Hearings to examine perspectives from the field, focusing on farmer and rancher views on the agricultural economy.
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
2025-02-26
Source: Congress.gov
Summary
This hearing examines the pressing challenges facing U.S. livestock and specialty crop producers, including avian influenza outbreaks, rising input and labor costs, regulatory burdens, and trade disruptions. Witnesses from across the country discuss the economic toll of high labor rates, water shortages, and outdated crop insurance programs. The committee explores the need for new farm bill provisions to strengthen risk management, improve animal health, and support domestic food production. Attendees highlight critical issues such as California's Proposition 12, H-2A program inefficiencies, and the urgent need for bipartisan action. Witnesses stress that without meaningful policy reforms, American farmers face unsustainable economic conditions and potential loss of production capacity. The hearing calls for coordinated federal action to address animal disease, labor shortages, and market barriers to ensure food security and rural economic stability.
Participants
Transcript
U
Unknown (SPEAKER_20)
Good morning and welcome. It's my privilege to call this hearing to order. I would like to thank our witnesses for taking time away from your families and your farms to share your expertise with our committee today. Before we get started, I want to take a moment to thank Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for her announcement today on a bold strategy to address avian influenza. The virus continues to threaten our poultry and dairy farmers with ripple effects throughout the food supply chain. I applaud the Trump administration for a prioritizing response from day one. This hearing is the second of a series to examine the state of the agriculture economy by getting the perspective of leading producers across our country. These hearings are meant to help the committee understand the challenges our farmers and rural communities currently face as we work to pass a five-year farm bill. In our first hearing, we heard from some of our major farm groups and row crop producers about their unique experiences. Today, I'm delighted to welcome two additional very important constituencies to the discussion. First, we'll hear from several specialty crop growers and stakeholders from various parts of the country. The specialty crop industry continues to face unique pressures, the high cost of labor, competition with cheap imports, pest and disease, limited access to risk management tools, and the list goes on and on. Our second panel will feature livestock, poultry, and dairy producers. While they have seen some improvement in economic conditions in recent years, significant headwinds remain. Livestock production remains highly capital intensive, and high interest rates and elevated production costs have trimmed margins.
U
Unknown (SPEAKER_20)
Animal disease threats like avian influenza and new world screwworm have added tremendous uncertainty across all aspects. Burdensome government regulation of both the federal and state level have also threatened the viability of livestock operations. For example, California's Prop 12 has required many of our pork producers to spend millions of dollars retrofitting their barns while costing the California consumers nearly $300 million annually. In the next Farm Bill, it's critical we improve risk management tools to support both our specialty crops and livestock producers. It's important to continue investing in our research and marketing programs. We must invest in our animal health programs to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks. And we must address regulatory overreach burdening all producers. I'm confident the members on this committee stand willing and ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work in passing a new farm bill. I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses, and I now turn to Ranking Member Klobuchar for opening comments. All right.
Well, thank you very much, Chair Bozeman, and thank you to all our witnesses, including Lori Steven who's here from Minnesota with our pork producers as well as John Zimmerman from our state with the turkey producer. So we're excited to have them here. There was bipartisan agreement during our last hearing that our committee should continue to work together to ensure that farmers and consumers have the certainty that they need in a difficult economy. This means passing a bipartisan farm bill that is reflective of the needs of the people of this nation. It also means tackling today's challenges head-on, whether they are avian flu, whether they're input costs, whether they're these potential tariffs that I do not agree with, or just want to put a footnote on that, or whether they are ensuring that our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to thrive. Our witnesses today are going to shed light on the challenges facing our farmers, including those who grow fruits and vegetables. And I really appreciated the words of Chair Bozeman about the headwinds that these farmers face. We also are going to focus on those who milk cows day in and day out, those who raise the high quality beef and pork and poultry that fuels us. Today's first panel, as noted, is going to focus on specialty crops. And I think instead of calling them specialty crops, given that they're everything from potato to asparagus to apples to the chilies from New Mexico, which is way too hot for Minnesota, but I can't wait to try them. We should call them omnipresent crops. They're crops that really matter to the people of this country. According to the most recent census of agriculture, there are over 5,000 farms in Center Smith and my state growing these crops, representing over $3 billion in market value. And that's why the specialty crop block grant program is so important.
Other things we can do as we look at the challenges ahead is we can improve crop insurance options for these growers and give them the tools they need to prevent devastating pests and disease outbreaks. And we can protect our investments in critical nutrition programs, allowing Americans to afford more fruits and vegetables. We must stand with these farmers as they face the workforce shortages, emerging diseases, import pressures that threaten their economic viability.
Sign up for free to see the full transcript
Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.