the land. So, part of that is through the NRCS ACEP,
the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, we're
increasingly finding that to be a difficult program to access
as a land trust.
Bureaucratic barriers that relate to the way the statute
was written, the way the statute is being administered from
state to state, and then specific policy decisions made by
agents within states has made that decreasingly an option for
us in accessing funds to put conservation easements on land and
making that an opportunity.
Another part of our shop at the Land Trust is our farm to
farmer program, where we both link aspiring farmers with
possible land, as well as provide those folks with resources.
FSA continues to be kind of the well to draw from for these
farm purchase loans, but they're increasingly becoming hard to
access for young and aspiring farmers.
Part of the reason is I know there's attention on
historically underserved communities. Well, if you've been
historically underserved, it's hard to access the programs that
require a track record with the USDA.
So, we're kind of in a pickle in that situation, and I
think it's important in this next farm bill to look at where
those internal conflicts exist so that these programs can
actually become available and effective for these aspiring
farmers who really just want a loan to go buy a farm and bring
food to the market.
So, I think really what we were looking for is just a deep
review of these particular programs. Look where those conflicts
are. Find solutions.
And like I said, some of them require law changes. Some of
them require policy issuances. Some of them just require a
little bit more training for agents at the delivery scale. So,
with that, I'll take any questions you may have and appreciate
your time.
Ms. Plaskett. Thanks, Nate.
STATEMENT OF TODD MURRAY, DIRECTOR, PUYALLUP
RESEARCH AND EXTENSION CENTER, COLLEGE OF
AGRICULTURE, HUMAN, AND NATURAL RESOURCE SCIENCES, WASHINGTON
STATE UNIVERSITY, PUYALLUP, WA
Mr. Murray. Good morning. I wanted to thank you, Chair
Plaskett and Congresswoman Schrier, for hosting this and giving
us the opportunity to talk about the reauthorization of the
farm bill. I also wanted to thank you for your continued
support to the land-grant systems and the research and
extension centers specifically.
My name is Todd Murray. I'm the Director of the WSU
Puyallup Research and Extension Center, and I'm here
representing the four other research and extension centers in
the state, so, Mount Vernon, Puyallup, Prosser, and Wenatchee.
I'm here to really encourage your continued support for
infrastructure, specifically on two aspects.
Our deferred maintenance is significant and critical right
now. We're at a point of no return for a lot of our
infrastructure, and it really inhibits our ability to
modernize.
Just this past summer--I manage the research station just
south of here. It was--it's only a few years younger than the
Hatch Act. It's only 3 years younger than Pullman's main
campus. And when you come visit us like you have, Congresswoman
Schrier, you can tell. We're old, and we feel it.
This last summer, we had a critical power failure, and this
critical power failure really revealed the impact of our
antiquated infrastructure. We're down to our last three fuses
for our old boxes that are no longer made, and so, we're only
one power failure away from we don't know what happens next.
All our other stations have similar infrastructure issues
like that. In Prosser, its heating and cooling. During the heat
dome last year, they were unworkable in those conditions. We
have steam leaks in Wenatchee, and it's really inhibited our
ability to modernize these facilities, not only keeping up with
our deferred maintenance.
So, thank you again for your continued support of
Washington State University specifically, and thank you for
hosting this in your region.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF BOBBI LINDEMULDER, AGRICULTURE
PROGRAM DIRECTOR, SNOHOMISH CONSERVATION
DISTRICT, LAKE STEVENS, WA
Ms. Lindemulder. Thank you so much for coming over here
today. I'm Bobbi Lindemulder. I am the program Director for our
Agriculture Program at Snohomish Conservation District. I've
been in conservation for 25 years, helping landowners and
private landowners trying to be as--and be successful in
agriculture.
The farm bill has been a huge part of that success, along
with our partners with the Conservation Commission and NRCS.
I'm also from this valley. I'm a grass-fed producer. So,
welcome to my valley. I've also participated in farm bill for
EQIP and conservation programs, and it has saved our farm.
When you think of farm bill, it has long-reaching impacts
and you can tell by the people in the room the importance of
it, not only the importance of maintenance of it, but the
increase in development as we go along a way to address the
different things.
I want to talk really specifically about EQIP voluntary
incentive-based programing for agriculture, where people have
to be really responsive and reactive and can't always just take
the time to plan 3 or 4 years out that sometimes going through
a farm bill process can take, whether it's staffing issues,
engineering issues, bottlenecks along the way, red tape,
bureaucracy. It takes a while to get through public programs
and things like that.
And I would love to come to a way to where we can have a
landowner who's at the door ready to join the effort moving
forward for water quality improvements and conservation, as
well as agricultural sustainability, to get them through the
door sooner than two or three years down the road.
Also, really important is I would love to see some
permitting opportunities and regulation alternatives written
into the farm bill to help lenders through the process for BMP
(Best Management Practices) implementation, where we're seeing,
especially in the floodplain farming, where it's very
difficult, that almost all the permitting and regulations cost
more than the implementation of the project.
STATEMENT OF MARY PURDY, M.S., R.D.N., SEATTLE, WA; ON BEHALF
OF COALITION FOR ORGANIC AND REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Ms. Purdy. Okay. Thank you. There seem to be five people in
this list. So, I'm not sure. Want to make sure there we're all
the right people in the space here because there were five
people in line. Okay. Good.
Anyway, hi. My name is Mary Purdy. Purdy. Not Perpy, but
that sounds like a fun last name, too. And mine, I am an eco-
dietitian here in Seattle. I'm faculty at Bastyr University and
on the Governing Council of CORA, which is the Coalition for
Organic and Regenerative Agriculture. And I teach ecological
aspects of nutrition, as well as human nutrition and nutrition
principles, and I bring the clinical nutrition and human health
perspective and expertise here.
I want to request that we increase or that you increase
research and education, as well as access to regenerative
farming techniques, organic farming techniques, and increase
incentives for more environmentally friendly practices.
There's a large body of evidence that demonstrates that
crops that are grown using these kinds of agro-ecological
practices increase the micronutrient density of many plants,
increase the phytochemicals. These are those protective
compounds that are found in plants that help to prevent and
address disease--and that the excessive use of agrochemicals
reduces biodiversity that affects human health, affects climate
change, impacts soil health, reduces the ability of soil to be
resilient to drought and flooding, increases micronutrient
density of that soil.
The runoff from those chemicals can affect communities.
Very often, these are marginalized communities, communities of
color. There's pollution from these agrochemicals also
affecting communities of color and marginalized low-income
communities.
These are producing greenhouse gases, which we know are
contributing to our climate crisis, and, of course, affecting
wildlife and pollinators. And as we know, pollinators are
responsible for about \1/3\ of every bite that you take on your
plate.
So, please consider these regenerative agricultural
techniques, making them more accessible to people so that we
can create a food system that not only supports our climate,
our environment, but also supports the human health
perspective. Thank you so much.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF ANSLEY ROBERTS, FARM MANAGER, 21 ACRES,
WOODINVILLE, WA
Ms. Roberts. Thank you, Representative Schrier and
Representative Plaskett, for having us today. I'm really
excited to come and talk to you about opportunities facing--or
to help small-scale farmers in our area.
My name is Ansley Roberts. I'm the Farm Manager at 21
Acres. We are a nonprofit focused on climate action through
education on local food systems, agro-ecological land
stewardship, and green building. We operate a small agro-
ecological farm in Woodinville, Washington that grows primarily
mixed vegetable crops in the Sammamish Valley Agricultural
Production District.
And I'm testifying today because we believe that small
farmers should be more robustly supported in our next iteration
of the farm bill.
In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, regional small-
scale farmers rushed to fill the void created by disruptions in
our industrial food system to both keep their businesses afloat
and to address food access in their communities.
Small farms are a vital part of our local economies and
create an accessible route for more beginning young and diverse
farmers to enter into the profession.
And yet, from 1995 to 2020, 78 percent of the $187 billion
in Federal funding for farmers went to the top ten percent of
farms. Not investing in our small farmers is a lost opportunity
to support their ongoing work towards climate mitigation and
food security.
There are many ways that we can support our small farmers
in the next farm bill, including intentionally centering
historically oppressed groups such as BIPOC, women, and queer
farmers, who represent a large portion of our next generation
of farmers. This can be achieved by increasing funding to the
section 2501 grant program and eliminating or reducing matching
funds needed to apply.
We can also adapt all of our USDA programs to work for
smaller-scale farmers, including moving away from acreage-based
payouts for NRCS programs, increasing funding for FSA
microloans, and then also we want to have a focus on increasing
funding for technical assistance, research, implementation, and
sustained funding for regenerative farming practices, and also
creating a Federal equivalent to California's healthy soil
initiatives.
Last, I just want to say we want to stop paying industrial
farms to accelerate climate change, and investing in small
farmers means investing in young farmers' success, climate
change mitigation, and food access for all. Thank you so much.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Joe Gruber, Nick Webster, Aaron
Czyzewski, Kristin Ang, and Kat Morgan. Joe Gruber, Nick
Webster, Aaron Czyzewski, Kristin Ang, and Kat Morgan. Thank
you.
STATEMENT OF JOE GRUBER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY
DISTRICT FOOD BANK, SEATTLE, WA
Mr. Gruber. Hello, Madam Chair and Congresswoman Schrier.
Thank you for coming to King County, ancestral land of the
Coast Salish peoples, including the Duwamish. My name is Joe
Gruber, and I'm Executive Director of the University District
Food Bank in Seattle.
Our food bank supports community members from across
northeast Seattle, about 2,000 households every week. Our work
is about improving food access for our neighbors who struggle.
We ensure that healthy, culturally familiar foods are reliably
available during hours that are easy to access in three
locations which are convenient to travel to, using a shopping
system that maximizes customer choice.
This includes a weekly pantry at a local community college,
and our staff social worker connects customers to programs like
SNAP, which makes surviving on a low income in our city a
little easier.
Ultimately, Federal programs like SNAP have the power to
promote food security and end poverty more effectively than
pantries. This is as much true for college students as it is
for families and seniors. SNAP buys the specific foods that
families need, and SNAP dollars buffer the impact of rising
rents and ever-changing work schedule, expensive child care,
and the pressures of inflation. But SNAP doesn't work equally
well for everyone.
I ask that your work for the 2023 Farm Bill prioritize
making SNAP more accessible and impactful for college students.
The University District Food Bank is located adjacent to the
University of Washington, and for nearly 40 years we've
informally supported the campus community. It is not uncommon
to hear from a donor or volunteer that their time as a student
at UW included visits to our pantry.
We were an accessible option for them when student aid ran
out, when roommates couldn't pay rent, when finals took
precedent over work, and even for students trying to be parents
at the same time.
In 2018, we hosted a Congressional hunger fellow to help us
formalize our response to college hunger. Our nearby community
college, North Seattle, shared that more than 40 percent of
their students reported being food-insecure. It also
highlighted the barriers for students in qualifying for and
accessing SNAP. By evolving government policies to expand
eligibility and improve SNAP, college students can reach a
degree rather than drop out with debt.
The 2023 Farm Bill should expand SNAP eligibility by
removing the 20 hours per workweek requirement for students
attending an institution of higher learning at least half time.
Expand SNAP eligibility by removing the need for a Federal
work study position. Washington State, only about three percent
of students who are actually eligible for work study are fully
able to participate, through no choice of their own.
Expand SNAP eligibility to students with no expected family
contribution for their higher education costs. Make this
temporary change for COVID a permanent one, and expand SNAP
access by removing purchase restrictions on hot prepared meals
and by allowing SNAP benefits to be more easily spent on
campus.
These changes recognize the time demands on the student, as
well as the fact that students often live in housing situations
that aren't fit to cook full meals at home. Removing this
restriction can positively impact other SNAP participants as
well. Thank you for centering college students in the next farm
bill.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF NICK WEBSTER, ACCOUNTING ANALYST,
COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL OF LEWIS, MASON, AND THURSTON
COUNTIES, LACEY, WA
Mr. Webster. Hello. My name is Nick Webster. I'm an
Accounting Analyst with the Community Action Council of Lewis,
Mason, and Thurston Counties. We are the TEFAP contractor for
the area Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, and Thurston Counties, an area
with 700,000 people.
We store and distribute TEFAP food to over 40 food banks
and pantries and meal programs in the area. In an average
month, our agencies provide over 24,000 people with food and
serve over 25,000 prepared meals. When I was growing up, I was
actually one of those people. So, it's nice to be able to give
back to my community in that way.
Most of the funding for TEFAP goes directly to purchasing
food for the program. However, part of that funding goes to
operational expenses. That goes to purchasing equipment, paying
employee salaries, distribution costs, fuel for vehicles.
Many of the subcontractors, many of our food banks are
entirely volunteer run, and it does take skills to be able to--
I mean, it does take money to be able to hire skilled employees
to be able to do some of the necessary administrative work,
like what I do.
I would like to be able to volunteer to do some of this,
but without the funding--without the TEFAP funding, I certainly
would--without--I certainly wouldn't be able to. And I'd like--
I'd just like to focus on that to make sure that in the farm
bill that that operational funding is a focus. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF AARON CZYZEWSKI, DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY & PUBLIC
POLICY, FOOD LIFELINE, SEATTLE, WA
Mr. Czyzewski. Greetings. I am Aaron Czyzewski on behalf of
Food Lifeline, the Feeding America affiliate serving hunger
relief agencies across western Washington. So, thank you, Madam
Chair and Representative Schrier and the Committee, for coming
to Washington. To be sure, this is the best time and a great
place to start writing a new farm bill.
What we learned from the 2018 Farm Bill is that it did not
fully equip hunger relief efforts in food banks, which are
essentially the nation's stockpile for emergency food for any
major disruption. The pandemic experience served, however, as a
pressure test of our state's food and hunger relief systems,
showing weakness but also important strengths like newfound
collaboration, ingenuity, and in total, it was a demonstration
project for how much better states can deliver government
support when given flexibilities, waivers, resources, and local
control.
So, we need a farm bill that strengthens food security and
local food systems to be equitable, resilient, sustainable, and
efficient. Also, overarching within the scope of the farm bill
is equipping states to deal with climate impacts.
While our focus is on food security, we need growers to
thrive, especially as we source more local, sustainable, and
culturally significant food from nearby growers. Please elevate
local purchase through TEFAP and any other means as a priority.
No contemplation of TEFAP, however, is complete without
full funding for storage and distribution. So, for the nation's
60,000 food pantries, 200 food banks that do this work, please
jot down $400 million as a starting point for this crucial
support.
Importantly, the next farm bill must work for Native
Americans and Alaska Natives. To get there, allow tribal
governments to administer Federal programs, allowing SNAP
participants to also receive benefits from the Food
Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.
Dedicate 20 percent of USDA set aside within each of USDA's
existing programs to support Tribal organizations, Tribal
governments, native nonprofits, and native producers, and give
Tribal governments full authority to function as government
agencies in administering Federal nutrition programs. Thank you
very much.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF HON. KRISTIN ANG, POLICY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR,
FAITH ACTION NETWORK, TACOMA, WA
Ms. Ang. Thank you, Chair Plaskett and Representative
Schrier and staff. My name is Kristin Ang. I'm the state Policy
Engagement Director for Faith Action Network, FAN for short.
We're a multi-faith nonprofit with over 160 faith communities
across Washington State.
Our faith communities are often front line serving to food-
and housing-insecure families, individuals, and work closely
with immigrant populations.
We've witnessed firsthand the pandemic's exacerbating
effects on hunger issues, and we ask for improvements in SNAP,
our best line of defense against hunger, because we can't deal
with hunger with faith community charity alone.
We believe that by increasing access to SNAP, it equals to
an equitable economic recovery, more local dollar spent, and
financial support for our farmers.
Ways for improvement that we see is ensuring more working
poor households can enroll in SNAP by increasing the
eligibility to 200 percent of the Federal poverty level, which
is still very low.
We'd also like support for people paying high housing
costs, rising rents, as we've seen, and eliminate raising the
cap on shelter deduction. Our immigrants here are our
neighbors. They contribute to our communities and to our
workforce, particularly in agricultural. They should not go
hungry. And so, we would like to see a reversal of the
discriminatory policy of prohibiting SNAP to eligible green
card holders by repealing the five-year bar for SNAP, TANF, and
Medicaid.
Also, housing and food security is essential for reentry,
successful reentry. So, we also ask for the end of the ban on
SNAP and TANF for individuals with prior felonies. We also ask
that you understand about the lifestyle and workforce that SNAP
should be able to purchase hot foods and goods and also to
permit more outreach--accessibility of outreach to other
Federal programs because we believe you need to address poverty
holistically and allow SNAP to do some outreach for other
essential service, such as housing, employment, and because
that's what it's going to take to uplift families. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Mr. Czyzewski, I just wanted to
share with you that there is a movement and legislation in the
House that was authored by Congressman Jim Clyburn called 10-
20-30 (H.R. 6531, Targeting Resources to Communities in Need
Act of 2022), which says that ten percent of discretionary
funds of all Federal agencies should be directed at those
communities that have had 20 percent or higher poverty rates
for 30 or more years.
We know that areas such as the ones that you're talking
about, Tribal areas and others, would greatly benefit from
that. So, thank you for your comments related to that.
STATEMENT OF KATHRYN ``KAT'' MORGAN, ASSOCIATE
DIRECTOR FOR PUGET SOUND CONSERVATION,
WASHINGTON CHAPTER, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY,
SEATTLE, WA
Ms. Morgan. Chair Plaskett and Congresswoman Schrier, thank
you for this opportunity. My name is Kat Morgan. I'm the
Associate Director for Puget Sound Conservation for The Nature
Conservancy in Washington. We engage in a wide variety of farm
bill programs and will be developing a policy platform for the
entire conservation title.
My testimony today will highlight just a few priorities
that are especially important to us in Washington State, such
as incentives for riparian restoration and protection,
improving program delivery, and promoting carbon sequestration.
First, we encourage the Committee to look at ways to
increase voluntary incentive programs for riparian habitat
restoration and protection. These are key strategies for
recovering endangered salmon, which is critical to Tribal
treaty rights and to our region's economy and ecology.
We urge the Committee to explore ways to increase funding
and expand program options to improve riparian habitat,
increase water quality, and decrease stream temperatures while
improving agricultural viability and income to farmers through
programs such as CRP and EQIP.
This is also an opportunity to examine changes that could
increase landowner participation in these programs, such as
modifying program design or increasing payment rates.
Second, improving program delivery. We urge the Committee
to look at ways to improve program delivery so that critical
conservation dollars can hit the ground efficiently and
effectively. There are numerous opportunities to streamline
NRCS processes, encourage flexibility, and reduce
administrative barriers to landowner participation.
Also, in the past several years NRCS has been severely
understaffed in our state. Ensuring adequate staffing for
technical assistance and program implementation is critical to
seeing these investments reach the ground in Washington.
Third, promoting carbon sequestration on forest and ag
lands. As we face the climate crisis, we know these lands play
a critical role in reducing emissions.
We urge the Committee to increase funding for all programs
in the conservation title that help landowners improve forest
carbon, soil carbon, soil health, adaptation, and resilience.
Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. Is that it? Okay. Thank you. The
next group is Linda Neunzig, Sara Seelmeyer, Jay Ken, Marcia
Wright-Soika, Kathy Baker, and Ben Atkinson. Linda Neunzig,
Sarah Seelmeyer, Jay Ken, Marcia Wright-Soika, Kathy Baker, and
Ben Atkinson. Thank you.
Ms. Neunzig. Good afternoon. I guess it's still morning.
Good morning, Chair Plaskett.
Ms. Plaskett. Good morning.
STATEMENT OF LINDA NEUNZIG, COUNTY AGRICULTURE
COORDINATOR, SNOHOMISH COUNTY DIVISION OF
CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES, EVERETT, WA
Ms. Neunzig. Thank you, Representative Schrier, for holding
this today and bringing this important opportunity to
Washington State. It's very important to all of us to be able
to have a say in the Farm Bureau and in the farm bill and to be
heard.
Snohomish County, which is the county just south of here,
is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. We are
seeing other counties like King County, Seattle moving south,
which puts a tremendous amount of strain on our farmland. In
some places, it's just up for grabs, but that farmland can't be
replaced. We need to be able to preserve that farmland and do
it fast.
When we do a purchase to development rights program, it
takes three different funding sources and takes a minimum of 2
years to be able to preserve that farmland. But we don't have 2
years to do it. We need a faster way to be able to come in and
get that done.
And I believe somebody earlier talked about the ACEP
program and the funding for that ACEP program. It's very
important, but what are the other ways that we can get in
quickly and protect that farmland before it's gone?
Snohomish County has one of the fastest rates of new
farmers coming into farm. We're not losing farmers. We're
gaining farmers.
Our farmgate value is increasing with each Census. We have
people calling every day wanting to know how they can come to
Snohomish County and farm. So, how do we do that? We have to
have the farmland to do it.
Second, when we do get those new farmers and they're
starting their new farm, we need to be able to help protect
them with insurance as well.
They can't go to the Farm Service Agency and sign up like
we do for corn or we do for soybeans, which we don't grow here,
but you know what I mean? So, what about them? How do we take
care of them as well?
My 2 minutes are up. So, thank you again.
STATEMENT OF SARA SEELMEYER, FOOD SECURITY
PROGRAM MANAGER, UNITED WAY OF KING COUNTY,
SEATTLE, WA
Ms. Seelmeyer. Good morning. My name is Sara Seelmeyer and
I'm United Way of King County's senior manager of food security
and benefits access. I'm speaking today regarding SNAP
eligibility, particularly with regards to college students.
Students go to college because they want to meaningfully
contribute to their communities and the economy, but college
students across the country are struggling to afford food and
to meet their basic needs. Since 2016, United Way's Bridge to
Finish program has partnered with the community and technical
college campuses to help thousands of low-income students get
the financial supports they need to stay in school.
While SNAP is the foundation of our country's food security
safety net, eligibility requirements for college students are
complex and inequitable, as college attendance isn't considered
the same as work for the purposes of determining eligibility.
We have worked with countless students who are denied SNAP
benefits because they are not able to work 20 hours per week
while also attending school full-time and fulfilling other
responsibilities like childcare or elder care. We've worked
with students who are only eating one meal a day to save money
or who are buying groceries using high interest credit cards
because that's their only option.
These patterns are widespread. In 2019, research by the
Hope Center showed that less than \1/3\ of food-insecure
students in Washington received SNAP benefits. Changes in
Federal law during the COVID-19 pandemic have alleviated many
of these challenges.
The temporary exemptions that expanded SNAP eligibility to
students who are eligible for work study or have an expected
family contribution of zero have streamlined eligibility,
outreach, and enrollment in SNAP for college students across
our region.
In the farm bill, we request that you lower barriers to
SNAP participation among college students, including treating
attendance at an institution of higher education as the same as
work for the purposes of determining eligibility. We appreciate
your attention to this matter. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF MARCIA WRIGHT-SOIKA, EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, FamilyWorks FOOD BANK AND RESOURCE
CENTER, SEATTLE, WA
Ms. Wright-Soika. Good morning, Congresswoman Schrier and
Madam Chair, Ms. Plaskett, and Members of the Committee. I am
Marcia Wright-Soika, and I'm the Executive Director of
FamilyWorks, which is a food access and family services
organization in north Seattle.
While the last 2 pandemic years have brought tremendous
hardship, it has also brought the opportunity for us to learn,
pursue food justice with the farm bill, and invest in citizens
who are the furthest away from that justice. Our food bank is
one of many that relies on TEFAP, but we know how much better
it could be if it expanded flexible purchasing to local small
farmers and producers and brought fresh foods to food banks and
pantries.
The people we serve need this access. Each week we have
fewer options and higher demand. In a recent survey, our food
bank participants requested more vegetables, less sugar, and
more organic items.
Eighty-seven percent said fruits and vegetables were the
most needed item in their household. One person said access to
fresh farm foods means that my family can be healthy.
Unfortunately, these choices are taken away from us when we
receive canned or bulky TEFAP commodities that our program
participants cannot use, that are not culturally relevant, that
we cannot refuse to accept, that stay on our shelves until they
ultimately contribute to waste.
We can make different choices. A small Federal grant to
support farm purchasing gave FamilyWorks the ability to become
one of the biggest customers of a small, brand-new woman owned
farm in 2020.
We can choose to invest in local farmers and producers. We
can choose to expand program income eligibility to at least 250
percent at a time when low-income and middle-class families are
stretched to their limits.
I urge Congress to improve the TEFAP program and choose
justice. Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF BEN ATKINSON, M.S., R.D.N., C.D., ASSISTANT
DIRECTOR, CHILD NUTRITION/DIETITIAN, CHILD
NUTRITION SERVICES, AUBURN SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 408; DELEGATE,
WASHINGTON STATE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS, KENT, WA
Mr. Atkinson. Hi. My name is Ben Atkinson. I live and work
in Dr. Schrier's district. I work for the Auburn School
District, and I'm also representing the state professional
organization of dietitians. I would like the farm bill to help
connect large organizations like schools, hospitals, food banks
to local farms and producers.
I have two quick examples of how this has worked in the
past. At Harborview Medical Center, where I previously worked,
we had a Fresh Bucks produce prescription program where
clinicians provided patients throughout King County with
coupons for free produce at farmers' markets and grocery
stores. That was part of the FINI program in 2014 Farm Bill.
As we can all imagine, if a person is committed to
improving their diet by talking with a dietitian like me or a
doctor like Dr. Schrier, removing that financial barrier to do
that right then and there is huge.
Second quick example. At Auburn School District, we have a
farm to school grant where we've made wonderful connections
with some local farms and producers, including the Small Cherry
Orchard in Tenaska at Washington that we got 500 pounds from
this morning.
In our current summer meals program, we are serving
thousands of meals per day, including some local carrots, which
we keep the leaves on, which looks really cool to the kids and
starts conversations about what that carrot is and where it
came from.
So, I just want to make sure that the farm bill continues
to get healthy and tasty food to our local communities by
facilitating partnerships with local growers and buyers.
Thanks.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Next group
is Aimee Simpson. Yeah. Oh, is Ms. Baker? No? Okay. Aimee
Simpson, Tom Salzer, Thomas Reynolds, Ali Lee, Keaton Hille, I
believe. Okay. Aimee Simpson, Tom Salazar, Thomas Reynolds, Ali
Lee, Keaton Hille. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF AIMEE SIMPSON, J.D., SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY &
ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE, PUGET CONSUMERS CO-OP
COMMUNITY MARKETS,
SEATTLE, WA
Ms. Simpson. Thank you so much. I'm Aimee Simpson. I'm the
Senior Director of Advocacy and ESG for PCC Community Markets.
We are a community-owned food cooperative in the Puget Sound
region with 16 stores, and our mission is to ensure that we are
supporting our communities with good food while we cultivate a
vibrant local and organic food system.
It is essential in this next farm bill that we continue to
support our organic producers and the certification system that
we have there. That is something that, as a retailer, we rely
on so that we know that we are being transparent and have
verified practices when we are trying to say, ``Hey, we're
supporting climate-smart agriculture. We're supporting things
that don't harm our salmon. We're supporting ways that we know
look out for biodiversity and everything that we know our
consumers care about.''
To do that, we recommend a few items in this next farm
bill. First, we want to see a more robust organic food system
support plan. So, that would be increasing cost-share up to
$1,500. This is a barrier.
The increasing prices we are hearing are a barrier,
especially for our smaller producers. So, we need to see that
support for their certification increase.
We also would like to see better technical assistance, and
we'd like to see that done through collaboration between land-
grant universities, nonprofits being able to provide more
mentorship and technical assistance to our organic farmers.
And next, we also--and people have spoken to this. We need
to remove barriers for our young and producers of color to get
better resources and access.
The next piece is we have to continue to strengthen
organic, and for that we do support legislation that would put
in place a process to have more transparency and better
timelines to take NOSB recommendations into rule makings and
continue to make sure that organic responds and grows as we
learn more about what we need to do for our climate-smart
agriculture.
Last, everyone deserves access to good food. So, please
continue to expand SNAP benefits and make sure that organic is
a part of that. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF TOM SALZER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION DISTRICTS, OLYMPIA, WA
Mr. Salzer. Chair Plaskett, Congresswoman Schrier, thank
you for having this today. My name is Tom Salzer. I'm the
Executive Director of the Washington Association of
Conservation Districts. We serve as the voice of 45 local
conservation districts who deliver conservation on the ground
every day in Washington State. So, thank you for having us
today.
I rise very briefly to reinforce the 11 farm bill
priorities that, if you haven't heard, you will heard from the
National Association of Conservation Districts. WACD is a
member of NACD, and we support that.
I also want to touch very briefly on equity. Equity is a
huge issue in our farming and ranching communities, and we must
find ways to uplift underserved communities and farmers without
reducing services to our existing traditional farm base.
There is fear out there in our farming communities that
this focus on equity is going to somehow harm our traditional
large and small farmers. It's not about large and small. It's
about bringing resilient, safe food systems accessible to
everyone in our state. So, with that, thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
NORTHWEST HARVEST, SEATTLE, WA
Mr. Reynolds. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you,
Congresswoman Schrier. I'm Thomas Reynolds. I'm the CEO of
Northwest Harvest. We are growing food justice through
collective action.
Many people have already talked about SNAP. I'm not going
to say much about it, but SNAP reduces food insecurity. Gains
in SNAP is a reduction in the indignity and the psychological
worry of not knowing how you're going to feed yourself and how
you're going to feed your kids.
But let me talk about small farmers here in Washington
State; 29,000 of our farms, orchards, and ranches are operated
as family farms, and as an organization who distributes fresh
fruits and vegetables across the State of Washington. I'm
concerned about the long-term vibrancy of our farm families
here in Washington.
We are just nearing the completion of a largest of its kind
distribution center in Yakima. I want to make sure that the
farm families around us are able to be strong and successful
and able to practice their craft for generations into the
future.
I'd like to see financing mechanisms that work for farming
families. I was talking with a farmer in Yakima on Monday, and
they were describing how from the time that they buy inputs and
they plant their crops and the time that they're sold or they
receive their funding for those crops is 18 months.
Surely the farm bill can begin to think about finding
financing options that make sense for small farmers.
I also want to just talk about the need for appropriate
technology and appropriate services for farm families around
Washington State. Those are also very important options for
smallholder farmers. Thank you so much.
STATEMENT OF ALI LEE, WOODINVILLE, WA; ON BEHALF OF GRETCHEN
GARTH, FOUNDER, 21 ACRES; COALITION FOR ORGANIC AND
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE; ANNE SCHWARTZ, OWNER, BLUE HERON FARM
Ms. Lee. Hi. Good afternoon and thank you for being here
and thank you for the opportunity to testify.
My name is Ali Lee, and I'm here to testify on behalf of
Gretchen Garth, owner of 21 Acres regenerative farm in
Woodinville, Washington. And I'm also a member of the CORA
Governing Council.
As you may know, Washington is a major agricultural state.
In fact, we have more than 39,000 farms operating in more than
15 million acres. The Evergreen State produces 300 commercial
crops and livestock products that value $7.9 billion for
Washington farmers and ranchers.
We believe that how we farm and how we power our operations
can be a significant climate solution and ask that the farm
bill contain enhanced funding to encourage regenerative farming
practices while also reducing the use of fossil fuels in
farming operations.
Under Title XI, the Federal Crop Insurance Program should
be reformed to encourage soil conservation practices. Congress
should create a program that adjusts insurance rates to farmers
who practice reduced harms for crops caused by drought, flood,
intense heat, and other extreme weather made worse by climate
change. These rates adjustments can increase the adoption of
regenerative practices, improve soil health, and mitigate
damages for crops.
The other quickest way to offer incentives for good
stewardship under the FCIP may be to expand and extend the
Pandemic Cover Crop Program, the PCCP.
Additionally, we would like to see increased funding for
cover of purchase of large equipment such as electric tractors
and tool sharing. It's been noted that the 21 Acres staff has
found that tool sharing offers an opportunity to reduce cost on
the farm and to build community.
We ask that Congress please ensure the program funding be
equitable, distributed for small, beginning, and socially
disadvantaged farmers. This will help by then making easier
pathways for funding.
Finally, we ask that there is an increase in funding to
provide for electrification, such as for EV chargers, and that
is coupled then with an array of solar opportunities. This will
reduce energy costs and reduce the use of fossil fuels that
contribute to climate change.
And I was wondering, Madam Chair and Congresswoman Schrier,
if I could read one sentence from a farmer who couldn't make it
today. Would that be all right? Thank you.
So, Anne Schwartz, who is also a part of the governing
committee for CORA, she wanted to then ask or request a
continued increase for funding for historic organic research
funding, OREI, SARE, cost-share, and conservation stewardship
programs. Thank you so much for your time.
STATEMENT OF KEATON G. HILLE, J.D., REAL ESTATE &
CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEY, HANSON BAKER ATTORNEYS, BELLEVUE, WA; ON
BEHALF OF DUCKS UNLIMITED
Mr. Hille. Good afternoon, Representative Schrier and Chair
Plaskett. My name is Keaton Hille. I'm an attorney and a
partner at a law firm in Bellevue, but in my heart, I'm always
a farm kid from eastern Washington.
I grew up in a tiny town, and a lot of the issues that were
present when I left home 20 years ago are still being addressed
today. So, I appreciate all of your hard work and the people
who have spoken about that today.
But I'm actually here today on behalf of Ducks Unlimited.
For those of you who don't know, Ducks Unlimited is the largest
waterfowl conservation organization in the world. We have over
one million members, 3,000 of which reside here in the State of
Washington. So, I'm honored to be here on their behalf.
As it relates to why we're here today, the farm bill, Ducks
Unlimited is in full support of the conservation programs
included in the farm bill.
They are a key component of the safety net used by farmers
and ranchers that both maximize on-farm efficiency and
productivity and also maintain the soil health, water quality,
and wildlife habitat on their lands.
As you probably all know, conservation is in high demand
across the country. We and our partners respectfully request
that you and your colleagues strengthen support for the most
efficient and important conservation programs in the farm bill.
These include, among others, the programs that support
strong wetland and grassland protections. We also support
strong funding for making the working lands programs continue
to be viable. These include the Regional Conservation
Partnership Program, EQIP, which you've also heard others speak
about today, the Conservation Stewardship Program.
In addition, we would like to see a robust Agricultural
Conservation Easement Program. And this in particular, that's
worth noting, is in such high demand that the resources just
cannot meet the demand.
And finally, we want to see continued improvement of the
Conservation Reserve Program, which can be done through both
expanded grazing opportunities and access--excuse me, allowing
farmers and ranchers access to that program.
In closing, Ducks Unlimited and its members, such as
myself, look forward to working with you, Representative
Schrier and Chair Plaskett, and the other Members of the
Committee in writing the 2023 Farm Bill. Thank you so much.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you. I think at this time we're going
to move to closing. We tried to go a little longer.
Congresswoman Schrier wanted to hear from more of you. And at
this time, I'll turn it over to you, Congresswoman Schrier, if
you have any remarks you'd like to give.
Ms. Schier. Thank you, Madam Chair. This has been an
incredible listening session for us. I mean, we had well over
100 people here from all different backgrounds, food banks,
hunger programs, forestry, farming, dairy farming, ranching,
small, large, Ducks Unlimited.
This has really been an incredible opportunity for me to
hear everybody all at once and for the Chair to hear directly
from you. So, I want to thank you for coming and for sharing
your stories. Please know we will probably be following up with
you when it comes time to actually put pen to paper.
I wanted to give some very special thank yous. First, to
Chair Plaskett for making the journey out to Washington State.
To Gary and Bonnie Remlinger, who have welcomed us into this
beautiful facility. To Cheryl, who did all of the set up for
this event, and to everybody else who did the AV and everything
else that made this possible.
To the Agriculture Committee staffers who came out--thank
you--to help with this event. To the King County Sheriff here
keeping us safe, and it's always nice when they don't really
have to keep us safe because everything is good. But thank you
for being here. And then last, just on my team, a huge thank
you to Gemma, who worked tirelessly to invite all of you and
bring you and to Ari and to Louise, who heads my district
office. So, thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Again, just echoing the words of my
colleague. I want to thank you all for being here today this
morning, the thoughtful comments about what we did right in the
2018 Farm Bill, and what we may want to consider doing
differently in the next one.
Hearing from you here on the ground who are using or having
tried to use the farm bill program is really invaluable to this
review process that we have. I have eight pages of notes from
today and topics from Specialty Crop Block Grant programs,
concerns about labor and wages, support for organics, funding
for pests and diseases, food access. Over and over we heard
that, about local supply chain and resiliency, work on the
conservation program, dairy assistance programs and organic
dairy production, concerns about avian flu, egg, supply chain.
SNAP. How many times did we hear about the SNAP program
this morning and access and how to maximize opportunities?
Program importance, program change suggestions, particularly
for our college students, for those who are trying to get ahead
and those with disabilities, disadvantaged farmers, wildfires,
and forestry provisions, support for good neighbor authority,
local and Federal collaboration, crop insurance, market
assistance programs, increasing funding and trade, as well as
soil health and TEFAP eligibility changes, given societal
economic changes, trade and Technical Assistance for Specialty
Crops.
You guys have touched on it all, and I'm really grateful
for that. That has really been helpful as well.
For those who did not want to make public comments and
would like to share additional comments with us and the
Agriculture Committee, Chairman David Scott and Ranking Member
Glenn Thompson announced the online farm bill feedback form to
gather direct input from producers, stakeholders, and consumers
on how various farm bill programs are working for them.
Thank you again to Congresswoman Schrier and her staff for
their work. Thank you to the tremendous team and those on the
ground. I as well want to thank the police officers on duty,
Bruce Matthews and Greg McKinney. Thank you so much for what
you do every day in this community to support so many people.
And with that, the last but not least, we just, again, want
to show our appreciation to Remlinger Farms and the staff here
for hosting the event. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of your
afternoon, and this listening session is now concluded.
(Thereupon, the listening session was adjourned at 12:14
p.m., P.D.T.)
[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
Supplementary Material
the listening session in carnation, wa: a visual retrospective *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseagdems/albums/
72177720300492391.
Images are from the youtube stream: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Ita_dmzueYs.
Hon. Kim Schrier, a Representative in Congress from
Washington; Hon. Stacey E. Plaskett, a Delegate in Congress
from Virgin Islands
Derek Sandison, Director, Washington State Department of
Agriculture
Scot Hulbert, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research, College of
Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, Washington
State University; Interim Director, Agricultural Research
Center, CAHNRS, WSU
Mark Powers, President, Northwest Horticultural Council
Jon DeVaney, President, Washington State Tree Fruit
Association
Stacey Crnich, Chief Executive Officer, Bonney Lake Food Bank
Jay Kehne, Sagelands Heritage Program Lead, Conservation
Northwest
Jim Wilcox, Chairman, Wilcox Family Farms
Jeremy Visser, Member, Board of Directors, Northwest
Dairymen's Association, Dairy Gold
Ryan D. Mensonides, Co-Owner, Co-Manager, Chief Executive
Officer, Mount Rainier Creamery & Market
Claire Lane, Director, Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition
Scott Gail, Bio-Farm Manager, Spokane Conservation District
Ty Meyer, Production Ag Manager, Spokane Conservation
District
Jeremy Vrablik, Owner, Cascadia Produce LLC
George L. Geissler, Washington State Forester, Deputy,
Wildland Fire and Forest Health/Resiliency, Washington
Department of Natural Resources
Marci Green, farmer, Green View Farms, Inc.; Past President,
Washington Association of Wheat Growers
Chris Voigt, Executive Director, Washington State Potato
Commission
Britany Meiklen, Food Distribution Center Program Director,
Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council
Tony Freytag, Executive Vice President, Crunch Pak, LLC
Brian Clark, Issaquah, WA
Christina Wong, Director, Public Policy & Advocacy, Northwest
Harvest
Jim Werkhoven, President, Werkhoven Dairy Inc.
Chris Pettit, Executive Director, Washington State
Conservation Commission
Lindsay Gilliam, Executive Director, Carnation Farmers Market
Angela ``Angie'' Reseland, Farm Bill Coordinator, Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife
Lulu Redder, Owner/Operator, Feral Woman Farm, LLC
Hon. Beth Doglio, Woodinville, WA; on behalf of Gretchen
Garth, Founder, 21 Acres
Nathaniel Lewis, Conservation Manager, Washington Farmland
Trust
Todd Murray, Director, Puyallup Research and Extension
Center, College of Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resource
Sciences, Washington State University
Bobbi Lindemulder, Agriculture Program Director, Snohomish
Conservation District
Mary Purdy, M.S., R.D.N., Seattle, WA; on behalf of Coalition
for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture
Ansley Roberts, Farm Manager, 21 Acres
Joe Gruber, Executive Director, University District Food Bank
Nick Webster, Accounting Analyst, Community Action Council of
Lewis, Mason, and Thurston Counties
Aaron Czyzewski, Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, Food
Lifeline
Hon. Kristin Ang, Policy Engagement Director, Faith Action
Network
Kathryn ``Kat'' Morgan, Associate Director for Puget Sound
Conservation, Washington Chapter, The Nature Conservancy
Linda Neunzig, County Agriculture Coordinator, Snohomish
County Division of Conservation and Natural Resources
Sara Seelmeyer, Food Security Program Manager, United Way of
King County
Marcia Wright-Soika, Executive Director, FamilyWorks Food
Bank and Resource Center
Ben Atkinson, M.S., R.D.N., C.D., Assistant Director, Child
Nutrition/Dietitian, Child Nutrition Services, Auburn School
District No. 408; Delegate, Washington State Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics
Aimee Simpson, J.D., Senior Director of Advocacy &
Environmental Social and Governance, Puget Consumers Co-op
Community Markets
Tom Salzer, Executive Director, Washington Association of
Conservation Districts
Thomas Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer, Northwest Harvest
Ali Lee, Woodinville, WA; on behalf of Gretchen Garth,
Founder, 21 Acres; Coalition for Organic and Regenerative
Agriculture; Anne Schwartz, Owner, Blue Heron Farm
Keaton G. Hille, J.D., Real Estate & Construction Attorney,
Hanson Baker Attorneys; on behalf of Ducks Unlimited
Hon. Kim Schrier, a Representative in Congress from
Washington; Hon. Stacey E. Plaskett, a Delegate in Congress
from Virgin Islands
______
Submitted Infographic by Derek Sandison, Director, Washington State
Department of Agriculture
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
(PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD)
----------
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Northfield, MN.
The Committee met at 10:00 a.m., C.D.T., at Far-Gaze Farms,
10180 90th St. E, Northfield, MN, Hon. Cheri Bustos presiding.
Members present: Representatives Bustos and Craig.
Staff present: Josh Tonsager, Emily Pliscott, John Konya,
Victoria Maloch, and Anne Simmons.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHERI BUSTOS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM ILLINOIS
Mrs. Bustos. Good morning, everyone. I'll wait until
everybody's all set to go. What a great turnout. I am
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos and you probably know this woman to
my left, your Congresswoman, Angie Craig, and she'll speak in
just a moment.
I am from the State of Illinois and I'm a Downstater. We
call it downstate if you're outside of Chicago land. And, so,
does anybody--has anybody heard of John Deere?
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. Well, I live about a mile down the road from
where the combines are built at the East Moline Harvester
Works, and my father-in-law, my brother-in-law all worked at
John Deere until they retired, and so we're very, very pleased
to see that in the background.
We want to start out by thanking the Peterson family for
hosting us. If we can hear it for the Peterson family.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you very much for your willingness to do
this. Now, a couple things, this is an official, I call it an
ag field hearing. This is instead of saying, hey, you come out
to Washington and we want you to get in front of our committee,
we're saying we're going to hit the road and we're going to go
out and we're going to listen to people.
This is designed 100 percent to listen to you. Now, a
couple things that we want you to know about. This is official.
It is being live streamed. We have millions and millions of
people watching this, as you can imagine.
[Laughing]
Mrs. Bustos. It's like the thing that will go viral. So,
but this is being live streamed. We, as you see, we started
right at 10.00 a.m. sharp. We will end right at noon sharp. If
you can follow these rules, each of you who has signed up and
we asked you to fill out these cards if you wanted to speak,
and if you did not, please raise your hand and we'll make sure
that you get these cards.
And that is because we need to know who you are. And we
also, we're doing something a little different from our last
field hearing. We didn't assign numbers and so we had this
great big, long list of people that had to wait for a very long
time standing up. We don't want to do that to you, so we
assigned these numbers and I think they pretty much went in
order of people who signed up.
So, we'll call number one, et cetera, and we have the name
here. All right. If for some reason you don't like to get in
front of people and speak, that's okay too. You can enter
anything you would like into the record. All right.
So, this is officially called, A 2022 Review of the Farm
Bill: Perspectives from the Field. Now what Congresswoman Craig
and I are here to do is we want to help lay the foundation for
the 2023 Farm Bill.
And so, what you tell us is very, very important. You don't
have to filter yourselves. We know you're all polite, so we
don't have to worry about anything going wrong here, but you
don't have to filter yourselves.
We appreciate candor. We want to know what you think, what
you want us to know, because writing this next farm bill
impacts every one of your livelihoods. So, this is about you.
All right.
We are, again, in listening mode and let me see if there's
anything else that I need to make sure. Oh, you will be limited
to 3 minutes when you get up there to speak. Okay. And we do
have a timekeeper. I'm not sure where--yes, are you like
holding up a sign when they're--okay.
So, we have a timekeeper here. She'll hold up a little sign
that says when you're about at your 3 minutes. So, I think
those are all of the remarks that we need to make at the
beginning.
Very quickly: I told you where I'm from, Moline, Illinois
is--come visit. Has anybody ever been there to visit like the--
the John Deere visitor center? Isn't it awesome? Yes, but come
and visit us sometime if you'd ever like to. Congresswoman
Craig has been there. And, so, please come see us at any time.
I've been on the Agriculture Committee for 10 years. I, as
I said earlier, I chair the Subcommittee. I come from a long
line of family, farmers, long. Everyone on my dad's side of the
family without exception, they still farm to this day. So,
that's a little bit about my background.
Angie and I, before we got started, at exactly 9:59, we
were exchanging pictures of our grandchildren. So, that is on
the side, my grandson, our latest turned 2 today. So, we're
pretty excited about that. He's wearing a shirt to school that
has a farm scene and it says two on it. So, anybody have little
kids? You know who Daniel Tiger is? So, that was his like
little stuffed animal he was hugging in the picture.
All right. Let me again, I know Congresswoman Angie Craig
does not need an introduction, but let me brag on her very
quickly. She works hard on your behalf every single day. Her
voting record on all things agriculture is in line with what's
important to all of you here.
I think the world of her. She has a very good reputation in
Washington, D.C. She is well respected. She is well liked. She
understands how you have to work across the aisle, how you have
to be bipartisan if you're going to get something done in 2022.
So, with that, Congresswoman Angie Craig.
[Applause].
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ANGIE CRAIG, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM MINNESOTA
Ms. Craig. Well, good morning and Chair Bustos, it's an
absolute honor to have you here in Minnesota's second
congressional district today. I see a number of members of my
farm advisory council out here in the audience, and so, thank
you so much for your service to our nation on the advisory
council too.
Before I go any further, let me just say thank you again to
the Peterson family for allowing us to use this beautiful
space. Just another round of applause, please for the Peterson
family.
[Applause].
Ms. Craig. Bruce, Chris, Brian, you've welcomed us here
today. I hope Les Anderson was cutting the lawn with you
yesterday to get ready for us. So, I hope you put him to good
work. This family represents what is great about America's ag
families. These three guys work this farm together along with
their three sons, a true family tradition, just like across
America.
I know not long ago and Congresswoman Bustos and I just got
to see some family history of photographs of this farm not long
ago in September 2018. We saw a vicious tornado tear right
through this farm and many other places across Rice County. So,
I'm so glad that you were able to rebuild and that you came
through that okay.
Family farms like this one across this nation are what
makes America truly exceptional. Right now, in the second
district of Minnesota, about 60 percent of the land is covered
in corn and soybeans. And I always say that, that is just what
makes this district so special, a mix of suburban and rural
communities.
There are a lot of people in Washington who support family
farmers, and that's why I'm so proud to sit on the Agriculture
Committee because we still know that it takes bipartisanship. I
know that's pretty hard to find in Washington these days, but
it is one of the most bipartisan committees in Washington, D.C.
I am so proud to tell you all that I am the first Member of
Congress in the history of the Congress to get year-round E15
past the United States House of Representatives.
[Applause].
Ms. Craig. And I know that this Administration and the last
were tired of hearing people like Cheri, Congresswoman Bustos
and I talk about this and we know that you need some certainty.
We don't need to go back to whatever administration is there,
and I'll tell you the year--Year-Round Fuel Choice Act of 2021
(H.R. 4410), which was part of the food and fuel package that
passed the house last month, it was a little bit like whack-a-
mole trying to get that over the finish line with people
popping off, but we were proud to get that done in a bipartisan
basis.
I know that there is a whole lot of work left to do though,
and that the farm bill is going to be a really important time
for us and I look forward to being there to negotiate the next
farm bill on your behalf. And with that, I will stop talking.
Most Members of Congress talk way too long, and I'll turn it
back over to you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Bustos. I'm going to give you one other chance to
speak for just a second, because I know we want to thank some
other folks in addition to the Peterson family. And, where's
the sheriff? Sheriff Thomas, where are you? Hey Sheriff, thank
you so much for being here today.
We really appreciate it and we appreciate all that you do
and all that law enforcement does, and she didn't tell you
this, but she's married to the sheriff in her county.
[Laughing].
Ms. Craig. I'd like to say I love law enforcement,
literally. Yes.
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. She loves a good sheriff. We'll put it that
way.
Ms. Craig. I do.
Mrs. Bustos. She's good. She's good. I also want to say
thank you to the Rice County 4-H education ambassadors. Thank
you so much for being here today [applause], as well as to the
Cannon Falls High School FFA Chapter and their advisor, Duane
Pliscott [applause], and I can't be in a room with Ed Terry
without saying thank you for all of the work that you did, and
of course, he's embarrassed now, so we're going to let it go
here, but, Ed, thank you for your commitment to our community.
And with that Madam Chair, I'll turn it back over.
Ms. Craig. All right, let's get right at it. We're going to
start with Bruce Peterson. I think that's only appropriate,
right? We're going to let Bruce go first. And let me--I'll tell
you who's on deck in the whole, et cetera.
And then we'll have Thom Peterson, who is the Commissioner
of Agriculture here in the state, and then Dan, is it Glessing?
Mr. Glessing. Yes.
Ms. Craig. Glessing, and then Gary Wertish. So, that's who
the first four will be. Bruce, take it away.
STATEMENT OF BRUCE PETERSON, OWNER, FAR-GAZE FARMS, NORTHFIELD
MN
Mr. Bruce Peterson. All right. Thank you Members of the
Agriculture Committee for being here. Great to see a great
crowd here. I'm sure you're going to have a lot of these
hearings, and hopefully we get a farm bill across the finish
line eventually.
It may not happen soon, but what I would like to touch on
today is crop insurance and you two being on the Committee,
you're certainly aware that how important crop insurance is to
farmers, but one aspect where crop insurance helps farmers is
with marketing.
Marketing is extremely hard, but taking a decent level of
crop insurance, it allows farmers to go ahead and forward sell
long before we know what our actual production will be. It's
happened the last 2 years where markets have peaked in May and
at that time, a lot of the seed isn't even planted yet, and so
it allows farmers to go ahead and forward market a lot of this
typically when markets are at their seasonal high and they're
at those seasonal highs before actual production is known.
So, if a person waits until harvest time, when you know
what you actually have to market, typically prices are much
lower. So, another point with crop insurance that we've had is
discounts for young farmers. Starting out for the first 5
years, they get a premium discount. I think that's important.
Typically, young farmers when they're assigned, their APH
or that's basically what kind of coverage they can get. They're
typically assigned a county yield, which is much lower than,
for instance, our yield.
It's about 20 percent lower, so they're already at a
disadvantage with their coverage levels. So, if we can maintain
those discounts for beginning farmers, that kind of gets them
at least on a level playing field with more established
farmers, so.
The third point I want to make is well with beginning
farmers, obviously it goes a long ways for them to be able to
secure their operating loans. Once they can take that crop
insurance coverage to their lender, that's a key point in
obtaining financing, and especially important now with our
costs continuing to ratchet higher, much more expensive to put
a crop in now than many years ago.
And the last point is the prevent plant coverage. That's an
important component for us on our farm. In this area, we've
actually only used it one time. That was in 2013 on one farm.
Certainly, don't want to use it, but this year in Minnesota,
certainly some growers throughout the state planted very late.
I know there was some prevent plant, but at least that's a
fallback in the event that they can't get a crop planted that
they could at least, it's not very lucrative by any means to
take that option, but it allows them to least pay the rent,
make those lease payments, and kind of lease the live to farm
the next year. So, that's the main thing.
And I remember I started farming in the mid 1980's and one
of my first years that I kind of had my own acreage was 1988,
and for those of you in Minnesota, you remember that was an
extremely hot, dry year. Back in that those days, we didn't
have the crop insurance options we have now, so kind of nerve
racking times back then.
Markets were taking big swings and the crop prospects
weren't that good? So, anyway, need to maintain a strong crop
insurance program. So, thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Bruce. Now our
Minnesota Commissioner of agriculture, Thom Peterson. Welcome
Thom.
STATEMENT OF THOM PETERSON, COMMISSIONER, MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE, PINE CITY, MN
Mr. Thom Peterson. Thank you Madam Chair and Representative
Craig. It's an honor to be here with you today. Again, I'm Thom
Peterson, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture, and you can look in this room and see how
important a farm bill is. Everything from hunger to our
commodity crops, our livestock crops, so many important things.
Agriculture in Minnesota is a $17 billion part of our
economy. We rank towards the top in many important issues. I
think my quick message is that the 2018 Farm Bill was a good
farm bill. It wasn't the worst farm bill we've ever done, that
it does work for folks. And so, if we can continue to build on
that and try to make improvements to that are going to be
important.
Some of the things that I think really rise to the top are
I just got back from the Philippines, literally just 2 days
ago, trade is incredibly important. Having a trade component to
our farm bill, foreign animal disease is incredibly important,
Minnesota, number two hog producer in the country, the number
one turkey producing in the country, as we look at African
swine fever and high-path avian influenza, the foreign animal
disease component is going to be continuing to be incredibly
important.
I want to thank both of you for your support. And in the
last farm bill, we had a component for mental health for
farmers, which provided all 50 states with $\1/2\ million to
address that issue and continue. We need all of our farmers.
Farming is incredibly stressful. I can tell you firsthand.
We were able to work with 10 different cooperators in our
state to have a great program. The drought last year that Bruce
briefly touched on too and everything, really, I think
highlighted things that we need to change and we need to update
as we look at climate. Some of our programs don't work as well.
Looking at a working lands type program, having common
sense, things when we have issues like the drought, like the
FEEEDD Act (H.R. 3183, Feed Emergency Enhancement During
Disasters Act) that you did. Looking at making some of those
tweaks that allow our farmers to keep farming in those times,
building on climate and conservation. Water issues are very
important.
You're going to hear more about in Minnesota we have our
agriculture water certification program, which has brought $9
million to our state, and that recognizes issues and things
that farmers do to improve water quality on their farms. We
have over 1,200 farmers now enrolled in that program and we're
closing in on a million acres.
And that also has climate benefits too as well, too many
quick things. I just mentioned energy title E85, E15, Minnesota
is the leader in pumps. And the more that we continue to build
on that in infrastructure is going to help meat processing. The
more that we can do to build that out at all different levels,
not just with grants to plants and everything, but also
addressing workers.
In closing, I'd just like say the Federal farm bill also is
important for our funding for our agency. It's about ten
percent of our budget, which is incredibly important as we go
so forward. So, thanks for doing this today and appreciate
being able to comment. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Mr. Commissioner.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right, Dan.
STATEMENT OF DAN GLESSING, PRESIDENT, MINNESOTA FARM BUREAU
FEDERATION, WAVERY, MN
Mr. Glessing. Well, first and foremost, thank you for
coming out to the Second District. I am Dan Glessing, serving
President of Minnesota Farm Bureau, dairy, crop and beef farmer
west of the twin cities, about an hour and a half from here.
I've got three main points within the farm bill.
Dairy Margin Coverage. The importance of that as a dairy
producer, especially middle, younger, and now I'd like to call
myself middle aged. I'm not quite to the other side yet, but
anyway, it, it is a critically important program. Maybe some
updates within that margin to reflect the increased cost of
production that we're experiencing currently, just to update
that, but it's a good program. We want to keep that.
Second, crop insurance. Bruce did a great job of outlining
the importance of that. I would not be in favor of linking
conservation measures to those premiums, because it is like
Bruce had said, that's more of a necessity now than anything
else, so would advise against linking that together.
Third, conservation programs or measures. Allowing some
flexibility within those. We're trying to experiment with new
programs on these lands and what works down here might not work
for me, and so if we get into a conservation program and it's
not working, I recognize there has to be teeth within those
programs so that people are doing what they need to do to
conserve the soil, but allowing some alternative measures so
that the program is successful, because we do want to encourage
new practices, but if it's not working, we don't want to be in
that situation.
So, with that, that's all I've got, and thank you again for
your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Dan. All right, Gary.
[Applause].
STATEMENT OF GARY WERTISH, PRESIDENT, MINNESOTA FARMERS UNION,
RENVILLE, MN
Mr. Wertish. Thank you. Gary Wertish, President of
Minnesota Farmers Union. I'd like to thank both Representatives
for holding the field hearing in Minnesota. Minnesota, we think
we have a lot to say.
Now you're going to be hearing from a lot of people here
and us talking about the various programs and three speakers in
front of me mentioned various provisions. And I'm going to
speak in more general terms of the farm bill, the importance of
a farm bill. There are a lot of titles in the farm bill.
It's really a food security, rural development bill.
There's a lot of, this is the only bill that really funds a lot
of rural America. It's not only providing farmers protection to
keep them on the farm where the example is given of crop
insurance.
The intent is not to profit off it, the intent is if you go
through a crop disaster, to keep you on the farm. So, the 2018
Farm Bill has done well, and I'd like to think of it as a
living document that we can improve on it, do some tweaks,
specialty crop producers, maybe there's some more help for
them.
But, Thom mentioned 85, E15, I appreciate Congressman
Craig's work on E15, but there's--a few weeks ago I was in
Secretary Vilsack's office and he talked about the importance
of a farm bill, upcoming farm bill, and he explained all the
various programs that the FSA has in Rural Development for
rural America.
And he said, I don't know why we're stuck on writing a farm
bill sticking to a baseline. The importance of a farm bill,
rural development bill is so huge. He says our Defense
Department does not stick to a baseline, so why are we always
stuck in there in that view?
I know there's only two of you on the Committee, but I
think take that back. This is the only bill that really helps
rural America that is out there and that's something that we
work on every 5 years and appreciate your support for coming
here. Thank you very much.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thanks a lot, Gary.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right, and please forgive if I'm
mispronouncing anybody's name, but you can correct it when you
get up here. Here's who we have up. Bob Wordle, Vince Baack,
and Richard Syverson, in that order.
And while you're coming up, by the way, this is our fourth
field hearing that we've done. All of the previous three have
been out West, so this is our very first one in the Midwest.
You can come on up. I'm just filling time. So, I want to give
Congresswoman Craig credit for making sure that the very first
hearing that we had out in the field in the Midwest was in
Minnesota. All right, Bob.
Mr. Worth. Thank you very much. I am Bob Worth.
Mrs. Bustos. Worth? Sorry.
Mr. Worth. From Lincoln County
Mrs. Bustos. Wordle wasn't even close. Sorry. The H looked
like an L.
STATEMENT OF BOB WORTH, PRESIDENT, MINNESOTA SOYBEAN GROWERS
ASSOCIATION, LAKE BENTON, MN
Mr. Worth. That's, I don't print very well.
[Laughing].
Mr. Worth. I farm in southwest Minnesota, Lincoln County
and proudly serving as President of the Minnesota Soybean
Growers. I thank you both for taking the time to come and
listen to us as we talk about the things that are so important
to us, all this in the farm bill.
I guess there's a couple things I'm going to talk about is
first of all, farm bill overall. I would really like to see the
overall pool of money increase for that, as we know there has
not been an increase in pool of money for any of the provisions
in the farm bill.
I think it should go all the way from SNAP all the way down
through all of title I, because as we all know, inflation is
hitting us really hard, and I think this is something that we
need to take a look at increasing that.
Overall, the farm bill is very good. As you can see by my
gray hair, I have been around through a lot of farm bills and
this last farm bill is really good. And, I like the safety net.
It's a great safety net. I love it when we don't have to use
the safety net because then it means we are profitable, but we
need that safety net and a good safety net for when the time
comes.
We all know prices go up and prices go down; yields go up,
yields go down, so we need this safety net with the ARC and
PLC, so we do appreciate that.
As far as crop insurance, it is great. It is something that
works. The one thing I would ask and our organizations have
asked about this, please do not tie any conservation or any
other programs with the crop insurance, let it stand alone.
We all know the importance of conservation. We all know the
importance of crop insurance. We all know the importance of
title I and the farm bill. So, let's just keep it all separate
and move forward with that.
I do want to say again, thank you and keep working hard on
this farm bill and try to get it done so we don't have to have
an extension, please. Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you Bob Worth. Vince. Hi Vince.
STATEMENT OF VINCE BAACK, CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, NEW FASHION
PORK, NORTH MANKATO, MN; ON BEHALF OF MINNESOTA PORK PRODUCERS
ASSOCIATION
Mr. Baack. Good morning, Madam Chair. Good morning,
Representative Craig. My name's Vince Baack. I'm a pig farmer.
I work for a pig farmer out in Jackson, Minnesota called New
Fashion Pork and I'm here on behalf of the Minnesota Pork
Producers Association.
Blake Holden should be speaking here on my behalf, but I
guess I won that contest, but I think many of us here know
Blake, but anyway thank you so much for taking the time to come
out to our neck of the woods and listen to our concerns.
We are very appreciative of the time and effort that you
take. From Minnesota Pork Producer Standpoint as Commissioner
Peterson so happily stated, we are the number two pork producer
in the country, and so obviously we feel that pork production
is very important to the state and it's certainly very
important to those of us that are engaged in that industry.
So, from our standpoint, we have a couple of things that we
want to make sure are included in the next farm bill and I'm
making sure, I'm checking my notes so I get everything done,
but number one is we want to make sure that the--first we're
looking at the foot-and-mouth disease vaccine bank with the
USDA, those are critical in supporting and fighting against,
which we hope never occurs, an FAD outbreak here in the states.
Another very important part of the foreign animal disease
issue is the National Animal Health Labs. The University of
Minnesota Swine Diagnostic Veterinary Lab is a very, very
important part of what we do in the state, so we would ask that
those be funded to the fullest extent possible, because again,
if they are not working properly, we are not working properly.
And in the event of an FAD, they would be critical to the
responses that our industry would have. The last thing that we
would ask is that the National Animal Disease Preparedness and
Response Grants also be fully funded to the extent that they
also provide surge capacity for our National Labs throughout
the country, in improving their capabilities to respond to an
FAD outbreak.
A couple other things in general. Number one, John
Anderson, who's our President, and I had a conversation this
morning and one thing that's very, very important to family
farmers here, both in Minnesota and elsewhere is that we just
need to be smart about inheritance taxes.
I know there was--that's been an issue and I know Wes has
been, we've had those conversations before, but, it's very
important that we be able to pass our farms on to our children,
so that they continue that in the future, and so I know that
there were some proposals in Congress that would've worked
against that.
So, we very strongly want to encourage Congress and our
national political leaders to just back off on the inheritance
tax, that's a big.
Second thing in general, we obviously in our industry are
very, very supportive of trade, foreign trade. So, having
smart, bilateral, unilateral agreements are very important to
us because a significant part of our product is exported
overseas to markets such as the far east, Japan, Mexico, and
things of that sort. So, we just want to make sure. Thank you.
My time is up. I appreciate it. Thanks.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Very good.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you Vince. I can tell you that Angie and
I heard more about stepped-up basis than like probably than
just about any other topic when all of that. You might want
to----
Ms. Craig. Yes, I would just say sometimes you don't get a
lot of credit for what doesn't happen in Washington, but if you
got five Democrats who say no to something happening, it
doesn't happen in Washington right now, and you're looking at
two of the five right here today who said no change in the
stepped-up basis.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right, Richard, introduce yourself.
STATEMENT OF RICHARD SYVERSON, AGRONOMY MANAGER, SYVERSON
FAMILY FARMS; FIRST VICE PRESIDENT,
MINNESOTA CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION, CLONTARF, MN
Mr. Syverson. Chair Bustos and Congresswoman Craig, thank
you for holding this farm bill hearing today. My name is
Richard Syverson. I'm a fourth generation family farmer from
the tiny town of Clontarf, Minnesota, and I'm the First Vice
President of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.
I'd like to focus my comments this morning on crop
insurance. And I feel strange after Bruce did such a great job
outlining some of the--many of the things that we're concerned
about, but crop insurance is the number one farm bill priority
for our 6,500 members in the Corn Growers Association.
The stakes are getting higher and higher. The amount of
dollars that it takes to purchase inputs, fertilizer, seed,
chemicals every year keeps getting higher. Crop insurance not
only helps us recover from losses, but it helps us secure
loans, better market our crops and make needed investments on
the farm.
Now, I may not look like a young farmer, but I still had to
have crop insurance in order to secure my operating loan for
this season, my 41st crop. Minnesota Corn Growers has worked
with Congress in the past, built crop insurance up over the
years, including bipartisan reforms in 1994 and in 2000.
We've also worked to secure revenue insurance that's the
equivalent of a replacement cost policy for farmers. Crop
insurance also means farmers can repay loans and pay our
vendors that we've purchased inputs from. So, crop insurance in
a roundabout way backs up the economies of our small main
street businesses.
Minnesota has one of the highest crop insurance
participation rates in the country: 95 percent of corn acres
are covered and we have among the highest coverage levels
purchased, over almost 80 percent on average.
We have a great track record. Our loss ratio is only 0.65,
meaning Minnesota farmers are usually the ones writing the
checks to the crop insurance system in the farmer premium,
rather than the other way around. So, we feel strongly that we
should do no harm to crop insurance, but we should build on
that success.
So, what can we do to do that? First, crop insurance must
be actuarially sound. All farmers who want to participate
should be allowed to. This means no size limits or ties to
other conservation programs like conservation that do not
affect the farmer's risk profile.
Second, we need to preserve the public-private partnership
that insures farmers. This ensures that we pay a fair share of
the premiums and that the companies who write and service those
policies are encouraged to continue to provide fast and fair
service to their farmers and to continue to innovate with
products to cover more of our diverse ag producers.
Thank you for being here and thank you for taking the time
to come to Minnesota. And just if I could take a point of
privilege. Chair Bustos, thank you so much for your support of
the Next Generation Fuels Act of 2021, (H.R. 5089).
Mrs. Bustos. Oh yeah. And Angie's supportive of it as well.
I happen to have written the bill, but she's very supportive.
Mr. Syverson. Oh, we know. And thank you very much.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes. So, yes, you know what? It'd be nice if
we could pass it, but we need a little more support on it. All
right. So, again, forgive me if I'm mispronouncing your name.
Steve Schlangen, Dave Buck, John Zimmerman are our next three
up. Was I even close?
Mr. Schlangen. Not bad.
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. Really?
Mr. Schlangen. I've heard a lot worse.
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. Lay it on the line.
STATEMENT OF STEVE SCHLANGEN, CO-OWNER, SCHLANGEN DAIRY;
CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, ASSOCIATED MILK PRODUCERS, INC.,
ALBANY, MN
Mr. Schlangen. Good morning, Chair Bustos and Congresswoman
Angie Craig. Thank you for having us. I'm a dairy farmer from
central Minnesota. My wife and I milk 60 cows and run 200 acres
of land, and I also serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors
of Associated Milk Producers, Incorporated, which is the
largest dairy farmer owned cheese cooperative in the United
States.
And I'm here speaking on behalf of not just the MPI, but
International Dairy Foods Association, National Milk Producers
Federation, and our Midwest Dairy Coalition. So, today I wanted
to bring up a little bit what Dan brought up earlier was the
Dairy Margin Coverage Program. Well, I think it's been a really
good program and I think maybe we can improve on it, but we
definitely got to protect what we have.
We know that farm sizes have grown over the last number of
years and to keep up with that farm size, I think the average
is like 300 cows. It'd be nice to go from the 5 million cap on
the tier I, up to maybe 8 million pound cap and allow farmers
to renew their production history over time, because most
farmers right now use 2011, 2012, or 2013, which is really
outdated, but we appreciate your support on the supplemental
insurance or coverage that was put in place last year.
So that is a very big thing for us, the Dairy Margin
Coverage, and also possibly raising the coverage level from
$9.50 up to $10 with increased costs of everything, that not
related to feed, so that the feed cost is already in the
program, but the other costs have also increased a lot.
The other thing I would bring up would be with the Federal
Milk Marketing Order, we need that to be a hearing process, but
we might need some help from Congress in getting a make
allowance survey, a cost of production survey for our cheese
plants, so that these are formula prices and they need the
right numbers in the formula to get a good price.
So, if we could make that mandatory, we'd get a lot more
clear reporting and a lot better data. And then the third thing
would be on the nutrition program, the SNAP program and the
milk, the healthy milk or whatever in, I forget what it was
called here, I'm less familiar with this one, Healthy Fluid
Milk Incentive Projects.
It's part of the SNAP program and possibly include cheese
and yogurt along with that, but we think these things are
really important and we appreciate you all being here. Thank
you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Steve. Dave Buck--Steve, how do you
pronounce your last name?
Mr. Schlangen. Me?
Mrs. Bustos. Yes. How do you say your last name?
Mr. Schlangen. Schlangen.
Mrs. Bustos. Oh, I was pretty close.
Mr. Schlangen. Yes.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes. Thank you.
[Laughing].
Mr. Schlangen. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Dave Buck, two syllables. Love it.
[Laughing].
STATEMENT OF DAVE BUCK, CO-OWNER, BUCKS UNLIMITED; MEMBER,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, MINNESOTA MILK
PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, GOODHUE, MN
Mr. Buck. You got it right. Thank you for coming down and
thank you Representative Craig for the invitation. My name's
Dave Buck, I dairy farm about 20 miles straight east of here
near Goodhue. My family and I operate a dairy farm that has
grown considerably over the years.
I'm going to echo some of the comments that I think Dan and
Steve said about the Dairy Margin Coverage. It took us a couple
farm bills to get it right, but I think we got it right. There
needs to be some tweaking to it I think because they alluded
to, with inflation, the $9.50 margin is not nearly what it used
to be.
If you look at inflation in the last year, approaching ten
percent, our costs have gone up, probably all of that, between
labor and supplies, just different things. Dairy farmers spend
a lot of money. I write out 70 checks a month. It's hard to
believe, but between payroll and just all the other dairy farm
expenses.
We are a big driver in the local economies. I would second
Steve's idea of raising the pounds of milk that qualify. Our
farms have grown over the years and it's a fact of life, you
just need more pounds to cover your basic living costs.
He also commented on the Federal Milk Marketing Orders and
we need to make some changes there. And, I think the dairy
industry will offer some insight into what would be the best
way to approach that. I don't think there's a consensus yet on
what to do.
Another thing, and there has been a lot of talk about crop
insurance and a lot of dairy farmers use crop insurance,
because we raise crops to feed our animals. There is a
situation in the dairy industry where we are--all crop farmers
are required to go report their acres and we're supposed to
designate acres to silage or acres to grain corn in July I
think, whatever 15th, whatever the date is.
That really doesn't work when you're a dairy farmer, you
plant your corn in the spring thinking you're going to do this,
but Mother Nature can change things. So, if you decide to
change, I was going to put silage out of this field and now
it's going to be grain, and you change that in the fall,
technically you are in violation of the contract and subject to
penalty.
So, we just need a little tweaking there also. I would also
like to mention exports are 17 percent of dairy that has grown
tremendously in the last 10 years. So, we want to keep sure
that we always keep them export channels open. So, thank you
very much. Thank you for coming to Minnesota.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Dave.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right, John Zimmerman, Ed Terry, and Dave
Legvold. John?
STATEMENT OF JOHN ZIMMERMAN, OWNER, P&J PRODUCTS CO.;
SECRETARY/TREASURER, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
NATIONAL TURKEY FEDERATION, NORTHFIELD, MN
Mr. Zimmerman. In front of Ed Terry, this is quite a
position to be in. Good morning. My name's John Zimmerman. I'm
a turkey farmer from just over the hill here. I also serve on
the executive committee of the National Turkey Federation. I
appreciate the opportunity to provide comments today on the
state of the turkey industry and to discuss the current farm
bill.
Since the highly-pathogenic avian influenza outbreak began
in February, there have been 133 cases of commercial turkey
flocks resulting in a loss of more than five and a half million
turkeys. It's been found in domestic and backyard flocks in 38
states, greatly impacting farms in rural communities.
The National Turkey Federation is appreciative of the
indemnification program implemented by USDA and APHIS and the
strong Congressional support we've received. Looking towards
the farm bill, we hope we can build on the National Animal
Disease Preparedness and Response Program created in 2018.
And then as an industry, we've learned many lessons from
the current and previous outbreaks, and we hope to continue to
implement the necessary changes to help prevent the
introduction and spread of this virus, but we do ask for your
assistance in the following areas.
Wild bird surveillance. APHIS' wild bird surveillance
program provides an early warning system for us about the
distribution of avian influenza virus, routine samplings of
wild birds in all four major flyways.
Take timely action to help us reduce the introduction and
spread to our commercial flocks. This has always been done on
the coast. We'd really like to see it expanded to the
Mississippi Flyway, because birds aren't flying where they used
to, they're coming in from different areas.
Indemnity. Indemnity payments are made for animals that we
have to depopulate to control and eradicate diseases such as
HPAI, and while indemnity values traditionally represented only
conventional turkey production, APHIS created turkey production
subcategories for breeders and organic turkeys, additional
funding and Congressional guidance on indemnity calculations as
necessary for USDA and establishing appropriate indemnity
values for these categories and also potential new categories,
such as no antibiotics ever, and we ask Congress to address
this during the farm bill.
Another area is research. Critical research is still needed
to help prevent future outbreaks and develop more--excuse me--
more effective control procedures. Specific research needs
include understanding the virulence of the H5N1 strain and also
help us develop new strains to quickly depopulate infective
birds humanely as possible.
Vaccination is a big deal. HPAI vaccines could be developed
quickly and used to effectively stamp out these outbreaks, but
current World Organisation for Animal Health guidelines and
other agreements permit trading partners to treat vaccination
as a sign that HPAI is endemic in a county and to impose very
harsh trade restrictions on a nation that utilizes vaccines.
These policies eroded in an area when HPAI was less
prevalent globally, and it was impossible to distinguish
between a positive test result from an infected bird and a
positive test result from a vaccinated bird.
Current technology allows us to distinguish between these
two types of positives now, and we hope that the U.S. can
immediately lead efforts to update these trade rules to permit
vaccination when we have a specific outbreak.
And finally, readiness. The current outbreak demonstrated
that the strain a large outbreak can place on the response
effort. We encourage Congress to work with APHIS to ensure
appropriate staffing and training to respond to a multi-state
outbreak of any foreign animal disease.
This may include cooperative agreements so that they can be
called upon when--cooperative agreements to train state
employees so they can be called upon when the time comes. Thank
you for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, John.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Ed Terry?
STATEMENT OF ED TERRY, CO-OWNER, TERRY FARMS, NORTHFIELD, MN
Mr. Terry. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak
today. I've been an agricultural education instructor and FFA
advisor for 51 years, so my comments are largely centered
around young farmers and the importance, the average age of
farmers nationwide is 57, 58 years old.
I think we need to look ahead to the future. The farm bill
needs to do everything it can, and I don't really have any
examples specifically, but to help young farmers get started,
we need to regenerate this industry.
Obviously, we're very competitive by nature as farmers. I
also do farm, so I understand that, but young farmers can't
afford $350 rent, $10,000 plus land costs with the high input
costs and they just can't possibly compete with the mega farms
that we're seeing.
So, we also see that with the competitiveness, farm sizes
getting much, much larger, small towns are dying, rural schools
are consolidating, little town schools are the center of what
goes on, and we need to try and keep some of those things
alive.
Obviously, agriculture is the backbone of America. What we
need in the farm bill is equity for all farmers. I'm not really
sure that we need Bill Gates and Ted Turner and professional
athletes buying farmland and figuring out how to capture big
subsidies down the road.
The other thing is, as we look ahead and maybe 50 years at
a farm bill and what do we want to see? We complain about the
fact that four firms basically control the beef packing
industry and we complain about the consolidation of the
fertilizer, input side, so few suppliers, et cetera, and yet,
down the road, do we want to see just one or two farms per
county? And what does our future look like in surviving in
rural America. Thank you very much.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Ed. I think the answer to your last
question is no. We do not want to see one or two farms per
county. All right. So, let me just, we have Dave Legvold and
then we K.C. Graner, Jim Kleinschmit, Deborah Mills. Dave?
STATEMENT OF DAVE LEGVOLD, FARMER, LEGVOLD FARMS, NORTHFIELD,
MN; ON BEHALF OF LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT; CLEAN RIVER PARTNERS
Mr. Legvold. Thank you Madam Chair, Representative Craig. I
am a farmer who is a retired educator, so congratulations to Ed
because he just retired. I farm about 850 acres across the
Cannon. One of those folks from across the river. And the
Petersons know well that I'm not really a farmer, I'm a retired
educator who farms corn and soybeans for real. I speak in
support of the need to fully fund CSP and EQIP.
I have had two, 5 year CSP contracts and three EQIP
contracts and these programs were the backbone of my transition
away from full with destructive tillage. It's concerning to
know that Minnesota has been a leader in conservation ag in the
years: 2005 to 2019 Minnesota awarded more CSP contracts than
any other state.
In 2020, Minnesota was able to award only 14% of the CSP
applicants. We ranked 47th out of 52 states. Only 17% of EQIP
applicants were awarded contracts in 2020, ranking 50th out of
52. Working with CSP and EQIP contracts has paved the way for
the Legvold Farm to become a Minnesota agricultural water
quality certified producer.
Producers who enter this program farm in ways that reduce
soil erosion by nearly 125,000 tons per year and reduce
CO2 emissions by about 48,000 tons per year. All
this sounds great, but only about 900,000 acres of Minnesota's
25.5 million acres are farmed by certified producers. That is
comparatively few.
Minnesota has work to do with regard to care of soil and
water and atmosphere. I will share with you a photo taken from
space that shows Minnesota's big brown spot. By comparison, we
look at Illinois little brown spot.
This indicates that in the fall, our land is still black
and left open to erosion. Minnesota has adopted about 5%, no-
till and strip-till in the state. CSP and EQIP will continue
the progress toward better care of our lands and waters. I
thank you very much for today.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Dave.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Are you submitting that picture for the
record, Dave? Oh.
Mr. Legvold. There's some wall art for you.
Ms. Craig. Oh good, excellent.
Mrs. Bustos. He's donating wall art to Angie. I hope that's
under the gift limit.
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. It looks very valuable. All right. K.C.
STATEMENT OF K.C. GRANER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF AGRONOMY,
CENTRAL FARM SERVICE, KENYON, MN
Mr. Graner. Good morning, Congresswoman Bustos,
Congresswoman Craig. Thank you for being here. My name's K.C.
Graner, I'm the Senior Vice President of Agronomy at Central
Farm Service, also known as CFS.
We're an ag retail cooperative with grain feed, crop inputs
and energy divisions headquartered in Truman, Minnesota. Our
co-ops got 300 employees and over 4,000 member owners across
southern Minnesota and into northern Iowa. CFS is also an
agricultural retail owner of Land O'Lakes Incorporated, which
is one of the largest ag cooperatives in the country.
I want to thank you today for the opportunity to
participate in the listening session and really focus my
comments on four critical issues.
One, the need for a strong safety net and predictable ag
economy. Two, policies that scale climate-smart ag practices.
Three, solutions to the supply chain issues as well as four,
robust and well funded Rural Development programs.
The rising cost of doing business is a top concern for all
of our members and customers. High fuel, high crop inputs,
economy wide inflationary pressures. These are all chipping
away at margins. Given this, the farm bill safety net and crop
insurance programs are very key to creating a predictable
operating environment for these farmers.
Further enhance our predictability, I urge the Committee to
continue to work with the Administration to ensure consistent
access to proven and safe ag technologies that help farmers
maximize their productivity. We would really encourage and like
to see continued bipartisan collaboration that encourages
climate-smart ag production.
Truterra is the sustainability business at Land O'Lakes
that we work with and we have for several years. We're an
aligned retail of theirs because we want to give our growers as
many opportunities as possible to scale smart climate solutions
and scale sustainability. We look forward to working with this
Committee on farm bill initiatives that may create the right
incentives and engagement to scale conservation and practice
adoption.
Third, we need to continue to focus on action with supply
chain and labor issues that plague our industry in the broader
economy, lagging rail performance shipping delays, and the lack
of labor really do our drive up our costs.
They impact our market access and delay delivery of
critical shipments. Public-private supply chain solutions,
including meaningful ag labor reform, as well as the
implementation of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (Pub.
L. 117-146) are great ways to help us maximize our productivity
and economic viability. I would say that when we talk about
food security, American producers feeding the world, this is a
number one issue.
Last, with the next farm bill, I really would--we'd really
like to see investment in rural development, basic needs like
healthcare, high-speed internet, fire departments, clean
drinking water, things that need to be supported and continue
supported.
At the time of considerable challenges facing our needs
from geopolitical instability, where Ukraine subsequent food
security crisis, supply chain challenges, inflationary costs; I
feel like I'm losing my breath here.
[Laughing].
Mr. Graner. Economic headwinds, the farm bill is more
critical than ever to ensure that we made food security in this
country.
CFS and Land O'Lakes want to be a resource to the Committee
as you craft the next farm bill, and again, thank you for the
opportunity to hear us out and we look forward to working too.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, K.C.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. I'm a little concerned with your lack of
comprehensiveness.
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. I was totally joking. That was very good. All
right. Jim Kleinschmit, Deborah Mills are the next two up.
Thank you, Jim.
STATEMENT OF JIM KLEINSCHMIT, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER, OTHER HALF PROCESSING SBC AND TREE-RANGE FARMS/
REGENERATION FARMS LLC, CANNON FALLS, MN
Mr. Kleinschmit. Thank you Congresswoman Bustos and
Congresswoman Craig for holding this session in Minnesota. My
name's Jim Kleinschmit. I grew up on a family farm in Nebraska
that were early adopters of regenerative agriculture, but I've
been in Minnesota for 20 years and my wife and I just bought a
place 10 miles east of here. So now we're beginning family
farmers and proud of it here in Minnesota.
I'm also the co-founder and CEO of two agricultural
businesses headquartered here. One is called Other Half
Processing, which buys hides and other byproducts from
regenerative raised livestock through value-added partnerships
with meat processors, like Lawrence Meats based in Cannon Falls
and working with companies like Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed,
also based here in Minnesota.
And we sell that--those hides value-added as leather to
companies like Timberland for boots. So that's one company
that's based here working on the agricultural economy. The
other is Tree-Range Farms, which buys regenerative raised
chickens from local family farmers to sell under our Tree-Range
Chicken Brand.
And so, on behalf of these companies, I'm speaking
primarily focusing on ways USDA can continue to help grow this
high value and high benefit regenerative agricultural economy.
From our family's experiences in Nebraska, we know regenerative
farming can help reduce costs, increase fertility and water
holding capacity and reduce risk for farmers.
We fully support Regenerate America's platform and all
efforts to increase education, technical assistance and
incentives for farmers, ranchers and landholders around
adopting soil, building profitable regenerative farming
systems. But essential to that is also securing the value of
those products, and that means making sure they're fully
utilized and valued in the economy.
At Other Half, we're recognizing there's a growing demand
for these traceable hides for leather and for byproducts for
the pet industry, but we know that many of the small- and
medium-size meat processors don't have the infrastructure or
the capacity to do that and they're losing value in this space
now where hides were a high value proposition for them before
are increasingly becoming a waste product and a cost for them.
USDA through Title III could help make that a better way to
happen through better investments in infrastructure,
traceability technology, staff training, and support, which
would help utilization of meat, hides and other products for
all the supply chain partners, starting with the farmers.
At Tree-Range, we have a different issue. We know that we
can grow this rapid, this new--we can grow and meet this new
market for regenerative chicken and our company is able to buy
the chicken, set up the contracts, working with partnerships
like a nonprofit based in Northfield, the Regenerative Ag
Alliance, but the farmers need to be able to cover
infrastructure costs for their own farms, which means they have
to have access to the credit, they have to be able to get
access to that land; and especially because we're working with
small family farmers from a lot of the communities that have
been historically disinvested.
We really encourage you to make sure that the credit
programs are offered across the board. Regenerative ag and
markets provide an amazing opportunity for U.S. farmers and
ranchers in rural communities to build wealth and grow food in
local economies while improving soil health and fertility.
I really appreciate your time and strongly encourage you to
support the policies and programs there that can strengthen
these opportunities for us and for all farmers. Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Jim. Very interesting.
Deborah, our first woman to speak to us and you're on
Congresswoman Craig's advice council.
Ms. Mills. I should've have brought my soapbox.
[Laughing].
Mrs. Bustos. Well, you can just pretend that you're on the
soapbox right now.
STATEMENT OF DEBORAH MILLS, OPERATOR, MILLS DAIRY FARM; VICE
PRESIDENT, MINNESOTA FARMERS UNION, GOODHUE COUNTY; MEMBER,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS,
NATIONAL DAIRY PRODUCERS ORGANIZATION; MEMBER, BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, ORGANIZATION FOR COMPETITIVE MARKETS, LAKE CITY, MN
Ms. Mills. Yes. Well, my name is Deborah Mills and I'm a
dairy farmer and we milk 280 cows in Goodhue County and I am
also the Farmer's Union, Goodhue County Vice President, and I
also serve on the board of the National Dairy Producers
Organization and the Organization for Competitive Markets.
Thank you for the opportunity to bring the collective
voices of the independent dairy farmers to the forefront today.
Dairy farmers have experienced boom and bust cycles for
decades. And these volatile cycles are triggered by the
imbalance between supply and demand. When milk prices are high,
farmers usually respond by increasing production to meet the
demand.
But when prices are low, dairy farmers also respond by
introducing production in an attempt to generate enough income
to pay the mortgage and operating costs, flooding the market
and driving prices down further. These wild price swings that
result make it difficult to manage a dairy business, but there
is a better way.
The Dairy Revitalization Plan is a growth management
strategy that coordinates milk production growth among all
dairy producers to stabilize and improve prices for everyone.
Unlike a quota system, which is often reviewed as overly
restrictive, growth management serves or growth management
offers a series of incentives and disincentives to better align
the growth production with growth demand.
The Dairy Together coalition of farmers, farm groups and
industry stakeholders are pushing for this plan to be included
in the 2023 Farm Bill. The Dairy Revitalization Plan would
stabilize prices and improve income with farmers receiving more
income from the marketplace. It would reduce resilience or
reliance on taxpayer subsidies. The program was designed to
minimize these impacts and to meet the needs for everyone
involved in the dairy industry.
The number of American dairy farms has been on a steady
decline over the last decade. In fact, the USDA has recorded
roughly a loss of 17,000 dairy farms. Many of these dairy farms
have been driven out by government policies, industry practices
that favor mass production of commodities over farm viability.
And the ``corporatocracy'' takeover of our farm and our
food system really must stop. The outlook is dire for the next
generation and continuing to lose dairy farms at this pace
weakens rural communities, as well as the American food system.
The Dairy Revitalization Plan was developed from feedback
from farmers and stakeholders throughout the country.
Dairy farmers are united in ways that have never been
before and prioritizing the viability of family dairy farms to
promote greater food security and rural economic resilience now
into the future.
And we need champions like you, who will push to end the
dairy crisis and stand up for the independent family dairy
farmer.
Mrs. Bustos. Go Deborah.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Angie's got an announcement real quickly.
Ms. Craig. Thank you so much, Deborah. Just wanted to let
everybody know that there are coolers in the back of the room
and they have water in them. There is a restroom in the back of
the room. I tried to get the Committee to let me bring beer,
but it was too early in the morning, so.
Mrs. Bustos. Is it though?
Ms. Craig. No, it's really not.
Mrs. Bustos. Just a joke. All right, so Brad Hovel, Kylie
Jory, Harold Wolle are the next three. Is it Jory, did I
pronounce it correctly?
Mr. Jory. Yes, I don't need to speak though.
Mrs. Bustos. You don't need to?
Mr. Jory. No.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. Okay. I'll take you off then. So, it'll
be Brad, who is here now, Harold Wole and then Jim Kanten.
STATEMENT OF BRAD HOVEL, OWNER, HOVEL FARMS;
GOVERNING BOARD MEMBER, MINNESOTA SOYBEAN
GROWERS ASSOCIATION, CANNON FALLS, MN
Mr. Hovel. Hello. I'm Brad Hovel. I farm with my folks and
my brother in Cannon Falls, a little ways east of here. We
raise beef cattle, corn, soybeans, custom finish hogs, and are
also in the hog transportation business.
I'm here on behalf of the Minnesota Soybean Growers
Association, represent their membership as their secretary of
the group. The one issue that I'd like to talk about in the
farm bill is on the trade side of stuff.
So, a little background on that, the activities of the U.S.
Soybean Export Council is to expand international markets for
U.S. soybeans and products that are made possible through the
American Soybean Association's investment of cost-share funding
provided by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, support from
cooperating industries and by producer check-off dollars
invested by the united soybean board and various state soybean
councils.
The export program promotion work of the U.S. Soybean
Export Council is critical for soybean producer profitability
because of the equivalent of every other row of soybeans
produced in the United States is exported as either whole
beans, processed or exported as soybean meal or soybean oil.
U.S. Soybean Export Council operates offices located in key
marketing areas throughout the world. So, the American Soybean
Growers Association provides a majority of the funding for
implementation of an aggressive international marketing program
for U.S. soybean producers that leverages soybean check-off
dollars, which are farmer investment dollars with ASA's Foreign
Market Development or FMD cooperative program and Market Access
Program funding through the Foreign Ag Service.
ASA's or the American Soybean Association's success in
competing for USDA funds reinforces the partnership between
soybean check-off investments our farmer investments, and
USDA's support for the soybean international marketing
activities.
So, the funding for the USDA's FMD and MAP Programs or
Foreign Market Development and Market Access Programs has been
stagnant over the last 20 years. With normal inflation, those
funds, the farmer leadership are looking to leverage are only
50 on the dollar that they were 20 years ago.
The farmer members of the Minnesota Soybean Growers
Association highly encourage the doubling or more of the
funding for the Foreign Market Development and Market Access
Program to keep the American farmers competitive in the world
market.
One thing that--another thing that was added to the last
farm bill that has helped in this deal, and it did increase the
MAP or the FMD program was the agricultural trade promotion
portion of it that was put in the 2018 Farm Bill.
We'd like to maintain that as where it's at, because those
are--those are additional dollars that we can use to leverage
with check-off dollars once we have developed them markets to
increase our activity in those, in those foreign countries and
in those markets that we have.
A couple other issues--oh, my time is up. All right. I'll
stop. Thank you, guys, very much.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Harold.
STATEMENT OF HAROLD WOLLE, MEMBER, CORN BOARD, NATIONAL CORN
GROWERS ASSOCIATION, MADELIA, MN
Mr. Wolle. Representative Bustos, Representative Craig,
thank you for bringing a listening session to Minnesota. I'm
Harold Wolle, a corn grower from Madelia, Minnesota.
I serve as a Member of the Corn Board of the National Corn
Growers Association and was recently elected to the Office of
Rotation there. I will begin my term as First Vice President
this fall.
As a grassroots association, NCGA and our state affiliates
are continuing to do our homework so that we can provide
specific recommendations to the Committee as you develop the
next farm bill.
This morning, I'd like to talk about two of the titles,
conservation and trade. U.S. corn farms are committed to
continuous improvement in the production of corn, a versatile
crop providing abundant, high-quality food, feed, renewable
energy, biobased products and ecosystem services.
As stewards of the land, we understand the responsibility
we have for creating a more environmentally and economically
sustainable world for future generations with transparency
through economically--through continued advances and
efficiencies in land, water and energy use.
USDA conservation programs authorized and funded through
the farm bill play an important role in helping advance the
adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
I have 200 acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve
Program on my farm, the native grass and trees that grows on
this land has been sequestering carbon for years. The forbs and
wildflowers nurture pollinators and butterflies.
It's excellent habitat for deer and pheasants and non-game
wildlife. Under trade, corn growers' partner with the Foreign
Ag Service, the U.S. Grains Council and similar organizations
that Brad was talking about to grow markets overseas.
Regarding current U.S. international market development
efforts, the farm bill trade title can do more, increasing
Market Access Program, MAP, funding to $400 million annually
and Foreign Market Development, FMD, program funding to $69
million annually would boost ag exports and provide an economic
multiplier effect, helping agriculture and related businesses
in rural America.
In closing, NCGA recognizes the difficult task you have
ahead of you as you develop the next farm bill. We appreciate
your consideration of our views regarding conservation and
trade and we look forward to sharing more specific policy
priorities and coalition recommendations.
Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Harold. All right, Jim Kanten, then
Brian Thalmann, Eric Hokanson. I'm guessing that's wrong, but--
all right, Jim.
STATEMENT OF JIM KANTEN, SECRETARY, MINNESOTA CORN GROWERS
ASSOCIATION, MILAN, MN
Mr. Kanten. Chair Bustos and Congresswoman Craig, thank you
for holding the listening session on the corn bill here. My
name is Jim Kanten. I'm a farmer from Milan and I also serve as
Secretary of the Minnesota Corn Growers, I guess.
A minute about why I'm here. My family, my dad, grandpa and
grandma, have been very active in ag policy throughout my
entire life and long before me.
For example, they had driven a tractor that is very similar
to the one sitting behind you from our farm to Washington D.C.
in the late 1970s and have worked there for a number of issues.
I certainly agree with the comments that Richard had made
earlier about the importance of crop insurance to the corn
growers. I would like to add that it is important to invest in
the commodity title as well, in order to strengthen the farm
safety net.
As Richard mentioned in his comments, PLC and ARC reference
prices were set back in 2014 and are no longer relevant and
neither are the loan rates, which are very low.
I know this would take some doing, but if we could capture
a portion of the--what's been spent on the [inaudible] relief,
pandemic relief, WHIP and ERP since 2017, we could improve crop
insurance and strengthen the safety net in the farm bill.
Then we can avoid the need for these kind of ad hoc
programs in the future. Higher reference process under PLC and
ARC and higher [inaudible] would be very helpful as we deal
with record high input costs and volatile crop prices.
Resources could also be made available to strengthen
conservation programs, including to provide climate incentives.
Keeping climate and conservation initiatives inside the
conservation title makes the most sense, rather than tying them
to crop insurance.
We really need to stay focused on keeping farmers in
business. If farms are not profitable, we cannot take on
conservation or climate projects. If we are profitable with
incentives and flexibility, we could help a lot.
We have proven that we can do--promote soil health, improve
water and air quality and enhance wildlife habitat. I am
confident we also can help on reducing greenhouse gases under
voluntary incentive programs.
Thank you for your time today.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Jim. Brian?
STATEMENT OF BRIAN THALMANN, MEMBER, CORN BOARD, NATIONAL CORN
GROWERS ASSOCIATION, PLATO, MN
Mr. Thalmann. Good morning. Thank you for bringing the farm
bill listening session here to Minnesota. I'm Brian Thalmann, a
fifth-generation farmer.
I grow corn and soybeans from Plato, Minnesota and I'm a
Member of the Corn Board of the National Corn Growers
Association.
As a grassroots organization NCGA and our state affiliates
are continuing to do our homework so we can provide specific
recommendations as the Committee the next farm bill. This
morning I'll speak about the importance of the Federal crop
insurance and commodity programs.
Last week, Tom Haag, a fellowman, a sultan of the National
Corn Board, testified in front of the Agriculture Committee on
crop insurance. I [inaudible] reinforce some of his comments
this morning.
The number one priority for NCGA and the farm bill is to
protect crop insurance from harmful budget cuts and reforms.
Recently, we have seen groups sharpen their knives and
propose massive cuts to the program, which, if enacted, would
reduce eligibility and drive-up cost for producers to manage
the risks.
Here in Minnesota alone, over 42,000 policies were sold
last year, covering more than 8 million acres of corn with some
level of crop insurance coverage. Restricting access to the
programs or raising costs would impact all these growers in our
state.
This year is another example of why we need robust crop
insurance. Areas in the western part of our state received
repeated heavy rains earlier this spring. Now the latest
Drought Monitor shows nearly 30 percent of southern and eastern
Minnesota is facing some level of drought.
If we do not receive timely rains, there will be some large
yield losses potentially across our state.
When disasters like flooding or drought strike, crop
insurance companies are generally able to provide timely loss
adjustments and to quickly process the bulk of indemnity
payments.
While individual growers are not made whole, crop insurance
provides the tools and the ability to recover and continue
operating into the next crop year.
NCGA has been a leader and advocate for market-oriented
farm policies. During our recent national meetings in D.C.,
NCGA delegates passed a resolution stating we support
improvements to Title I commodity programs in order to
strengthen the farm safety net.
We are continuing to develop recommendations for improving
these programs, including understanding their impact to the
farmer and the cost of the Federal budget.
Regarding the 2018 Farm Bill, thank you for the ability to
choose between the Agricultural Risk Coverage-County, the ARC-
County, ARC-Individual and the PLC programs. We appreciate that
what is now an annual commodity program signup period is
similarly timed with the crop insurance decisions we make.
In closing, we appreciate your leadership on the Committee.
Thank you for considering our views and looking for ways that
we can all prosper in the future.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Very good. Thank you, Brian. Eric Hokanson,
Matt Maier, Will Clayton.
STATEMENT OF ERIC HOKANSON, FINANCIAL OFFICER, COMPEER
FINANCIAL, ACA, LAKEVILLE, MN
Mr. Hokanson. Good morning. Good morning, Chair Bustos and
Representative Craig. My name is Eric Hokanson. I am a
financial officer with Compeer Financial, currently working out
of our Lakeville, Minnesota office.
Compeer Financial is a member-owned Farm Credit cooperative
that supports agriculture and rural communities.
Our territory includes 144 counties throughout Minnesota,
Illinois and Wisconsin, which includes both Minnesota district
two for the Congressional district as well as Chair Bustos'
district in Illinois.
Thank you again for holding today's farm bill listening
session. Besides working as a financial officer with Compeer, I
also am part of my family's farming operation. My wife and I
grow corn and soybeans about 20 miles south and east of here,
alongside my parents.
So today, I would like to focus my comments on two
important farm bill related programs, from both an ag lending
and beginning farmer perspective.
The first has been talked about quite a bit, but it is crop
insurance and it is vital to all sizes and scopes of farms here
in the U.S. This allows farmers to hedge the risks and market
their crops.
This is especially important to young farmers like myself
to be able to have a guaranteed source of repayment when
disaster strikes or Mother Nature decides to not cooperate.
From a lending perspective, having this safety net has
allowed many of my own clients to be able to show a worst-case
scenario source of income that will cover the payments when
applying for loans to expand their operations.
The second program I want to discuss is the Farm Service
Agency Guaranteed and Direct Farm Loan Programs for young and
beginning farmers. This is an excellent program that helps
young farmers secure long-term financing at favorable terms and
rates.
Currently, the maximum loan limitations within this
program, it's just too low. For example, a young farmer looking
to purchase land using the Direct Farm Ownership Down Payment
program, they run out of the full benefit of the program when
the purchase price exceeds $667,000.
In today's land environment, this doesn't even purchase 80
acres. If there is any room for suggestion to the program, I
would suggest increasing the maximum loan limitation to better
suit the environment the young farmers are facing.
All in all, there are many pieces of the farm bill that are
vital to the success of today's farmers. These are just two
areas that I felt were important to share today with the time I
was allocated.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments to the
Committee.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you very much, Eric. Matt?
STATEMENT OF MATT MAIER, OWNER, THOUSAND HILLS LIFETIME GRAZED,
CLEARWATER, MN
Mr. Maier. Hello, Congresswomen. Thank you for hosting this
event and thank you, you pronounced my name correctly, unlike
most of my teachers in school. It is Maier.
I am the Owner and chief regenerative renegade of Thousand
Hills Lifetime Grazed grass-fed beef. We are based in
Clearwater, Minnesota. I am a farmer there as well and we
process regionally throughout the country, including Lorentz
Meats here in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.
So we distribute to 50 states and our decentralized
regional sourcing of cattle and processing really helped us get
through the pandemic and it was a joy to see that we were able
to fill 95 percent of our retailer orders with that model.
Now, so that showed to me--I used to talk about our
resilient supply chain and I didn't really even know what that
meant. So it proved to me that what we're doing is working and
can be a benefit to the American consumers.
In addition, we source cattle from 60 other family farms,
from Minnesota to Texas, Idaho to New England, and those family
farms are all practicing regenerative ag practices, which has a
different definition depending on the crop that you're growing.
But for us, in cattle, it means reestablishing perennial
grasslands so that we can get the benefits that have been
mentioned already. Pollinators, rebuilding soil health,
improving watershed, all of those things.
One quick statement along that, on my farm, when we convert
cropland that's been monoculture cropped for decades and go to
perennial grassland and we check that soil for organic matter,
we're hovering around one percent organic matter.
And in 5 to 7 years, we can take that up to five percent
organic matter. Now, why that's significant is for every
percent increase in organic matter, you can retain 20,000
gallons of water per acre on the land without washing off.
So when you have groundcover, you stop erosion, wind
erosion, and you're able to actually build soil when you put
animals on the land. And that's what we do. We graze animals
for their ruminants, cattle for their lifetime.
And ruminants were a--really are made to process forage and
grass. So I know I'm in the land of king corn here, but they
really weren't made to consume starch in a heavy diet of corn.
And, if we can convert some land from cropland and bring it
back to perennial grasslands, we're going to get all those
benefits that I talked about. Pollinators, water, carbon. Hot
topics for today.
And in doing so, we will produce a nutrient-dense product.
You know that cattle are under attack today. Meat is under
attack. And we can then convert to this nutrient-dense meat
product.
And, people say, okay, this is cute and all, Matt. Can you
really produce the beef that we need in this country?
If we were able to graze the CRP land and the seven percent
of corn land that goes to corn in feedlots, we could produce
the 100 million cattle that we need in this country every year,
just like we are now.
So thank you for the time and I appreciate Peterson's for
hosting this, and for you being here.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Matt. I'm going to do a
quick time check. We have exactly 45 minutes left. We should
make a determination of how many people we have in the queue to
see if we can still continue with the 3 minute limit, because I
want to make sure everybody has a chance.
So, Josh, I'm going to leave that math up to you. But in
the meantime, we have Will Clayton and then we have Ruth Hoefs,
Brad Gausman. So Will?
STATEMENT OF WILL CLAYTON, SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE, EASTERN
MINNESOTA REGION, PHEASANTS FOREVER AND QUAIL FOREVER, MAYER,
MN
Mr. Clayton. Good morning and thank you, Congresswoman
Craig and Chair Bustos. Thank you for the opportunity to offer
comments here today.
My name is Will Clayton. I'm a Senior Regional
Representative from Mayer, Minnesota, and I'm here representing
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and over 20,000 supporters
and 75 chapters here in Minnesota.
Nationwide, we have 750 community-based chapters and over
400,000 members and supporters. Congresswoman Bustos, as you're
aware, Illinois is also one of our highest states for
membership and mission delivery.
The farm bill conservation title is very important to us
and it's critical that farmers, ranchers--oh, excuse me, and
landowners, are able to have access to a robust and fully
funded conservation title in the next farm bill.
All too often, there is more demand. All too often there is
more demand than funding available and these conservation
programs provide numerous economic and ecological benefits for
all Minnesotans and all Americans.
This includes reducing soil erosion, improving water
quality, sequestering carbon, creating wildlife habitat for
pheasants, quail, monarch butterflies, deer, elk and everything
in between.
These practices benefit wildlife species and landscapes
that millions of us hunters, anglers and foragers enjoy and
also support habitat and recovery efforts for species that are
on the brink of extinction.
The conservation title provides voluntary tools that also
address overall profitability and sustainability in
agricultural, rangeland and forested ecosystems.
The primary programs we work with and I've personally
worked with are the Conservation Reserve Program, Environmental
Quality Incentives Program, including Working Lands for
Wildlife, Agriculture Conservation Easement Program, Voluntary
Public Access, Habitat Incentives Program as well as many
others in the conservation title.
We have a nearly 40 year history of closely working with
NRCS and FSA along with our state agencies and other partners
to implement these voluntary private land programs across the
country.
In addition, we have partnerships with the U.S. Forest
Service working on public lands and private lands that border
those Federal lands.
Over the years, our staff and volunteers have provided
technical assistance as well as specialized equipment to assist
with the implementation of our partnerships with USDA.
When we ask farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to
implement conservation practices, they should be fully
supported and appropriately compensated. These practices
benefit all of society.
And as we look towards the 2023 Farm Bill, we strongly urge
you to support the strongest conservation title possible. Thank
you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Will. Ruth? Hi, Ruth.
STATEMENT OF RUTH HOEFS, LE CENTER, MN; ON BEHALF OF DUCKS
UNLIMITED
Ms. Hoefs. Good morning and thank you for being here today.
My name is Ruth Hoefs and yes, you did get that correct. I am
from Le Center, Minnesota, so I'm south of here.
I also do some farming practices. I'm a former state chair
for Minnesota Ducks Unlimited, and Ducks Unlimited is the
largest waterfowl conservation organization in the world with
over one million supporters.
I represent approximately 3,000 dedicated members across
the State of Minnesota that also appreciate the opportunity to
be here on behalf of Ducks Unlimited today.
We're proud to have a long history of partnering with
farmers, ranchers, to deliver conservation and look forward to
continuing our work with you to sustain the natural resources
in our rural communities.
The conservation programs included in the farm bill are a
key part of our safety net used by farmers and ranchers to
maximize on farm efficiency, productivity and maintain soil
health, water quality and wildlife habitat on their lands.
Conservation is in high demand across the country. We and
our partners respectively ask that you and your colleagues
strengthen the support for the most efficient and important
conservation programs in the farm bill.
We hope to see a strong wetland and grassland production
protections continued in the 2023 Farm Bill. We support strong
funding for important working land programs like Regional
Conservation Partnership Program, Environmental Quality
Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program.
A robust Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. This
is nationally popular program where demand far exceed funds
available. An important Conservation Reserve Program through
expanded grazing opportunities that improve wildlife and
habitat.
Ducks Unlimited looks forward working with Representatives
Craig and Bustos in the future and we look for your support in
the new ag bill.
Mrs. Bustos. All right, very good. Thank you, Ruth. I
appreciate it. Brad, is that you? I love that you have a little
baby with you. Really, really quick announcement. We have 17
speakers left.
We have about 40 minutes left. If there's any way the
remaining speakers could keep their comments to about 2
minutes, that would be very, very helpful so we can get through
to everybody.
Mr. Gausman. I'll speak quickly and she'll hold me to the
time limit.
Mrs. Bustos. Brad, and who's your baby?
Mr. Gausman. This is Tallulah.
Mrs. Bustos. Whatever you say, Brad, we will listen and we
will say whatever Tallulah wants.
STATEMENT OF BRAD GAUSMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MINNESOTA
CONSERVATION FEDERATION, ST. PAUL, MN
Mr. Gausman. That's why I brought her. Perfect. All right.
My name is Brad Gausman. I'm the Executive Director of the
Minnesota Conservation Federation.
Since 1936, MNCF has been an advocate for the wild places,
water and wildlife in Minnesota and we are the state affiliate
of the National Wildlife Federation. Thank you,
Representatives, for the opportunity to speak today regarding
the 2023 Farm Bill.
Thank you to the Peterson family for hosting this event.
Farm bill conservation programs deliver a wide array of
benefits for wildlife habitat, water quality and quantity, soil
health and climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as
on-farm benefits and benefits to rural economies.
In 2020, farm bill supported conservation activities were
used on over 46.1 million acres, including 2.2 million acres
for soil health, 7.6 million acres for fish and wildlife
habitat and 38.3 million acres for water quality.
Despite these benefits, many popular and effective farm
bill programs are consistently oversubscribed due to inadequate
funding. EQIP, CSP, ACEP, among others, are unable to meet
producer demand.
Nearly one million producers were turned away from EQIP in
the last decade alone. The 2023 Farm Bill offers us the chance
to continue the legacy of conservation through farm bill
programs.
It's our hope that the reauthorized farm bill will continue
the success of currently operating farm bill conservation
programs, fully fund these programs so that we can receive
their full benefits and create new opportunities for farmers
that take part in conservation projects that have benefits far
outside the borders of any one farm.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak today and I
will be submitting further comments in writing in regards to
the farm bill. Thank you so much.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Tallulah and Brad. All
right, Kristy Pursell, Andrew Leach, Charles Krause and Colleen
Moriarty are up next. Kristy, you are up and then Anika
Rychner. I'm just letting people know that they should be
ready. Kristy?
STATEMENT OF SARAH GOLDMAN, ORGANIZER, REGIONAL FOOD SYSTEMS
AND FEDERAL POLICY, LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT, ST. PAUL, MN; ON
BEHALF OF KRISTI PURSELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CLEAN RIVER
PARTNERS
Ms. Goldman. Great. Thanks for the opportunity to speak
today. My name is Sarah Goldman and I'm a policy organizer with
the Land Stewardship Project. I'm stepping in for Kristy
Pursell.
She had to step out and head out early. The Land
Stewardship Project is a member-based organization with
thousands of farmer members across the state, many of whom
you'll hear from today.
The Land Stewardship Project's work is focused on ensuring
that the health of the land is enhanced, small- and mid-sized
farms thrive and communities are prosperous and just.
You've heard from many LSP members today about the need for
additional support for conservation programs and I'd like to
uplift one specific bill that I urge you to support, the
Agriculture Resilience Act (H.R. 2803).
The ARA is an incredibly robust bill, which will equip
farmers with the tools that they need to be an integral part of
the solution to our changing climate.
Now is the time to provide additional funding for
innovative programs that allow farmers to invest in the
resiliency of their operations and take needed steps to help
mitigate the climate crisis.
I urge you to support the ARA and thanks for the
opportunity to speak today.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Oh, way to go, Sarah. All right. Andrew Leach
and then Charles Krause. Andrew?
STATEMENT OF ANDREW LEACH, SUSTAINABLE
COMMERCIALIZATION ASSOCIATE, FOREVER GREEN
INITIATIVE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY AND PLANT
GENETICS, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, ST. PAUL, MN
Mr. Leach. Thank you to the House Agriculture Committee and
the Peterson family for hosting this important listening
session today. My name is Andrew Leach and I work on the
commercialization, adoption and scaling team of the University
of Minnesota's Forever Green initiative.
Forever Green is an agricultural innovation platform
developing continuous living cover crops and cropping systems
for the upper Midwest. These crops include perennial grains and
oil seeds, winter annual cash cover crops, and woody
perennials.
The commercialization team helps move these improved and
novel cover crops from the lab to the field and to the market.
I'm here today to encourage you to think about the critical
role that the farm bill can play in accelerating the
development, launch and scaling of these crops that can better
protect America's natural resources, mitigate and adapt to
climate change and generate economic opportunities for growers
and rural communities.
Last week, I was on a farm not more than 10 miles from here
that has Kernza perennial grain intercropped with legumes,
Minnesota's first winter barley line, and a diverse perennial
prairie strip.
The first official worldwide variety of Kernza and the
first winter barley for Minnesota were both released by Forever
Green researchers over the last 2 years.
These crops are now growing on a diversified, productive
and continuous living cover farm a stone's throw from where we
sit today.
These innovations are exciting, but much more support is
needed and the Federal Government has a role to play, including
supporting research and development for climate-smart crops,
including critical work around breeding, agronomy, soil and
water science, food science, economics and social sciences,
substantial investment supporting on-farm adoption of climate-
smart agriculture, accelerating investment in the
entrepreneurs, businesses, infrastructure and market
development needed to scale production and identifying policy
barriers and fast tracking Federal strategies to surmount these
barriers.
Thanks for your time today.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Andrew. Charles Krause, Colleen,
Anika Rychner.
Mr. Krause. Thank you for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Charles.
STATEMENT OF CHARLES KRAUSE, OWNER, KRAUSE
HOLSTEINS INC., BUFFALO, MN; ON BEHALF OF DAIRY FARMERS OF
AMERICA
Mr. Krause. My name is Charles Krause. I'm a dairy farmer
from central Minnesota. I serve on the Board of Directors for
Dairy Farmers of America, the largest dairy co-op in America
and farm with my son Andrew.
We produce milk and food for 11,000 people across our state
and our country. I'm grateful for both Angie Craig and Cheri
Bustos for your bipartisan support to maintain and expand
school milk options throughout the system, specifically to
House bills.
House bills that supports Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act
of 2021 (H.R. 1861) and School Milk Nutrition Act of 2021 (H.R.
4635), which provides that nutrients that kids need and
sometimes that's the only place they get it.
There has been a lot of talk about the Dairy Margin
Coverage Program. I'd like to thank Angie Craig for her support
of the Supplemental DMC program and that is a good program and
as a stepped-up basis could be good on that too.
Conservation, additional funding is needed to the
conservation title to meet our sustainability goals in the
dairy community to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2050, so
whatever we can do to help have a government, have a business
and have a farm relationship to meet these goals, to be a
sustainable product, that would be appreciated.
It's also been brought up by several of the commodity
organizations about doubling the funding for the Market Access
Program and Foreign Market Development Program.
For every $20--for every dollar spent on that, $20 is
returned, and right now one out of every six days supply of
milk in the country is exported to overseas markets. So trade
very important to the agriculture community.
And then finally, on the nutritional level. The funding of
the SNAP program helps us provide the bridge to us farmers that
produce this nutritious food to the people that need it, that
are going through enduring and difficult situations.
And then also the Dairy Donation Program. It helps partner
dairy farms with food banks, which milk is the number one
requested thing in food banks and on average only 1 gallon of
milk goes to food banks per person a year.
So thank you for that support.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Charles. That's an
interesting stat that I'd never heard. Is it Colleen?
Ms. Moriarty. It is.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Colleen.
STATEMENT OF COLLEEN MORIARTY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HUNGER
SOLUTIONS MINNESOTA, ST. PAUL, MN
Ms. Moriarty. Good afternoon. Thank you very much, Madam
Chair and Representative Craig for holding this listening
session today. My name is Colleen Moriarty and I'm the
Executive Director at Hunger Solutions Minnesota.
I'd first of all like to start out by thanking the
agriculture community for this important partnership in the
farm bill. This dedication to those who need help has made a
tremendous difference.
In fact, right now, 430,000 people in this state are on
SNAP. During the pandemic, the supports that were there to keep
people--to keep them having access to basic needs was helpful
and it kept the food shelf numbers at a lower than expected
rate.
But now, those kinds of supports are gone and in the last 3
months, we've seen a 57 percent increase of the numbers of
people who are going to food shelves. There are over 320 food
shelves in the State of Minnesota.
Those numbers are also affected by the cost of inflation
and the cost of food. It's this important partnership that is
the fuel, along with TEFAP that keeps the food shelf community
and the food banks able to support people at a time when they
need it most.
And it's your partnership and it's your willingness to work
together that has made that difference. We also very much
support fruit and vegetable growers and new farmers and BIPOC
farmers as a way of adding an inclusive nature into the farm
bill.
Thank you very much and thank you to everyone in the ag
community.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Colleen. Anika and then Kelsey. Hi,
Anika.
STATEMENT OF ANIKA RYCHNER, SENIOR DIRECTOR,
COMMUNITY ACTION CENTER OF NORTHFIELD INC., NORTHFIELD, MN
Ms. Rychner. Hello. Hi. Anika Rychner. I'm here from--
that's okay. I'm here from Community Action Center.
We are a nonprofit human service organization serving Rice
County, particularly Northfield and Faribault, and we have a
network of food shelves and the farm bill is important to us,
connected to SNAP, of course, as Colleen mentioned, but also
TEFAP.
We received a rather dire email from a regional food bank
last week letting us know that their TEFAP commodity foods are
down 50 percent. At the same time, food shelves like ours are--
our people accessing is up 50 percent for us.
So we rely heavily on food bank TEFAP commodity foods and
we ask that, as you enter into this next phase of the farm
bill, that you remember some of the most vulnerable people in
our community, seniors, children and others who need our help.
Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Anika. Kelsey? Zaavedra.
STATEMENT OF KELSEY L. ZAAVEDRA, OWNER, HEIRLOOMISTA, NORTH
BRANCH, MN
Ms. Zaavedra. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for being
here, to both of you. My name is Kelsey Zaavedra and I'm an
emerging farmer in Chisago County and I'm here today because I
need you to know that I am also what the future of farming
looks like.
Farmers like me exist and we feed families like yours. I
have a 5 acre farm where I grow heirloom vegetables, save seed
and raise pastured chickens.
Most of what I produce is sold directly off of my farm in
my small farm shop and I'm also one of the farmers that
provides produce to the local Veggie Rx program.
For those of you who aren't familiar with this, it's a
statewide program to address food insecurity and health issues
by way of physicians prescribing fresh vegetables in our local
clinics.
People depend on small farms like mine to put actual food
on their table each week. Now, I didn't grow up farming, but
it's a lifestyle and a profession that I sought out. My journey
to find and secure land felt too long.
I looked into FSA loan programs, but they were incredibly
cumbersome and clearly designed by those who would never have
to use them.
[Applause].
Ms. Zaavedra. It took me nearly 6 years to find anything
remotely possible to farm on. I settled for a piece of marginal
raw land parceled off from an original farm that went under in
the 1980s farming crisis.
After 4 years of sweat equity and building my farm from the
ground up, I was coming into a new stage of my farming career
where I could really think about investing in my future and I
was faced with discrimination.
It led to a 4 month battle with my county to stay on my
farm. The U.S. has lost more than 20 million acres of farmland
over the last decade alone and this is a trend that continues
at an average of 2 million acres per year.
For months I had no idea if I was going to have to sell my
farm and become a statistic. All of this is due to the
perception of what farmers should be and I'm an emerging
farmer.
As emerging farmers, we are more likely to have diverse
operations that look nothing like corn and beans. We are more
likely to be organic farmers growing early and late into the
season.
We are more likely to be women, BIPOC or queer. We are more
likely to have a different marketing model than our neighboring
farms and--let's see, where was I? We are more likely to be
first generation farmers who don't inherit an extensive social
network related to farmland.
We are more likely to be starting from scratch and we have
more grit than you can imagine. Access to land directly
determines who has the opportunity to succeed in agriculture.
Thirty-seven percent of my land--my county's land use is
agricultural. With its close proximity to the Metro, it's ideal
for growers like myself. I have to end, dang it.
I just wanted to say in the next farm bill, we would need
to acknowledge that the playbook is changing and we need
policies that recognize diverse models of how food is produced
and we need policies that support farm viability for young
farmers and for farmers of color.
Thank you for your time.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Kelsey. All right. Nate Watters,
Dr. David Wallinga, Gail Donkers, Darrel Mosel. Nate, you're up
next.
STATEMENT OF NATE WATTERS, MANAGING PARTNER,
KEEPSAKE CIDERY LLP, DUNDAS, MN; ON BEHALF OF LAND STEWARDSHIP
PROJECT
Mr. Watters. Thanks to both of you for having us all here
and listening to us. Angie, good to see you again. You're
always welcome in the neighborhood. Thanks to the Petersons, of
course.
I know it's no small feat to stop the farm and throw an
event, so is--you're welcome though, for the excuse to take the
morning off.
I'm Nate. I grow apples and make cider over there at
Keepsake Cidery and Woodskeep Orchard. Today I'm going to be
speaking on behalf of the Land Stewardship Project's Northfield
area farm members and supporters.
This letter has been cosigned by farms such as Open Hands
Farm, Wax Wing Farm, Keepsake Cidery, and Woodskeep Orchard,
Pocket Boer Goats, Cloverbee Farm, Simple Harvest Farm, Unruly
Earth Farm, Springwind Farm, Lone Oak Farm.
The majority of these farms are small, diverse vegetable,
fruit, livestock. They're currently out in the fields right now
and in the barns raising food and products and providing
services for our beautiful Cannon Valley and beyond.
Many of these types of farms are the solutions to some of
the challenges that I'm hearing today. Social injustices, the
need for new farmers--take off my letter hat, I fully support
Kelsey and what she just said.
The need for rural economic development, conservation.
These are the farms that I believe really address that and we
need help.
Small- and mid-sized diverse growers in this region and
throughout the country face enormous and unique barriers that
are often overlooked by Federal decision makers and we often
feel alone and marginalized.
And we hope that we can be represented, including in the
farm bill. Some examples of this include, as was just
mentioned, affordable land. It's almost impossible for many
young farmers, beginning farmers, to even get on the land that
they can farm.
It would be great to have the FSA loan approval process
improved. We need programs to help beginning farmers just
simply afford the land. This is a huge roadblock for all
farmers, including and maybe more than most, farmers of color
and other marginalized parts of our society.
I've heard people talk about crop insurance and that's not
even an option for many of us. If it is, it doesn't really fit
our farm. And over the past years, as we've seen, there are
many issues that go along with that.
Real quick, just to finish up, we're working on building a
community of healthy food systems and we are feeling a real
lack of infrastructure and so we would like to encourage some
infrastructure built around the farm needs that we have,
including addressing corporate consolidation.
Thanks so much for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Nate. Dr. David Wallinga? And while
he's coming up, Gail Donkers, Darrel Mosel, Jason Viana and
that is--Jason, you're going to be our last speaker. Hold on,
sorry. I guess there's more. But Doctor?
STATEMENT OF DAVID WALLINGA, M.D., SENIOR HEALTH
OFFICER, FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH, HEALTHY PEOPLE &
THRIVING COMMUNITIES PROGRAM, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE
COUNCIL, ST. PAUL, MN
Dr. Wallinga. Yes, hello. Nice to meet you both,
Representative Craig, Madam Chair, Mrs. Bustos. I am here
representing the Natural Resources Defense Council where I'm a
senior scientist on a food and ag team and our three million--
more than three million members and advocates.
So we have people across different teams looking at doing
science on and trying to elevate policy opportunities in the
farm bill to do three things. One, protect our climate. Two,
improve the soils and biodiversity, and three, help build
healthier and more resilient communities.
So I'll be submitting six pages of comments. I'll try to
zero in on a couple of things in my time. One, cover cropping.
I think most of us know that cover cropping is one of those
stewardship practices that we know maintains productivity in
the face of a changing climate.
Over the last 2 years, the Administration and the USDA has
been running a good steward cover crop program. Minnesota has
645,000 acres enrolled in this program, among more than 12
million nationwide.
This is basically a discount for people who are doing cover
cropping already on their crop insurance. So it's a win-win,
which we try to identify in all our policies that we promote
and advocate for are win-wins.
So Congress has the opportunity now to expand and make this
good steward program permanent and we would urge you to do so.
Second of all, producers who are certified organic and
regenerative producers are already doing the kinds of farm
practices that many of us support and believe we need to do
more of into the future.
And yet, in the farm bill, already has many supports for
people trying to transition into becoming organic and
regenerative producers. We urge you to expand those, but in
addition, though, the transition period, as you know, is
extremely hard and uncertain.
Not all producers are resourced to the same level to be
able to undergo the transition period, so we're urging that
Members of the Committee and the Congress support a new program
focused on new and transitional organic and regenerative
producers from traditionally underserved communities.
These could be smaller farmers. They could be Native
American farmers. They could be other farmers of color.
So again, submitting more formal comments. Hope to talk
more with you about those details. Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you so much, Doctor. And everyone is
invited to submit anything in writing as well. Just to keep
comments short. Gail, you're up.
STATEMENT OF GAIL DONKERS, MEMBER, MINNESOTA FARMERS UNION,
FARIBAULT, MN
Ms. Donkers. Chair Bustos, Representative Craig, thank you
so much for coming to beautiful Rice County. I hope you enjoy
your time here with us. We are very happy to have you here with
us today.
I am Gail Donkers. I am a farmer here in Rice County and we
grow row crops and have a very large, diversified livestock
operation. But I'm here to talk to you about two things. Mental
health and young farmers.
As I look to my left and my right, we have a very diverse
group of people here in the farmers and I think sometimes
people forget that they are farming 24/7, 365 and that their
jobs are very stressful.
I took part in the Safe Talk program that happened that
they helped facilitate throughout Minnesota and it was very
beneficial to me and I think that a lot of times we forget how
stressful weather conditions, a tornado in 2018, drought,
markets and that type of thing can be for farmers.
And we need to really help them when it gets to be a tough
time and step up. Also, young farmers, I'm a mom to two boys
that are trying to come back into our operation.
One is in our operation and working with us and one we
don't quite have enough room for him. So, we would really like
to have some young farmer programs out there.
I echo Ed Terry's thing or comments saying that they are
the future of rural America and we need to work on getting some
programs.
I'm not sure what those are, but I just echo him in saying
that we do need programs for our young farmers to get them
involved, otherwise we're going to lose them to other areas. So
thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you very much, Gail. Darrel Mosel and
then Jason Viana, Nathan Rice. Darrel?
STATEMENT OF DARREL MOSEL, MEMBER AT LARGE, BOARD OF DIRECTORS,
LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT, GAYLORD, MN
Mr. Mosel. Chair Bustos, thank you. Angie Craig, thank you
for coming to Minnesota. I farm with my wife, Diane, just
outside of the Twin Cities here about 2 hours to the southwest.
She's a retired school social worker. My sons, Chris and
his partner, Jake, live in St. Paul and helps on the farm as
much as he can.
My youngest son, Michael, with his friend Elise and their
three children are remodeling an old house right now that I
think you would enjoy, so you could represent me in the seventh
district.
I'll talk to them about it and twist their arm. I currently
serve on the LSP board for Federal Farm Policy and our
priorities right now are stopping climate change, sustainable
farming solutions, rural communities and land access for
beginning farmers.
One of our priorities also is crop insurance reform. We
think that there needs to be sensible payment limitations in
our organization.
We represent over 4,000 members for Land Stewardship
Project and as Sarah just spoke, we are a very diverse group
and have a lot of members in the rural area.
I like Bruce Peterson's comment that some of the savings
from maybe some sort of sensible payment limitations on crop
insurance could be used for discounts for beginning farmers.
My son Michael, who is trying to farm with us, is facing
quite an uphill battle. Unless we actually give him most of our
farmland, it would be really hard to get started.
I also like the comments that were made about the beginning
farmer programs with the FSA. They certainly do need to be
increased. The land prices right now are well beyond what those
models put forth.
I guess I had a lot to say, but I've got to cut it off
here. So with that then, I guess I would just encourage you to
look closely at some reforms of crop insurance that look at
sensible payment limitations. Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much for your
brevity as well. Jason Viana, Nathan Rice, Ryan Buck.
STATEMENT OF JASON VIANA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE OPEN DOOR,
EAGAN, MN
Mr. Viana. Thank you very much. My name is Jason Viana. I'm
the Executive Director of The Open Door. We're a hunger relief
organization in Dakota County.
Last month we served more than 18,000 people in our
community and I want to start by saying thank you for being
here and listening, but also thank you for the action that your
Committee took during the pandemic.
I hope, as you go into this farm bill, that you will see
the lessons learned. The quick action to establish P-EBT, to
expand benefits for SNAP and to bolster food access programs
through schools made tremendous impact.
I think SNAP, as you already know, is an economic stimulus
to small businesses. It increases health outcomes and it is the
best poverty fighting tool we have at the Federal level.
So anything you can do to increase access to SNAP and to
fund the emergency food access program directly helps our
organization. I represent more than 1,000 volunteers who give
time every month to make food accessible to those in our
community who need it.
I will tell you that as the support has waned, when the
pandemic has passed, that's had a real impact on our
organization.
We've already spent more money on food purchases this year
than all of last year combined and that's directly connected to
the reduction in TEFAP money and the reduction in SNAP
benefits.
So we strongly support eliminating the 3 month limit on
SNAP benefits. We support making it easier to access for
college students and new refugees and we deeply support
anything you can do to help access in the suburbs, to reduce
the eligibility requirements in Lakeville, for example.
Over 11 percent of the kids need free and reduced lunch
support. We delivered 300 meals last week to students in low-
income neighborhoods who don't qualify.
From the pandemic, the easier you make it to get help, the
more help organizations like ours can give. Thank you for your
time.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Jason. Nathan Rice.
STATEMENT OF NATHAN K. RICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
DIRECTOR, KISS THE GROUND, MAPLE GROVE, MN
Mr. Rice. I think I got this down to a minute and a half,
so thank you so much for hosting this. My name is Nathan Rice.
I'm the dad of four up in Maple Grove, Minnesota. I'm here
today as a supporter of the Regenerate America campaign.
Regenerate America is an unprecedented coalition of
farmers, businesses, nonprofits and individuals from every
corner of the country with all political stripes.
Together, we're amplifying the voices of farmers, ranchers,
and asking that the 2023 Farm Bill move resources and support
towards regenerative agriculture. I'm not a farmer or rancher,
but I'm affected by the farm bill because of the great food
produced by those farmers and ranchers.
I'm really looking towards increasing access to healthy,
regionally sourced food. We need the 2023 Farm Bill to support
regenerative agriculture and through that, healthy, regionally
sourced food.
Healthy soil grows--sorry--more nutrient-dense food for the
health and well-being of all Americans. Properly functioning
soils also reduce erosion and runoff, purifying our water
supply and improving our quality.
There are tons of great stats we can share with you on
that, but I wanted to cut it off there. So thank you so much
for navigating this labyrinth.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Very good, thank you, Nathan. Ryan
Buck, Mike Peterson, Ilan Blustin, Reginaldo Haslett--
something. I'll get to that in a second. Ryan?
STATEMENT OF RYAN BUCK, AGENT, LAKESHORE AGENCY, INC., GOODHUE,
MN
Mr. Buck. Thank you. We all know with farming comes they
swing like a pendulum. When the good years are good, we make a
lot of money. When the bad years are rough, we scratch our
heads wondering how we're going to move forward.
If there was something that we could put in the farm bill
as far as, say, a savings account where a farmer could put
money away tax-free to save it for a rainy day, to save it for
those tough years and then when it comes back out and we use
it, then of course Uncle Sam would get his cut.
With Section 179, we can spend when we make money and buy
machinery, but with the pandemic and things that have taken
place the last 2 years, machinery is kind of hard to come by.
If you order something now, you might not get it for a
year, year and a half, just depending on what you buy and where
it's coming from. So if there was something like that in the
bill that could help guys kind of offset income so we're not
feast of famine.
So thank you. One other thing I'd like to say,
Representative Craig, thank you for keeping Les in line. I know
that's a big job. You're doing a very good job at it.
Ms. Craig. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Where is Les?
Ms. Craig. Where is Les? Hey, Les. I know I have
questionable hiring decisions, but it's okay.
Mrs. Bustos. Hey, Ryan, you'll be glad to know that Les
brought this up over dinner last night, about the savings
account. So the--it's been shared with us. Okay. Mike Peterson,
Ilan Blustin, I think it's Reginaldo, but I might be
mispronouncing it.
I apologize, but we'll find out in a minute. Mike?
STATEMENT OF MIKE PETERSON, OWNER, TWIN OAKS FARM; MEMBER,
MINNESOTA FARMERS UNION, NORTHFIELD, MN
Mr. Mike Peterson. Well, thank you for being here. I
appreciate you guys just paying attention to our neighborhood
and another thing we need to pay attention to is kind of
represented behind us there.
When I first started coming around this farm, that 4020 was
about the size tractor that you needed. That's what they need
here today in this family on this farm.
One will do the work in I guess a day what that one would
do in a week and it kind of represents there's probably as
many--you had enough help to fill that seat back in that day
and it's hard to find help to fill that seat.
So we've really got to watch our next generation coming up.
In our family, we have a young farmer that's part of the Young
Farmer Loan Program, also part of the EQIP Program that is
helping with the conservation side of things and he couldn't do
the right things without that being funded.
Also, you talk farm bill, that gives you the scale there of
maybe how it should evolve as far as scope and scale of money
and things that we need for security and just a safety net.
Every acre out there is--you can see that it has potential
and production and 100 percent of it needs to be covered. About
28 percent of it, I believe, comes to the commodity program
that is its safety net and the rest goes to the SNAP program.
So just because of the diligence and the skill sets that
this family has, it enables the SNAP program too.
So I'd appreciate you guys having your ears open and with
your constituents out there and whatnot and the rest of the
people in that town just as they bring up the need for a farm
program, explain to them that the SNAP program isn't possible
without that filling grocery stores.
So preaching to the choir, but anyway, it's good to be
around Mr. Wertish here today. I had to work with the better
looking half at the Rice County Fair on Thursday, but this one,
I enjoy his company. So you guys straighten all that out at
Thanksgiving.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Mike. All right, Ilan.
STATEMENT OF ILAN BLUSTIN, OWNER, IB LIVESTOCK CO., WEBSTER,
MN; ON BEHALF OF MINNESOTA 4-H
AGRICULTURE AMBASSADORS
Mr. Blustin. So, first of all, it's an honor to be here.
Pleasure to speak to you guys. My name is Ilan Blustin. I'm
speaking on behalf of the Minnesota 4-H Agriculture Education
Representatives and the Ag Ambassadors.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and learn
and we are excited to see where this farm bill will hold the
future of agriculture. Thank you so much.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. Reginaldo? Again, my apologies for my
butchering your name.
STATEMENT OF REGINALDO HASLETT-MARROQUIN,
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION AND FARM MANAGER,
SALVATIERRA FARMS; FOUNDER AND CO-
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
ALLIANCE, NORTHFIELD, MN
Mr. Haslett-Marroquin. [inaudible] Reginaldo Haslett-
Marroquin. I farm 75 acres just off of Highway 19. Nice to see
you again, Representative Angie Craig.
And I am really honored to be not only in your presence,
but also in the presence of people like Mike Peterson, Dave
Legvold, Jim and Bill and Dr. Wallinga. I mean, all of those
folks have been a tremendous help.
As a new immigrant, I needed that kind of support,
infrastructure and system in order to just get my skills in
agriculture put to work here. I'm an agronomist. I'm from
Guatemala. I'm a scientist.
I came into this place with an eagerness for
entrepreneurial development. I have over 15 companies that I
have helped develop, including the Peace Coffee and recently
with Jim with Tree-Range, the Regenerative Agriculture
Alliance, part of the staff is here too.
We really went at it full time. We are not asking for
favors. We are not asking for handouts.
We're not asking for pity, none of that stuff, but we
really, really, really have to fix this whole Farm Service
Agency and how it finances farmers, because for as much as we
know how to do and as good as we are at it, we have gotten zero
support from the Federal Government.
Now, we are not competing with anybody here. In fact, we
are really glad and we are happy to endorse everything that has
been said. We need corn growers. We need soybean growers. We
need all the farming that you see here, but it doesn't apply to
us.
Us, I mean, immigrants and small farmers [inaudible]. If
you add up all of the challenges and situations that have been
described already today, times that by ten times and you
probably start getting the idea of what it takes for some of
us.
Now, I did buy the farm, but it took me 20 years after
another 10 years. So 10 years first, I actually saved enough
money to buy a farm, 67 acres--buy into a farm in Jordan,
Minnesota.
Now, I was literally physically removed from that land by
discrimination by neighbors who just didn't like the idea that
I was landowner next to them.
Now, probably because I wasn't Lutheran or Catholic, I
don't know exactly why. But that is--that's the case. Now, I
came here to Northfield. I went in full time as well. Got fully
engaged in this community, built a lot of infrastructure in
this town, but I wanted to farm.
That's my thing. And it is the thing of many thousands of
us here who are right now just ready to help these communities
get better and just don't have the opportunity, because we have
to pay for everything on our own and it is already stacked
against us with all of the support that exists, except the fact
that we can't access it.
And I can get into more details and I will be working
further with LSP of course, because it's one of the stronger
organizations here. Sarah Goldman was laying out some of that
framework.
I truly hope that you listen to that part, because that--
the Farm Service Agency is really the key to a lot of this, but
right now it's structured against any of these innovations and
the potential future of rural communities to get a foothold
into this emerging systems and opportunities that we have
brought into this country.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, sir. Nick Gardner and then we're
going to close with Jim Checkel. Last two speakers. Nick and
then Jim, get ready. All right. Hi, Nick.
STATEMENT OF NICK GARDNER, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, PERENNIAL
PANTRY, BURNSVILLE, MN
Mr. Gardner. Hi. Thank you to the Congressional Agriculture
Committee and Bruce Peterson for hosting this listening session
today.
I'm Nick Gardner. I am Director of Operations at Perennial
Pantry, a processor and food company in Burnsville that's
working on Kernza, a perennial grain, as well as other
continuous living cover crops such as sainfoin, camelina.
As Andrew Leach of the University of Minnesota laid out,
continuous living cover crops like Kernza are in the ground
actively. They're cleaning water. They're preserving topsoil.
They're improving soil health and sequestering carbon.
In order to scale these projects from the pilot scale to
the landscape scale, we need to dramatically increase the
market.
I want to share a success story that happened here in
Minnesota that we believe should inform the Federal farm bill.
A year ago, my team looked around and believed Kernza and
other new crops were approaching an adoption tipping point and
reached--that tipping point reached by work of nonprofits,
land-grant universities and small businesses.
In partnership with other advocates, we believed it was
time to advocate for increased state commercialization support
and in order to begin dramatically scaling the acreage and the
acreage impact of continuous living cover crops.
So with the help of nonprofits and entrepreneurs, a
coalition met with state representatives, developed legislation
and got signed into law bipartisan legislation creating a
Continuous Living Cover Value Chain Development Fund (M.L.
2022, Chp. 94, Sec. 2, Subd. 10k).
So this legislation will invest in the supply chains of
Kernza, winter camelina, elderberry and hazelnuts.
Significant state investment in debriding and basic
research has created the opportunities of these new crops and
now it's time to cash in on those incredible scientific
innovations.
So I'm excited to share that because of this bill,
Perennial Pantry is in the process of building a new facility
here in Northfield, which will increase our output five times
and we're confident in our ability to jump from totes to
truckloads now because of this legislation in Minnesota.
We believe strongly in the fellow voices here today calling
for regenerative agriculture and I'll just end by saying
Minnesota has this tangible, novel approach that should be
looked in to and invested in to, to bring new economic
development.
Yes. Let's support this one win. Thank you.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right, thank you, Nick. It is noon on the
dot, so we are going to go a couple minutes over. Is everybody
okay with that so we can allow Jim to make his comments? Okay,
very good. Jim, you're closing it up, buddy.
Mr. Checkel. Okay. Thank you for saving the worst for last.
Mrs. Bustos. No, the best.
STATEMENT OF JAMES CHECKEL, OWNER, CHECKEL FARM, KASSON, MN
Mr. Checkel. My name is Jim Checkel and a couple things
that haven't been brought up is that a lot of people think that
the food just comes from the grocery store. There's not a lot
of knowledge of what goes on in agriculture.
And I would like to see more education to the general
public of where their food actually comes from. I agree 100
percent with Gail about the mental health issues, so I won't go
into that.
The third thing that I would like to address is that when I
talk with people from the Department of Ag, FSA, different
groups, they have trouble finding people with knowledge of
agriculture.
And so what I would like to see is more funding for
universities and community colleges and things like that, to
develop better ag programs.
More online learning, more broadband, things like that,
where we're able to take and get people with ag knowledge to
fill positions in the FSA and the Department of Ag and the
universities and the FFA advisors in schools and things like
that.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Jim. With
that, we will bring this to a close. A couple announcements.
For those who were not able to make your comments public,
there is another opportunity for ranchers, consumers,
taxpayers, farmers, anybody who would like to make comments,
all you have to do--there's an online form and it's at
agriculture.house.gov. Agriculture.house.g-o-v.
And so if you know of anybody who wasn't able to make it
today and they would like to make a comment, please go to that.
This was official.
Again, we recorded this entire listening session today,
this field hearing and heard about everything from ethanol to
conservation to young farmers to mental health.
All of this will be considered as we enter into laying the
groundwork for the 2023 Farm Bill. So incredibly, incredibly
helpful. Again, I want to thank the Peterson family for being
so kind in welcoming us to their farm. Let's hear it for them,
please.
And I also want to say--I don't like to pick favorites, but
Tallulah is my favorite. How old is Tallulah, by the way?
Mr. Gausman. Nine months.
Mrs. Bustos. Nine months, so our youngest presenter today.
And then with that, I'm going to hand it over to your
Congresswoman, Angie Craig, who fought to make sure that we had
a field hearing and listening session right here in her
district in Minnesota to make sure that helped get the 2023
Farm Bill in the right place.
So with that, Congresswoman Angie Craig, you get to close
this out.
Ms. Craig. Well, thank you so much, Chair Bustos, and thank
you for coming to Minnesota and to all of you. I just want to
call out Carol as well. Carol, thank you so much for having us
here--the entire Peterson family.
And thanks to all of you. This is just a tremendous turnout
of folks across Minnesota. Commissioner Peterson, thank you so
much for being here. It's really an honor to represent this
Congressional district.
If you're from this district, you've probably heard me tell
my own story a number of times; but, Collin Peterson helped
lead the last farm bill.
I may not have been there as long as he had, but I'm a lot
cuter than he is, and a lot less cranky most days. So I'll just
leave you with that and you can tell him I said that.
But my own story is my grandfather was a family farmer. I
often tell people when they ask where am I from, I say, well, I
live in Egan. That's south of the Cities. We all talk like this
down here.
But this accent, I grew up just off of the land that my
grandfather farmed, and after I spent 22 years working my way
up a Minnesota healthcare company, doing a lot of work in trade
outside the United States, when I got to Congress, I told
Collin Peterson my first choice is to be on the Agriculture
Committee and he said, why?
And I said, because my grandfather was a family farmer in
the 1980s farm crisis and that crisis took him out. My
grandmother is 96 years old. She still lives off the family
farm where my grandfather farmed.
Those grain bins in that little town, they're rusted and
they're inoperable these days. So I've made a commitment, as
your Member of Congress from Minnesota's Second District and as
long as I'm there for every single farmer across Minnesota, the
guy from the Seventh a minute ago, I'm your Congresswoman too
when it comes to family farming.
I'm going to do everything I can to keep our family farms
operating and that means we have got to have a strong, strong
farm bill in 2023. And then last, I heard you today.
When we talk about the aging of the family farmer, when we
talk about the need for young farmers, we've got to create a
system that enables that more, and a more diverse set of family
farms across our community.
So again, it's an honor to represent Minnesota. Honor to
represent Minnesota's Second District and just thank you so
much for coming out and such a strong showing for the
Agriculture Committee.
Thank you, staff, for everything that you do and thank you
again for being here.
(Thereupon, the listening session was adjourned at 12:05
p.m., C.D.T.)
[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
Supplementary Material
the listening session in northfield, mn: a visual retrospective *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseagdems/albums/
72177720300494115.
Hon. Cheri Bustos, a Representative in Congress from
Illinois; Hon. Angie Craig, a Representative in Congress from
Minnesota
Bruce Peterson, Owner, Far-Gaze Farms
Thom Peterson, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of
Agriculture
Dan Glessing, President, Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation
Gary Wertish, President, Minnesota Farmers Union
Bob Worth, President, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association
Vince Baack, Chief Business Officer, New Fashion Pork; on
behalf of Minnesota Pork Producers Association
Richard Syverson, Agronomy Manager, Syverson Family Farms;
First Vice President, Minnesota Corn Growers Association
Steve Schlangen, Co-Owner, Schlangen Dairy; Chairman, Board
of Directors, Associated Milk Producers, Inc.
Dave Buck, Co-Owner, Bucks Unlimited; Member, Board of
Directors, Minnesota Milk Producers Association
John Zimmerman, Owner, P&J Products Co.; Secretary/Treasurer,
Executive Committee, National Turkey Federation
Ed Terry, Co-Owner, Terry Farms
Dave Legvold, Farmer, Legvold Farms; on behalf of Land
Stewardship Project; Clean River Partners
K.C. Graner, Senior Vice President of Agronomy, Central Farm
Service
Jim Kleinschmit, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Other Half Processing SBC and Tree-Range Farms/Regeneration
Farms LLC
Deborah Mills, Operator, Mills Dairy Farm; Vice President,
Minnesota Farmers Union, Goodhue County; Member, Board of
Directors, National Dairy Producers Organization; Member, Board
of Directors, Organization for Competitive Markets
Brad Hovel, Owner, Hovel Farms; Governing Board Member,
Minnesota Soybean Growers Association
Harold Wolle, Member, Corn Board, National Corn Growers
Association
Jim Kanten, Secretary, Minnesota Corn Growers Association
Brian Thalmann, Member, Corn Board, National Corn Growers
Association
Eric Hokanson, Financial Officer, Compeer Financial, ACA
Matt Maier, Owner, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed
Will Clayton, Senior Representative, Eastern Minnesota
Region, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever
Ruth Hoefs; on behalf of Ducks Unlimited
Brad Gausman, Executive Director, Minnesota Conservation
Federation
Sarah Goldman, Organizer, Regional Food Systems and Federal
Policy, Land Stewardship Project; on behalf of Kristi Pursell,
Executive Director, Clean River Partners
Andrew Leach, Sustainable Commercialization Associate,
Forever Green Initiative, Department of Agronomy and Plant
Genetics, University of Minnesota
Charles Krause, Owner, Krause Holsteins Inc.; on behalf of
Dairy Farmers of America
Colleen Moriarty, Executive Director, Hunger Solutions
Minnesota
Anika Rychner, Senior Director, Community Action Center of
Northfield Inc.
Kelsey L. Zaavedra, Owner, Heirloomista
Nate Watters, Managing Partner, Keepsake Cidery LLP; on
behalf of Land Stewardship Project
David Wallinga, M.D., Senior Health Officer, Food,
Agriculture and Health, Healthy People & Thriving Communities
Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
Gail Donkers, Member, Minnesota Farmers Union
Darrel Mosel, Member at Large, Board of Directors, Land
Stewardship Project
Jason Viana, Executive Director, The Open Door
Nathan K. Rice, Communications and Marketing Director, Kiss
the Ground
Ryan Buck, Agent, Lakeshore Agency, Inc.
Mike Peterson, Owner, Twin Oaks Farm; Member, Minnesota
Farmers Union
Ilan Blustin, Owner, IB Livestock Co.; on behalf of Minnesota
4-H Agriculture Ambassadors
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Regenerative Agriculture
Production and Farm Manager, Salvatierra Farms; Founder and Co-
Executive Director, Regenerative Agriculture Alliance
Nick Gardner, Director of Operations, Perennial Pantry
James Checkel, Owner, Checkel Farm
______
Supplementary Material Submitted by David Wallinga, M.D., Senior Health
Officer, Food, Agriculture and Health, Healthy People & Thriving
Communities Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
Part of safeguarding the Earth is to consider what we eat and how
we produce our food, since they are inextricably linked to climate
change. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) therefore
appreciates this opportunity, on behalf of our three million members
and advocates, to provide written testimony to the Committee
highlighting the great potential for the 2023 Farm Bill to help protect
our climate, enhance soil health and other biodiversity, and build
healthier and more resilient communities.
NRDC works to safeguard the Earth--its people, its plants, and its
animals, and the natural systems on which life depends. While in some
respects our current food and farm system poses threats to our health
and environment, the next farm bill can plant and grow the seeds for
something better. Scaled-up investments in climate-smart forestry and
agriculture, combined with an expanded rural clean energy economy, will
make our farming communities more resilient. They also will empower
farmers to help mitigate the biodiversity and climate challenges that
threaten farmers' crops, and their way of life. Finally, these
investments will help farmers navigate the financial, technical, and
social challenges that may arise as they innovate. Additionally,
however, to maximize their benefits to public health, to ecosystems,
and to local economies and communities, these public investments must
also prioritize the needs of historically underserved and under-
resourced populations.
I. Rural Jobs and Economic Development
Clean Energy Jobs in Rural America. Clean energy jobs are one path
to economic prosperity in rural communities. A shift to a cleaner
economy will expand income opportunities for producers and small
businesses, reduce volatility and enhance the predictability of energy
costs for farmers, consumers, and other rural businesses, and create
major new job opportunities.
According to the Clean Jobs America 2021 report, released by E2,
the clean energy economy is inherently local.\1\ In rural non-
metropolitan [statistical] areas, there are nearly 400,000 workers
(about 13%) of the entire clean energy workforce--and for many rural
states, clean energy jobs account for significantly more than that.\2\
In Minnesota, this translates into 12,279 (or 22.2%) of total statewide
clean energy jobs.\3\ Nationally, \1/4\ of all clean energy jobs are in
rural areas in 21 states, and in four states more than half of clean
energy jobs are rural.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) is a national, nonpartisan
group of business leaders, investors, and professionals from every
sector of the economy who advocate for smart policies that are good for
the economy and good for the environment. E2 members have founded or
funded more than 2,500 companies, created more than 600,000 jobs, and
manage more than $100 billion in venture and private equity capital. E2
releases more than a dozen clean energy employment reports annually--
including Clean Jobs America--with state-specific reports covering more
than 20 states every year.
\2\ Clean Jobs America 2021, https://www.powermag.com/wp-content/
uploads/2021/04/e2-2021-clean-jobs-america-report-04-19-2021.pdf.
\3\ Ibid. Table 6, U.S. Rural Area Clean Energy Employment by
State, 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
While a clean energy transition will help the nation as a whole to
confront the climate crisis, we want to ensure people in rural
communities will benefit sooner from all the economic benefits that
transition provides. To that end, it is important for the USDA in
moving forward to support companies in rural communities that are
helping farmers and rural consumers transition to cleaner energy. We
urge Congress to fund the USDA to speed up the deployment of rural
clean energy, business development and job training, particularly for
traditionally under-resourced and underserved rural communities. USDA
should continue and expand its support for the Rural Energy for America
Program and also support the transition to clean energy of rural
electricity co-ops and utilities.
Civilian Climate Corps. President Roosevelt created the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933 at a time when the nation desperately
needed jobs--and hope. Today we are at a similar moment. We also face
the twin environmental challenges of biodiversity collapse and climate
change. Charting the path forward for an equitable, climate-resilient
recovery is hard work--work that requires pragmatism and vision.
USDA should support and pilot a program that mimics the CCC and
expand it into private lands. The Forest Service has a deep connection
to CCC programs, but private lands could also benefit from a revived
and modern program operating on these lands. The program could connect
farmers and ranchers with a civilian workforce to take on agriculture
projects that increase biodiversity, restore critical wildlife habitat,
increase carbon sequestration on working lands, and improve access to
nature. The USDA agencies, Forest Service, Natural Resource
Conservation Service and even the Animal Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) have a role to play. And this proposal would mirror the
small but significant FY 22 and FY 23 budget proposals USDA made to
pilot an APHIS CCC hub to cultivate the next generation of growers,
create good agricultural jobs for underemployed Americans, promote
rural entrepreneurship and rural economic development.
II. Water Infrastructure
Much of our nation's water infrastructure is like an old, rusty car
which for decades has gone without an oil change or a brake job. This
critical infrastructure desperately needs fixes and upgrades, and
public investment to make that happen. Without those investments, the
source of clean, safe drinking water for many of us will collapse, bit
by bit, or perhaps catastrophically fail. There are three underlying
causes:
(1) Underinvestment in our water infrastructure so water systems too
often rely on outdated and inadequate treatment and
distribution systems;
(2) A broken Safe Drinking Water Act that leaves unregulated
widespread and hazardous contaminants like PFAS and allows
weak enforcement the drinking water standards that do
exist; and
(3) Poor to nonexistent controls on many major water polluters. Low-
income areas often lack any access to effective sanitation
or safe, piped drinking water.
Despite our many efforts and successes to date, drinking water
contamination still wreaks devastating impacts. An estimated 7.1 to as
many as 12 million Americans are sickened annually by pathogen-
contaminated tap and other water--and this does not include the impacts
of toxics. Tens of millions are served by water systems violating EPA's
health standards. There are 9-12 million leaded service lines
nationwide, and school children drinking lead-contaminated water is a
widespread problem. Tens of millions of Americans, perhaps more than
100 million, are drinking tap water polluted with PFAS ``forever''
chemicals
In Minnesota, rural well water often has too-high arsenic levels,
and is often contaminated by bacteria or nitrates, as well. In new
wells drilled in the state since 2008, arsenic is detected (typically,
the level of detection is around 2 mg/L) in 40 percent of them; around
10% of Minnesota's private wells have arsenic levels higher than 10 mg/
L.4-5 Drinking water containing any arsenic can increase the
risks of developing risks cancer and other serious health effects.
Arsenic is in groundwater throughout the state, but it is more likely
in some areas.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), ``Arsenic in Well
Water'', access at https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/
environment/water/wells/waterquality/arsenic.html. For community water
systems, the EPA has set a goal of zero, but 10 mg/L is the agency's
EPA's maximum contaminant level for arsenic.
\5\ Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Contaminated
groundwater concerns mount in Minnesota, February 24, 2016, https://
www.pca.state.mn.us/featured/contaminated-groundwater-concerns-mount-
minnesota.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In central Minnesota, up to 60% of groundwater samples from
monitoring wells are contaminated with nitrate well beyond the safe
drinking water standard; Goodhue and Hastings are among the small
cities listed by MPCA as having excessive nitrates in drinking
water.\6\ Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can lead to illnesses
such as Blue Baby Syndrome, which is potentially fatal in infants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Ibid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minnesota Department of Health testing of water systems across the
state for contamination with toxic forever chemicals per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has found widespread contamination of
drinking water.\7\ This occurs in both large systems and in many rural
areas. Cleanup of this drinking water will be crucial to protecting
public health.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ See Minnesota Department of Health, PFAS Testing of Community
Water Systems. Access at https://mdh.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/
index.html?appid=63515695237f425ea7120d1
aac1fd09a.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additionally, according to the Minnesota Department of Health
(MDH), there are estimated to be 100,000 lead service lines remaining
in the state.\8\ MDH has found that removing these lead service lines
would cost from $228 million to $365 million, but for the children who
would benefit the gain in IQ and lifetime earnings would be from 5.8 to
more than 18 times higher than the costs. The estimated benefits to
children, in other words, would be worth $2.1 billion to $4.2
billion.\9\ These enormous benefits still are likely underestimates,
according to MDH. Left out of those estimates, for example, was the
estimated dollar value from reduced cardiovascular disease and deaths,
and reductions in other chronic diseases, that would be the outcome of
reduced exposure to lead in water service lines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Minnesota Department of Health, Lead in Minnesota Water:
Assessment of Eliminating Lead in Minnesota Drinking Water, Feb. 2019,
Updated March 8, 2019. Access at https://www.health.state.mn.us/
communities/environment/water/docs/leadreport.pdf.
\9\ Ibid at 25, Table 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The farm bill, along with other legislative vehicles, presents a
unique opportunity to further tackle this issue, including the
opportunity to:
Invest additional resources in fixing our water
infrastructure, paying special attention to the affordability
and needs of lower-income and disproportionately affected
communities.
Fund fixes to lead in our water, including removing lead
service lines in rural areas.
In addition to addressing these urgent needs in the farm bill, we
urge Committee members to work with your colleagues include those
serving on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to fix
the Safe Drinking Water Act. That law has failed to effectively control
many drinking water contaminants such as the class of forever chemicals
called PFAS and other threats to public health from tap water
contamination. We also urge Committee members to work with your
colleagues to fund investments in water infrastructure--including in
rural communities--through reconciliation, appropriations, and other
moving legislative vehicles. Additionally, we urge you to press the
Environmental Protection Agency to swiftly overhaul its weak Lead and
Copper Rule, which Administrator Regan and Vice President Harris have
said needs to be strengthened, to address lead problems like those
experienced in Flint, MI and many cities, small towns and schools in
Minnesota and across the country.
III. Conservation
The 2023 Farm Bill is an opportunity to break significant ground on
the pathways for regenerative agriculture. Over the last 2 years, NRDC
interviewed over 100 regenerative farmers in 47 states, including Kent
Solberg of Seven Pines Farm in Minnesota. These interviews revealed a
deep interest in the pathways for regenerative agriculture and its
foundational premise--that Regenerative Agriculture is an approach
towards greater adoption of agricultural practices that are in harmony
with the earth, and also a vehicle towards greater economic
independence.
The farm bill represents a critical tool to curb climate change,
promote adaptation, and empower farmers.
Permanent Extension of the Good Steward Cover Crop Program (FCIP).
Cover cropping is one regenerative practice that offers a multitude of
benefits, including helping farmers to maintain productivity in the
face of climate change. Recognizing these benefits the Biden
Administration has, for the past 2 years, offered farmers who plant
cover crops a ``good steward'' incentive through their Federal crop
insurance.\10\ In the first year of the program, 12 million acres
participated, including 645,000 acres in Minnesota; in 2021, Minnesota
producers received more than $3.1 million in funding under the program.
Congress should expand on this important program and authorize a
permanent incentive for farmers who use cover crops and build soil
health. A permanent program would be a cost-effective way to encourage
farmers to adopt risk-mitigating practice like cover-cropping, but also
would provide farmers with an additional measure of certainty to be
factored into the decision of whether they can afford to buy cover crop
seeds.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ The Pandemic Cover Crop Program is modeled on state-based
programs in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana and Wisconsin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extend and Expand the Soil Health Demonstration Trial. The 2018
Farm Bill created a visionary program at NRCS, called ``On-Farm
Conservation Innovation Trials''. Its goal was to foster more
widespread adoption of innovative on-farm conservation practices. One
program component has been the Soil Health Demonstration (SHD) Trial
which has focused exclusively on fostering innovation around practices
that improve soil health. The program should be made permanent and
expanded to allow more farmers and more regions to benefit from soil
health innovation.
Build Agroforestry Capacity. USDA needs clearer and more direct
authorities in agroforestry, a form of regenerative agriculture rooted
in traditional Indigenous land management. These authorities are
critical to help rebuild riparian forest buffers; incorporate trees
into livestock pastures; and support alley cropping, forest farming,
and windbreaks. USDA has several tools to work with, including the
National Agroforestry Center, the USDA Strategic Plan in agroforestry,
and the authorities in both EQIP and within the State and Private
Forestry program. However, USDA's authorities for the Forest Service
and the Natural Resource Conversation Service in agroforestry are
limited and lack a holistic and consistent implementation within USDA.
Congress should guide USDA to scale these capacities to support farmers
and ranchers who wish to invest in regenerative agroforestry.
IV. Food Waste
In the 2023 Farm Bill development process, we urge the Committee
and Congresswoman Craig to utilize our newly released report,
``Opportunities to Reduce Food Waste in the 2023 Farm Bill,'' that
outlines 22 specific recommendations for actions Congress should take
to reduce food waste in the 2023 Farm Bill.\11\ Given the bipartisan
support for measures to reduce food waste and demonstrated successes
from the food waste measures in the previous farm bill, the 2023 Farm
Bill provides an exciting opportunity to invest in food waste reduction
efforts for greater social, economic, and environmental benefits. Most
of the recommendations would have a direct impact on food waste at the
state and local level, and the state and local governments' ability to
address food waste. A couple examples of recommendations that would
better enable states like Minnesota to address food waste include:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ NRDC, Opportunities to Reduce Food Waste in the 2023 Farm
Bill, April 26, 2022, https://www.nrdc.org/experts/yvette-cabrera/
opportunities-reduce-food-waste-2023-farm-bill.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provide Grants and Loans for Food Waste Processing Infrastructure.
Organics make up about \1/3\ of the waste stream in Minnesota, which is
similar to rates across the country.\12\ The lack of adequate
infrastructure and services makes recycling of organic material--
particularly food waste--a challenge, however. Though organics
recycling has steadily increased in Minnesota over the last decade,
only 13 of the 172 permitted composting facilities in Minnesota accept
food waste.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) 2019 Solid Waste
Policy Report accessed via https://www.leg.mn.gov/docs/2020/mandated/
200036.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To keep organic waste out of landfills and reduce impacts on the
climate, environment and health, public investment is needed to help
communities develop their organic waste processing capabilities. In
addition, according to a 2020 EPA report, composting creates twice as
many jobs as landfills.\13\ In the next farm bill, Congress should
amend the Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction Project program to
increase the total and per project funding available, reduce or
eliminate the matching requirement, and expand the list of eligible
entities who may apply for grant funding to also include state
governments, as well as nongovernmental organizations and community
groups that work with partners in rural locations or across regions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ Environmental Protection Agency, Recycling Economic
Information (REI) Report, 2020, https://www.epa.gov/smm/recycling-
economic-information-rei-report#findings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, Congress should increase funding for the Solid Waste
Management Grant (SWMG) program and the Water and Waste Disposal Loans
and Grant program, continue to prioritize projects in which the
implementing agencies prioritize food waste reduction, and consider
extending the SWMG program to 2 years. Congress should also create
funding streams along the lines envisioned in the COMPOST Act of 2021
and Zero Food Waste Act of 2021 to support new compost and anaerobic
digestion infrastructure.14-15
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ H.R. 4443, COMPOST Act, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-
congress/house-bill/4443.
\15\ H.R. 4444, Zero Food Waste Act, https://www.congress.gov/bill/
117th-congress/house-bill/4444.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support Compost End Markets. Creating end markets for compost
products will simultaneously store carbon in working lands and support
increased composting. By giving compost facilities a market to sell
compost, the facilities may be able to reduce their tipping fees and
draw more food waste generators to compost rather than landfill their
waste. In turn, this will make composting a more viable and less
expensive option than throwing organic waste materials in a landfill.
Farmers in Minnesota and beyond can also benefit from compost end
markets as they can use the soil amendment products derived from
composting or anaerobic digestion (compost products) to improve the
quality of their soil. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the
Minnesota Department of Transportation already support expanded end
markets for compost by encouraging use of compost in a wide array of
projects that help protect groundwater and surface water while
preventing erosion. In order to bolster state and local efforts to
realize the social and environmental benefits of composting, Congress
should create a crop insurance premium incentive program that pays
farmers a per acre bonus for applying compost products to their fields
before planting, modeled after the Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP).
Congress also should increase Federal procurement of compost products
containing recycled organic waste materials, by requiring Federal
agencies to prioritize purchasing of compost made from recycled organic
waste materials when purchasing landscaping services.
If implemented, the recommendations in the aforementioned farm bill
report would support Minnesota's efforts to ensure food feeds people
first, and food waste is reduced. Through food waste reduction, plus
composting of any remaining food, the state could mitigate the
environmental consequences of food waste as well.
Organic/Nutrition
Most people buy organic because they want to eat healthier. But the
health benefits of organic agriculture extend far beyond individual
dinner plates. Organic farmers produce healthy food without toxic
pesticides and use climate-friendly practices that lower greenhouse gas
emissions and boost resiliency. Local and regional food producers--
including areas where organic farming is highly concentrated--can also
provide critical economic stability in rural communities. The 2023 Farm
Bill offers an opportunity to continue long-standing support of organic
farmers and ranchers in Minnesota and throughout the country.
Adoption of new procurement priorities for the USDA Farm to School
program. California launched a new Farm to School program in 2021. Like
all farm to school programs, including Minnesota's, the program in
California seeks to improve the health and well-being of its most
vulnerable children, while creating much needed stable markets for the
state's smaller scale farmers and ranchers. It dispersed $8.5M in
grants during its first year and is poised to spend up to $30M this
year to support local school food procurement. California's approach is
unique, however, because it commits to giving school districts extra
resources when they purchase from local growers using organic and other
climate-smart systems and practices. In the next farm bill, the Federal
Farm to School program should adopt California's approach and offer
schools around the country who prioritize climate-smart organic
procurement larger grants.
Authorize and Fund New Federal Organic & Regenerative Transition
Programs. To encourage more producers to pursue organic agriculture and
realize the full potential of its climate, health, biodiversity and
other benefits, the next farm bill needs to continue to prioritize
well-funded transition programs for organic farmers. It will be
especially important to provide producer grants and expanded region-
specific technical assistance. The 2018 Farm Bill included several
programs to ease the path forward for organic producers.
To expand on that work, the upcoming farm bill should establish a
new organic transition program targeted specially to underserved
farmers and ranchers, including producers of color, in Minnesota and
beyond. They are the producers for whom the uncertainty during the
three year organic certification process poses the highest hurdle to
success. Smaller-scale farmers, and especially farmers of color,
typically operate on profit margins that are very thin. For these
producers, the process of transitioning to organic status is long and
hard, with a steep learning curve; that transition also adds to these
farmers' financial risk, however.
During the transition period, Federal law mandates these farmers to
rely exclusively on practices that improve soil health, foster
biodiversity, reduce reliance on harmful, fossil-fuel based pesticides
and fertilizers, and more. During transition, however, even while they
are investing time and money in these practices that are fully
compliant with organic standards, there is no additional financial
return generated since their products cannot be marketed and sold as
organic. This transition program would level the playing field,
empowering more producers with essential support that brings organic
within closer reach.
Increase Funding for Existing Organic Programs. Increase funding
for existing organic programs, especially those that focus on cost-
share, research, and the provision of technical assistance will help
make healthy, locally grown and climate-smart food accessible to more
Michigan families and around the country. These include the Organic
Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), the Organic
Certification Cost-Share Program (OCCSP), Organic Transitions Program
(ORG), and others like the Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education (SARE) program that serve the needs of both organic and
regenerative producers.
Conclusion
Our current food system leaves farms, rural America, farmers, and
ranchers vulnerable to potentially massive losses related to climate
change and ecosystem collapse. But it does not have to be this way.
With targeted farm bill policy changes and investments, we can
address the health of our air, water and food, the health of food
workers and the public; access to healthy, affordable, and culturally
appropriate food, and racial inequity. At the same time, the 2023 Farm
Bill offers the opportunity to scale up public investment to help
realize a clean energy economy in rural America, bringing more job
opportunities to rural communities. These investments could also
replace and/or upgrade critical rural infrastructure that is now
failing, such as leaded water pipes, and which deprives people across
Minnesota and the nation, especially those in lower-income rural areas,
from having reliable access to sanitation and safe drinking water.
While we have the opportunity, Congress should take the most
aggressive steps possible to address these issues through the farm
bill.
A 2022 REVIEW OF THE FARM BILL
(PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD)
----------
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Fremont, OH.
The Committee met at 12:00 p.m., E.D.T., at Terra State
Community College, 2830 Napoleon Road, Fremont, OH, Hon. Cheri
Bustos presiding.
Members present: Representatives Bustos and Kaptur.
Staff present: Josh Tonsager, Ellis Collier, Detrick
Manning, and Dana Sandman.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHERI BUSTOS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM ILLINOIS
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. I'll say
good afternoon since it just turned noon on the dot. I am
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos from the State of Illinois, and I am
Chair of the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee.
And so Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur was kind enough to make
sure that one of our field hearings, slash, listening sessions
was held right here in Ohio. She worked very hard to make sure
that the House Agriculture staff was here and that you all will
have a voice in what the 2023 Farm Bill will look like.
So, any thanks that you can give to Congresswoman Kaptur
would be welcomed. So I'm going to start at----
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. So officially this is called, A 2022 Review of
the Farm Bill: Perspectives from the Field. And rather than ask
our family farmers or those who represent different segments of
agriculture, asking you to come out to Washington, D.C., where
it's convenient for us, because that's where a lot of our work
is done, we're going to you. And this is designed to be a full-
on listening session.
I don't claim to have all the answers, Congresswoman Kaptur
does not claim to have all the answers, but we do have a lot of
questions and we want to make sure that we get the farm bill
right, because it will be our policy for the next 5 years.
Now, just a few of the ground rules, this will be live-
streamed, it is being live-streamed right now by our House
Agriculture staff. They are also here as a scribe, so to speak.
So what you share with us will be recorded and will be taken
back to Washington, D.C. As the 2023 Farm Bill is written, your
voices will be part of that.
And so nothing is off the table. I kind of frame this as,
what should we keep doing as far as like the last farm bill?
What should we stop doing? What should we start doing? Now,
where I come from, we have 9,600 family farms in the
Congressional district I represent in central and western and
northern Illinois.
We are corn country, we're soybean country. And of course,
we've got our fair share of dairy and hog farms and beef cattle
as well, all of which I have represented in my family. I know
Tony Logan is here, right here. He ran Rural Development for
the State of Ohio at the same time my cousin did, who ran it
for the State of Illinois.
And so I was lucky enough to meet Tony several years ago
when he came to visit in Illinois. But, Marcy is going to make
some announcements on recognizing folks that are here. So what
we're going to do, you all had to sign up and that is so that
we know who's speaking.
We've asked you if you represent any certain organization,
that is represented in what you signed up. We're going to call
five people up at a time. And the reason that we're doing that,
the very first hearing that we did, we had everybody just come
up and they were standing for a very long time, so we want to
do that out of respect for you so you're not standing for so
long.
So we'll call five up at a time and then we'll call the
next five, et cetera. We would ask if you could keep your
comments to 3 minutes. That is because we want to make sure
that everybody who is signed up has a chance to speak.
We will be here for a total of 2 hours, so until 2.00 p.m.
sharp. Since we're Midwesterners, we like to start on time, and
we like to end on time. And so if we have to make any
adjustments on the length of time that people will speak, we
will do so as it gets a little bit closer. But please be
respectful of that time.
We will have Emmitt--Ellis up here will hold up the sign
that says, ``Time is up,'' when you're at your 3 minute mark,
so if you could just kind of keep track of that as much as
possible. So those are really the ground rules.
Just a little bit further background. This is the fifth in
a series that we've done of these field hearings, slash,
listening sessions all over the country. And again, it is very
selective in where we go. So Congresswoman Kaptur did a great
job of making sure that she was convincing and that we had to
make sure that we were in Ohio.
But we've been in Arizona. There has been a session in
northern California. There has been a session in--or I'm sorry,
Washington, in Minnesota. We just did kind of an informal one
at the Illinois State Fair in my hometown of Springfield,
Illinois. So that gives you a little bit of a feel for where
we've been.
And we will kind of summarize this at the end as far as
what we're hearing that may or may not be different from what
we've heard before. So I think those are pretty much the ground
rules. Three minutes if you could. Try to follow that time
limit there.
We'll call five up at a time. This is being recorded. And
oh, one last thing, if you, maybe you are shy or do not feel
comfortable coming up and speaking to us, that's okay, too.
You can go to our website, which is--where's Josh? I know
Josh knows it.
Mr. Loebert. agriculture.house.gov.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay, agriculture.house.gov, and you can let
us know anything out of that. Again, I'll repeat it,
agriculture.house.gov. All right, so please feel free to share
anything there.
Or if you feel like you didn't get enough time to share
your views with us, that is another way to make sure that you
do share your thoughts, okay.
So with that, again, thank you very much. And I would like
to give a warm welcome for everybody here for your
Congresswoman, Marcy Kaptur.
[Applause].
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARCY KAPTUR, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM OHIO
Ms. Kaptur. Thank you, everyone, for coming such a
distance, and especially Congresswoman Bustos, who's been
traveling coast to coast. Thank you very much for coming to
Ohio. And I can guarantee you that Chair Bustos has a love for
our part of America. She never forgets it.
Thank you very, very much. And we're excited to be here
today. We thank you for coming. I will not make long remarks,
but as the Chair said, this is an opportunity for us to impact
the shape of the 2023 Farm Bill. And we're all ears today. I
want to thank Terra State Community College for having us.
And I wanted to mention, for those of you who are following
what Congress does, Chair Bustos chairs the General Farm
Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. Some people have
already spoken to me about crop insurance coming in the door,
so I think you will get some statements and some questions
before we finish today.
We have some special guests that I should mention here from
the Farm Credit Administration. If I could ask Mike Stokke and
Willy Meaux to stand up. Back here if anyone has any specific
questions. Thank you, very, very much.
[Applause].
Ms. Kaptur. And then I wanted to say to officers who are
probably standing outside, but Sergeant Scully and Captain
Conger from the Fremont Police Department are here with us. And
Tony Logan has already been introduced, former U.S. Department
of Agriculture Rural Development Director.
Boy is that an asset to Ohio, continuing asset. So we thank
you all very much for being here. And I want to thank the Chair
for joining us at the Sandusky County Fair today.
We saw lots of generations. I did not know, I hope this
doesn't hurt her in any way, she's an Angus beef producer
family----
Mrs. Bustos. Yes.
Ms. Kaptur. I didn't know that. That might trouble other
specialties but I just----
Mrs. Bustos. Tony Logan knew that.
Ms. Kaptur. I just mention that. My particular interest, I
didn't grow up on a farm, but our dad and mom owned a small
family market in a place called Rockford, Ohio.
And in that facility, dad made all of his own homemade
sausages and veal loaf and all these things that you can't buy
much anymore, and he had a real close relationship with
farmers. And that's where I really began to understand how the
rural economy works and doesn't work for the people who
actually do the hard work.
I will never forget how difficult it was for dad to buy
prime beef when the very big houses from out of town came in
and bought out all of the meat houses in downtown Toledo, which
was the center of sales at that point.
And then when he went to buy certain field crops and he was
told, ``Oh, well, you can't get those anymore because they've
been bought on consignment by a big buyer.'' And I remember how
hard it was for a small family grocer to provide the kind of
quality product that he wanted to customers.
And you know what, we're in the same fight today. So I
just, it's a little different. It's changed a bit. But I have
an affinity for agriculture, and of course, for what our family
and what I learned as a child. And so I've seen firsthand the
determination and the hard work of farmers across our region.
And as we move toward hearing what's on your mind, let me
just say this, I think considering in this new farm bill, a
special title for the Great Lakes. And I want you to think with
me about that, because Lake Erie is our closest lake, the
warmest of the Great Lakes, with significant challenges
environmentally.
Millions of people draw their life from the water that
comes from our Great Lakes. And we simply have to have more
attention to what is happening to the Great Lakes region as the
West dries up, with added rainfall here, as you all well know.
We have much higher wash out and we live in the most drainage
ditch tiled part of the United States of America.
I actually believe we have to re-engineer the Western
Basin, and Lake Erie is the largest basin in the entire Great
Lakes. It drains into our lakes, and it takes lots with it. And
nature is changing in the region. I don't know the whole
answer. I don't know. We've got a research project going on in
Defiance.
We're working with hog producers here in Ohio to put
special research stations on their fields to try to figure out
what's going on. But this is something that we haven't seen
before. It's been with us for a couple of decades now, but with
added rainfall, I really don't have an answer, but I do think
that the Western Basin of Lake Erie does need its own section
in the farm bill just for that as a pilot for the rest of the
Great Lakes region, because it is--some of you might live near
the lake, some of you might go up there, you see the big algal
blooms.
You can see the changing plankton in the lakes. And we
wonder about successive fish populations coming down the road.
There are a lot of issues here that are quite complicated, and
I really do believe that the largest body of freshwater on
Earth deserves more attention than it's ever been given in the
farm bill.
So that's a perspective I hold. I wanted to mention also in
looking at ways of holding back water. Some of our farmers are
using sub-irrigation. Some of our folks out in the western part
of the state have been talking about additional reservoirs.
We are very open to your ideas in terms of what to do about
this added rainfall. In terms of research, I used to work for
the Andersons many years ago and in the cob division and we
found many uses for what was then field waste and it has become
a big industry now.
And one of the--I was along with Senator Harkin and Senator
Lugar then from Iowa, from Indiana, we wrote the first title of
a farm bill to add fuel in addition to food, fertilizer, and
forestry. We said, we're going to give you a fourth F, we're
going to call fuel.
The Department of Agriculture said, no, we don't want it.
That was the answer in Washington. That taught me a great deal
that you never just listen to the experts in agriculture in
Washington. That in fact the American people know better, and
now we have a giant industry.
But I heard something the other day in a meeting on
hydrogen, because we're trying to create a hydrogen hub in this
region, help move to the hydrogen economy for the country, and
I learned that corncobs are a source of hydrogen.
I thought, oh, I got to know more about that. And so I
share that with you to say that research means a lot. Your
ideas about research mean a lot to me, and I will try to move
those along.
Finally, one of the other big areas that I'm personally
interested in as we move toward a new farm bill is how to move
the money that flows through the Department of Agriculture back
to local farmers. Here's an example.
Many years ago, I was a part of creating the senior farmers
market coupon program, some of you may have heard of that. We
had to fight the Department tooth and nail, and we still do, to
try to get attention to that. That has helped our farmers'
markets grow. I just talked to Mr. Bergmann this morning and I
said, do seniors ever come to your market? He goes, oh, do they
come.
And I said, yes, it's successful, but we can't get it to be
big enough in the national agriculture legislation. What's the
problem with Washington that it can't see our local farmers and
it's so hard to expand this program? So your ideas for how to
use the tools of the Federal Government to move income back to
local farmers interests me a great deal. And here's one
example.
I don't know if anyone here represents food banks, but if
you look at the large amount of commodities that come to our
food banks, local farmers are the biggest contributors to our
food banks. Why shouldn't food banks be able to offer contracts
to farmers to grow certain things locally, whether it's animals
for beef, whether it's pork, whether it's vegetables.
Why shouldn't we move them into a position where they can
also help strengthen local agriculture? What can we do in the
farm bill itself to help move those dollars back to those who
are the most generous and who are the most hardworking? And
they may not be the biggest farms in America, but they're
productive farms and they're productive for the size of farm
they are.
And so I'm very interested in those kinds of efforts for
local agriculture. So let me just end and say that I look
forward to everyone coming together here today. I brought
something from--as a gift to Congresswoman Bustos to thank you
so very much for coming, okay. And we are thrilled to have you
here.
[Applause].
Ms. Kaptur. Thank you. Thank you for using your hours here
in our beautiful state in this wonderful county and region, and
also the best tomato soup in America made by--yup, Dei Fratelli
brand made by a little bit north of here by the Hertzel family
and all their employees.
And this is a product that should be everywhere in America,
but it isn't because of the way the supermarkets work and the
way that product is procured and moved around this country. So
I just give you a can of this because that is the best and it
deserves even more market share.
The supermarkets make you pay all this money even to get on
the shelf. And it really hurts our local, smaller producers and
regional producers. So that's something else I'm interested in,
in terms of helping our folks move their product to bigger
markets and not be held down and not be able to expand. So
thank you very much for that----
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Congresswoman.
Ms. Kaptur.--and we look forward--I'm going to turn the
microphone back to Chair Bustos. Thank you so much for coming.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Congresswoman. And I
will eat this with joy. I'm very excited about that. I love
tomato soup. All right, so here's our first five, Kirk Vashaw,
and then I will have you, the people who get up there, you can
talk about your affiliations. So, Kirk, you're going to go
first.
Joe Logan, second. Julie Chase-Morefield, Nate Andre, Bill
Myers. So those are our first five, if you want to line up in
that order, and then I will announce the next five when we
start getting down to the last few.
And again, Congresswoman Kaptur and I are in full-on
listening mode, and we very much look forward to hearing your
thoughts. All right, Kirk.
STATEMENT OF KIRK VASHAW, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SPANGLER
CANDY COMPANY, BRYAN, OH
Mr. Vashaw. First, thank you so much for coming and
listening. My name is Kirk Vashaw. I'm the President and CEO of
Spangler Candy Company.
So maybe a little odd that you're in an agricultural forum,
we're talking to a manufacturer, but we are part of the supply
chain and I wanted to kind of represent that view. But we are
on fourth generation Spangler. We've been in Bryan, Ohio since
1906. Bryan, Ohio's population 8,000, and in Williams County.
We make Dum-Dums lollipops. We are the only manufacturer of
candy canes left in the United States. We make Bit-O-Honey as a
recent acquisition for us, and just we buy quite a bit of
agricultural commodities.
And so one of my requests or our request is as we think
about the farm bill and think about supporting agricultural
needs, we also need to support the manufacturing base because
we're buying--we're a little company, but we buy over $3
million worth of corn every year.
And of course, sugar is our largest ingredient, but we also
buy soy and dairy and almonds, which are from California. No
almonds around here. But we made a recent acquisition of Bit-O-
Honey, and not to get into the pension legislation (H.R. 2617,
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Division T--SECURE 2.0
Act of 2022), but that pension legislation that I believe you
all both voted for allowed us to bring those jobs to Bryan,
Ohio.
There are only 40 jobs, but 40 jobs is a lot for our
community who are very, very excited. And another thing just to
understand about manufacturing is it's very, very labor
intensive, and the fact that it supports a lot of other jobs up
and down the supply chain, including some of our agricultural
friends.
So for every one job we have in Bryan, Ohio, we create ten
other jobs up and down the supply chain. Some of that's
agriculture. Some of that's truck drivers. Some of that is IT
people.
Some of that is people doing our insurance, and 401(k), and
doctors, and things like that. So, that benefits all of us in
this room. So we want to make sure that we're supporting our
agriculture customers, which is food manufacturing.
In the ask that we have, particularly in a story, we ran
out of sugar this year in April because of supply chain issue.
And as you know, the sugar program is run by the government. It
is a very old program. It has not been reformed. And when there
was supply chain issues, the government couldn't react.
And when we had to stop our production, it means that we
weren't buying corn, means we weren't buying soybeans, and it
really affected us and affected everybody in the room. So I
think it's time to really look at that program, see what we can
do to make sure that we're supporting U.S. jobs, because
Chicago used to be the candy capital of the country.
It's not anymore. Most big companies have moved offshore,
and you have some folks like us that are just committed to Ohio
and growing our community, but we need some help. So that's my
ask.
Mrs. Bustos. Who did you buy Bit-O-Honey from?
Mr. Vashaw. Pearson's Candy company up in Saint Paul,
Minnesota.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay.
Mr. Vashaw. And just to understand, Bit-O-Honey uses that--
sugar is not the main ingredient in that one. Corn syrup and
honey and almonds, those are the most expensive ingredients, so
we could afford to bring that to Bryan, Ohio.
But some of the other products that we make, like candy
canes, we do have a manufacturing facility in Mexico.
My goal is to get it, the 200 jobs that we have in Mexico
can be in Bryan, Ohio, but we just need to buy sugar on the
free market and be competitive with Canada and Mexico. I think
we can--in fact, I know we can do it because we already make
some candy--excuse me, candy canes in Bryan.
Ms. Kaptur. Madam Chair, may I say something here?
Mrs. Bustos. Yes, of course.
Ms. Kaptur. This morning at the County Fair here, when I
first ran for office, there was a wonderful man named Chad
Mawk. I just found out he's still living. I didn't know that:
95 and he's still getting around. I want to find him.
But anyway, he was a sugarbeet farmer and he drove his
truck, we went everywhere, to stop something called NAFTA that
they said would be a bonanza for America's farmers, right. And
what's happened with that, it wiped out all of our sugarbeet
production here. Michigan still has some. We try to help them
out there in Michigan. We should talk about sugar and the sugar
crop itself.
And ultimately, he had to get out of that business. And you
mentioned the jobs that have gone to Mexico. He knew those jobs
would go down there. He was a very wise farmer. And now if you
go to Mexico, we lament about the terrible drug problem we have
in this country.
But if you go to all the places where the white corn used
to be grown--Mexicans like white corn, red and yellow corn,
right. And you go to towns in Jalisco, in Tamaulipas, in
Oaxaca, and I've been everywhere, and their white corn market
was wiped out because of NAFTA and guess what replaced it?
Heroin. Heroin.
And the drugs that are being moved north now directly
resulted from the loss of income for those farmers. This is a
continental problem nobody is addressing. I'm not sure we can
address it in the farm bill.
But until those people down there get replacement crops and
we get back what we lost, I'm not sure sugarbeet--maybe farmers
don't want to do sugarbeets anymore. It's a lot of work. But I
still remember when we had sugar processing right here in our
region and we lost it.
Mr. Vashaw. Yes, there's--yes, there's nothing in Ohio now.
No sugar growers or processors. But I think there's a way to
support agriculture while also supporting our U.S.
manufacturing, and I think that's the challenge of the farm
bill, to balance both of those things.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes. Kirk, thank you very much. And I'm sure
that Ohio would welcome those 200 jobs to come home.
Mr. Vashaw. Bryan, Ohio definitely would. We're ready for
them.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes, that's great. Kirk, thank you very much.
Really appreciate it. Joe Logan. And as Joe walks up, Joe was
kind enough to walk us around the Sandusky County Fair. And we
really appreciate that. Joe, introduce yourself and who you're
associated with.
STATEMENT OF JOSEPH LOGAN, PRESIDENT, OHIO FARMERS UNION,
KINSMAN, OH
Mr. Joseph Logan. Good morning, and thank you. Yes, I'm Joe
Logan. I'm a farmer from northeastern Ohio and President of the
Ohio Farmers Union. And thanks to both of the Congresswomen for
joining us today to talk about an enormous issue and that's the
U.S. farm bill.
As we've kind of touched on today, it does not only a
little bit of everything, but a lot of everything that we've
got to do. But a couple of issues I'd like to just touch on
today. Congresswoman Bustos talked about corn and soybean
country out in Illinois. We have the same thing here in Ohio.
You drive across Ohio, you see thousands and thousands of
acres of corn and soybeans, and 90 percent of the result of
those crops goes into livestock, either cattle or poultry or
hogs. And the markets for those, as Congresswoman Kaptur
alluded to, has been eroded through decades and decades of
large producers buying up small producers, or small processors,
shutting those down and consolidating control over those
marketplaces.
So I know that USDA has made an initiative to try to
address that issue. And I know that we've had some ongoing
discussions with a number of Members of Congress about Cattle
Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2021 (H.R. 5992). And I
think Cindy Axne from Iowa is sort of championing that in the
House and in the Senate as a bipartisan sponsor.
So that is one of the issues that we think will begin to
open the door to a more competitive and more transparent
marketplace for livestock, which is one of the keys to bringing
sort of a fairness back to the marketplace so that of cattle
producers, hog producers, and poultry producers of all sizes
can compete in the marketplace fair rather than having to have
a contract with one of the big three or one of the big four
livestock processors.
As you know, livestock processing has consolidated into
where now the beef market is 85 percent controlled by the top
four, hogs over 60 percent, and poultry over 50 percent.
Economists have said for generations now that when that CR,
concentration ratio gets over 40 percent, we're in a market
that is really no longer competitive.
So we really need to address that. I think this Cattle
Price Discovery and Transparency Act will be one useful tool to
try to move us toward a more equitable marketplace where
farmers of all sizes can compete.
To touch on another issue that I'd like to bring to your
attention. We live in an era of climate change now, and I think
that crop insurance has been very important in that. I think we
probably need to reconfigure crop insurance in a way that
rewards farmers for building soil health, and that is a way
that we can both improve the overall resilience of agriculture
and also save money on the crop insurance payments. Thank you
very much.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Joe. I appreciate that.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Julie Chase-Morefield, who's President of
Second Harvest Food Bank. So the food banks are represented
here.
STATEMENT OF JULIE CHASE-MOREFIELD, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF NORTH CENTRAL
OHIO, LORAIN, OH
Ms. Chase-Morefield. Thank you. Yes. I'm President and CEO
of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio. And we serve
Lorain, Erie, Huron, and Crawford Counties. But I'm also Board
Chair of the Ohio Association of Food Banks as well. We're
proud in Ohio to have an incredible relationship through the
Ohio Agriculture Clearance Program with our farmers, growers,
and producers across the state.
And if you would come to my food bank right now, you would
see beautiful produce from Huron County sitting in our
warehouse ready to go out for distribution. It's been an
incredible relationship, and so we're grateful, especially
during this time of year, to have so much amazing food in our
warehouse. Unfortunately, the need for food assistance has
continued to increase.
It declined somewhat during the pandemic, but we are now
still 35 percent higher than we were pre-pandemic, but there's
less food in our warehouses. So unfortunately, The Emergency
Food Assistance Program has declined pretty dramatically over
the last year. We had additional food through the CARES Act
(Pub. L. 116-136), through trade mitigation, and through the
Farmers to Families food boxes.
But all of that's gone. And unfortunately, we've seen this
massive decline which has forced us into purchasing food at
three times the rate that we were pre-pandemic. So, \1/3\ of
our operating budget right now is dedicated to purchasing food,
and right now a third of our warehouse is purchased food, which
is really unsustainable as a food bank.
So we are looking for an increase in TEFAP on behalf of the
food banks across the country. I know Feeding America has asked
for this as well, which represents the 200 food banks across
the country. Additionally, we serve seniors through the
Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which has been a lifeline
for so many seniors.
Right now we see about 25 percent across the state of who
is served at food pantries as seniors over the age of 60. It is
an incredible program that allows them to receive a box of food
every single month. We're able to, through the generosity of a
donor, actually provide produce and some protein items that go
along with that box, but we know that that funding is critical.
But one of the challenges with CSFP is being able to
deliver it to seniors because seniors don't have
transportation. So we've actually have an innovative program
with Project Dash through DoorDash to deliver boxes directly to
seniors, and we hope to be able to continue to increase that.
We need increased funding for CSFP to be able to do that.
But we're also grateful for additional programs like the WIC
coupons, like the Senior Coupons program, because we see
seniors, and especially work participants, who need that
nutritious food. So we want to see those increased as well.
And I know that Congresswoman Kaptur has also mentioned the
idea of contract growing for food banks, which we think could
be an amazing pilot. We know we have incredible relationships
within the State of Ohio with farmers and growers, and we
believe that this could be really beneficial to both the food
banks ability to be able to provide food, but also to be able
to help our local farmers and growers.
We know that unfortunately, sometimes with the USDA
contracts, a lot of our small farmers and growers are left
behind, farmers and growers that we work closely with, and we
see the impact that they have on their communities. And so we'd
love to see that increased. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Julie. All
right, Nate Andre, then we'll have Bill Myers and then Paul
Herringshaw after that. Nate.
STATEMENT OF NATE ANDRE, OWNER, ANDRE FARMS LLC, WAUSEON, OH
Mr. Andre. Nate Andre from Fulton County. [Technical
problem]--we're glad that you're here today. Today, I'd like to
talk about the land-grant system. For many years, what made the
United States great is we educated everybody. And today, we're
having a work shortage problem.
We have not enough ag workers. We only have two percent
farmers, right. You should go to college for ag. And now we're
starting to see where do we find more students for that? So
what we'd like to do is not forget the land-grant system. We
have Ohio State here today and we have Cental State here.
Also a new land-grant in Ohio. And we want you not to
forget some of the funds for the Smith-Lever and the other
funds, that we need to keep the land-grants doing that,
educating the general public and creating new workforce through
the 4-H, through STEM, and through other activities. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Nate. Bill
Myers, Paul Herringshaw, and then Adam Ward. Bill.
STATEMENT OF BILL MYERS, OWNER, MYERS FARMS, OREGON, OH
Mr. Myers. Well, thank you. I appreciate you bringing this
to northwest Ohio at a time you probably wouldn't have to. So
thank both of you for taking the time to show up here and
listen to our concerns.
Three minutes isn't much time, but I'll do the best I can.
I applaud you for looking at the Maumee Basin and wanting to
create some hybrid design. I think you're spot on. That's an
area that needs to be looked at from a pilot program. As a
farmer, I'm a fourth generation farmer.
My daughter's the fifth generation farmer. And we're right
across the street in the Maumee Bay State Park. So Lake Erie is
very, very important to me, and the fact that we interact with
a lot of people that bird, tourism, use the lake. I get to hear
it all. I get the target on my back. I get to hear it all.
And I empathize with that. We're in a time in agriculture
that makes me nervous. I was young back in the 1980s and my
father had the reins, so I was less concerned. But we're in a
time now where I hear there's discussion on lowering the
subsidy that we pay for crop insurance, and if anybody in the
room that's old enough that's farmed remembers the old days
that if you had a disaster, you got the money 2 years later
when you didn't need it, somebody else needed it.
So the reform of crop insurance that it is today has been,
in my operation, fantastic because there isn't very often that
the whole country gets hurt by production, that is always
certain areas, and that money gets shifted around. Our premium
might go to Illinois or Texas today, next year or last year a
lot of it was used in northwest Ohio because of the weather
impact.
So I would suggest you look really strongly at not lowering
the amount of the subsidy because it's going to be tough in ag
at this time with rising inputs, fuel, everything else that's
happened to us. I get that 1980s thing banging on me again with
interest rates, you know. Most of our real estate loans are
locked in at an equitable interest rate. All our operating
loans are variable rate.
We're very much on the hook as interest rates go nuts. If
they do what they did in the 1970s, they were moving packed
with firearms. So there's lots of things that we have to look
at from the producer standpoint of agriculture to make sure
that the grocery shelves aren't empty.
Because if you want to freak out the population, 3 months
ago when people went to Kroger's and areas of shelves had
nothing, that gets their attention. So I would just like to
make sure that, and generally it is, cool heads prevail and
when you look at the history of things and don't forget,
history always repeats itself in some form or fashion, let's be
proactive to make sure that we don't create a problem or pull
the rug out from the producer at the time we can't afford it.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Bill. Paul Herringshaw,
then Adam Ward and then Hilary Poulson. I might have that last
name wrong but, it was hard for me to read this writing. All
right, Paul.
STATEMENT OF PAUL HERRINGSHAW, OWNER/OPERATOR, HERRINGSHAW
FARMS, BOWLING GREEN, OH
Mr. Herringshaw. Yes. Thank you. First, I would like to say
thank you to Congresswoman Kaptur and Congresswoman Bustos for
the opportunity to discuss a couple of farm bill items and to
participate in today's listening session. Also, I'd like to
welcome Congresswoman Bustos to the great State of Ohio.
Mrs. Bustos. It's good to be here, thank you.
Mr. Herringshaw. I farm with my son near Bowling Green,
where we grow corn, wheat, and soybeans. We have adopted
several best practices on our farm to try and reduce nutrient
runoff and aid in soil fertility and improve soil health.
I've been a member of, for many years, with the Ohio Corn
and Wheat Growers Association, which is an active member of the
National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Congress
Association. Most of my comments today are directed towards the
wheat crop.
Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association did a survey of its
members concerning the farm bill, and the top priority from
that survey was protecting crop insurance. Federal crop
insurance is a major tool for risk management for a vast
majority of wheat and corn growers. We've seen attacks on crop
insurance from both the left and the right.
But crop insurance is an incredibly important tool to help
farmers mitigate the risk. Considering its effectiveness in
helping farmers mitigating risk, I find it concerning when I
hear attacks against this critical management tool.
I would encourage Congress to look at ways to enhance crop
insurance, both in terms of effectiveness and cost for farmers.
The cost to purchase crop insurance has increased in recent
years, and it would be helpful to allow higher coverage levels
at more affordable premiums. Congress should also look at
tweaking existing programs so they can be more effective.
Crop insurance has demonstrated itself to be an invaluable
tool for wheat farmers in Ohio, and across the country where we
see more frequent weather disruptions and unprecedented
increase in prices for inputs. I encourage Congress to continue
looking for ways to improve the farming safety net.
The reference price per wheat should be investigated and I
strongly recommend that it be increased. The current price is
not aligned with the current cost of production unless farmers
fail too often.
Finally, exports are vital to all of American agriculture,
and Congress should help enhance exports by increasing the
funding for the Market Access Program and Foreign Market
Development Program.
About \1/2\ of the wheat grown in the United States each
year is destined for foreign markets, and these programs are
critical to successfully exporting a crop and have demonstrated
a strong return on investment for all of American agriculture.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity to present to you
in today's listening session.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Paul. Adam Ward. Hilary, I think
it's Poulson. And then Eli Dean. Adam.
STATEMENT OF ADAM WARD, DIRECTOR, GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS, COLLEGE OF FOOD, AGRICULTURAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY,
COLUMBUS, OH
Mr. Ward. Thank you, Madam Chair and Representative Kaptur.
It's a pleasure to be here today. My name is Adam Ward. I'm
here on behalf of the Ohio State University's College of Food,
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and just wanted to
share a few things.
We have three campuses around the state, our statewide
campus, of course, we have a campus in Wooster and also in
Columbus. We also have 11 research stations, including one 3
miles down the road that exhibits all the great work of our
faculty and staff. It's really focused on some of the issues
you've already heard about with research around disease, pests,
and just general crop management.
As you well know, the land-grant institution, as we heard
from Nate, is really integrated in every community across the
state. And it is a pleasure to hear that you are already over
at Sandusky County Fair and meeting with those young 4-H'ers.
The future of American agriculture as they're out there
exhibiting their projects and learning the life lessons that
come with 4-H, and I'm certainly grateful, as many of us in the
room are to be part of that.
Just a few quick things. As we're thinking about the farm
bill and thinking about the research title, we encourage you to
take a good long look at Smith-Lever and Hatch Act and think
about ways that we can continue to increase the funding around
Smith-Lever and Hatch long-term.
We're seeing a remarkable investment by other countries
across the world in agriculture as they're completely outpacing
Americans' public investment in agriculture research. So in
order to keep us competitive, in order to keep us in front of
the rest of the world, we're going to need to continue to see
that investment long-term to address some of the crop issues
that we're seeing, including the inability to grow sugarbeets
just down the road, and Celeryville, we can no longer grow
celery because of pathogens.
So we continue to address those challenges. But in order to
do so, we really think a strong look at the Research Facilities
Act (Pub. L. 88-74) through the farm bill process is something
that we should consider. Land-grant institutions like Ohio
State are facing challenges around infrastructure. Ohio State
University, for example, just in our college, has $336 million
in deferred maintenance that we're trying to address.
We're making major investments, including a wonderful new
facility that's almost complete, for controlled environment
agriculture. We also have in the pipeline a multi-species
animal learning center that we hope would be the envy of the
Midwest for our young people to come and learn about modern
agricultural production and practices.
But those investments are sorely needed. We have over $120
million in needs just in our classrooms. So as we look at this,
we're willing to make that investment and go raise the money,
but it'd be great to have a Federal partner right there with
us.
So we thank you for coming to Ohio. We thank you for coming
to hear some of these remarkable challenges that we have and
look forward to working with you as we move forward.
Mrs. Bustos. I'm going to inject, if I might have the
permission of the Chair. I'm controlled environmental
agriculture. The Committee that I chair in Washington is called
Energy and Water. It took us a decade or more to get the
Department of Agriculture in the Department of Energy to sign
an agreement to create the new structures that we can grow in
four seasons.
Because the current houses we have leach CO2.
Okay, they're great producers of CO2. Now, how are
we going to capture that and not have a go up there? And so
we've got the agreement signed, but they're not--in Washington,
if you try to get any two departments to work together, good
luck.
You'll need 100 years just to get them starting to talk.
But for this, we really need your help. We should drive your
little issue truck right in there and figure out a way, because
the answer lies in materials science, along with reuse of the
waste in the house in a way we haven't thought about before.
Obviously, a lot of houses are using very careful management of
water, of nutrients, and et cetera, and we've moved into
robotic picking in a lot of our homes, a lot of our houses.
So those are all good things about. But the basic structure
is really 20th century. We don't have a 21st century structure.
Maybe you have it in Columbus, but you should take a big lead
here in Ohio. Right now, as I understand it, Lorain County and
Lucas County are the two largest greenhouse growing counties in
Ohio.
And Michigan State obviously has a big interest in Michigan
that I think we're going to see that increase a lot because of
the climate. And we have to invent the mechanics of this in a
way that is world class.
So I'm glad you talked about that. That is a deep interest
of mine and there's money in the bills that we've just passed,
in the regular approps bills of the Department of Energy and
Agriculture to do what we're talking about. So Ohio State, take
the bull by both horns and help the country.
So just as a side note, in the bill that President Biden
just signed into law that Marcy and I both supported, the
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-169), there is $40
billion in there for rural America and $20 billion specifically
to agriculture.
So, I don't know enough about like how Ohio State would
apply for that or get some of that funding, but it is worth
looking into it, maybe you can partner with Congresswoman
Kaptur's office to see what's there.
May I ask one follow up question? You said that other
countries are investing more than we are in research. Can you
give us some examples. Like, is this China? Well, who's doing
this and what are they investing in and how does it look so
much different than what we're doing?
Mr. Ward. The Chinese investment in public funding for
research and agriculture research is almost twice as ours. I
can get you the actual numbers. I believe India is in that list
as well, also investing. The trend lines--we, through APLU, I'm
happy to share that information. We work very closely with
them, and we'll get that to you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Bustos. It's like a knife to your heart that when we
constantly hear that China is outdoing us, whether it's on
infrastructure or ag research or whatever it is. But it really
is a call to action to Members of the House and the Senate to
make sure that we don't keep getting beaten in things like
research that are our future. You talked about the 4-H'ers
being our future. And so as ag research gets us to where we
need to be for the future as well.
Mr. Ward. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes, thank you very much, Adam. Hilary, is it
Poulson? Okay, I'm sorry butchered it at first. All right,
Hilary.
STATEMENT OF HILARY POULSON, GROWING FORWARD SPECIALIST, FARM
CREDIT MID-AMERICA, ARCHBOLD, OH
Ms. Poulson. You did it. You did great. Congresswoman
Kaptur and Congresswoman Bustos, on behalf of Farm Credit Mid-
America, thank you for holding this session. My name is Hilary
Poulson. I am the Growing Forward Specialist for Farm Credit
Mid-America, where I help manage our dedicated program to serve
young, beginning, and small farmers here in Ohio.
You may know us for our lending policies, but I would like
to highlight the ways in which Farm Credit Mid-America invests
in the next generation of agriculture through loan programs,
community investments, and partnerships. Farm Credit
institutions serve farmers of all sizes. At Farm Credit Mid-
America, 81 percent of our customers are considered small
farmers.
We've also been called upon by Congress to develop programs
for young, beginning, and small farmers. Farm Credit Mid-
America does this through our growing forward program, which
couples a loan at a reduced interest rate and waived fees, with
personal and business financial education programs. Since this
program started in 2014, we've loaned more than $650 million to
1,400 customers.
In addition to providing financial products to farmers and
rural residents, we also invest in programs, organizations, and
communities that support farmer veterans, women farmers,
farmers of color, and farmers with disabilities. Since 2018,
Farm Credit Mid-America has invested nearly $1 million in 23
programs and projects to support emerging and underserved
farming communities.
One example of such an investment is our decade long
relationship with the City of Cleveland, Ohio and its urban
agriculture community. We, alongside other Farm Credit
institutions, help fund the Primary Urban Agriculture Grant
Program operated by the city called Gardening for Greenbacks.
This program provides grants of up to $5,000 to for-profit
urban farming businesses. Through this program, we met a group
of outstanding young--or outstanding urban farmers at the
Riddell Green Partnership in the Kinsman neighborhood of
Cleveland.
After learning about their urban farm, we began directly
investing in a program they administered to train military
veterans who want to learn how to become urban farmers. Farm
Credit Mid-America is also committed to supporting the next
generation of agriculture by investing in students' school
programs, 4-H, and FFA around Ohio.
One recent educational investment I would like to highlight
is located in Congresswoman Kaptur's district. We have worked
with the Center for Innovative Food Technology, or CIFT, and
the Hopkins STEM Academy in Toledo, Ohio, on an initiative
called Growing Roots.
This program introduces students in a predominantly urban
community to agricultural experiences and career paths. The
program launched last fall and is expected to reach up to 200
elementary school students who may not otherwise have exposure
to agricultural practices or direct engagement in the industry.
Again, thank you for holding this session, and Farm Credit
Mid-America stands ready to be a resource to you and your staff
as you tackle this critical policy issues before Congress.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you very much, Hilary. All right, quick
check in. We've got 34 people left to speak, all right. So I
hate to do this to you, but the last 34 are going to get 2
minutes instead of 3 minutes, all right. Sorry, so if you can
make your adjustments. All right, Eli Dean, Tony Logan, Roger
Wise, Vickie Askins. All right, Eli.
STATEMENT OF ELI DEAN, OPERATOR, TIMBERLANE ORGANIC FARMS, LLC,
BELLEVUE, OH; ON BEHALF OF OHIO
ECOLOGICAL FOOD AND FARM ASSOCIATION
Mr. Dean. All right. Hello, everyone. My name is Eli Dean,
and I'm here today to talk to you about crop insurance. But
first, a little bit about us. I'm here with my dad and my wife.
We farm about 750 acres of certified organic crops in Sandusky
County. And back when my grandfather was farming, 750 acres was
a large farm.
Now we're barely mid-sized. And I'm sure everyone in this
room, everyone in Congress, everyone at USDA, they're very
aware of the consolidation that's going on, has been going on,
and continues to go on within agriculture. And years ago,
policies were put in place for the existing subsidy programs
through USDA to help address this.
That's why there are means tests. That's why we all have to
fill out that AGI form every year. And USDA has awareness. But
that brings me back to crop insurance. Crop insurance does not
have these systems.
Now, crop insurance is my favorite program that I interact
with. I love crop insurance. It works great for our farm. It
works great for our communities. The fact that it's
individualized, it's reactive, and like it was already said,
the fact that if we have a disaster, we are compensated for it
quickly and in a way that in the spring we can take to our
banker and plan for the year. It's fantastic.
But there are adjustments that I think should be made. I
think the crop insurance needs to be brought in line in balance
with the rest of the goals of the subsidy programs that we
interact with and put some sort of limits, caps in place so
that the largest farms in the country don't keep getting
larger, while the smallest and the barely mid-sized ones like
ours can't compete.
And then from a taxpayer perspective, I think it makes a
lot of sense with all the discussion going on that our tax
dollars do not go to the richest farms, the richest one percent
in the country, and instead go to supporting our small farms in
all of our communities across the country and across the State.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Eli. Tony,
you're up.
STATEMENT OF TONY LOGAN, J.D., PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT, THE
RENEWABLES SPACE, LLC; FORMER OHIO STATE
DIRECTOR, USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT, COLUMBUS, OH
Mr. Tony Logan. Good afternoon, Acting Chair Bustos and
also Chairwoman Kaptur. I am glad, gratified to be here this
afternoon. Thank you so much for coming to Ohio. This is the
only meaningful chance most of us will have to testify before
the farm bill process. And I'll be talking briefly today about
agriculture's role on the effects of climate change through
soil carbon sequestration.
But my testimony on this project is going to start with two
words to you, and that is thank you. The Inflation Reduction
Act is absolutely momentous for agriculture, both here in Ohio
and around the country with, as you indicated, over $40 billion
for climate-smart agriculture in rural communities, extended
tax credits for biofuels, new tax credits for sustainable
aviation fuels, and billions in restoration, habitat
protection, and conservation.
Rural communities and farmers are now at center stage in
the fight to control and reduce atmospheric CO2
levels which currently threaten our planet. So thank you for
that, first of all. And if farmers in rural communities are to
play an enhanced role in mitigating climate change through soil
carbon sequestration and other climate-smart ag practices, will
require first and foremost a reliable, universal, and
enforceable standard for measuring both baseline carbon in the
soil and the amounts of carbon sequestered in soil over time.
If we can't reliably measure carbon, we can't manage. There
are still a lot of major debates in science and academia over
these testing methods. So to settle these disputes and pave the
way for a fair and equitable system of soil carbon
sequestration credit trading, we would need an honest broker.
And I would suggest that USDA, probably through the Natural
Resources Conservation Service, could be that agency. NRCS is
science based, has an existing regulatory process, and
significant local presence throughout the country.
The farm bill should help face those challenges now by
providing appropriations for climate staffing and upgrading in
that area. And then finally, we are lucky here in Ohio to have
the work being done by Dr. Rattan Lal, 2020 recipient of the
World Food Prize with the College of Food Ag Environmental
Sciences.
His work at the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center
at OSU, deserves additional and continued funding, as do those
similar research efforts in other states. So once again, I
thank you for your time. Thank you so much for coming to Ohio,
and we appreciate your efforts.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Tony. All right. Roger Wise, Vicky
Askins, Tyler Drewes, Angela Huffman, Jerome Cunningham. Roger.
STATEMENT OF ROGER WISE, TREASURER/SECRETARY, OHIO FARMERS
UNION, FREMONT, OH
Mr. Wise. Congresswoman, thank you for having us today and
thank you for coming to Ohio. I think renewable energy, we are
fortunate that we have a POET plant right down the road here
from us and many of us in this room partake of that.
And it's a wonderful opportunity for us to improve our corn
price as well help our environment. I would encourage in the
next farm bill to look at, in the Renewable Fuel Standard that
we raise the ethanol limit.
And there is evidence that at the 30 percent level, all of
the arguments about less mileage and not as good for engines
and all of that is negated. And I would suggest that a study be
made of that. I know the oil companies don't like to hear that.
They don't like to give up their share. But for the benefit
of the American public and our environment, I think it would be
very helpful for us to look at that very well. And at this
time, I will yield because that's all I have to say.
[Laughter].
Ms. Kaptur. I'm going to take his minute to say that was
POET down. I love POET at that company and what it has done for
America, and with the production of ethanol. But I think we're
going to reach the point where we can get to 15 percent.
Recently in Washington, we had a visit with--through a
company called ClearFlame with a mammoth semi-truck that drove
all the way to Washington on 100 percent ethanol. And John
Deere has been working with the Argonne National Labs, which is
under the committee that I chair over in Illinois. And they are
looking at a 100 percent ethanol driven tractor, if you can
believe that.
So the work on renewables--we're just at the beginning of
this new energy age. We're just at the beginning. We haven't
even scratched the surface yet. And so I just wanted to make
you aware of that and to think about the possibilities down the
road also with crops, what crops, which varieties, what crop
gives us the least BTU input for the greatest BTU output.
And we don't know the answer to that yet. And each part of
the country will be different, but we want the best science. I
agree with the gentleman who stood up from OSU. We need the
fine science here so we're winners early on rather than later
in the game. And we need all of your ideas.
All of your ideas matter, in the plant sciences and the
kind of fields that you plant and the kind of crops that you
plant. Everyone is a scientific creation by God that man is
still trying to understand, and we have to make the best use of
it. So I'm really excited, Madam Chair, that you live in
Illinois and that you have Argonne Lab.
I'm jealous that I have to drive over there to go see
what's going on, but it might be worth the trip someday. I'm
not going to do the trip for you, but I'd make sure you got in,
that Farm Bureau here and Farmers Union and all the groups,
take some of our farmers to actually see what's going on in the
transportation sector and energy. It's truly--it'll change the
Earth for the better.
Mrs. Bustos. Yes. Absolutely. Vickie, you're up. We have
Vickie Askins.
Ms. Askins. Good afternoon.
Mrs. Bustos. Hello. Good afternoon.
STATEMENT OF VICKIE ASKINS, MEMBER, OHIO FARMERS UNION; MEMBER,
LAKE ERIE ADVOCATES, CYGNET, OH
Ms. Askins. My name is Vickie Askins, and I'm a member of
the Ohio Farmers Union and the Lake Erie Advocates. As you all
know, Lake Erie has a huge algae problem which is fueled by
excess nutrients.
The Western Lake Erie Basin has had a huge influx of
concentrated animal feeding operations or factory farms. The
Ohio Farmers Union and the Lake Erie Advocates have both asked
for a temporary moratorium since there's so much of their
nutrients seem to be coming down the Maumee River.
Our team, of course, has also asked for a moratorium on
more factory farms. So I would humbly like to request that
there is no funding in the new farm bill for methane manure
digesters, which are a magnet for more factory farms to come in
to come. And there are two digester programs. There was one in
the former bill.
The Obama Administration gave Federal support for new
digesters. But the methane emissions actually rose by more than
15 percent, mostly because the number of livestock numbers went
up because they're a magnet for more factory farms to come in.
Under the new bill, under President Biden, there is a
common denominator and that would be Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack, who seems to be much more supportive of big ag than he
is family farmers. Digesters are very expensive.
They cost between $4 and $7 million each. Therefore, they
need government subsidies. They usually require a dedicated
staff to run them because of a high risk of explosion. Dairy
would need almost 3,000 cows to make it viable. It does nothing
to change the volume of the manure.
The manure does not magically disappear. They would still
have to apply the manure to the fields. And it also does
nothing to remove the phosphorus which is fueling the algae
blooms. So truly, if these digesters are such a winning
proposition, why should public money be spent?
Why not private investment? So once again, I appreciate you
being here and for letting me make comments. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you. Go ahead, Congresswoman.
Ms. Kaptur. Thank you, Madam Chair. We could have a whole 3
hours just on this subject. The Western Basin of Lake Erie--and
thank you for coming today. The Western Basin of Lake Erie, I
said, is the biggest one in the entire Great Lakes, the biggest
drainage basin. It goes up into Michigan, kind of a little
north of Flint South.
But anyway, it's up there in lower Michigan. It goes over
into Indiana, basically around Fort Wayne, and then it goes all
the way down to the Blanchard River. And we have problems down
there with water not being properly directed and so forth.
And it comes up the St. Mary's and then joins the St.
Joseph's and it becomes the Maumee. So if you look at the way
that the bowl operates, okay, within that Western Basin, oh,
gosh, the last time I looked, there were between 12 and 20
million animals of one sort or another.
So it outnumbers people significantly. And we have to have
a very good, and this is why I want a special title to the farm
bill for this region, because we've got to identify where those
places are. And frankly, I asked myself why we don't have
systems in place already that proactively use that manure for
power, number one, and fertilizer number two, in a way that is
very healthy.
I don't understand why their technology isn't just
automatically happening. But just know that I'm interested. And
I've seen applications in California where there are certain
types of, they almost look like cover lights--and there's money
in the Federal Government, by the way, to do this right now at
the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture.
But I'd start with the Department of Energy to turn that
waste into power, on farm power, and to be able to--I know
people were complaining about the old methane digesters. Oh,
Marcy, they don't work, the motor busts all the time, you know,
blah, blah, blah.
Well, there are all different kinds of technologies out
there now and we need to have a plan for the Western Basin
because you are correct, we're certainly far from perfect in
the way we're handling the environment that then dumps into the
lake.
And I'll just share this story with you because the Toledo
water system was shut down about 4 years ago, 4 or 5 years ago,
because toxic algal blooms got into the city water system.
And I recently had a meeting because of the infrastructure
bill, and I talked to people in the region and people who
worked with the water, freshwater systems, and I said, give me
your ideas for infrastructure.
The money is in the bill. We can fix what's wrong. And this
person says, it's a give me--all these people were over 50.
They'd lived in the region long enough to really understand how
it works. And I said, what's your major recommendation?
They said, Marcy, you need a second water intake for the
city of Toledo that's much deeper in the water. And in order
that you, the future generations, don't have to worry. So now
what I'm thinking about is Erie County's got a big draw for
Plum Brook.
And would it be possible to move water from Erie County
over to Lucas County and Toledo as a second water draw. I don't
know, but I'm looking for answers. And I'm sharing this with
you because some of you like me have lived here for a long time
and you have ideas. Now's the time.
With the infrastructure bill, we can do so much. It just
doesn't have to be from the agriculture bill. So Madam, thank
you so very, very much, Vicki, for putting this on the record
today. We've got a lot of work to do in the Western Basin in
order to make it healthy and safe for the generations to come.
Mrs. Bustos. Tyler, and forgive me if I mispronounce your
last name.
Mr. Drewes. It's Drewes.
Mrs. Bustos. Drewes?
Mr. Drewes. Drewes.
Mrs. Bustos. Drewes. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF TYLER DREWES, OPERATOR, DREWES FARMS; DISTRICT 2,
BOARD MEMBER, OHIO CORN AND WHEAT
GROWERS ASSOCIATION, CUSTER, OH
Mr. Drewes. I just want to say thank you for coming out
today. I want to say also thank you for both cosponsoring the
Next Generation Fuels Act of 2021 (H.R. 5089). We greatly
appreciate that--excuse me. My name is Tyler Drewes.
I am a producer from Custer, Ohio. I grow corn, soybeans,
wheat, alfalfa. I'm also a current board member for the Ohio
Corn and Wheat Growers Association. I came today to talk to you
about a couple of title programs within the farm bill, such as
the trade programs and Federal crop insurance.
With trade programs, in 2018, the farm bill made permanent
in mandatory funding for programs like the Market Access
Program and also the Foreign Market Development Program.
We use these programs to create overseas markets,
international markets for our products such as our corn, our
ethanol, and our DDGs. We've had tremendous success with these
programs. We partnered with other groups such as the U.S.
Grains Council and the Foreign Agricultural Service, and we've
just had tremendous successes.
With that being said, the funding for these programs has
remained the same since 2006. And I believe that we could have
an economic multiplying effect for Ohio and U.S. agricultural
exports and our international markets, as well as bring out
tremendous amount of value to rural businesses in America that
are related to agriculture, by increasing the funding for
these.
If we could increase the funding for the Market Access
Program to $400 million annually and the Foreign Market
Development Program to $69 million annually, I think we'll have
tremendous successes. Along with that, a few others have
mentioned about the Federal Crop Insurance Program. There have
been a few organizations that have proposed budget cuts and
reforms.
That would be very detrimental to producers across the U.S.
We use this as a risk mitigation tool for the tremendous amount
of risk we take on every year. Any cuts could make producers
ineligible for the programs and also increase costs. A robust
farm bill program is tremendously important.
In 2019 alone, Ohio had 1\1/2\ million acres of crop lands
that were not able to be planted. And my farm was one of those.
We had 80 percent of our intended coordinators were never able
to be planted.
So just wanted to thank you for your time, and I appreciate
all your efforts and our considerations for--everybody has to
be said today.
Mrs. Bustos. Tyler, how did you come up with those--how did
you come up with those numbers?
Mr. Drewes. They were provided to me through the group such
as Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. You don't know what it's based on
though? Like is it based on inflation since 2006?
Mr. Drewes. I do not know out the top of my head, but I can
give you those answers.
Mrs. Bustos. Okay. All right. I'd be curious.
Ms. Kaptur. Could I ask the question also, Madam Chair.
Could you provide for the record a suggestion to me what a
prior witness said about helping those who don't own as much
land be treated fairly in the crop insurance system?
Is there a formula or is there something we could use? An
inflator, deflator? How do we deal with the definition of what
that is and how to make sure that they get their fair share?
Mr. Drewes. I didn't have those answers with me right now.
Cannot tell you off the top of my head. But through the groups
of Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association and the National
Corn Association, we could definitely get you some answers on
that.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you. Thank you, Tyler. Angela Huffman.
Jerome Cunningham. Kristin Woodall. Sheldon Miller. Angela.
STATEMENT OF ANGELA HUFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER AND VICE PRESIDENT,
FARM ACTION; OWNER, WIDE-AWAKE FARM, WHARTON, OH
Ms. Huffman. Hello. My name is Angela Huffman. I'm a co-
founder of Farm Action and I farm in Wyandot County. I look
around our state and it's corn and soybeans farmland as far as
the eye can see, but not a lot of food.
COVID was a wake up call, but what about the next crisis?
Food security is national security, and we have neither. The
majority of this corn and soybeans becomes cheap industrial
livestock feed that ultimately benefits the meatpacking
monopoly or becomes unhealthy processed junk food.
The government nutritional guidelines recommend 50 percent
of our plate be filled with fruits and vegetables, yet only two
percent of farm supports go to their production. This is
backwards.
The only thing our food system guarantees is that the CEOs
of China, Smithfield, Brazil's JBS, and the American Cargill
family get richer. To grow all of this corn and soybeans, we
depend on synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
Glyphosate is in our air, water, rain and our bodies.
The integrity of the soil is nearly gone. Experts say we
have 60 years of farming left if this degradation continues.
And for what? So Germany's Bayer, Monsanto can sell more seeds
and chemicals and then turn around and get rich off our chemo
treatments.
Our foreign policy serves a handful of multinational
corporations when they need to serve our people. To start, we
need more investment in food, not feed. We must expand crop
insurance options to support more diversified operations and
provide government assistance for organic transition programs.
Let's build local to eat local. According to the Bucko
Quality Beef Association, in the 1960s, there were 17 federally
inspected slaughter plants in Columbus, Ohio, alone. By the
early 2000, there were none left in the entire state that could
process a truckload of cattle. During the pandemic, empty
shelves highlighted the vulnerability of our concentrated food
system.
Yellow Bird Food Shed, a community supported agriculture
program out of Mt. Vernon consistently provided me with great
local foods. By investing in our local and regional food
systems, we can make sure Ohio's farmers have reliable market
opportunities. The loan program should be expanded in the
upcoming farm bill.
USDA should also use its purchasing power to support the $1
billion investment in local and regional meat and poultry
processing. Finally, let's take care of better care of our
natural resources. Recipients of subsidized programs should be
required to commit to conservation practices.
Cover cropping can help farmers ease their dependence on
the corrupt and concentrated fertilizer industry. The COVER Act
(H.R. 8527, Conservation Opportunity and Voluntary Environment
Resilience Program Act) includes premium discount on Federal
crop insurance plans and should be written into the 2023 Farm
Bill.
We didn't get where we are overnight and we're not going to
fix it in one farm bill, but we have to begin to shift for the
sake of our farmers and all of us who eat. Thank you for the
opportunity and hosting this session today.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Angela. I hope you can turn that
into a piece of legislation, Angela. Jerome, you're up.
STATEMENT OF JEROME C. CUNNINGHAM, FREMONT, OH; ON BEHALF OF
SANDUSKY COUNTY FARM BUREAU
Mr. Cunningham. Thank you for inviting me to speak. When I
signed up back here, I thought we were signing in for the
meeting. Expected important people to be speaking.
Mrs. Bustos. You're all important.
Mr. Cunningham. Well, thank you. There are a couple of
things that are on my mind. When you set up the money for aid
programs, the programs need to work in the manner that the
farmers need. I'll give you an example.
I signed up for an EQIP program to expand my cover crop
acres on my farm. I had put 16 acres rye out to try and control
erosion in my river bottom. So I went and I thought, well, I'll
get some more money.
I'll expand further on my farm on more acres. They said,
have you ever tried to cover crops? Yes, I have 16 acres. Well,
then you know the value of that. You're not eligible for the
program. I don't think that should be. There's another thing I
want you to start thinking about, and that is the conservation
of our valuable farmland that we have.
If you go south of Indianapolis, you'll see what I mean.
Nice, flat, black farmland with huge buildings, bigger than I
ever thought I'd ever see in my lifetime. The same thing is
happening on the west side of Columbus.
They don't build on the hills. They build on a nice, flat,
easy to farm ground. And one of these days, all that ground is
going to be gone. And we're not going to be exporting. We're
going to be just having enough to get by. So those are
something that I want you to think about for the future. Thank
you.
Mrs. Bustos. It's a very deep thought. Kristin Woodall,
Sheldon Miller, Kristy Buskirk, Don Timmons. Kristin.
STATEMENT OF KRISTIN WOODALL, DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS, GREAT LAKES COMMUNITY
ACTION PARTNERSHIP, FREMONT, OH
Ms. Woodall. Good afternoon. And I would like to thank you
both for your contributions to the Agriculture Committee and
being here today to allow us to express our opinions and views.
I appreciate that.
I'm Kristin Woodall. I'm the Director of Community
Development Programs at Great Lakes Community Action
Partnership. One of our programs within my department is the
Rural Community Assistance Partnership Program, which is a
nationwide program throughout the entire United States.
And we operate the Great Lakes region, which includes both
Illinois and Ohio. I'm here today to talk a little bit about
the rural community development programs that are within the
farm bill.
Specifically, RCDI is one of those, and we are greatly
appreciative that there is something that focuses on rural
community development within the farm bill. However, we feel
that it's under-funded. For the past several years, it's been
only operating under $46 million within the entire nation.
So I'm here to support more funding for that program, and
to also look at possibly reducing the match that's required for
that. You're allowed to borrow--or you're allowed to apply for
up to $250,000 and that does have to match 1 to 1.
And sometimes that's a hardship for the communities to try
to do that. It is a very flexible program, so there's no real
one silver bullet that fits all rural communities, depending on
where they're at in the nation. And even within Ohio itself, to
develop programs, and to develop the communities themselves
takes a lot of different efforts.
But RCDI is very flexible with this. I did want to mention
that one of the few studies conducted on the impacts of the
farm bill on rural communities was conducted by the University
of New Hampshire with the University of Utah, and their
findings showed the following.
One of the most important farm bill programs for the well-
being of rural communities are the Rural Development and
Nutrition programs because of their wide reach and direct
impacts.
Rural Development programs are likely to have the most
impact per dollar spent, and efforts to promote broad rural
community development provide for non-farm employment and
sustainable amenities and quality of life are more important to
most of the farm families.
In 2019, a study by USDA's Economic Research Service showed
that off-farm income contributed 82 percent of income for
family farms, making Rural Development a critical and woefully
under-funded part of the farm bill. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you. Sheldon Miller.
Ms. Kaptur. While he's coming up to the microphone, I just
wanted to say, I thought very hard and worked hard for the
current provisions in the farm legislation to promote urban
farmers' markets and the EBT machines being able to be given to
farmers who have farm stands, thinking of ways to try to
connect our farmers to markets.
Okay, so our dad was a produce man and an independent truck
driver and owned our own little family store. And I saw him go
to the countryside, right, and get the product. And so he
became the entrepreneur, right, between the country and the
city.
But imagine on a larger scale for the country, if you go to
the West Side Market in Cleveland or the Toledo Farmers'
Market, which was dead 40 years ago, you go now to Toledo, you
cannot buy a condo for under $150,000 or more in downtown
Toledo because the farmers' market, now has 100 vendors. And
because--I think Rebecca Singer is here today.
Rebecca Singer of the Center for Innovative Food
Technologies is helping local people turn their dressings and
so forth into products through the shelf, Garlic Expressions
and Gurdy's Barbecue Sauce and all these different things.
All of a sudden, you have growth in the economy that's
connected to the rural countryside. We need better connections
between rural and urban, whether it's Cleveland, Columbus,
Toledo, wherever the towns are and our rural countryside, and
don't turn your back on the local market.
And we have legislation that's already been passed. There's
funding in those programs for improvement. Some of our markets,
like in Toledo, are even opening during some of the days of the
winter months.
Now, that wasn't even happening 40 years ago. It's taken a
long time, but all of a sudden there's income that's being made
and that could happen in every community in Ohio. So the first
markets we recapture are our own. And one of our problems is in
the supermarkets, they charge you these slotting fees.
So if you make a local soda like root beer or something
like that, you can't afford to pay with Pepsi. They charge you
a slotting fee of $5,000 to get on the shelf. That's why all
the Pepsi and Coke are at eyes' level. And if you have a local
bottler, they're somewhere underneath on the bottom shelf.
There are so many ways of keeping people off the shelf. But
we need to use our consumers to help to fuel this rebirth of
additional income back to the countryside. So I just wanted to
throw that one out you. Thank you.
All right. Sheldon.
STATEMENT OF SHELDON MILLER, OPERATOR, SHELDON MILLER FARMS;
MEMBER, OTTAWA COUNTY FARM BUREAU, OAK HARBOR, OH
Mr. Miller. Hello, I'm Sheldon Miller. I'm a farmer in
Ottawa County. With my family, I've recently went full time
farming. I'm heavily involved in cover cropping, and I've got
filter strips, and mow and maintain around my farm. Mostly no-
till.
I'm doing a lot of foliar feeding, which is kind of one
thing that's being forgotten about. We do a lot of tissue
samples. We take that back then to the farm and we're able to
fix our crops with those. I'm specifically having a lot of good
luck with that.
With those filter--or with those tissue samples, then we're
able to instead of applying directly fertilizer to the ground,
we're literally giving them particle growth per day and we're
able to get a little better crop out of that, I'm finding.
A few things that has been happening in our local
neighborhoods and a couple of townships is the conservation and
NRCS programs are taking grown out of production to be put into
wetlands. And when that is happening, it seems as if the
landowners tend to go that way instead of having it farmed.
And when these programs are put in, the dikes and the moats
and stuff are installed, none of our farm water goes through
there. Very little--I shouldn't say none, but very little. So
it's not really changing anything in some of the ground that I
farm, some of the toughest ground in the county.
So it's not like it's highly productive ground. And I'm
talking hundreds of thousands of acres in a handful of
townships is being taken out of production, which then brings
geese and eating crops and a whole other issue of noxious
weeds.
After then they start growing. It's a big, big deal. It is
a very much soil problem. Another thing I wanted to bring up is
literally prices. We used to buy Round-Up for $20 a gallon.
Now at $70 a gallon, including our fertilizer prices are
up. I don't have a whole lot, but we're trying to do everything
that we can with as little as we got but it's difficult to
maintain a farm with these type of things coming down the pike
as far as--it'd be like the biggest landowner, or the biggest
farmer coming around and saying, I want to rent your ground,
not the smaller guys that wants to actually farm it. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Sheldon. Kristy. Kristy Buskirk.
Then Don Timmons, Emily Kichler, I think.
Ms. Buskirk. Hi.
Mrs. Bustos. Hi, Kristy.
STATEMENT OF KRISTY BUSKIRK, OPERATOR, CLAY HILL
ORGANIC FARM; MEMBER, OHIO ECOLOGICAL FOOD AND FARM
ASSOCIATION, TIFFIN, OH
Ms. Buskirk. I'm Kristy Buskirk. I am a certified organic
farmer. I farm about 30 miles from here, north of Tiffin in
Seneca County. I grow produce and cut flowers. I am a member of
OEFFA, and I'm here today--OEFFA and I both agree that we want
increased investments in local and regional food systems.
And this is kind of twofold for me. I am in my ninth
season. So I'm a first generation farmer as well as a beginner
farmer. I'm technically classified as. We sell currently direct
to consumers, mainly through farmers' markets. I sell in
Toledo, I sell in BG, and I also sell in Tiffin. As I mature my
operation, farmers' markets are pretty volatile.
We have had major weather events at one of my farmers'
markets this year. It had been over 90 for half of the
markets. We got rained out. That becomes very hard. As I mature
my operation, well hopefully--we want investments in local
processing facilities such as flash freezing. So facilities and
contracts.
I heard some women mention about food banks. In the
beginning the direct to consumer was very convenient for a
beginner farmer. But as we mature, getting stuff onto contract,
and as my skills grow, being able to have these facilities like
flash freezing. It's obviously seasonal here.
We cannot get our food into schools, hospitals. Having
these local facilities that allow producers to capture the food
at the height of the season and then distribute it, I think
would benefit me and the local economy. I also sit on the Board
of the Seneca County Common Ground. We are an agricultural
promotional nonprofit.
We are very young, but we want to benefit farmers and the
local community. We are putting together a community kitchen.
We have been researching this 4 years. The intention was to
have classes and things to get people growing food. I do not
have any of the stats for you, but we would probably all be
very saddened to know the amount of cooking that actually
happens in households now, especially in agricultural area.
The access to food is probably lower than any of us would
ever expect in my community. So the community kitchen is
providing the kitchen and the know how in the classes. Also,
they wanted a processing for small food businesses to also
grow. You mentioned Gurdy's. I work beside all those places
that you talked about at the farmers' market. There's a
processing facility in BG.
But trying to get the community kitchen up and growing--we
have all the relationships in place. We have applied for
multiple grants, but we cannot get the funding to help us
really step up growing these facilities and having the stuff in
the community to support healthy food and the small businesses.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Kristy. Breaking news, the USDA
announced the organic transition initiative today. And what
does that mean? It includes an extra ten percent premium
subsidy for crops in transition to organic, and $5 per acre
premium discount for grain and feed crops that are organic, and
it will start to be available in 2023. So there's your breaking
news on that.
[Applause].
Mrs. Bustos. All right. So another just quick announcement.
We have 34 speakers remaining. We have--I'm sorry. This is
wrong: 19. It said 34, so I take direction really well. So we
have 19 speakers remaining, and we have how much time left, 35
minutes? So look back here, but we're going to be strict about
keeping that to the time, all right. Don Timmins, Emily
Kichler, I believe, Fritz Mueller, Chad Corso. Come on up.
Okay, great. Don, we accept. Emily Kichler.
Ms. Kaptur. While Emily is coming up, Madam Chair, I just
want to say for Kristy Buskirk, who just spoke, I hope you are
in close touch with the Center for Innovative Food Technology
based on around 582 enhancements. Are you?
Ms. Buskirk. I'm not----
Ms. Kaptur. Yes. I think you need to have a very long talk
and we will help bring you both up further. You're on the right
track.
Mrs. Bustos. All right, Emily.
STATEMENT OF EMILY KICHLER, CLEVELAND, OHIO; ON BEHALF OF FARM
ACTION
Ms. Kichler. Congresswoman, thank you so much. My name is
Emily Kichler. I come from Cleveland, Ohio, where I work at a
local organic cafe. I'm just going to jump in. Support is
needed for nationwide composting programs.
About \1/3\ of trash in the U.S. is food waste,
contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions rather
than being used to support healthy and nutrient rich soils
through compost. About 40 percent is wasted in the U.S., which
is not only a problem for landfills but for people in need of
better access to food.
Support for compost could look like nationwide composting
education, increased funding for existing programs, and
incentives for new programs. Second, meat, dairy, and select
monocrops receive substantial subsidies while diversified
ranges of local fruits and vegetables do not. Fruits and
vegetables only receive two to five percent of Federal farm
subsidies.
Dairy has been supported with buyback programs for expiring
milk, which are able to continue privately, while fruits and
vegetables have not received the same level of support.
Fluctuating demand means that fruits and vegetables can end up
being left in fields to rot when demand is low.
Not only does dairy have its own promotion and research
program, giving it leverage and tension over other options. But
dairy producers are also mandated to contribute to its fund.
Cutting the Dairy Promotion Research Program completely or
removing the mandate for producer contribution could alleviate
pressure on farmers and could help level the playing field for
other foods.
At the cafe, soy and oat milk are each an additional $0.50
or more per 8 ounce at cost and considering the significant
difference in resources needed to produce each, this price
difference is illogical.
Increasing funding to sustainable research and grant
organizations NIFA and SARE, which support a wide array of
sustainable growing options for a wide array of foods, could
help us reach important climate goals and improve access to
healthy foods.
Better support for new farmers, small farmers, sustainable
farmers, and especially farmers of color is important and can
be made possible through improved credit access, maintaining
and growing set-asides for all USDA support programs, and all
of these, or a large number of them, there is more information
on each of these, including primer bills supporting these in
the Farm Action Handbook, which I'm happy to pass along. Thank
you so much for your time.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Emily. And Josh, to you,
my apologies. You did hand me the right number. I just read the
wrong sheet. So he did have the right number. All right, a
couple of people dropped out, so we're going to go to Bob
Jones, Tom Demaline, Marissa Dake, Kathy Davis, Sheldon
Overmyer. Bob, you're up.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT ``BOB'' JONES, Jr., CO-OWNER AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CHEF'S GARDEN, HURON, OH; ON BEHALF OF THE
IR-4 PROJECT
Mr. Jones. Good morning. Thank you for your time. Thank you
for being here. Two minutes is not a lot. One of the things
that I think we all have in common here is that we all love
agriculture, and we all love farming.
That may be where we divert. We have the largest per capita
spending of any industrialized nation in the world of health
care. We have the smallest per capita spending of any
industrialized nation in the world for food. There's a direct
connection. Farming and agriculture in our country is broken.
It's broken economically. You've heard about this today.
We're up here begging for more money for insurance programs and
for subsidies, and our people are sicker and dying of
malnutrition while they're obese.
Something is wrong. I'm a one percent, not for the reason
why you think I'm a one percenter. I'm a one percenter because
I'm in specialty crops and we get the tick, on the end of the
tail, on the end of the dog.
[Laughter].
Mr. Jones. So 99 percent of the food policy areas dominate
spending. Nutrition, 76 percent. Crop insurance, nine percent.
Conservation, seven percent. Commodity groups, seven percent.
That leaves one percent for the rest of us to produce safe food
in this country. As Americans, we have a choice.
We will either import food or we will import workers. This
is not an immigration topic. Immigration is not covered in the
farm bill. But the results of immigration conversations are the
direct result, and then we have to fix that. If we're going to
grow food in this country, we need guestworkers.
If we're going to import all of our food, then we need to
regulate the food that we are importing. FDA tells us currently
that they have the staff and the resources to inspect one
percent of the food that's currently being imported into the
United States.
If we're not going to produce food here, we're not going to
know how it was grown, how it was packaged, how it shipped, and
much less important, would we know about the soil health issues
and about the human rights issues around the food that we're
eating. Thank you for your time.
I really appreciate you being here. This is a big job. We
appreciate your efforts and everything you've done for us.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Bob. And you're right, 2 minutes is
not a lot for the remaining speakers. I'd like a million follow
up questions to that but that's why you've got your
Congresswoman here who will always hear more. Tom Demaline. And
then again, Marissa Dake, Kathy Davis, Sheldon Overmyer, Mark
Goecke. Tom.
STATEMENT OF TOM DEMALINE, PRESIDENT, WILLOWAY NURSERIES, INC.,
AVON, OH; ON BEHALF AmericanHort
Mr. Demaline. Hi. Good afternoon, Congresswomen Kaptur and
Bustos. I appreciate my time for being here this afternoon to
address the Congresswomen.
So I'm representing AmericanHort, which is our trade
organization, national trade organization, and we represent
nurseries, greenhouses across the entire country. Just a quick
background of Ohio horticulture.
Ohio is in the top ten, or one of the top ten horticultural
producing states, with farming income of about $4,600,000, or
$90,000--$4.69 million in farming income. And we supply about
90,000 jobs in the State of Ohio. So have a major economical
impact. Unfortunately, we are still part of the one percent
that Bob mentioned earlier of research dollars coming back to
horticulture.
And we're very grateful in what we do get in research, but
we'd like to see that expanded. The industry has supported a
lot of its own research through our HR, Horticulture Research
Institute. Funds about $400,000 to $500,000 that's going back
to land-grant colleges across the country.
We are recipients of especially crop research through USDA,
Specialty Crop Block Grant through the USDA International Plant
Stock Program that USDA implemented a few years back. And I
also wanted to mention that we are getting money from--
[technical problems]--research initiative that Representative
Kaptur had helped fund. And it's been a big, really big input
of about $5 million back to industry, which has been used
wisely over the last--since 1990, I believe it started.
So a lot going on there. But we need to make sure that
we're looking at the future, where we're going, and what we're
going to do. We seem to be, I call it the insect and disease
crop du jour that comes in every year--that we have the emerald
ash borer. We have a box of blight--things that come into the
country over the past few years.
And we've got to make sure that we've got the funds
available and make sure that we're taking care of those
problems when they show up. And I also would just touch real
quickly on the need to research--to educate the public on the
advantages of flower, trees and shrubs. We're more than pretty.
And I really think the health and well-being that we bring
to the to society, the ecological value that we broach with
carbon sequestering initiation and other health and well-being
things that we do, the economic value that's out there, is how
can we educate the public and plant more trees and shrubs every
year and not have the government fund the planting, but fund
the education of people where so they can--we can enrich our
environment that we live in. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Tom. Marissa.
Ms. Kaptur. Thank you. While she's coming up, Michigan and
Ohio have to plant together 20 million trees to make up for the
damage of the Emerald Ash Borer and the Asian long horned
beetle. I don't know how far along we are on that project.
That's got to be very worrying, and I think that'll be a part
of the farm bill.
Mrs. Bustos. Marissa.
STATEMENT OF MARISSA DAKE, DIRECTOR,
COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, DNO PRODUCE, INC., COLUMBUS,
OH
Ms. Dake. Thank you guys for having us. My name is Marissa
Dake. I work for DNO Produce in Columbus, Ohio. We serve as the
to in the farm to fork, so we provide fresh cut processed
produce and bulk produce in the majority of our schools, so in
the K-12 space.
We contract for USDA in the school feeding space, and we
also sell commercially to schools. And so, as one of the
gentleman said earlier, nutrition is really the bedrock to
health and well-being. And that's not--more important than for
our children.
Children can't learn if they're hungry and children can't
learn if they don't have nutritious food, access to nutritious
food. So one of those things is just increasing that real
estate for specialty crops in the farm bill generally, like the
gentleman said before me. He did a great job laying that out
and so I'll leave it there.
Another issue I would approach is just rethinking our
procurement strategy with USDA. Congresswoman Kaptur, you
talked about increasing markets for local and regional
agricultural producers.
I think that industrial feeding or institutional feeding, I
call those institutional feeding, such as school nutrition, is
a great, safe, solid place to create a pathway for local
producers to sell their goods. We also do work with to that----
Ms. Kaptur. Can I interrupt you there and just say, here in
Ohio, unless they've changed it, the Department of Education,
which knows nothing about agriculture, is in charge of the
contracts to buy the food.
Ms. Dake. Yes. It's----
Ms. Kaptur. Then they weren't buying Ohio apples. They were
buying Washington apples. I said, why did you buy the
Washington apples? They said, because they're all the same size
and we got the brochure from Washington State.
So I'm just sharing that. Somehow we need to use you to
help us get into the Department of Education and the State of
Ohio needs to be educated about linking to our farmers.
Ms. Dake. So there's a great program in Michigan, which I
hate to give them all the kudos, but they have the $0.10 a meal
program in Michigan, where schools are reimbursed an additional
$0.10 to offer as part of the menu a locally grown Michigan
produce item.
There is a bill that was introduced by Mr. Delgado and Mr.
Upton, those two Congressmen in this Congress. I think it's
called the Small Farm to School Act (H.R. 5249) that would
pilot an expansion of that program.
We would love to see something like that happen. And again,
I believe that of this Congress, even though Congressman
Delgado is now in a different post. But yes, we would love to
continue to see--we do work with--work on--[technical
problems]--we do work with local producers. But seeing that in
that institutional feeding space would be great. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Marisa. Kathy Davis.
STATEMENT OF KATHY DAVIS, YOUNG STOCK MANAGER, AYERS FARMS
INC.; MEMBER, DAIRY FARMERS OF AMERICA, PERRYSVILLE, OH
Ms. Davis. Hello. Thank you for your attention at this
hearing. Many people have talked about the importance of the
crop insurance, and I will let that go and hopefully my
colleague will have time to talk about the importance of our
Dairy Margin Coverage Program later. So I'll jump into some
other things.
To meet sustainability goals, assistance in the forms of
funds, advisors, and technology is needed. This farm bill
should aid innovative progress over myriad agricultural types,
structures, systems, operators, and their varied operations and
their varying operators to secure a safe, healthy food supply
for our nation. And I think you've heard that from this group
here.
In light of increased interest in carbon sequestration,
participation in crop insurance and other risk management
programs, features provided by the government would be only
available to those operators who are in compliance with the
Conservation Farm Plan developed through Soil and Water
District or the National Resource Conservation Service.
Such compliance with the Conservation Farm Plan for
nutrient management and erosion control would assist in
reduction of silt nutrient content in our lakes and streams,
while also enhancing the production life of our topsoil.
Innovative support to continue and improve the SNAP program
and the Dairy Donation Program such as creating more exciting
school meal containers or the use of the aseptic milk, is vital
in feeding families nationwide.
For instance, our local library assistance on our lunch
program for school age children, but the space for
refrigeration is very limited. Having a stable, easily
transported, and stored product would benefit all involved from
producer to consumer.
We depend on robust trade for quality, agricultural
products to encourage and sustain economic growth and stability
throughout the supply network. To this end, we need parity with
other countries and market access, development of foreign
markets, and the ability to use common food names in markets
across the world.
However, none of this happens in a vacuum. Our country and
its leaders must be seen as secure, reliable, and dependable
partners. Its citizens should not fear censored reading or
curtailed autonomy.
We must strive to create a society, whether rural or urban,
that celebrates our differences while allowing each member to
choose their own path. My name is Kathy Davis. I'm a seventh
generation dairy farmer in southern Ashland County, where we
also do some crossbred with Angus, but we won't talk about that
too much.
[Laughter].
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Kathy. Sheldon Overmyer, then Mark
Goecke, Ken Gordon, Gary Baldosser.
STATEMENT OF SHELDON L. OVERMYER, OWNER, SHELAMAR FARMS,
ELMORE, OH
Mr. Overmyer. I'm a cornfield wheat farmer. I've been
trying to get my farm incorporated into the carbon program
that's available through private companies like Cargill and
Indigo and places like that, which are paying anywhere between
$8 a ton for your carbon, up to $20 to $25 a ton for your
carbon.
My ground has approximately a ton and a half of carbon, but
I can't sell it to them because I've been cover cropping and
I've been no-tilling for 15 years. I've been cover cropping for
10 years. And that will not apply to their program, either one
of these programs, and there's about six or seven carbon buying
corporations out there in which I can't apply because I have to
change my practices to apply to them.
I have to go back to tillage and then go back to no-till
and cover crops, and then I will be qualified. But I don't want
to do that because I have a ton and a half of carbon in the
ground right now and I cannot sell it to anybody because I'm
not changing from tillage to the other.
So I hope in the farm bill that they have a provision in
there for farmers that have been no-tilling and cover cropping,
that can basically get into the carbon program that has some
stabilization to it because it is the Wild West out there on
these carbon programs that are being offered to the farmers.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much. Mark. Mark, I
might have butchered your name, but I'll let you----
Mr. Goecke. It's Goecke. That's fine.
Mrs. Bustos. Goecke, okay. Thank you, Mark.
STATEMENT OF MARK GOECKE, DISTRICT 4, MEMBER, BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, OHIO CATTLEMEN'S ASSOCIATION,
SPENCER, OH
Mr. Goecke. Thank you for the opportunity to share some
brief comments on the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill. My name is Mark
Goecke from Spencer, Ohio. My family farms in Allen County,
Ohio. We market about 3,000 head of cattle every year, and we
also grow corn, soybeans, and wheat.
In addition, I also serve on the Board of Directors for the
Cattlemen's Association and represent beef cattle and farm
families from five of the largest agricultural counties in
Ohio. Ohio cattlemen would like to thank the Congresswomen for
giving us the opportunity here.
As Members of Congress and other agricultural organization
discuss the upcoming farm bill, the Ohio Cattlemen's
Association, along with the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association, have been engaged in conversations regarding the
importance of the cattle industry priorities in the bill.
These priorities include protecting voluntary conservation
programs, strengthening the risk management programs and
disaster programs for producers, and protecting the animal
health provisions secured in the 2018 Farm Bill.
Our priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill are based on
extensive producer input and include: one, protecting animal
health through programs that guard against the spread of
foreign animal diseases such as the National Animal Vaccine and
Veterinary Countermeasures Bank, which currently houses
vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease.
Funding for this program is critical to maintaining the
health of our herds from these disease threats. Two,
strengthening our risk programs that involve that provide
cattle producers with added protection against weather events
and price declines.
And three, promoting voluntary conservation programs that
provide support for producers to implement conservation
practices free from government mandates.
And number four, supporting disaster recovery programs that
help producers return to normal operations following adverse
weather, attacks by predators, or extreme conditions like
drought and wildfires. And once again, thank you for the
opportunity to highlight these.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Mark Goecke.
Ms. Kaptur. Before you leave the microphone, maybe you'll
take on this project. This is something I need from you.
Mr. Goecke. Okay.
Ms. Kaptur. All right. If I go to Washington, D.C., which
is a metro area of about two to three million people, and I go
to the sewage treatment plant, which I've done, it is amazing
what you see.
You see a place that is a net-zero building sitting on old
technology, and the old technology is capturing the waste heat
in the sewer, 24/7, 365 days a year, and helping to heat and
cool that building, which is the biggest energy user in the
capital region. And is that's true in every city, New York, Los
Angeles, Toledo, Cleveland, wherever.
And at the end of the process, because they've installed
hydrolyzers, they end up with a fertilizer called BOOST, which
is EPA approved. So here's my question for northern Ohio and
where I need an answer.
We have the largest dredging budget in the entire Great
Lakes on Lake Erie. Every year we dredge enough sand and silt
out of that lake to fill the Cleveland Browns Stadium 400
high. We have sewage treatment plants in Cleveland, Lorain,
Sandusky and Toledo. There's one in Port Clinton too.
What could we do with this material working with the Army
Corps of Engineers and the agricultural community and these
sewage treatment plants to move heavily into a new way of
thinking about waste material that right now is largely put in
landfills, except for Cleveland. They take and reuse some of it
and put it into a little fertilizer there.
But in Washington, D.C., the fertilizer is so popular, the
farmers from Maryland and Virginia come and take it away and
the cities don't have to pay the backhaul costs. You may say,
Congresswoman, that's too big a thought to think about.
But I really do think we have the technology now, if we
have a plan, to do that, working with the Army Corps of
Engineers. We could do something extraordinary here. We're not
doing it yet, but we should at least be thinking about it.
And so I appreciate your comments. If anybody has ideas on
that or you go home and you think about it and talk to some of
your friends, let me know because I think it's possible to do
this. But we just haven't had the initiative.
They give you all the excuse, well, you can't hold it there
because it's too heavy, it's too much water and if there's
just--well, but if you have a plan, you might be able to do
something really remarkable. Why don't we be the first place in
America that gets it right?
Mr. Goecke. To give you an update, some of the things that
we have done in our counties here. We have built buildings to
hold our animals. They're completely covered. There is no
runoff from there.
The manure is stored underground. We take it directly from
there and we actually inject it into the ground. And to this,
that right now I have spent probably about $1.4 million to do
this. No government funding at all. So there are ways to do it.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you, Mark. Ken Gordon.
STATEMENT OF KEN GORDON, CO-OWNER AND GENERAL MANAGER, PURPLE
PLAINS FARM, PLAIN CITY, OH; ON
BEHALF OF IFYE ASSOCIATION OF THE USA, INC.
Mr. Gordon. Hi. My name's Ken Gordon. I have a small farm
down here in Plain City, Ohio, Union County. And appreciate the
efforts on the farmers' markets that you mentioned,
Congresswoman Kaptur. I appreciate your efforts there. But I
really want to talk to you about turning sustainability on its
hair, if you will. And that is, how sustainable is the
agriculture leadership pipeline?
Because the ethics organization who I'm representing
focuses on putting young adults, 19 years of age and older,
older than--once they're out of 4-H and going into college, we
put them on farms around the world where they understand other
cultures, they interact with the Foreign Agriculture Service at
the embassies to understand agricultural trade, they live with
these families, become part of the families for 2, 3, and up to
6 months through our program.
This program has been around since 1948. It was founded--
well, already on 75th year anniversary coming up here next
year. But it's never been in the farm bill. That has been
affiliated with 4-H'ers ago. But then 4-H split away because
they concentrated on 18 year olds and younger where we
concentrate on the 19 year olds and older, and we put them on
those farms around the world.
And we just added Kenya and Morocco last year. We are
seeking an opportunity for the IFYE Association, the
International Farm Youth Exchange, to be recognized in the 2023
Farm Bill and funded through the farm bill coming up.
So if you're a champion for education, diversity,
international cultural understanding, international trade,
developing young leaders that will help keep the United States
agriculture industry strong, then I urge you both to support
the IFYE Association to be in the next farm bill for 2023.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Very good. Thank you, Ken. I'm not aware of
the program, so thank you for bringing that to our attention.
Gary Baldosser, Jim Inglis, Reece Nickol, Ron Laubacher, Mark
Wilson, Linda Risner. I'm going to keep going until the next
person comes up. Morakinyo Kuti, Karl Wedemeyer. Is Gary here?
Mr. Baldosser. Yes.
Mrs. Bustos. Oh, there you are. Thank you, Gary.
STATEMENT OF GARY L. BALDOSSER, OWNER/OPERATOR, BALDOSSER FARMS
INC.; REGION 5, SENECA COUNTY,
MEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AgCredit, REPUBLIC, OH
Mr. Baldosser. Good afternoon. Thank you, Congresswoman
Bustos and Congresswoman Kaptur for hosting the farm bill
listening session. My name is Gary Baldosser, and I'm a member
of the Board of Directors of AgCredit, the Farm Credit
Institution.
And I am also the fourth generation of a five generation
farm here in north central Ohio producing corn, soybeans, and
wheat, as well as beef cattle. At the beginning of the program
you asked for, what should we change, what should we leave
alone?
So here is my ask. As a lender, AgCredit believes it is in
a strong position to help its customers weather challenges that
they are currently facing of inflation, rising inputs, and
unfavorable weather practices.
One of the ways we are doing this is through the Ohio Ag-
LINK program, where producers can receive up to a maximum three
percent reduction in their operating costs annually, either for
new or existing farm loans.
We are also asking that we improve the synergy between FSA,
a division of the USDA, and the Farm Credit Administration,
specifically in expanding their definitions of what a farm
entity is. Farmers are modern businessmen, modern producers and
farms are structured for a number of different reasons,
including liability and, or transition.
And producers working with FSA--FSA doesn't always
recognize the differences in those entities to be able to help
facilitate programs, including conservation programs, and make
them eligible.
Just because a farmer changes their entity status may
possibly make them ineligible to participate in a program. I
would also like to draw attention again. Time is up. In
closing, what I would like to leave you with is we are all here
for the same reason, that is to help promote agriculture.
And we do this with a passion. Farmers are very passionate
about what they do. I am reminded of that passion and the
legacy that my family brings with my father's work who's
sitting in my office every day.
Please take the heart. We are here to make things better
and continue to ask for our help in doing that. We know that
the United States will be a better place if agriculture is at
the table to participate in the discussion.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Gary. And thanks for the, bringing
your dad's boots here. That's a great reminder. I appreciate
you doing that. Thank you very much. You're a good marketer.
Jim Inglis. And you guys, we have 10 minutes left if we want to
finish on time.
STATEMENT OF JIM INGLIS, DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
PHEASANTS FOREVER AND QUAIL FOREVER, UPPER SANDUSKY, OH
Mr. Inglis. Thank you. Jim Inglis here and I'm here today
representing Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, including our
5,000 Ohio volunteers and members and our 400,000 supporters
nationwide.
When we ask our farmers, ranchers, and landowners to
implement conservation, they should fully be supported with
technical assistance and fairly compensated with financial
assistance, as these programs have far reaching benefits to our
society. Voluntary conservation programs provide numerous
economic and ecological benefits.
In addition, conservation programs help sustain ecosystems
that provide outdoor recreational opportunities. And just look
at Lake Erie, for example. And Ohio hunters and anglers
contributed over $3 billion to the state economy last year.
Title II programs also provide tools that assist with
profitability, sustainability, and increasing resiliency on
private and public lands.
In Ohio, we find some great examples of conservation
partnerships. Again, I pointed to Lake Erie and the
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program that was initiated 22
years ago. That's had some great successes. And overall CREP
has nearly 4 decade history of demonstrated success.
The EQIP program is also important. We are especially
supportive of the working land wildlife initiatives, and when
we look at EQIP, a lot of the times they're not fully funded.
And we must keep in mind that this is financial and technical
assistance that's being requested by farmers and landowners.
On the partner side, we've been blessed with strong
Federal, state, local partnerships to implement the entire
suite of conservation programs here in Ohio. Our agency
partners include the Ohio Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Wildlife, Ohio Department of Ag, Division of Soil
and Water, and local conservation districts that have decades
in delivering conservation.
I also need to stress that we do our best to leverage
funding to the extent possible, and that can be seen with the
recently administrative and legislatively funded H2Ohio program
that leverages farm bill program for private lands. So overall,
we just urge you to support the strongest conservation title
possible. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Very good. Thank you, Jim. Reece Nickol. Then,
Ron Laubacher after that.
STATEMENT OF REECE NICKOL, STATE POLICY CHAIR, DUCKS UNLIMITED,
PIQUA, OH
Mr. Nickol. Thank you, Representative Kaptur and
Representative Bustos. My name is Reece Nickol. I'm from Piqua,
Ohio, south, which is southwest, where I personally own a
wetland that was restored in a WRP program which is now a WRE,
and some farmland.
I am the volunteer State Policy Chair for Ducks Unlimited
in Ohio, where we have 18,000 members. Overall, we have over
one million supporters, and we have a long history of
partnering with farmers and ranchers.
In Ohio, 95 percent of the land is privately owned. So we
had to learn a long time ago how to do things that assist
farmers. Ninety percent of the wetlands in Ohio is gone, 50
percent nationwide. So our conservation programs are in high
demand across the country.
We hope to see a continuation of wetland and grassland
protections in the 2023 Farm Bill, support strong funding for
important working lands programs like Regional Conservation
Partnership Program, EQIP, and Conservation Stewardship
Program.
And we'd also like to see strong support of ACEP and WRE.
Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Thank you very much, Reece. Ron,
and then Mark Wilson, Linda Risner, and Morakinyo.
STATEMENT OF RONALD LAUBACHER, OPERATOR, LAUBACHER FARMS, OAK
HARBOR, OH
Mr. Laubacher. Hi. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to
talk. I'm Ron Laubacher, and farm up around Oak Harbor, Ohio,
in Ottawa County. And we farm soybeans, corn, wheat, alfalfa,
and pumpkins.
And we also raise beef cattle. I want to talk about
conservation for the brands that we've been using. We've been
in EQIP, CREP programs, and actually in the current market as
well. But I want to tell you about one program, and it's a prep
program that my son, who works for an Ottawa--[technical
problems]--introduced me to.
We have ground water to Saint River, which is real close to
the Lake Erie. And we put a 5 acre wetland in there where all
of our surface water and tile water is pumped through and
filtered before it goes out to the lake. And that through this
CREP program and other funders, they tiled my farm, which made
it a lot more productive for the land I lost.
I made up for it by tiling and other things. So I just want
to thank you for--I'm not a big speaker. What I'd like to do is
keep the conservation funding coming. So, thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Very good. Yes, thank you, Ron. I appreciate
that.
Ms. Kaptur. If I--unexploded ordnance--did you find any
unexploded--you're not that close. Okay.
Mrs. Bustos. All right. Mark Wilson and then Linda Risner.
STATEMENT OF MARK WILSON, FARMING FOR CLEANER WATER PROJECT
MANAGER, AMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST, MARION, OH
Mr. Wilson. Good afternoon. My name is Mark Wilson. I'm a
soil scientist representing American Farmland Trust. Many
speakers this afternoon have talked about cover crops, so I'll
simply mention that cover crops protect and enhance the soil,
as well as enhance soil and crop resilience to climate change.
And specifically this afternoon, I'd like to mention a
recently introduced bill to Congress. It was introduced by
Representative Casten of Illinois. The bill's title is, the
Conservation Opportunity and Voluntary Environment Resilience
Program Act.
The acronym is COVER, and the bill would codify Good
Steward Cover Crop program, which would mirror the Pandemic
Cover Crop Program and provide a $5 discount on crop insurance
for farmers who plant cover crops.
In addition, this legislation would authorize a pilot
program to determine additional discounts on cover crop
insurance premiums for farmers who adopt soil health practices.
Those practices would be authorized by RMA.
In closing, I'd like to see the new farm bill build upon
this popular Pandemic Cover Crop Program, which has helped
thousands of farmers plant cover crops, which is a key
conservation practice to improving soil health and protecting
water quality. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Mark. Linda Risner. Okay, Linda,
thank you. You've saved us all time. Morakinyo and Carl
Wedemeyer, and then those are our last two speakers. Did I
pronounce your name correctly?
Dr. Kuti. Yes, ma'am.
Mrs. Bustos. Great. I'm glad I did that.
STATEMENT OF MORAKINYO KUTI, Ph.D., DIRECTOR, 1890 LAND-GRANT
PROGRAMS, INTERIM DEAN, JOHN W.
GARLAND COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, SCIENCE,
TECHNOLOGY, AND AGRICULTURE, CENTRAL STATE
UNIVERSITY, WILBERFORCE, OH
Dr. Kuti. Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Morakinyo Kuti,
and I am the interim Dean and Director for the College of
Science, Engineering and Technology and Director of land-grant
programs at Central State University, Ohio's only publicly
Historically Black American University, and we're very proud of
our alumni--Congresswoman Joyce Beatty is our alumni.
As some of you may know, 1890s were founded in 1890 to
support historically underserved populations across the
country. But these universities are going to serve more than
those populations.
Currently, Central State University is in 60 counties in
Ohio providing extension and research services. And I echo the
sentiments of my Ohio State counterparts about that land-grant
universities need assistance with research facilities and
infrastructure and deferred maintenance so we can do even
better research.
And I also echo the sentiments about workforce development
for agricultural workers across the country. Historically,
black colleges are only three percent of the nation's
institutions, but we enroll ten percent of all African American
graduates, and we produce 20 percent of bachelor's degree
holders. So investments in those universities actually is a
greater return on investment of public dollars.
Finally, I wanted to mention that right now 1890s receive
the Davis scholarship fund every year, which is to recruit and
retain students. So we want to express our continued support
for those scholarships because it is critical for us to
recruit, retain, and make sure students succeed.
And also, finally, we want Evans-Allen Research Funds to be
spread over a 5 year period rather than a 2 year period,
because if we have a 5 year period to spend, you can plan more
meaningfully and use the money rather than be forced to spend
within 2 years--because the Smith-Lever funds can be spread
over 5 years.
Again, thanks for coming out to this part of the country
and I'm glad to be here today. Thank you.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you, Morakinyo. Okay, last but not
least, Karl Wedemeyer. And if I mispronounced your name, you
can correct me.
STATEMENT OF KARL WEDEMEYER, OWNER, WHITE DIAMOND FARM;
ORGANIZATION REP, 2022 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, OHIO DAIRY
PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION, LaRue, OH
Mr. Wedemeyer. We'll see if I'm least after I finish
speaking. But I'm Karl Wedemeyer. I'm a dairy farmer from
Marion County, and I also serve on the Board of Ohio Dairy
Producers Association.
And I'm here to speak about the Dairy Margin Coverage
Program. And that program was greatly improved in the 2018 Farm
Bill. And we're looking to see more improvements made to it in
the upcoming farm bill, specifically increasing the production
levels that it covers. So the production levels were set back
in, between 2011 and 2014 production levels.
Then during the course of the pandemic, they were increased
through the Supplemental DMC coverage. But now, when we're
looking at a 2023 Farm Bill, we're still only covering back to
2019 production.
And so a farm like mine who started out very small with my
parents and younger brother, and so we have grown over the
course of the last decade and also the last 4 years--so we went
from a small farm to a slightly larger small farm.
And, but the program is not encapsulating all of our
current production, so there is a portion of my farm that is
not covered through the program. So we would like to see those
production levels increase to meet what farmers who have grown
over the course of time, what their current production level
needs are.
We'd also like to see the cap of 5 million pounds increase,
and that would be Tier 1 production. And that is a level that
doesn't necessarily represent what the average herd size in the
U.S. is today. So would like to see an increase of those 5
million pounds. Thank you both for being here today and hearing
us.
Mrs. Bustos. Thank you for closing us out. So we are just a
little bit over, so not too bad. My apologies to those who had
to cut their comments from 3 minutes to 2 minutes, but we did
want to do our best to finish on time.
If you didn't get a chance to make your full point, just a
reminder again, you can go to agriculture.house.gov and you can
add anything. Or again, if you didn't speak and would like to
share anything with us as we gear up for the 2023 Farm Bill,
again go to agriculture.house.gov. We streamed this, as I said,
live to our millions and millions and millions of viewers.
And so I'm sure they were just enraptured by everything
that we talked about today. I also want to thank Terra State
Community College for hosting us today. Do we have anybody from
the college here? What's your official role here, sir?
Mr. Stein. Corey Stein, the Senior Vice President for
Innovation and Strategic Planning. And it was an honor that you
hosted the listening sessions. Thank you so much.
Mrs. Bustos. Corey, thank you very much for hosting us.
This was a wonderful environment. I also want to thank our
police officers for making sure that you kept us safe today. We
appreciate your service. And I'm going to let Congresswoman
Kaptur, since this is her district, cap the closing comment.
And with that, close us out.
Ms. Kaptur. Thank you very much, Chair Bustos, for coming,
again, to this part of the United States. Honestly, I'm so
proud of all of you. Everyone made valuable comments. The Chair
said, if you want to provide additional information or written
information, please go to the website and do that. I took
extensive notes. I'm so proud of you. You really did a great
job. So give yourselves a hand.
[Applause].
Ms. Kaptur. The last thing I will say is that both the
Chair and myself, we learn at every meeting that we're in.
We're constant students of the American people. And we try to
be good Representatives and translators of what you say.
The Committee that this will go before has a fairly new
Chairman. He isn't new to the Committee and he's not new to
agriculture. His name is Chairman David Scott and he's from the
State of Georgia. Georgia is more like Ohio than California.
Don't take this as any comment against California.
But in terms of the nature of their agriculture, I can go
to the Detroit farmers' market and find a watermelon from
Georgia down there, so at the market in Detroit. There's a
similarity in size of farm, in some of the same types of
products that are grown. I don't know, there's kind of a
cultural affinity in a way that I think is very healthy for us.
So you have someone who cares about agriculture who chairs
the Committee, and the very first piece of homework he gave to
us as Committee Members was to go to the internet. And how many
of you have seen this video called Kiss the Ground? Okay. He
said to me, he said, Congresswoman, I want you to go to the
internet and you find there, Kiss the Ground, you watch it. I
loved it. I just love it. It gives you the perspective of the
chair of the Committee.
I think you'll be impressed. No chair of that Committee has
ever said anything like that to me, and then when I viewed the
film, I thought, he's living in the 21st century. Good. So
that's your homework.
And again, I'm just so proud of you and so respectful of
your spending all this time with us. I'll remain afterwards for
a little while. We're going to go back to the fair, I think,
with Senator Wise, and I thank her so very much for making
those connections for me.
And this isn't the last time that you'll be able to comment
on the farm bill because it will be before the Congress for
hearings and so forth, through your associations or through
letters that you write us. And we really do try to be
responsive.
So, thank you so very, very much. And again, Chair Bustos,
thank you for coming. I know you're traveling the country, so
we are just so grateful that you would come here to be with us.
Mrs. Bustos. Well, thank you for hosting this and bringing
together Ohioans so we could learn more about what's important
from your perspective. Very, very helpful. Your voices were
heard, and we will use that as we formulate the next farm bill.
So this is a very, very important meeting. Thanks again to
Congresswoman Kaptur for hosting us. Good night, everybody.
[Applause].
(Thereupon, the listening session was adjourned at 2:07
p.m., E.D.T.)
[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
Supplementary Material
the listening session in fremont, oh: a visual retrospective *
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseagdems/albums/
72177720301332933.
Images are from the youtube stream: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ZlWNhAYJQ7Y.
Hon. Cheri Bustos, a Representative in Congress from
Illinois; Hon. Marcy Kaptur, a Representative in Congress from
Ohio
Kirk Vashaw, Chief Executive Officer, Spangler Candy Company
Joseph Logan, President, Ohio Farmers Union
Julie Chase-Morefield, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio
Nate Andre, Owner, Andre Farms LLC
Bill Myers, Owner, Myers Farms
Paul Herringshaw, Owner/Operator, Herringshaw Farms
Adam Ward, Director, Government Affairs, College of Food,
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Ohio State University
Hilary Poulson, Growing Forward Specialist, Farm Credit Mid-
America
Eli Dean, Operator, Timberlane Organic Farms, LLC; on behalf
of Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association
Tony Logan, J.D., Principal Consultant, The Renewables Space,
LLC; former Ohio State Director, USDA Rural Development
Roger Wise, Treasurer/Secretary, Ohio Farmers Union
Vickie Askins, Member, Ohio Farmers Union; Member, Lake Erie
Advocates
Tyler Drewes, Operator, Drewes Farms; District 2, Board
Member, Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association
Angela Huffman, Co-Founder and Vice President, Farm Action;
Owner, Wide-Awake Farm
Jerome C. Cunningham, Fremont, OH; on behalf of Sandusky
County Farm Bureau
Kristin Woodall, Director, Community Development Programs,
Great Lakes Community Action Partnership
Sheldon Miller, Operator, Sheldon Miller Farms; Member,
Ottawa County Farm Bureau
Kristy Buskirk, Operator, Clay Hill Organic Farm; Member,
Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association
Emily Kichler, Cleveland, Ohio; on behalf of Farm Action
Robert ``Bob'' Jones, Jr., Co-Owner and Chief Executive
Officer, Chef's Garden; on behalf of The IR-4 Project
Tom Demaline, President, Willoway Nurseries, Inc.; on behalf
AmericanHort
Marissa Dake, Director, Communications and Public Affairs,
DNO Produce, Inc.
Kathy Davis, Young Stock Manager, Ayers Farms Inc.; Member,
Dairy Farmers of America
Sheldon L. Overmyer, Owner, Shelamar Farms
Mark Goecke, District 4, Member, Board of Directors, Ohio
Cattlemen's Association
Ken Gordon, Co-Owner and General Manager, Purple Plains Farm;
on behalf of IFYE Association of the USA, Inc.
Gary L. Baldosser, Owner/Operator, Baldosser Farms Inc.;
Region 5, Seneca County, Member, Board of Directors, AgCredit