▶ 0:17:11>> good morning and welcome. It is my privilege to call this hearing to order and I'd 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 -- for her announcement today on a bold strategy to address avian influenza.
▶ 0:17:40The virus continues to threaten her poultry and dairy farmers with ripple effects throughout the food supply chain. I applaud the trump administration for the response from day one. This hearing if the second in a series to examine state and agriculture economy by getting the perspective of leading producers across the country.
▶ 0:18:02These 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 from some other major farm groups and crop producers about the unique experiences. Today I'm delighted to welcome two additional very important constituencies to the discussion.
▶ 0:18:29First we will hear from several specialty crop growers and stakeholders for various parts of the country. Especially as the crop industry continues to face unique pressures with competition with cheap imports, pest and disease, limited access to management tools and the list goes on and on. Our second will feature livestock, poultry and dairy producers.
▶ 0:18:58While they'd 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 cost trim margins. Animal disease threats like avian influenza have added tremendous uncertainty across all aspects.
▶ 0:19:24Burdensome government regulation at 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 while costing the california consumers nearly $300 million annually.
▶ 0:19:50In the next farm bill, it is critical we improve risk management tools to support both 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 the disease outbreaks. And we must address regulatory overreach burdening all producers.
▶ 0:20:17I'm confident the members on this committee stand willing and ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work in passing the new farm bill. I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses. I now turn to ranking member klobuchar.
▶ 0:20:38Senator Klobuchar: Thank you very much to all are witnesses including lori as well as john zimmerman from our state with the turkey producers. We are excited to have them here. There is bipartisan agreement that a committee should continue to work together to ensure that farmers and consumers have the certainty that they need in a difficult economy.
▶ 0:21:08Senator Klobuchar: 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 are input cost, whether they are these potential tariffs that I do not agree with, or whether they are ensuring that our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to thrive.
▶ 0:21:35Senator Klobuchar: 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 bows meant about the headwinds that these farmers face. We also are going to focus on those who milked cows day in and day out, those who raise the high-quality beef and pork and poultry that fuels us.
▶ 0:21:59Senator Klobuchar: 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 are everything from potato to asparagus to apples to the chili's from new mexico which is way too hot for minnesota but I can't wait to try them, we should call them omnipresent crops. Crops that really matter to the people of this country.
▶ 0:22:23Senator Klobuchar: According to the most recent census of agriculture, there are over 5000 farms in senator smith's and my state growing these crops, representing over $3 billion in market value, and that is why the specialty crop program is so important. Other things we can do as we look at this challenge ahead is we can improve crop insurance options for these growers and give them the tools they need to prevent devastating pest and disease outbreaks.
▶ 0:22:52Senator Klobuchar: 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 and the one thing we don't want to do is to make things worse. Our second panel will focus on our poultry, livestock and dairy farmers.
▶ 0:23:17Senator Klobuchar: Now more than ever we must support our poultry and livestock producers as their farms are hit by avian flu. This outbreak has impacted more than 160 million birds and nearly 1000 dairy herds across the country, causing economic hardship for producers and driving up food cost for their families. I look forward to reading and learning about the proposal set forward by the secretary of agriculture today.
▶ 0:23:43Senator Klobuchar: It was the number one thing I raised with her and we look forward to reviewing it and I'm sure we will always have suggestions. We must follow the science to build on the existing national testing strategies and support for farmers engaging with experts to develop new prevention and response methods and a thoughtful vaccine strategy.
▶ 0:24:05Senator Klobuchar: Any vaccine strategy must be supported of course by real trials, clear plan for outreach and proactive engagement with our trading partners to mitigate market disruptions. This also means keeping nonpartisan experts in the federal government including veterinarians, animal disease researchers, frontline animal disease responders. My colleagues and I of course have pressed when some of these people were laid off. I understand some of them are being rehired but we just can't mess around with this right now.
▶ 0:24:37Senator Klobuchar: We must make sure that the usta has the resources available to respond to this outbreak. This outbreak also underscores the need to invest in the national animal health lab network, national animal vaccine bank and the national animal disease preparedness and response program. Senator cornyn and I established these programs in the 2018 farm bill and they were upheld during the last outbreaks, but we have to do more.
▶ 0:25:04Senator Klobuchar: In addition to getting livestock producers the support they need on their farms, we need to make it easier, not harder to reach new markets. The recent proposal to implement sweeping tariffs on canada and mexico, even if delayed 30 days has already caused chaos in the marketplace and threatens farmers livelihoods. Our farmers in our state in particular stand to suffer from these tariffs. Around a million pigs cross the border with canada ever singly year.
▶ 0:25:33Senator Klobuchar: On top of that almost two weeks ago the president announced new plans to develop reciprocal tariffs on all countries that would go into effect as soonest april. We don't know the details of where and how high these new tariffs would be, but we do know that agriculture often bears the brunt of retaliatory tariffs, and this puts more markets in jeopardy as farmers try to plan this. The bottom line is that our farmers need certainty.
▶ 0:26:02Senator Klobuchar: The certainty of a fair playing field and transparent practices for all, the certainty that we are investing in the research and response programs that protect their crops and their flocks, and the certainty in trade policy to continue doing what they do best, feeding and fueling the world. All of this will be important to keep in mind as we continue the committee task of passing a bipartisan farm bill.
▶ 0:26:26Senator Klobuchar: As I've said often, I am so excited to work with senator bozeman and our team, excited about our new members, senator slotkin at the end of the row that are on this committee, and senator justice, and work together to get a farm bill that couldn't be more important. So thank you very much, chair -- chair boozman.
▶ 0:26:53Chair Boozman: We simply have a great committee of a lot about standing individuals. Before we begin introducing our first panel of witnesses, I request unanimous consent to submit written testimonies and materials the committee is receiving for this hearing. Without objection, so ordered. We will now introduce the first panel of witnesses. Mr.
▶ 0:27:17Chair Boozman: Bret erickson, who serves as chair of the U.S. government relations council for the international fresh produce association and the rio grande valley in texas, and is a senior executive for a family owned and operated grover, packer and shiffer of more than 40 products. I've had the pleasure of meeting with them last year during a farm bill, this same session in texas.
▶ 0:27:47Chair Boozman: Thank you so much for being here today. Mr. jeremy hansen, very proud to be here before the committee today. Senator connell's remarks regarding jeremy into the record. Without objection, so ordered. Jeremy hinton is an eight great generation -- [laughter] I've got to slow down.
▶ 0:28:19Chair Boozman: Jeremy hinton is an eighth generation farmer from kentucky. He and his wife own and operate a diversified farming operation that in addition to soybeans and burley tobacco, includes two direct to consumer farm markets selling a variety of greenhouse flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables. Jeremy, thank you for being here. Dr.
▶ 0:28:47Chair Boozman: Tim boring serves as the director of -- are you going to introduce? Senator slotkin?
▶ 0:28:55Senator Slotkin: Thank you for not stealing my thunder, Mr. chairman. It's an honor to introduce tim boring, the director of michigan's department of agriculture and rural development, or mdart. Director boring supports the commitment to investing in our state's urban and rural farming communities providing opportunities for food and agriculture businesses, protecting consumers from the pump to the plate and preserving michigan's amazing natural resources, particularly our great lakes.
▶ 0:29:26Senator Slotkin: He approaches those issues with a focus on economic prosperity, regenerative ag and diversifying agricultural production across the state. We like to say in michigan that we are the second-most diverse agricultural state in the country after california. We have changed the tagline, we are the most diverse agricultural state in the country with regular access to water. >> doing that when senator schiff is out of the room.
▶ 0:29:53Sen. Slotkin: I managed it, I told him to get out before I started picking on california. He is a sixth generation farmer in stockbridge, michigan. I have visited his farms, his family farm, so this is personal to him. His got a phd from michigan state university, go green, and I've had the pleasure of working with him for many years. I just want to take a particular moment in saying what Mr. boring has done in preventing avian flu in the state of michigan.
▶ 0:30:23Sen. Slotkin: Michigan was hit early with avian flu, and I think watching the state of michigan again without regard to party, without regard to politics, doing what we needed to do to control the outbreak and spread of avian flu has been an example for the rest of the country. So for all he does every day, for our specialty crops, I know we have our potato farmers in the room and others, thank you to tim boring and I'm glad to share his wisdom with the greater panel here.
▶ 0:30:54Sen. Slotkin: >> thank you. Senator hyde-smith will introduce Mrs. rhinewalt. >> it is my pleasure to introduce one of our witnesses today from mississippi and I had the pleasure of meeting with her earlier. Such a delightful meeting, and I so appreciate your efforts being here today. We have Mrs. anna rhineswalt.
▶ 0:31:23Sen. Slotkin: She and her brother and her husband operate a farm in mississippi and she has just completed a three-year term serving on the farmers and ranchers committee, which is so viable in our state in such a good organization. She currently serves on the mississippi sweet potato council board as well as on the mississippi farm bureau labor committee which we all know the issues with labor. Thank you for your efforts there.
▶ 0:31:52Sen. Slotkin: And just last year, she was named the 2024 mississippi farm woman of the year. So we just want to welcome you today, and I'm sure there are several people watching you and I bet evelyn and eleanor are watching you today, she's a mother of two, but you sure do a great job where you are and I thank you for representing mississippi as well as you do. >> senator lujan will introduce Mr. ben etcheverry. >> thank you Mr.
▶ 0:32:19Sen. Slotkin: Chairman, it's an honor traduced -- to introduce Mr. ben etcheverry, dedicated community leader, and chili advocate from deming, new mexico. He is the leader of new mexico's farming community and works tirelessly to represent the priorities of our local farmers.
▶ 0:32:40Sen. Slotkin: As the president of the new mexico chili association, he plays a crucial role in promoting the new mexico's pride and joy, our chile, and that is with an e. He was raised on an alfalfa farm in carlsbad, new mexico where his light and agriculture begin. He's also the proud husband of jessica and the proud father of samuel.
▶ 0:33:05Sen. Slotkin: Currently he is the agricultural operations manager of a chili pepper division in deming where he oversees a plant breeding program, specializing in chili pepper genetic innovation. He's dedicated his career to ensuring the chili industry thrives in our state and preserving this important agricultural tradition for future farmers and chili lovers. There is sometimes some heat involved with our products, I'm telling you it is always flavorful.
▶ 0:33:34Sen. Slotkin: So for those of you who are not falling in love with it yet, let me know and I will serve it for you, I will prepare it myself. Mr. etcheverry holds both undergraduate and a masters degree from new mexico state university. While attending, he was employed the chili pepper institute. His time foster his love of production in new mexico agriculture with a lifetime of experience in the field. He's built a deep understanding of the industry and its impact on mexico's economy and culture.
▶ 0:34:04Sen. Slotkin: I want to recognize your extensive knowledge and experience. We appreciate you being here today and especially the sacrifice of all of our panelists, taking time away from your families, from your responsibility is at home to be here as well. These conversations matter, so thanks for having us with you. >> we look forward to some luhan chili. Thank all of you so much for being here. Mr. erickson, you may begin.
▶ 0:34:33Mr. Erickson: Thank you. Little bear produces a family-owned grower, packer, shipper and fresh-cut processor in texas. We came to texas from new jersey in 1984 and started a small mom-and-pop brokerage which is grown into a multinational business employing nearly 200 full-time employees with comprehensive benefits.
▶ 0:35:00Mr. Erickson: We also hire an additional 500-600 seasonal workers to pack our products. Labor costs remain the biggest threat to the future of the U.S. fresh produce growers. In texas our labor costs have essentially doubled in just five years. We are currently at $23 prayer -- per hour for our cost. The federally mandated wage inflate labor cost beyond market realities making it difficult to compete with foreign producers.
▶ 0:35:28Mr. Erickson: We urge usta to reflect base wages only. Additionally we would request usta to appoint a liaison to the department of labor to help guide policy that impacts food and farm production. Texas farmers are facing severe water shortages, in part due to mexico's failure to meet its obligation of the 1944 water treaty. Mexico is required to deliver 200,000 acre-feet of water per year. They are now in debt 1.3 million acre-feet, which is over six years behind schedule.
▶ 0:35:57Mr. Erickson: While other regions pray for recovery from hurricane disasters, we are literally praying for hurricanes to refill our reservoirs. Less than 10 years ago, we were paying about $30 per acre foot of water. Today it is as high as $225 per acre foot and climbing if we can find it. Meanwhile mexico is holding six years of water and using it to grow competing crops like onions and pecans.
▶ 0:36:25Mr. Erickson: On farm bill priorities, specialty crops represent new behalf the total value, yet they received less than 1% of farm bill funding. We would urge investment in research and develop yield, sustainability, mechanization and automation, expanded crop insurance. Texas produces nearly 65 specialty crops. We have insurance programs for three. Market development supports stabilized pricing and competitiveness in federal procurement to increase specialty crop purchases.
▶ 0:36:54Mr. Erickson: Crop protection and regular trade challenges, rapidly losing access to essential pest management tools. As key to site and herbicides are phased out, there are few viable alternatives and even fewer in the approval pipeline. The recent example is an herbicide we relied on for onion production. After 50 years of safe use, the epa abruptly canceled last year with no comparable replacement. Epa has yet to provide guidance on libel alternatives.
▶ 0:37:19Mr. Erickson: This creates instability for growers which in turn creates opportunity for foreign producers. We urge congress to restrain bigotry overreach and bureaucratic red tape. On trade and economic competitiveness, fair trade is critical for fresh produce growers. A recent study highlighted usta data showing eye-popping decline in the U.S. fresh produce trade balance. He also had that chart your papers. It began in the early 90's and has accelerated through 2020.
▶ 0:37:49Mr. Erickson: Like many in our industry, our company imports from mexico to supplement our U.S. production. In order to provide our customers a consistent, year-round supply. But only when we are out of season. At the end of the day, pricing is king. How can a U.S. grower compete on cilantro, parsley, onions or watermelon them a labor cost is $23 per man hour and a foreign producer pays their worker $18 per day and operate under less regulation? That is not a fair playing field. On the flipside we sell a lot of product to our canadian friends.
▶ 0:38:19Mr. Erickson: They are and cuddle customers who value good quality. They love fresh produce and they also buy canadian grown whenever available. We will not bring a product than they are in season. I admire that anything we can learn a lesson from our friends to the north. Check your growers, they keep you fed. Over the last few decades, U.S. food and vegetable production has declined while imports have surged and the reason is clear. Misguided U.S. policies and excessive regulation have created a tilted market pushing production out of the U.S. and into the arms of cheaper, less regular than foreign producers.
▶ 0:38:51Mr. Erickson: Once our production is lost is not likely to return. Barriers to entry are too high and the cost of land, equipment and labor make it nearly impossible for new farmers to enter the business. We should protect and preserve what remains of our specialty crop production in the interest of our national security and the future wellness of our country. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, god bless our farmers and I would be happy to answer your questions. >> thank you. Ranking member klobuchar and members of the committee. I'd like to begin today with a quote.
▶ 0:39:23Mr. Erickson: No other human occupation open so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor and cultivated thought as agriculture. These are the words of abraham lincoln, who was born only a few miles from air families farm in kentucky. My connection to agriculture traces back to the time that lincoln wandered the fields around his home. First with a farming operation that looks different from iran father's, and second as a crop insurance agent helping other farmers manage risk.
▶ 0:39:54Mr. Erickson: Our operation includes soybeans and tobacco but our main focus is nearly 30 edible crops from apples to zucchini. Most of their sales are direct to consumer through local farmers markets. My wife and I began a business in 2002 and both involve the daily with production and marketing of our crops along with our three children, ages 27, 18 and 11. You must plan for both the present and the future.
▶ 0:40:21Mr. Erickson: I work on the farm requires a similar focus. While most traditional crop acres are covered under the federal crop insurance programs, participation for specialty crop growers is often more collocated. Because sporadic geographic distribution limits policy availability, agents and grower must work to ensure specialty crops --. Foreign policies are good options but can become located for both farmers and agents and have not been widely adapted.
▶ 0:40:51Mr. Erickson: In 2024 there were only six policies and quadro micro policies written in kentucky compared to nearly 7000 policies for soybeans. Efforts are being made by organizations like kentucky horticulture counter to increase awareness and understanding for specialty crops, but many growers do not understand how they work.
▶ 0:41:12Mr. Erickson: So we look for solutions to better manage risks and specialty crops, solutions that may include improvements, rainfall and temperature index product that could have consideration for both excess and normal conditions, or expanded revenue products for specialty crops, but based on farm records rather than tax returns.
▶ 0:41:34Mr. Erickson: While each of these have challenges, I encourage you to engage with rna -- rma to help find solutions. Labor is another area that requires specialty crop growers to keep an eye on the future. I think other members are going to address that so we will move on. As we work for a better future, specialty crop growers are especially dependent on the resources of universities.
▶ 0:42:01Mr. Erickson: Extension recommendations for disease and pest control and utility in our crops is invaluable to our success. Your support is vital to research and direct technical assistance delivered by our colleges of agriculture. The true focus on the future must also recognize the loss of farmlands to development in kentucky and across the nation. According to the census of agriculture kentucky lost more than 546,000 acres of farmland from 2017 to 2022. More than 290 acres per day. For context the average farm size in kentucky is 179 acres.
▶ 0:42:32Mr. Erickson: Kentucky farm bureau through the contagion of the crea -- kentucky farmland initiative is working with stakeholders at both state and federal levels to provide resources and education. Network opportunities and develop policy regulations. I urge your involvement in developing solutions to this important issue. While on one hand new neighbors me new customers for retail and markets like ours, he must find a balance between well-planned development and farmland preservation to ensure the future of our farms can have real communities.
▶ 0:43:01Mr. Erickson: Despite many challenges there are many positives in the specialty crop segment of agriculture. Indirect consumer sales with increased demand for locally grown products and for building relationships with those who want to know the farmer feeding their families. A new farm bill is an opportunity to increase the purchases of locally grown foods for schools, hospitals and other state and federal institutions and to open additional markets for our products and improve the health of our communities.
▶ 0:43:26Mr. Erickson: By focusing on the issues of today in the future, I look forward to my children becoming the ninth generation of my farmlands where lincoln walked. I want to thank each of you for your willingness to serve and for your work to ensure a healthy agriculture injury. It's been an honor for me to address this group and I look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you. Dr. boring.
▶ 0:43:52Dr. Boring: Thank you for the opportunity to participate today. My focus will be on specialty crops. Their importance, challenges and opportunities that growers and consumers face. Members of this committee can fall after the success of specialty crop today for years to come, and I'm looking forward to the constructive solutions and policy decisions that will come out of this hearing. As a junior senator, senator slotkin likes to point out food security is national security.
▶ 0:44:21Dr. Boring: There is a perspective I bring to the hearing today, I am proud to lead a state agency of dedicated public servants who are committed to providing opportunities for food and agricultural businesses, lifting up our communities and preserving michigan's national resources. Agriculture is a 105 billion dollars industry for michigan and I consider a specialty crop farmers the backbone of our success with more than 300 crops.
▶ 0:44:47Dr. Boring: Since your invitation was extended, I've been asked by producers to share just how vital specialty crops are for their existence. Unfortunately for many specialty crops, times have never been more tenuous. What once provided an avenue for farmers to diversify has forced many to choose whether or not there farm will welcome back the next generation.
▶ 0:45:07Dr. Boring: Whether it is trade precious, rising costs, climate durability, labor constraints, or threats of pest and disease, many specialty crop countries are harder to grow, more difficult to get the market, or challenging as ever to reach the consumer. In the interest of time I want to highlight some key areas porting the farm bill to become a priority as well as share some of what we are doing she met his teen success.
▶ 0:45:34Dr. Boring: First, public-sector research has been critical for specialty crops, specifically specialty crop block grants currently supported by the research initiatives. These investments have been instrumental in keeping farmers one step ahead of the next disease or threat. Last year michigan cherry farmers lost between 30% and 75% of the crop. Unprecedented insight and pest pressure. Losses such as these are becoming far more common.
▶ 0:46:01Dr. Boring: A farm bill that provides grower support helps ensure the continuation of family farms in these unprecedented challenges. Another area that growers make clear needs continued support if the market insistence for specialty crop programs which helps grow with expand and develop new markets for their crops. A time when there are so money unknowns with trade partnerships , fostering stronger domestic market will be critical but a success of our growers.
▶ 0:46:31Dr. Boring: Finally, I want to share two areas where we are seeing success in michigan thanks to governor gretchen whitmer investing state dollars. Our generative agriculture unit and the farm family program. Generative agriculture is an active approach to land management driven by improving health. Generative agriculture unit, the first of its kind embedded in the state department supports producers engaging with this approach to production agriculture.
▶ 0:46:57Dr. Boring: By adopting the generative agriculture practices, farmers and landowners can improve probability, restore healthy soils, safeguard natural resources for future generations. Commodity road crop operators have been on the front lines of these practices. Our farm to family programs are also a first of its kind effort working to strengthen food systems, altering market demand for products and increasing food access and durability.
▶ 0:47:24Dr. Boring: Our first investment through this initiative if the middle of the supply chain program which are in a bit of models and market outlets, aggregation and distribution. A variety of specialty crops in the state. Together these programs are working to add value to the crops grown on michigan farms and get them to the people of michigan. I share all this today because the support of our specialty crops is directly translating to the tools that keep farmers farming, keeping rural communities violent, keeping fruit and vegetables on the dinner plates.
▶ 0:47:55Dr. Boring: Thank you again for the opportunity this morning and I look forward to questions. >> thank you. Mrs. rhinewalt.
▶ 0:48:04Mrs. Rhinewalt: Thank you for inviting me today to testify about the current state of our farm economy. Our nation has experienced many years blessed with a robust and successful farm economy. The current conversations around farm office tables and mail boxes full of sales tell a vastly different story of what happened in the last five years. New equipment is 30%-40% higher. Many parts and repairs have doubled or tripled.
▶ 0:48:35Mrs. Rhinewalt: Supplies have increased by at least 50%. Wage rates have increased in our state by 30%. Farmers who were once profitable enough to finance themselves are now paying 8%-10% interest rate on multimillion dollar operating loan just to try to stay afloat. These increases are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars off of the bottom lines every year. Some of these same farmers have experienced unprecedented weather events that have diminished and destroyed their crops.
▶ 0:49:03Mrs. Rhinewalt: And finally, market pricing for crops like soy beans and sweet potatoes have been stagnant if not in decline. Farmers are trying to claw their way out that they cannot pay their debts with losses. Specialty crop producers like me are faced with another variable, that have not addressed suit is going to be a catalyst for a closure. The number of messages I've received in the last 24 hours regarding this testimony has made an impression on me. There are so many constituents watching today.
▶ 0:49:32Mrs. Rhinewalt: I since they are encouraged that this hearing was called and they are hopeful that you are listening and will help us. While I understand this community doesn't have direct jurisdiction over the program reform, I urge you to share my testimony with your colleagues to make them aware that we are desperate for relief. The adverse effect wage rate was initially established to protect domestic farmworkers from foreign worker wage depression. Decades later, the domestic workforce is almost entirely moved away.
▶ 0:50:02Mrs. Rhinewalt: In 2020 three, of the 380,000 eligible positions, only 10,000 domestic applications were received. 97% went unanswered. Since 2019, our state has risen almost 30 1% resulting in an additional $12 million impact to mississippi sweet potato growers annually. We don't understand why the rate continues to rise so dramatically using the rationale that it is to protect domestic workforce that no longer exists.
▶ 0:50:36Mrs. Rhinewalt: Seasonality restrictions are also affecting our farmers. We increasingly need a year-round solution. Our long-term domestic ruler dwindling and they no longer seem to be any workers willing to fill the gap. Finally in the last 24 months, the department of labor issued over 3000 pages of rulings. Please understand, h2 a workers live on her farms with our families for months at a time.
▶ 0:51:06Mrs. Rhinewalt: We have very positive relationships with their workers. To suggest that it requires gazans regulations to establish a fair, safe and mutually beneficial employer-employee arrangement is offensive to farmers. Our livelihoods are inextricably linked to the presence and quality of our workforce. We appreciate the willingness of our workers, and we understand the sacrifices they make to provide a better life for their families, much like we do.
▶ 0:51:33Mrs. Rhinewalt: We support a straightforward, comment and program that protects our workers without burying us under a mountain of policy. I hope my testimony today has provoked a sense of urgency. This situation is playing out in families all across our country. I ask that you assess the ramifications of the loss of food production from within our borders. Food grown and raised domestically is safer, of a higher quality, and most importantly matter of national ready. We are so close to losing the american farm.
▶ 0:52:03Mrs. Rhinewalt: Please help us pave the way forward, remove our obstacles and lead our country into a new awareness that without food, nothing else matters. Thank you for holding today's hearing and I will be pleased to answer any questions the committee might have. >> thank you. Mr. etcheverry.
▶ 0:52:23Mr. Etcheverry: I'm incredibly proud to represent the chilly capital of the world and share my perspective on the agricultural economy. Thank you, chairman bozeman ranking member klobuchar and members of this committee. Immigration is a hot debate in america right now and agricultural labor is closely tied to it. It's nice to be noticed but the circumstances are less than favorable. As you know, must produce in the country is hand-harvested.
▶ 0:52:50Mr. Etcheverry: As such we have tremendous need for the human touch and the hard work that comes with it to plant, grow and harvest our products. As our economy is developed, far less people pursue work on the farm. With this challenge we have become more reliant upon the h2 a program to shore up the gap in agricultural employment. Like lark -- like large acreage crops, we do not have reliable options for produce.
▶ 0:53:18Mr. Etcheverry: Consumers demand perfect peppers at the grocery store with no blemishes for any slides the rope. The new mexico chili association has spent a lot of time trying to develop automation solutions for our industry with the help of usta. This work needs to continue and expand until we solve the riddle for other vegetable crops. While this committee does not have jurisdiction over immigration, I do want to share a few words on the topic. First, the program as we know is broken and needs to be fixed.
▶ 0:53:50Mr. Etcheverry: The program is expensive, loaded with numerous costs and paperwork involved, and is at times torturous at best. Second, we need to have a functioning and fair immigration system. I've seen many leaders in my rural community who came to this country long ago and enriched it. There is a middle ground and it is my hope this committee can use its influence to elevate the need for reform. Trade and tariffs are also a hurting issue and our growers have seen this issue close up for years.
▶ 0:54:21Mr. Etcheverry: Currently, the domestic gradually production is down by 50% across-the-board the board since 2018. This is largely due to foreign paprika being shipped to intermediaries, repackaged as intermediary peppery, then shipped to the U.S. with a landing cost 10%-15% below the cost of domestic growers, let alone the constant dehydration and packaging.
▶ 0:54:47Mr. Etcheverry: I already talked about the need to have federal funding that helps fuel innovation and automation but I want to highlight the additional areas of necessity and the farm bill. First, the specialty crops is incredibly valuable and has help the growers gain access to marketing materials for increased consumer education. As senator lujan knows, we have a wonderful certified program that protects our product so they are confused with imports often gaining auroras a premium.
▶ 0:55:17Mr. Etcheverry: Second, the availability of water especially in desert-producing regions is becoming less consistent and reliable and it is critically important that conversation programs the bolster to help growers use federal money to switch to more efficient irrigation systems. Finally, specialty crops have less support, higher risk and unfortunately a weaker risk mitigation system to rely on then our friends in row crops.
▶ 0:55:48Mr. Etcheverry: Our industry relies on an outdated insurance program that usta helped set up in the 1980's. We need to correct this immediately to help ensure our farms survive. In closing, due to the efforts of the farm bill and the letter stated history of this body, we've created a food policy program that has helped us shrug off wars, would be famine, economically trying times and set the standard on which the modern agricultural model and the world was created.
▶ 0:56:17Mr. Etcheverry: I employ this congress to set aside partisan differences to make sure that farmers have the support to continue provisions for enough food to eat and enough food to make sure our next-door door neighbors do not go without. Thank you again for this opportunity and I look forward to your questions. >> thank you. Mr.
▶ 0:56:42Mr. Etcheverry: Erickson, the trade imbalance on fresh produce is disappointing. Is the primary contributor all of agriculture. What should this committee be thinking about as we work together to alleviate this concern?
▶ 0:57:00Mr. Erickson: Thank you for the question, Mr. chairman. This should be in the information that was submitted to you. This is the fresh produce trade balance from 1980-2022. This is a pretty vicious picture. This is not fair trade from the specialty crop industry. We need controls on the cost of our labor.
▶ 0:57:32Mr. Erickson: When I'm paying $23 per man hour and mexico can grow the same crop and they are paying $18 per day per person, that gap is insurmountable. We need commonsense solutions to help control the cost of our labor.
▶ 0:57:58Mr. Erickson: Secondly, in the case of texas, our water situation is threatening our very existence. We farm about 6000 acres of fruits and vegetables, we grow over 40 different commodities. This year we left 2000 acres that we could not farm because we did not have water for it. Because of that, we had to relocate some of their production to outside growers and to other regions.
▶ 0:58:27Mr. Erickson: Visit the folks here that you the h2 a program, shifting your people around when you have a location on a petition and we are making adjustments on the fly is very difficult. Additionally at $23 per hour, moving people around from farm to farm isn't possible. We need to have been centrally located.
▶ 0:58:50Mr. Erickson: Controls on cost and the program support in pressing mexico to make regular water payments and support to getting the farm bill completed and finding ways to invest in the neck and is asian and automation, finding ways to stop regulatory overreach such as when I talked about the epa, basically from one day to the next pulling a very important herbicide that we use in production that has been used for 50 years.
▶ 0:59:22Mr. Erickson: Essentially from one day to the next, it was pulled away with no options, no alternatives. And foreign competitors are not under that kind of regulatory pressure. These would be some areas I would point to that this committee could focus on. >> thank you.
▶ 0:59:43Mr. Erickson: Can you talk more about how the changes to the program over the past several years have affected your day today, the voice for agriculture leading the department of labor?
▶ 0:59:59Mrs. Rhinewalt: Thank you for the question, senator. Day today we are trying to keep our heads above water in response to a wage rate that is taking from our farm and initial $70,000 annually off our bottom line. We've cut where we can to compensate, but we recognize that another increase would be devastating. And to your point about a voice for agriculture, we are very optimistic about president trump's nominee.
▶ 1:00:28Mrs. Rhinewalt: She seems to be a friend of farmers and advocate for h2a iran reform. -- she drafted largely with bipartisan support. So she has confirmed she will help us push reform in this new cost over the finish line.
▶ 1:00:51Mrs. Rhinewalt: >> in your testimony you noted the challenges faced by many specialty crop producers in finding adequate tools to manage risk. What are some ways that we can strengthen insurance options for specialty crop growers? >> thank you for the question, Mr. chairman. As I mentioned, one of the most difficult challenges the geographic distribution of crops and the lack of concentration.
▶ 1:01:22Mrs. Rhinewalt: There are a lot of sweet potatoes growing in our area. But for us, for example, with their operation, peaches are one of the crops that we grow and peach insurance is three of the 120 counties in kentucky just because of the historic production. So as we look at that, one option that we have is to share crops with agreements.
▶ 1:01:50Mrs. Rhinewalt: Unfortunately, there is a relatively high standard of proof in terms of the disposition of those crops, the way they are sold for markets like ours that sell directly to consumer. It's very difficult to be able to produce the records even with a point-of-sale system to backup and document where those fruits went when they were sold. Unlike if we had sale tickets were we are hosting a purchase.
▶ 1:02:19Mrs. Rhinewalt: When you are dealing with direct to consumer transactions, it is much more difficult to improve those. So I think there's potential in whole farm. Microform certainly has its places where it fits and I think it isn't the answer for everything. One of my biggest challenges with whole farm is the timing of it. Obviously the loss are paid based on tax returns, which means that any losses are not paid until taxes are filed.
▶ 1:02:49Mrs. Rhinewalt: So for example, for me if I had a loss and strawberry production that happens in may, it might be a full year from now before we would be able to collect a payment for that. That is one of the challenges. I would encourage further looks at revenue-based products based on farm records instead of those tax returns that could reduce the burden of record-keeping for producers.
▶ 1:03:16Mrs. Rhinewalt: I think that is one of the most intimidating things the record-keeping burden that comes along with us. One last night about how they are hoping the whole farm will work for them. I had a conversation with an apple grow in michigan a couple weeks ago and was very pleased with the seller of his crop.
▶ 1:03:46Mrs. Rhinewalt: I think anytime we talk about crop insurance we have to talk about all of the pieces and with the industry we talked about the three legged stool, and we have to remember all of the different layers involved, make sure it is a good fit for everyone. We've not had an inflation adjustment for nearly 10 years, something that I think would help our industry as a whole.
▶ 1:04:16Mrs. Rhinewalt: Something else that I think would bear consideration is specialty crops fall in the same category with corn, soybeans, wheat, so they are subject to reduction in payments. We seen that firsthand at our agency being in burley tobacco, and our revenue from air tobacco policies have reduced by 40% because of corn and soybeans.
▶ 1:04:45Mrs. Rhinewalt: It works perfectly for those crops, but when we are not aligned with the same increase in market value and premiums, it makes it difficult for agencies to focus on those extra crops. >> senator klobuchar?
▶ 1:04:59Sen. Klobuchar: I appreciate a number of you raising the workforce issue and I noted you talking about how important that is going to be. Senator bennet is an expert on this, cosponsored on immigration reform for workers to ask those questions, but I wanted to lead with the funding for the marketing assistant for specialty crop program.
▶ 1:05:25Sen. Klobuchar: The program, as you know, recognizes the struggles that specialty crop growers have with import, rising cost, inadequate safety. And I know usta has been the initial payment, but eligible growers are still rating -- waiting for the rest of the assistance. And they have received a partial payment, and this includes crop growers in minnesota. We are pushing for the department to make good on their promise that was made.
▶ 1:05:53Sen. Klobuchar: What response have you got from specialty crop growers in your state regarding these programs from usta? >> we've seen tremendous interest in the program. I would say there is quite an interest. The applications that have gone in for that program, I understanding is that half the money has gone out to specialty crop producers.
▶ 1:06:20Sen. Klobuchar: It's a really important lifeline for producers for the elite move product. You mentioned some of these challenges run with international pressures coming in. We certainly see that there is variety of different specialty crops. Expanding -- expanding some of the linkages.
▶ 1:06:48Sen. Klobuchar: >> that is something we do big time at the university of minnesota. Soil health, those kinds of things. Also important. And then risk management tools. Again, Mr. etcheverry was noticing that the crop insurance provisions haven't been updated since the 1980's.
▶ 1:07:11Sen. Klobuchar: That was when cabbage patch dolls were popular, walkmans were the rage and the women were wearing little bowties with their suits. So are you saying it might be time to update things since then? >> certainly timely.
▶ 1:07:27Sen. Klobuchar: Mr. erickson, could you talk about how specialty crops growers can benefit when more families are able to afford fruits and vegetables?
▶ 1:07:39Mr. Erickson: Thank you for the question, senator. We grow medicine. Fruits and vegetables. They are mother nature's medicine. So anything and everything we can be doing to encourage increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables I think is critical.
▶ 1:08:04Mr. Erickson: Our nation is facing a health crisis, and we should be investing in and supporting programs that encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables. On the other side, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that those of us were sitting here and who are producers can remain in business and stay in business.
▶ 1:08:31Mr. Erickson: It requires the need to be profitable to run our farms and operations. Investing in school nutrition programs and wic programs and encouraging and requiring the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.
▶ 1:08:49Sen. Klobuchar: Mr. etcheverry, I can't help but just keep being drawn to your chili peppers and what is going on there in new mexico. Could you talk about what the special block grant, how important it is and how it has helped that industry and what it means beyond even the growers, the restaurants, and the terrorism and things like that for your state.
▶ 1:09:13Mr. Etcheverry: It is critical for us. As we are a super specialty crop that we have very local following --
▶ 1:09:22Sen. Klobuchar: Is that a term of law?
▶ 1:09:25Mr. Etcheverry: Fanatic. It has allowed us to penetrate other markets in other states and educate our consumers on how to prepare our peppers and enjoy them as well.
▶ 1:09:37Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you. And I will yield the rest of my time back. >> senator hyde-smith.
▶ 1:09:46Senator Hyde-Smith: I certainly appreciate the opportunity that you've called this meeting and they want to thank all of our witnesses today. This is incredibly important for our country and your part today is very, very helpful. My question is for Mrs. rhinewalt of mississippi.
▶ 1:10:06Senator Hyde-Smith: If you weeks zero, we heard from the producers in our state, and it goes without saying that farming is heading in a very dark direction. And I know that you guys had to specialty crop side of things, which your family happens to be involved with both, with the row crops and sweet potatoes as well.
▶ 1:10:34Senator Hyde-Smith: Would you just generally described for the committee what your challenges are, your various hardships, your family operations facing from a high cost of input, the red tape, the regulations, could you just share with us your greatest challenges?
▶ 1:10:51Mrs. Rhinewalt: Sure, thank you senator. We utilize row crops primarily for crop rotation. But unfortunately, the higher margins that we do experience on the specialty crop side are pretty much diminished on the row crop side to the hyatt quitman cost primarily, and then also historically low crop prices that we are experiencing right now. But of particular note would be critically outdated reference prices.
▶ 1:11:23Mrs. Rhinewalt: So the farm safety net is not triggering as quickly as it should to really provide the relief we need for people who use row crop farming as a supplement, but most especially those who their whole livelihood is dependent on that.
▶ 1:11:36Sen. Hyde-Smith: So the update again is so critically important. In your testimony, you also referred to the h2h agriculture workers that are so important. My take away is that this problem is critical in helping american farmers fill employment gaps that other people just do not, they are unwilling to do that type of work and it is terribly expensive in recent years, and riddled with red tape, as we well know.
▶ 1:12:08Sen. Hyde-Smith: Could you again shed some light on the challenges you faced with the h2a workers, but most of all how we need to improve it?
▶ 1:12:17Mrs. Rhinewalt: Outside of the 3000 pages of regulation that we are struggling to keep up with, we really need reform in the areas of aid where as I stated before, the error rate in our state is currently $14.83, which is 31% higher than it was five years ago. But in particular, that rate does not consider the housing cost that we have to pay, transportation and administrative expense.
▶ 1:12:46Mrs. Rhinewalt: So typically, that can bring the rate that we are actually paying, I would say a conservative estimate would be four dollars or five dollars additionally per hour that we are paying which for the cost of living in her state is quite expensive. We also need a path to year-round labor so that we don't experience gaps in production.
▶ 1:13:10Mrs. Rhinewalt: A lot of farms like us, we are a grower and a packer, the planting and harvest seasons have been critical, but since our long-term domestic workforce has kind of dwindled and there is not a new generation coming on, a lot of people in our shoes, we are able to patch it together, our whole family is working to get through that eight weeks until workers return, but I have friends who have to shut down the lines completely because they don't have enough help to keep it
▶ 1:13:40Mrs. Rhinewalt: Going and that really exposes them that their customers to move on to somebody else. They really just need to fill in the gap. So that is probably about it. >> if we do not have these changes, and the suggestions that this entire panel is making, could you just look five years out and tell me how you foresee your operation if this committee and this congress does not do something immediately?
▶ 1:14:08Mrs. Rhinewalt: If we don't make changes, I don't think it will take five years for us to get the answer to that question, it would be far less. Certainly if we continue on the trajectory that we are currently on it will take far less than five years to put a vast majority of specialty crop users out of business.
▶ 1:14:27Mrs. Rhinewalt: That -- we have to eat all of that because many of us, depending on what your specialty crop is, our markets will not bear passing along the cost.
▶ 1:14:42Sen. Hyde-Smith: I am out of time. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:14:47Sen. Bennet: I want to thank the ranking member for her mention of the workforce. I am glad it is coming up everywhere. Mr. etcheverry, you strike me as an honest man. I know there are a lot of people from new mexico in your family watching today. I will not ask you about the virtues of pueblo chiles today.
▶ 1:15:18Sen. Bennet: We can talk about it later. Anna said the future of the american farm is at stake and I agree with that. When I transport my when I transport m myself 10 years ago, a bill that had billions of dollars in border security -- I think it was like
▶ 1:15:48Sen. Bennet: $70 billion in current dollars, it had a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people here who are undocumented. It had agriculture provisions I agreed upon with senators. Two of those people have passed from this earth. The agriculture provisions of that bill were supported by the growers all over america and were supported by the farmworkers, which is how it should be, because of what Mr.
▶ 1:16:20Sen. Bennet: Erickson said. The importance of the food being grown to the lifeblood of this nation. The growers and the farmworkers are doing something that most of us would never be able to do. Most of us could never do. They are an essential part of not just our economy but our culture and the american economy.
▶ 1:16:48Sen. Bennet: It shows how impoverished our discussion on immigration has become in this country. Not because we should not secure the border -- I was for that long before donald trump rode his escalator down at trump tower. We will never get a plan together the tries to do all the things you want to do.
▶ 1:17:08Sen. Bennet: We had a bipartisan proposal, similar to the one in the house that had a wage freeze and dealt with the adverse wage issues that was agreed to by the farmworkers and also almost all the growers in america but not all the growers in america.
▶ 1:17:26Sen. Bennet: What I would say is we need your help before we lose american agriculture, before we lose farms and ranches that will move to places where they can find the labor they need. I wonder, Mr. etcheverry, in all that context but I do think it is important to recognize there was a time when our politics were not as broken as they are around this issue.
▶ 1:17:58Sen. Bennet: Also a reminder that this economy, especially our rural farm economy, depends on immigration and our having a functional immigration system. Can you talk about how things have gotten more dire in the last few years on this subject? If there is anyone else would like to, and I would be happy to take that, too.
▶ 1:18:23Mr. Etcheverry: It has become more dire with the comments from this board. Higher interest rates, lower farmer wages. One of my growers to the math on his take home and he makes $3 an hour. It is really hard.
▶ 1:18:45Sen. Bennet: Are you done?
▶ 1:18:49Mr. Etcheverry: We have a lot of workers who want to be good americans. They want to come over, they want to work, they pay their taxes and they go home and raise their family.
▶ 1:19:01Sen. Bennet: I remember he learned this on his family's farm and ranch in arizona. Did you want to say anything else?
▶ 1:19:17Ms. Rhinewalt: We are farther north than Mr. etcheverry. We transition from the domestic workforce into the h-2a program.
▶ 1:19:29Sen. Bennet: You talked about the need for year-round folks.
▶ 1:19:32Ms. Rhinewalt: There are a tremendous number of constituents who have not had access to h-2a. We have different segments of operations, some are seasonal. Their operations are specifically year-round. They are suffering without a reliable workforce and have not been able to take advantage of the h-2a program at all due to the seasonality.
▶ 1:19:59Sen. Bennet: I would say to the chairman and ranking member, as someone on this panel said already, this is not in the jurisdiction of this committee but I think republicans and democrats could provide some leadership to the rest of the senate in terms of bringing these proposals forward and I want to volunteer my services in your efforts to do that.
▶ 1:20:27Sen. Tuberville: Thank you for being here today. Our ag economy is a complete disaster. If we do not do something -- I do not know how it will work -- we will not have a ag committee in a few years. We lost 150,000 farms in the last few years. If that is not a disaster, I do not know what is.
▶ 1:20:53Sen. Tuberville: We do not help you, regulations are overboard, labor is out of sight, you have no water -- I do not know what we have done right up here. It does not sound like a lot. What is the ideal rate if we were able to go back on labor costs? What would be the ideal rate to make a profit?
▶ 1:21:17Ms. Rhinewalt: Senator, thank you. We had that discussion yesterday. We talked about wages based on maybe 115% of the federal wage rate or state minimum wage rate but we know that is at $7.25 but farmers are not suggesting.
▶ 1:21:41Ms. Rhinewalt: We pay that low we want to have a formulation for the wage rate that takes into account that $14.83 may be the wage rate but we need to consider other costs and maybe prorate that into consideration of those factors. It is a fallacy to say that because we are paying $14.83, that is not what we are paying, it is really $21 per hour.
▶ 1:22:08Sen. Tuberville: $23 per hour? You have to be kidding me. But would be our cost to make a profit.
▶ 1:22:17Mr. Erickson: I wish it was not. It is. To Ms. rhinewalt's comments, costs involved applying for the programming, transporting laborers from their home country to the united states, transport them, put them in housing, hotels, transport them from the hotel to the job site, catering services, we provide food, you need to take them to doctors appointments.
▶ 1:22:49Mr. Erickson: I do not know how you rollback -- in texas, I believe it is $15 87 cents per hour, our actual cost is $23 with you had that in -- if you add that in. Do not know what the number is but we need to put a cap on the increases that have occurred. How do we deal with it?
▶ 1:23:18Mr. Erickson: In the case of produce, we recently shut down. We had an onion packing facility in new mexico. It was an important part of our operation. That had about 15 full-time people. We brought in 20-30 seasonable people. We had to recently shutter that facility in part because of the water being withheld in mexico.
▶ 1:23:49Mr. Erickson: They are using that water to grow our crops and that we have to purchase the products. It is a crazy situation for us to. Be in as a business we had to make a decision. These people have been working with us for 12-15 years. We had to sit down and tell them we have to let you go. We will work with you to try to transition into another job. You know what the craziest thing was?
▶ 1:24:18Mr. Erickson: Those folks in talking to them, they were so thankful for the opportunity they had for the 12-15 years they were working for us and they were so thankful for that. If we do not get these costs under control for U.S. producers, we will continue to hand over the production of specialty crops and fruits and vegetables.
▶ 1:24:42Sen. Tuberville: Could we do without a h-2a program?
▶ 1:24:47Ms. Rhinewalt: No, sir, we would be completely out of business.
▶ 1:24:54Sen. Tuberville: How are domestic workers being affected by the h-2a program?
▶ 1:24:59Ms. Rhinewalt: The domestic workforce will never again be the remedy for ag production in the U.S. 97% of jobs remain open and would require an advertisement for domestic workers first before we could get the reassurance that we can bring h-2a onto our farms. We would be happy to pay our own citizens a reasonable wage. The auxiliary costs I mention. They do not want the jobs.
▶ 1:25:28Sen. Tuberville: Good luck. I hope we get out of your way. That is what we will have to do.
▶ 1:25:33Chair Boozman: Senator smith.
▶ 1:25:37Sen. Smith: Thank you, chair boozman. I want to give a welcome to lori and john from minnesota for your work. We are blessed to have minnesotans lead. It is a tribute to the diverse farm economy we have in minnesota. I want to welcome you both here.
▶ 1:26:04Sen. Smith: I also want to associate myself with the comments that senator bennet made in the great insights from our panel around labor reforms. It is important for us to hear. Mitt does not work for us to hear that someone should be doing something about the problems when we need to put aside our differences. Mr. etcheverry, I am a proud senator of minnesota but I was born in new mexico.
▶ 1:26:34Sen. Smith: For me, chile is not a necessary crop -- for me, chile is not a specialty crop, it is a necessary crop. Risk management tools that work for farmers. I appreciate your question.
▶ 1:26:54Sen. Smith: We keep hearing -- I do not think we pay enough attention to how crop insurance does not work like it should for small farmers and specialty farmers. The option was designed to fill some gaps but it has shortcomings. I have been working on legislation to address the shortcomings. Many of the challenges you have raised, our bill tries to work on.
▶ 1:27:22Sen. Smith: I would like to continue this conversation and get feedback from you. I would love to see that the part of the work we do. Mr. chair, I would like to enter into the record a letter from the minnesota farmers union opposing staffing cuts at local and regional usda offices.
▶ 1:27:42Chair Boozman: Without objection. >> it says we want a usda that is accountable to the farmers and communities they serve. And a quiet adequate staffing and stable funding. Usda county and local offices help farmers in many different ways. Managing disease outbreaks, partnering with farmers, dealing with all the challenges you have been describing.
▶ 1:28:11Chair Boozman: Despite the critical work they are doing many of these positions have been eliminated over the last few weeks. Yesterday I was hearing from a minnesotan about local usda employees who were almost through their probationary period, to replace soon to be retiring fsa staff, only to get fired after all that training.
▶ 1:28:37Chair Boozman: They are worried those folks will retire anyway, the new probationary employees were going to be filling the spots up. You have to remember these fsa employees are often farmers themselves who are trying to find extra farming income because of all the challenges you have laid out. I want to talk about the importance of this staff. Mr.
▶ 1:29:02Chair Boozman: Boring, can you talk about the impacts of firing the usda employees?
▶ 1:29:12Mr. Boring: It is a great question and a great point to bring up. I know firsthand of how dedicated midwest and michigan fsa employees are to work closely providing assistance. We talked a little bit about some of the challenges of these programs. A lot of the services available to growers are complicated. There is a lot of nuance to these programs. Fsa staff help.
▶ 1:29:45Mr. Boring: Growers navigate these issues
▶ 1:29:46Sen. Smith: They are partners
▶ 1:29:48Mr. Boring: It is true of the crop insurance agents, partners with farmers. It is true of how we are advancing practices, implementing different land management approaches that require technical expertise. The partnerships are essential to working farmers and building stronger systems.
▶ 1:30:12Sen. Smith: I hear so often from minnesota farmers on how they relied on fsa advice and develop long-term relationships with folks and that is all going out the window with these firings. I know we have worked in a bipartisan way to address shortages in fsa but what the administration is doing right now goes absolutely counter to what is a shared bipartisan goal.
▶ 1:30:41Sen. Smith: I hope we can find a solution to make sure farmers across the country have the support they need from fsa and other regional offices.
▶ 1:30:48Chair Boozman: Thank you, senator smith. Senator justice.
▶ 1:30:54Sen. Justice: Thank you, Mr. chairman. Let me tell you this. I do not have a script to go by. I am the new kid on the block in a lot of ways. But I promise you I really think you should listen to what I have to say today. In many ways, I would say, what should we do? What should we do?
▶ 1:31:22Sen. Justice: And there is a solution to all of this. My dad said a long time ago, if I can use this slang that he would use, he would say, "son, I do not know exactly what we should do, but this," and he would not say "daggum," he would say "this surely ain't it."
▶ 1:31:56Sen. Justice: I appreciate those coming today and their testimony. I appreciate our chairman and our ranking member. We have the real deal chairman right now. We can really make a difference. Let me just take you through some level of math. The small family farm in america today, the average size is 430-plus acres. They are hurting in every way imaginable.
▶ 1:32:27Sen. Justice: We better awaken real quickly to just a couple things. Going into grocery stores and as far as you can see, there is every choice imaginable. We pay almost nothing of our annual income compared to countries across the globe to have a luxury you cannot imagine that we have in america. That is all there is to it. We have that luxury because of these people. Because of many of you sitting right here right now.
▶ 1:32:59Sen. Justice: Absolutely when it comes down to it, our family farms in this country do something that defies all financial reasonableness. That is all there is. To it. Let me walk you through a little bit of math. If you had 500 acres today in illinois, it is probably worth greater than $15,000 an acre. If you do the math real quick that is $7.5 million.
▶ 1:33:28Sen. Justice: If the farmer had $500,000 in the bank he had $8 million. Of worth he pushes it all out on a table every year and says I am all in. I am waiting on it to rain and absolutely that farmer probably is living off $28,000 or $42,000 a year.
▶ 1:33:57Sen. Justice: But if he sold his land tomorrow he could go to goldman sachs and goldman sachs would bring him a return of probably $350,000 a year. He does not do it. He does not do it for all of us. For every last one of us he does not do it. He does not do it because he loves what he is doing and we better love him. That is all there is to it. At the end of the day, if we do not love him enough, we will be in real trouble. What happens?
▶ 1:34:27Sen. Justice: What happens tomorrow, big giant corporations, exxon or whoever get together and say I will tell you what we will do, this guy will not continue to farm. He will not continue to do what he does. He decides he wants to go to the bahamas and hang out and absolutely have somebody send him an annual income of $350,000. Instead it is $28,000 and he is driving a 12-year-old pickup.
▶ 1:34:58Sen. Justice: What do we do if we lose him? Whatever it is, a foreign interest, exxon, whatever decides out of the clear blue sky is what they will do is they will plant one crop and said the price of corn is $150 a bushel and if you do not want to we will not plant any more. What happens to us? We have a meltdown in our food industry, a meltdown and a crisis in this country.
▶ 1:35:26Sen. Justice: We owe so much for those people, it is off the chart. We are both coaches in our own way. With all that being said I absolutely promise you -- promise you to god above -- we have to fix this. We have to fix this right now. We have to fix crop insurance, we have to have a farm bill that is a true bill that basically, probably, is regionalized.
▶ 1:35:57Sen. Justice: Instead of a one-size-fits-all -- it does not fit all. That is all there is to it. I have grown many specialty crops, and I salute you for what you do. It is a high risk business. You are fighting everything from regulations to labor and on and on and on. We all are. But we have to wake up. If we do not wake up right now and we awaken to those farmers leaving the farm for whatever reason it may be, it will be a bad day in america.
▶ 1:36:28Sen. Justice: Mr. chairman, I salute you in every way and I absolutely think all of you who are involved in agriculture. Thank you so much for your testimony and everything. God bless america in every way and we have to fix it. And we better fix it now or we will be in a heck of a mess.
▶ 1:36:48Chair Boozman: Chair boozman:.
▶ 1:36:50Sen. Booker: A point of privilege, forgive me for my language, but I want to say, damn, I was not a coach, I was a player in the once great pac-10 that is no more but if you talk like that, coach, put me in.
▶ 1:37:11Sen. Booker: I was listening and the nobility of what you stand for and what you all do and the unnecessary crap you have to deal with it undermines your ability to do the greatest profession the sound of the nation come up to farm, feed communities, it is evident and we have to fix this stuff. There are commonsense ways I have been talking about for a long time. Industry in my state.
▶ 1:37:42Sen. Booker: We are a so-called specialty crop state. This one-size-fits-all does not work. It really does not work. We are a nation that spends 93% of our ag subsidies on commodity crops and does not support specialty crops. Nor do we do specialty things to limit regulations or support labor. This is to me exciting to hear.
▶ 1:38:14Sen. Booker: Senator justice, I am coming for you -- that is not a threat, that is a compliment. I want to see a lot of my farmers in new jersey and across the country are struggling right now with an immediate crisis which is the illegal funding freeze imposed on thousands of usda contracts.
▶ 1:38:37Sen. Booker: I am getting calls and emails from farmers all across my state from all different political perspectives that are saying, why are we investing money on farms or installing irrigation systems but now the farmers are not receiving reimbursements. The out lead cash and they are now in a crisis. For many farmers this is thousands of dollars that the usda is now stiffing them on.
▶ 1:39:04Sen. Booker: For some of these farmers they are saying if they are not able to move forward with their spring planting they are at risk of losing their farms in foreclosure because of what the usda is doing to them, it will be catastrophic. These reimbursement payments and signed contracts with farmers that have been frozen, it is wrong. The usda has frozen reimbursements to nonprofits and small businesses.
▶ 1:39:32Sen. Booker: In jersey we have nonprofits and small businesses that give assistance and they are in crisis. There are groups that help conservation practices that we supported a bipartisan way and there are groups helping those farmers now facing this crisis. All of these nonprofits and small businesses have signed contracts with the usda to supply the services. They have laid out money and now they are being, excuse my language, they are being screwed.
▶ 1:40:02Sen. Booker: This is wrong. It is hurting people and it is a self-inflicted wound that has to stop. It is killing me that we are now seeing people in my state, farmers are laying off staff, they are not getting the help they deserve and they are not doing their innovations that will help them be better stewards of the land because they know how to supply the land. That is why a lot of these programs -- it is outrageous and illegal.
▶ 1:40:34Sen. Booker: Multiple federal courts have instructed the administration to lift these bans, these broad freezes but the usda is ignoring court orders and intentionally causing serious harm to farmers. On top of that the usda has fired many of the local level staff farmers rely upon and would be helping the farmers never get this crisis. I know secretary rawlins, I voted for secretary rollins, we need help.
▶ 1:41:03Sen. Booker: I hope this committee will quickly bring her back here to explain to us why. Every day that we wait we are already in a farming crisis. This is outrageous. We have other issues we should be dealing with right now. I want to say one more thing on another subject because I know I will not be here for the next panel.
▶ 1:41:29Sen. Booker: I know prop 12 will be brought up and I want to say my piece for 10 or 20 seconds. I'm concerned there is no witness here to speak for the independent family farmers that support prop 12. They may speak for the big producers, they may align with the biggest multinational corporations but I do not represent our smaller independent farmers.
▶ 1:41:58Sen. Booker: A large group of those farmers filed a brief for the supreme court arguing prop 12 help them with new markets for their products and allowing them to better compete with the big, vertically integrated meatpackers like smithfield. I did not vote for justice gorsuch but here is his brief. Upholding prop 12 draft of gorsuch cited these independent hog farmers and tell farmers.
▶ 1:42:26Sen. Booker: I would like to ask unanimous consent to enter this brief from these independent family farmers.
▶ 1:42:30Chair Boozman: Without objection.
▶ 1:42:34Sen. Booker: If you want to know where I will stand, it is for small, midsized independent family farmers. These entrepreneurs, these folks have been devastated in the last decade. We are losing thousands of farmers. I have sat with them from the midwest to arrive by state. This is a crisis being made worse right by the usda but I'm hoping we can work together to solve some problems.
▶ 1:43:00Chair Boozman: Senator welch.
▶ 1:43:03Sen. Welch: Thank you very much. Before I start I do hope the committee, senator justice I appreciated your remarks and I think all of us feel the same way, the farmers are the lifeblood of our local rural communities. Nobody works harder -- maybe the coal miners in west virginia.
▶ 1:43:26Sen. Welch: I am shocked where there have been agreements made, we have farmers in vermont that made an agreement. In response to that agreement they borrowed money. And then did the work they promised to do. And might be solar, it might be streambed protection. They now have an email sing the federal government will stiff you.
▶ 1:43:55Sen. Welch: What I admire about farmers, a promise made is a promise kept. This is impossible for the folks who do this farming to imagine. You have an agreement and that it is violated. By hope, Mr.
▶ 1:44:10Sen. Welch: Chairman, is the committee would weigh in and insist these deals that have been signed and where are farmers put the money out and have done the work and are getting stiffed that we really strongly object and call on the administration to reverse that. I want to ask some questions about specialty crops.
▶ 1:44:33Sen. Welch: We have so much of our farm program with commodities, dairy, the specialty crops -- it is a funny name for me because everything local, everything fresh and everything nutritious. My view is we need more, not less of the specialty crops. A lot of our specialty crop farmers got hurt by the floods we had in july of 2023 in july of 2024, and our crop insurance program needs to be improved.
▶ 1:45:08Sen. Welch: Senator collins and me have sponsored and introduced the supporting all producers -- the sap act. What that does is helps the sustainability of the program. Another bill we have introduced together, making agricultural products locally essential, the maple act. I want to asked Mr.
▶ 1:45:33Sen. Welch: Boring, we have talked a lot about maple syrup but climate is affecting all kinds of props. My question is, what can we do to provide specialty crop growers the support they need to ensure the continuation of their family farms with all the changes in weather?
▶ 1:45:58Mr. Boring: I think that is an excellent question. We enjoy maple syrup in michigan, as well. I think we need more certainty for specialty crop growers. So much of the issues we are talking about today come down to providing more certainty for producers. In some ways, better evaluating the impacts of what the crops are, not only for farms but the rural economies.
▶ 1:46:29Mr. Boring: The communities they feed. We have touched on some points around revisions to crop insurance. We need better management tools. So we can deal with increasingly extreme and erratic weather. There is promise about conservation practices.
▶ 1:46:48Sen. Welch: I think we need to have more emphasis on them. The real opportunity is local, it is nutritious. The people of the community supported. Does not have as many financial barriers. Vermont received $334,000.
▶ 1:47:17Sen. Welch: That is not a lot of money in the scheme of things but it did a lot in vermont. With a $56,000 grant, one usda recipient in vermont was able to expand the market opportunities for 60 local farmers. The farm stand type of situation.
▶ 1:47:41Sen. Welch: This is tiny compared to the $6.3 billion we spent on the program. Tell me, how is the federal funding freeze affected our specialty crop growers.
▶ 1:48:00Mr. Boring: It creates uncertainty. Access to markets when crops might be harvested later this fall. There is uncertainty on their research front.
▶ 1:48:18Sen. Welch: I yield back.
▶ 1:48:18Chair Boozman: Thank you. Senator lujan.
▶ 1:48:23Sen. Lujan: As I begin I would like to ask that written testimony be submitted into the record.
▶ 1:48:33Chair Boozman: Without objection.
▶ 1:48:36Sen. Lujan: Mr. baca is a 14th generation new mexican. A leader in new mexico's food and agricultural industry. The strength of our country and our agricultural industry, I believe it is its diversity. It is a word I use a lot. It is a good word. It talks about our crops. Diversity in crops is good.
▶ 1:49:09Sen. Lujan: These help you connect with more folks, domestically or internationally and I applaud you with that. The diversity of our growers in the products they grow help make it stronger as a nation. We need more producers in america. We need more generations. The family house that I live in today and the farm I still call home, god willing it will be in the family for generations after.
▶ 1:49:39Sen. Lujan: The power in finding more farmers, encouraging generations to get involved and stay involved is critically important. I have spoken many times about how the farm bill can do and should do more to support diverse farms across our great country. I look forward to working on some bipartisan initiatives or we provide support farmer to farmer. There are a lot of programs that provide support to farmers but if you are a farmer and giving your time to another farmer to teach them how to farm, you do not get compensated a penny.
▶ 1:50:10Sen. Lujan: Out of the generosity of your heart because you care about the industry. There should be a support program so we can tap into the genius of farmers across the country and learn how best to do what you do. I look forward to continuing this work. It is bipartisan. Mr. etcheverry, and your testimony you mentioned the frustration new mexico growers type of crop insurance and your desire to see it expand.
▶ 1:50:37Sen. Lujan: What challenges do you see when looking at risk management tools currently available?
▶ 1:50:42Mr. Etcheverry: Bureaucracy. We want the insurance and there is minimal insurance. We asked usda to get more insurance and we were basically told, ok, collect the data yourself and we will take a look at the data. We are all working full-time jobs. The average on farm time for a grower is 18 hours a day. For him to stop and do the job the usda should do is hard enough.
▶ 1:51:12Mr. Etcheverry: Mr. lujan I appreciate that, Mr. etcheverry. As I have learned from producers across the country, there are offerings on paper -- I often compare when we talk about water rights in the west, we like wet water. We do not just like water on paper. Everyone is chuckling because you know what I'm talking about. You should not just get a piece of paper that says you bought the policy, it should work.
▶ 1:51:44Mr. Etcheverry: I want to maybe get something from you for the official record. Specifically, what should congress do to expand access to risk management programs for specialty crop growers. I would invite all of you to help us cut through that bureaucracy and make sure the policy is actually applicable to what you are doing on the ground. There is a farmer from new mexico testified not long ago and he taught me that he had to learn how to farm usda.
▶ 1:52:15Mr. Etcheverry: What do you mean by that? He said if I do not farm usda I do not get access to any of these programs so I had to change the way I was planting and going after programs. That thought has stuck with me for years at a time because it should not be the case. You are there to produce food, to nurture the land. You do not need to be going through all these other steps. I hope we can get that better, as well.
▶ 1:52:44Mr. Etcheverry: I have a slew of other questions but I have gone on and on on my own so I will submit them on the record to each and every one of you. Mr. etcheverry, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to travel out here. You are in the midst of a lot of important decisions taking place but it means a lot to the people back on that you are here and I hope the rest of the country falls in love with chiles. Thank you, again.
▶ 1:53:12Chair Boozman: Thank you all very much for being here. We appreciated. Let's swap panels for a quick. Again, thank you much.
▶ 1:53:28Sen. Klobuchar: I am going to new mexico to have some chiles.
▶ 1:53:33Chair Boozman: We want the lujan chile.
▶ 1:55:00Sen. Klobuchar: Ok, if everyone wants to sit down so we can get started. All right, thank you. Chairman boseman had to go vote so he has given me the gavel, so who knows what will happen. I am pleased to introduce a second panel. If we could all sit down, thank you. There we go.
▶ 1:55:31Sen. Klobuchar: That first panel could not have gone better. We have a lot of interested members and bipartisan support for a lot of ideas we are talking about. Our second panel. We have Mr. ben lehfeldt. He serves as president of the american sheep industry association. A fifth generation sheep rancher from montana.
▶ 1:55:58Sen. Klobuchar: His family has been involved in the sheep industry for 140 years. He serves as the president of his county farm bureau and is chairman of his local school board. I look forward to hearing about your perspectives on the sheep industry. We are also joined by Mr. buck wehrbein. Thank you, very much. I know senator fischer wanted to be here to welcome you. She said great things about you.
▶ 1:56:29Sen. Klobuchar: I will introduce you for now. You are from waterloo, nebraska. You serve as a member of the national cattlemen's beef association. Mr. wehrbein brings over 45 years of experience from the cattle feeding sector across both texas and nebraska and has served in various leadership posts in the beef industry. Thank you for being here today.
▶ 1:56:59Sen. Klobuchar: We are also joined by Mr. harold howrigan. Senator welch is here to introduce Mr. howrigan.
▶ 1:57:08Sen. Welch: Thank you very much. Mr. howrigan is here from the dairy capital of the united states of america in vermont. We are glad to have him. Harold and his wife, she is an elementary teacher. They are the sixth generation on the family farm. They have grandkids there right now doing the work while we are here.
▶ 1:57:37Sen. Welch: Four adult children, five grandchildren. He is in business with his brothers and three sons, three nephews and their families. They have four dairies, 350 cows on each. I started my political career on the agriculture committee and the state of vermont in 1981. Your uncle, harold, was my boss on the agriculture committee.
▶ 1:58:07Sen. Welch: One time he gave me the highest compliment. He said you are a dairy guy. I am delighted to have you here representing vermont dairy. It is wonderful. We will see a great farmer. Thank you.
▶ 1:58:22Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you. Minnesota is the top turkey producing state in the nation. I do not know if you knew that, senator welch. As well as the second top pork producer in the U.S. we are fortunate to have two outstanding minnesota witnesses. Lori stevermer of easton, minnesota.
▶ 1:58:49Sen. Klobuchar: Lori serves as the president of the national pork producers executive board. She is the customer manager, having spent her time in sales and marketing in the animal nutrition business for over 30 years. I often see her at the minnesota state fair. At the pork booth.
▶ 1:59:13Sen. Klobuchar: And there was a "oink, oink" hat. Lori is a graduate of the university of minnesota with a bachelors degree in animal science. John zimmerman is also with us. John is the chairman of the national turkey federation.
▶ 1:59:34Sen. Klobuchar: John is a 35-year veteran of the turkey industry and a proud second-generation turkey farmer who also raises corn and soybeans. He does that on his family farm with his wife and their son. I have known john for several years and I remember when avian flu hit and the emotion of so many of yours and your producers during that time.
▶ 2:00:02Sen. Klobuchar: I know you will provide an incredibly valuable perspective to this committee today. We also have with us tony wesner , from seymour, indiana on behalf of the united egg producers. He is the ceo of rose inker farms.
▶ 2:00:23Sen. Klobuchar: He has served in various roles with rose acre farms and given everything going on, there is a lot of discussion on eggs, avian flu and francis. I look forward to your testimony. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for being here today, Mr. wesner. Now we will start with you, ben.
▶ 2:00:56Mr. Lehfeldt: Thank you for inviting me today. My fellow sheep ranchers and the entire industry appreciate the opportunity. 2025 will be key for the survival of our industry.
▶ 2:01:21Mr. Lehfeldt: As the oldest livestock trade association in the country we are a key component to america's future. From the land we have cherished and protected to the uniforms worn by our american warriors and the high quality american land that has fed them and their fellow americans for centuries, we are a key piece of that american story. Sheep producers are dealing with record high costs.
▶ 2:01:50Mr. Lehfeldt: The wholesale land market has been stagnant for the past year. Any uptick is dampened. 2024 saw portions of imports increased by one third over 2023. Producers are looking for solutions to help curb the influx of imported lamb that seems to continually floor our market.
▶ 2:02:14Mr. Lehfeldt: Thanks to the chairman's encouragement last year usda's risk management agency issued a report assessing the tools currently available to the sheep industry or lack thereof. The report acknowledged our need for a quality risk management tool but did provide recommendations. We therefore ask you direct the secretary to provide recommendations for a viable sheep specific risk management tool.
▶ 2:02:42Mr. Lehfeldt: A large share of our 2024 will clip did not receive a bid and we are now sharing the 2025. Clip. The trade war with china blew up our single largest market for american will. This was followed by a pandemic that wiped out demand for most war garments. A lack of demand seen -- wool garments.
▶ 2:03:09Mr. Lehfeldt: We asked the committee to update the wool market loan rate that has not been updated since 2002. We support the 2024 proposal. In addition we ask your strong support in ensuring the administration includes wool in any market payments to rectify a long-standing trade imbalance. Free trade only works if it is fair trade.
▶ 2:03:40Mr. Lehfeldt: One third of our sheep herd is under the watch of an h-2a sheep earner. Salary alone in california, the second largest sheep herding state, is $58,000 per herder. We provide them with food, board and clothing also covering their application and visa fees. That has driven our costs to an unattainable level.
▶ 2:04:11Mr. Lehfeldt: California has lost nearly 15% of sheep production over the last two years. Reliant on a modernized program. In closing we support the fmd and mhp programs, authorization. The enhancement of conservation and technical assistance tools and a vital funding from our farm bills programs.
▶ 2:04:37Mr. Lehfeldt: I pledge asi's full support in the 2025. Farm bill. Enactment of a farm bill is important to thousands of sheep operations across the country. Thank you for your efforts to continue american agriculture and your important role in feeding, feeling and clothing the world. We are proud to be a part of it.
▶ 2:05:03Sen. Klobuchar: We have now been joined by senator fischer and I know they want to say a few more words about you, Mr. buck wehrbein, which is probably the best name for a cattle rancher.
▶ 2:05:20Sen. Fischer: Of nebraska is the beef state so I am happy to have Mr. buck wehrbein here as a witness. When chairman boozman visited nebraska we were able to visit buck's feed lot. Mr. wehrbein grew up in eastern nebraska on a farm raising cattle, hogs and chickens.
▶ 2:05:51Sen. Fischer: He has managed custom feedlots in nebraska and texas -- we will forgive him that --8 since4 19 and has been feeding his own cattle since 1980. He has served as chairman and treasurer for the nebraska beef council and served on the b's promotion operating committee. He currently serves as president of the national cattlemen beef association.
▶ 2:06:20Sen. Fischer: Buck and his wife have been married 50 years. He has three children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. How is that possible? I am very proud to have you here today representing nebraska and I look forward to hearing your testimony.
▶ 2:06:39Sen. Klobuchar: . Thank you.
▶ 2:06:44Mr. Wehrbein: Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on the state of the cattle business. My name is buck wehrbein. I am serving on the oldest organization representing cattle producers in america. Through the century-old grassroots policy process our members directives to advocate their interests here in the nation's capital.
▶ 2:07:13Mr. Wehrbein: It is on behalf of these operations that I appear before you today. Overall I am pleased to report the state of the cattle industry is strong. Strong cattle prices and beads demand has made the marketing environment for cattle better than any time in the last five years. It is worth noting the market improvements had occurred without any new legislation or regulation and that cattle markets.
▶ 2:07:41Mr. Wehrbein: We have reason for optimism, like everyone else in agriculture cattlemen and cattle face challenges, particularly within costs that never seem to stop rising. Unfortunately the rising costs of feed, fuel, animal health products pose the greatest threats to producer profitability.
▶ 2:08:03Mr. Wehrbein: We are hopeful congress and the new trump administration can swiftly adopt policies that will curb these inflationary pressures and deliver critical relief to cattle producers. As you look for ideas on how to accomplish this I would draw your attention to the following key issues. A significant portion of cattle producers input costs result from compliance with arduous federal regulations.
▶ 2:08:32Mr. Wehrbein: Whether adhering to agenda driven endangered species act and national environmental policy act requirements, or navigating miles of bureaucratic red tape to access farm programs , the outsized impact of federal rules cuts into producers' pockets. We are grateful that some of the most atrocious proposed regulations like the biden administration's attempts to rewrite a stockyard act have been abandoned, more oversight is to ensure similarly harmful rules never find us.
▶ 2:09:03Mr. Wehrbein: In a post-chevron deference world and a renewed eye on government efficiency we hope common sense will be inserted into the role making progress. Producer profitability is at the forefront of the priority and rightsizing the federal government is the smartest way to begin addressing that issue. One of the most effective tools designed to put dollars back in the pockets of farmers and ranchers is the beef checkoff.
▶ 2:09:31Mr. Wehrbein: This program has come under fire from radical animal rights industry and the fake farm groups to bankroll. The truth is the beef checkoff works for producers and does all this with a pool of resources with cattle producers across the country at zero cost to the taxpayer. The beef checkoff is the model public/private partnership and we urge congress to reject measures aimed at dismantling it.
▶ 2:10:00Mr. Wehrbein: We also urge the house and senate to swiftly adopt a farm bill. We have supported and continue to support chairman thompson's bipartisan legislation in your framework. There are many other important issues that I do not have time to address in my opening statement and direct your attention to my written testimony for more detail.
▶ 2:10:23Mr. Wehrbein: In closing, ncba is ready to work alongside anyone to ensure the future of the cattle industry remains strong. Thank you for your time and I look forward to answer your questions.
▶ 2:10:39Sen. Klobuchar: Thank you very much. Next up, Mr. howrigan.
▶ 2:10:43Mr. Howrigan: Chairman boozman, ranking member klobuchar, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is harold howrigan. I am honored to serve on the board of dairy farmers of america and national milk producers federation, which dairy farmers of america is a member.
▶ 2:11:09Mr. Howrigan: I am pleased to speak today about the dairy industry. We appreciate all the steps taken toward completing a farm bill. We urge the committee to prioritize timely passage of the five euro bill to the industry. The dairy market program has served farmers well during difficult times since it was implemented six years ago. Our farm has consistently purchased coverage. Knowing it is meant to be a safety net when needed.
▶ 2:11:39Mr. Howrigan: We urge this committee to continue the program and update its production history calculation to reflect more production levels. I thank you, chairman boozman and ranking member klobuchar for your support for this update. We are also pleased that usda is finalizing a decision. We need this committee's help on one piece. The dairy industry lacks accurate, transparent data on costs.
▶ 2:12:11Mr. Howrigan: We think members of this committee for supporting the language to require usda to conduct mandatory processing cost studies every two years. This will give us better data and we can hope to work with you in the future to get this done. I will touch on just a few more topics today. First, ag labor reform. We force an acute shortage of workers.
▶ 2:12:37Mr. Howrigan: Dairy farmers consistently try to hire domestic workers would ultimately rely on immigrant workers to make sure we can produce our milk. We strongly urge congress to enact long-overdue legislation to provide permanent certainty for our current workers and their families and to open the h-2a program to dairy. Failure to act risks damaging the vitality of our entire sector. Second, trade. Nearly 1/5 of U.S. dairy production is exported.
▶ 2:13:08Mr. Howrigan: This year it is likely to rise. We must seek new market access to not slip behind our competitors. We urge doubling the funding for programs that boost the presence worldwide. We also urge congress to help resolve trade issues with canada during the usmca review. Third, nutrition. Dairy is a nutrition powerhouse but continues to be under consumed by many americans.
▶ 2:13:39Mr. Howrigan: I am grateful to you for co-authoring the bipartisan act to fix our school nutrition problem. I urge this committee to swiftly pass legislation. Finally, h5n1. Dairy workers work closely with usda, fda and other agencies to safeguard dairy herds and former employees from highly pathogenic avian influenza.
▶ 2:14:10Mr. Howrigan: We appreciate usda's work to accelerate vaccine development and urge the vaccine be made available as soon as possible. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am happy to answer any questions later.
▶ 2:14:26Chair Boozman: Thank you.
▶ 2:14:29Ms. Stevermer: Good afternoon, chairman bozeman ranking member klobuchar. I am lori stevermer, president of the national pork producers council. Every morning when I wake up on my family farm I think about two things. Producing wholesome, nutritious pork while serving my community and second how policies and regulations impact families across america.
▶ 2:15:01Ms. Stevermer: For producers have faced difficult times while farmers are ever optimistic about the future. Multiple years of losing on average $30 per pig. Production costs have declined in hog prices have improved. Many farmers have not yet recovered financially from the worst period of losses in our industry's history. American agriculture needs a five year farm bill in which pork producers have three needs.
▶ 2:15:32Ms. Stevermer: First, we must address the problems from california's proposition 12 which has increased cost, created business uncertainty and raised pork prices at the grocery store. This lie reaches far beyond california to include farmers in other states and countries. The outcome of prop 12 defied common sense and created different regulations of congress does not act.
▶ 2:16:00Ms. Stevermer: Prop 12, opposed by president trump and president biden is harming small and medium-sized farmers the most. We have followed processes to address the issue and we are before you because the supreme court said it is for congress to take up. We must ensure we protect animals from animal diseases by finding usda programs for detection, prevention and rapid response to outbreaks. Third, we must promote exports by funding a program and market access program.
▶ 2:16:32Ms. Stevermer: Another matter that deserves this committee's attention is a five-year reauthorization of the livestock mandatory hoarding program. It ensures reliable and influences critical business decisions and is available to farmers like myself and others at this table. Farmers across the country desperately need employees. The h-2a visa program must be expanded to include year-round foreign-born workers.
▶ 2:17:01Ms. Stevermer: Farmers need assurances we will not be subject to regulations that restrict our ability to buy her some animals. We urge congress and the administration to defund and withdraw. Let me say a few words about international trade. We c1 international trade provides us with an additional $66 per pig.
▶ 2:17:32Ms. Stevermer: Many of us simply would not be able to continue to farm. U.S. producers face tariff and nontariff barriers in countries including china and the you opening new and expanding existing markets is paramount and allows many farms to stay afloat. The bestay to do this is through comprehensive trade agreements.
▶ 2:18:03Ms. Stevermer: It is also important to realize there are ingredients including amino acids only available from china. We must keep this in mind as we continue to have conversations on the future of our relationship with china. We are proud of the work we do in appreciate the opportunity to feed american families and present a perspective on the economy. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. >> thank you.
▶ 2:18:35Ms. Stevermer: >> good morning chairman bozeman , members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to share the turkey representatives today. For more than one year the turkey industry has been dealing with negative impacts of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
▶ 2:18:59Ms. Stevermer: As well as another highly consequential respiratory virus which has impacted between 60% and 80% of turkey clocks nationwide. Cases and commercial turkeys have led to the loss of more than 6.6 million birds. While it's 100% lethal to those expressed to the disease long enough it could reduce sets of the breeder stock that produces the next generation of turkeys.
▶ 2:19:33Ms. Stevermer: Together these two respiratory viruses have increased volatility and market uncertainty. This has caused many farmers to quit raising turkeys with several others on the brink of shutting down. Thanks are very concerned about our financial health. Hpa is a terrible disease.
▶ 2:19:57Ms. Stevermer: With ampf with ampv there is no assistance. I would urge congress to make this an elbow -- eligible disease. This would assist growers in mitigating economic loss and would go a long way to assist poultry producers being hit hard. On a more positive note the first modified live vaccine doses have reached minnesota farms this month with more on the way to assist nationwide.
▶ 2:20:29Ms. Stevermer: I want to thank the chairman and ranking member klobuchar for leading the charge of the implementation of this much-needed modified live vaccine. I also want to thank usda for getting this across the finish line. I also think it's important to acknowledge the industry's incredible frustrations with usda review process of a live vaccine.
▶ 2:20:53Ms. Stevermer: I appreciate the importance of ensuring the safety of a vaccine and it was the first of its kind to be approved. When an entire industry is at significant risk it should take a matter of months, not over a year for a widely used in well-established vaccine to be imported and available for use. I would encourage the committee to evaluate the usda review process to ensure more efficient response to animal disease outbreaks. Amp v is only half the battle.
▶ 2:21:25Ms. Stevermer: Time is of the essence when a national strategy targeting all potential host is lacking allowing the virus to spread. The global poultry industry is in crisis. A successful vaccination program as part of a stamp strategy is a key to significantly reducing disease rates. If the U.S.
▶ 2:21:46Ms. Stevermer: Fails to leave globally on health solutions capable of preventing disease and death in commercial poultry we will be at a significant disadvantage in world trade. Empowering usda to solidify a new framework with the impact on the global food supply is essential.
▶ 2:22:07Ms. Stevermer: As congress writes a new farm bill ntf encourages the renewal and robust funding and the establishment of a hpai strategic initiative to make sure turkey has the tools needed to combat current and future diseases. I also set -- recognize secretary rawlins announced measures for hpai. After a brief overview it seems only to cover the egg industry.
▶ 2:22:37Ms. Stevermer: The turkey industry has been devastated and we ask that any plan also address the urgent needs of the turkey industry. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today.
▶ 2:22:49Chair Bozeman: Thank you. >> chairman bozeman, ranking member klobuchar, the rest of the committee I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be heard. I would like to talk a little bit more about avian influenza as my colleague from the turkey industry just did.
▶ 2:23:13Chair Bozeman: Since 2015 we have lost 15 million birds, 6 million since january 1 of this year. That is 25% of our current production. There has been 162 million poultry put down. 792 were backyard flocks. To give you an idea of the normal numbers of layers.
▶ 2:23:40Chair Bozeman: Since 2015 we have now seen an increase in problems with the dairy and it is not hard to find wildlife in the areas that are positive. It is a bio security nightmare. That is our only method to deal with depopulation. Farmers today are not price makers, they are price takers.
▶ 2:24:08Chair Bozeman: It is like a soybean farmer, we take what the price is. Demand is extremely high right now. My theory on that is people are still shopping for affordable protein and they are still turning back to eggs. That is why you are seeing the high demand. The weight loss drugs are fueling the protein craze.
▶ 2:24:39Chair Bozeman: You have people looking for more protein. Another aspect is I think the shortage is bigger than we know. He would estimate the black yard flock the size of -- back yard flock the size of 200 million birds or more. I think the influenza has devastated the backyard flocks in this country and people don't know what is wrong with their birds.
▶ 2:25:10Chair Bozeman: We have the tool which helps we ask that you continue to help with that. I would ask that we continue to look at that with common sense and fairness. It is a way to have a stopgap measure to keep people in business. When we get back to vaccination, we fully support vaccination in the industry.
▶ 2:25:39Chair Bozeman: We have to control this disease with offense, not defense which we have done to this point. We have a farm in colorado that 1.5 million birds went positive three times in three years. They fell out of the sky within yards of the first house. This thing will not get better, it will get worse.
▶ 2:26:09Chair Bozeman: Nobody wants to see trade stopped. If you look at the chicken last year that left this country almost 40% of it went to countries that are also vaccinated. So we don't ruin trade, nobody wants to hurt anybody in the poultry sector. Dairy, layer, turkeys need the vaccine. I hope it was an oversight. It really needs to be done.
▶ 2:26:41Chair Bozeman: We start taking this thing seriously. It is not a U.S. program -- problem, it is a global problem. We have to put people in the room that are smart. I'm not sure the vaccine is 100% the answer. If we go down that road and we start there, there will be people that spend a lot of money to come up with answers.
▶ 2:27:07Chair Bozeman: It all starts with all of us on whether or not we will fix it or not. Thank you.
▶ 2:27:12Chair Bozeman: Thank you. Could you tell us more about how a disruptive patchwork of state laws like proposition 12 would be on the sector why it is critical to utilize the farm bill for these harmful proposals from moving forward? >> thank you senator bozeman.
▶ 2:27:39Chair Bozeman: I get the opportunity to talk to producers of all sizes, small, medium, large. The concern that all of them have is the patchwork and regulations, if california could put in a set of regulations, another set could do the same thing. It is hard to make business decisions. It is hard to make changes not knowing what the next regulation might be.
▶ 2:28:09Chair Bozeman: That's why it's important congress addresses this. The supreme court said it is congress issue to deal with. We need to have that dressed in the farm bill so that we could make business decisions. Determining if they want to come into their family farms. It is hard to know if that is where they want to be. Thank you.
▶ 2:28:37Chair Bozeman: Over the past four years the biden administration went far beyond its mandate to implement costly, burdensome rules without being able to show any quantifiable benefit to producers. Could you talk about the need to prevent these rules for the impact regulatory overreach has? >> thank you.
▶ 2:29:08Chair Bozeman: We feed about 70% of our cattle are customer cattle from okeechobee, florida to the big island of hawaii and all points in between. We have a lot of different ways that we could market the cattle so they could be paid for the superior genetics and superior product.
▶ 2:29:33Chair Bozeman: A lot of those opportunities in the packers and stockyards act. We do not need the federal government shouldering their way in. It would be very good if we could eliminate the ability for the government to do that. That is a hardship on us. These people, good producers need to be able to be paid on the merit of their product.
▶ 2:30:05Chair Bozeman: Thank you for your comments. Could you speak on the importance of strengthening the work between usda and states when we talked about this a little bit with states that respond to avian influenza when they are impacted? >> I appreciate the question.
▶ 2:30:30Chair Bozeman: Our experience navigating the bird flu problem for the most part has been very positive. If there was one way to improve it, sometimes you have to get bureaucracy out of the way. I think that is a -- you have heard that before with some of the other testimonies. I would encourage U.S.
▶ 2:30:54Chair Bozeman: Data to tackle this bird flu thing head-on with money and funding to support research. A product was brought to me this week that is not a vaccine, it is a pharmaceutical that is being used in russia with good results and here's area -- avian influenza.
▶ 2:31:30Chair Bozeman: We have to look at things and try to find the answer. Usda and anything the federal government could do to be supportive of that research. Vaccine is probably not the answer today but it is the only tool that we have. I believe we will get better vaccines. Right now people haven't worked hard on vaccines because they don't know if they could sell them or be used because they didn't think it was going to.
▶ 2:32:02Chair Bozeman: The fact that the announcements today, I'm hoping we turned a corner with cooperation between usda, the farmers, the researchers. It makes sense for the american consumer ultimately. >> thank you very much. We had the judiciary hearing and commerce meeting. I've put on 5100 steps. I just looked running back and forth.
▶ 2:32:32Chair Bozeman: Avian flu, I raised the importance of coordinated response to this virus with secretary rawlins during her confirmation hearing along with senators ernst and federman. We have led a request of her and I'm looking forward to reading the document today where the secretary has come out of with the coordinated response.
▶ 2:32:59Chair Bozeman: How would a strategic initiative bringing together animal health experts from a class impacted industry enhance our ability to mitigate and prevent this part of avian flu? I'm sure you want to emphasize how important it is to include turkeys in this response? >> we do hope they are included in future drafts. We have been great partners mitigating the disease outbreaks.
▶ 2:33:28Chair Bozeman: We are very thankful for their support. We have made incredible strides in bio security. I question whether that should be at the forefront. We will continue to push. We have to look at solutions. The strategic solution will help us do that. We need to look at how, when, and if we will deploy a vaccine. We know it won't go to every bird right away. We know upwards we have to protect.
▶ 2:34:00Chair Bozeman: We are in agreement here. We need to have a plan in place because we know our trading partners will request that plan. Getting the experts together to address these issues. Being prepared for the eventuality that we will all be vaccinated at some point in the future. Researching other ways to vaccinate. We cannot inject every bird in the country. We have to look at every bird.
▶ 2:34:26Chair Bozeman: Anything we could do to further our knowledge of how to mitigate this disease would be incredibly helpful.
▶ 2:34:35Sen. Klobuchar: Could you talk about how the threat of tariffs and potential retaliation from trading partners like mexico, china, canada, the whole world could impact pork producers? Have we seen impact in the futures market? Could you talk about the tariffs on candidate in particular? >> thank you senator klobuchar.
▶ 2:35:00Sen. Klobuchar: 25% of our pork products are exported, that adds about $66 worth of value. We export more than we import. Any type of retaliatory tariff could be disruptive to our markets. It's important to know we have pigs from canada into the U.S. in minnesota.
▶ 2:35:27Sen. Klobuchar: The increase in tariffs into the united states would impact our cost of production. We have the comprehensive trade agreements with canada, mexico. Those are our top exporting markets. I explained some of the ways we do that. We talk about animal health issues together. We are good partners.
▶ 2:36:00Sen. Klobuchar: Any type of retaliatory tariffs would be very concerning.
▶ 2:36:05Sen. Klobuchar: I appreciate your answer. Also knowing how important that agreement is. Knowing that before the state agriculture conditioners yesterday. A number of us here crafted improvements to the margin protection program.
▶ 2:36:31Sen. Klobuchar: The 2018 farm bill, the dmc program serves as a safety net across the U.S. as you know it. I know there are some improvements we could make. What changes would you like to see in the upcoming farm bill for the ability to assist producers? >> thank you for the question.
▶ 2:36:57Sen. Klobuchar: As I stated dmc is very important. Naturally we like to improve fundamentally we would at least like to stay status quo with a bunch of times. We could not come to an agreement. The status quo is where they are.
▶ 2:37:23Sen. Klobuchar: Dairy farmers of america would like to see them represent the average size farm in this country. The 5 million pound level that represents now is probably an eight or 10-year-old number. The average dairy is closer to 7 million pounds or 8 million pounds.
▶ 2:37:45Sen. Klobuchar: We would also like to see the basis increase in production history in 2011-2013 numbers. We consistently have to produce more milk each year. It seems to stay pretty level, getting more efficient.
▶ 2:38:16Sen. Klobuchar: Raising that production would help. >> thank you very much, all of you.
▶ 2:38:24Sen. Ernst: Thank you to the second panel of witnesses being here today. As many of you displayed in your testimonies, it is clear that the ag economy is struggling. We really do need lasting changes in the five-year farm bill. One that will focus on the farm.
▶ 2:38:56Sen. Ernst: From your statements a moment ago, you said the continued spread of avian influenza is a major concern for many farmers. Justin iol alone that have been impacted. Unfortunately it's a number that continues to grow.
▶ 2:39:26Sen. Ernst: Farmers adopting the heightened bio security protocols impacting strict movement controls. I'm thankful this remains a top priority, we did see earlier today secretary rawlins announcing several steps she is taking to help mitigate the ongoing outbreak. I'm grateful the secretary has taken a number of suggestions.
▶ 2:39:59Sen. Ernst: One of the strategies in developing new vaccines with laying hens and turkeys from the virus. To work through any trade concerns or maintain export access to international markets. Both of you. Let's start with Mr.
▶ 2:40:20Sen. Ernst: Wesner, could you explain why vaccination strategy is so important to preventing the spread of hpai and what do the steps look like with our trade? >> the vaccination is our only protection that we have. If you look at diseases we have had in the poultry industry in the past, the only way past it was through vaccine.
▶ 2:40:50Sen. Ernst: The avian influenza, we have had one human death they need to be the right vaccines. They need to be safe. This isn't going to happen. We are talking 2-5 years to really see much advancement.
▶ 2:41:18Sen. Ernst: When the light turns green and researchers know with the advancements coming quicker than I think. Right now today is the only answer we have. To do nothing is wrong.
▶ 2:41:39Sen. Ernst: Right now the vaccines today, taking a needle to 300 million chickens across the country, a lot of them cage free, 45%. That is not an easy task. Today what we have is what we have, we have to start somewhere. I hope it doesn't take too long.
▶ 2:42:09Sen. Ernst: We move roadblocks out of the way and we come after it with a vengeance.
▶ 2:42:16Sen. Ernst: I appreciate that, Mr. zimmerman? >> we are beyond bio security. We have done as much as we can. We need to look at new tools for our toolbox. The primary tool we have to look at is vaccination. The viral load in the environment has exponentially increased with dairy herds being affected now.
▶ 2:42:42Sen. Ernst: We have seen a great increase in the incidence of hpi in illinois, indiana, and ohio. We can track it like we used to. The strategic initiative would help us decide the logistics behind the doors work that needs to be done to roll out a vaccine for multiple species including dairy.
▶ 2:43:08Sen. Ernst: To get the viral load in the united states. We don't plan on vaccinating every bird right away. If we could reduce that viral load while addressing the trade issues, we will take a giant step towards controlling this virus.
▶ 2:43:25Sen. Ernst: Hpai is a huge issue for all americans. I apologize, I'm out of time. I did want to address proposition 12 as well. I will submit my question for the record. This coming from iowa, the number one pork producing state is a big deal and we have to figure this out. Thank you.
▶ 2:43:55Sen. Hyde-Smith: I like the two panels because we get to visit with many of you. Right now I have two things I would like to address. This one is for Mr. love felt. The inventory has been so reduced because on the decline, what with competing with other countries.
▶ 2:44:22Sen. Hyde-Smith: I have been texting and I think you are emailing with him last night. He has an operation in northern nevada, california. Mike bardsley, that they were very concerned. I promised them I would submit this to the committee. The imports has increased like 500% in the last many years. It seems to me that U.S.
▶ 2:44:51Sen. Hyde-Smith: Shoe producers had a distinct disadvantage compared to our farming competitors. I'm concerned the high volume and low price could put our producers completely out of business. Could you shed some light on the challenges our domestic producers are facing with the respect of high volume of cheap imports that we are seeing?
▶ 2:45:18Sen. Hyde-Smith: >> I thank you for your question and appreciate you meeting with the sheep producers out there. Right now, we are close to 30%, 70 percent imports. Right out of the gate we have a 40% currency deficit that we have to overcome. Producers have absolutely no control over. We struggle, especially out west with predator control.
▶ 2:45:49Sen. Hyde-Smith: Our importers and those that bring in imported lambs do not have those issues. We struggle with labor, we have talked about that in california, colorado, oregon, even the mandated federal level has been increased to a level that is completely unobtainable. That's what we are losing some of these flocks. It is very important we understand these issues.
▶ 2:46:18Sen. Hyde-Smith: In california, most of the largest producers of sheep are actually delivering wildfire control.. In my state, we are delivering cattle ranches on the fish and game site. Instead of a pesticide or herbicide application, there are so many opportunities, we could be competitive.
▶ 2:46:44Sen. Hyde-Smith: Another top priority of mine in the immediate future is I want to talk to -- talk about estate taxes, death taxes, I just don't think there's anything this congress could do that would be more vitally important to keeping in production then addressing this. I will address you.
▶ 2:47:15Sen. Hyde-Smith: It is a death sentence for so many family farms and businesses. We are cattle producers ourselves. We see this all the time with people in our stockyard. Kind of what it is like to operate on limited cash. Many of us, we have a lot of value tied up in the land. The death tax, it is a massive burden on so many cattle producers.
▶ 2:47:44Sen. Hyde-Smith: Forcing families to sell off livestock, property after a death of a family member. I am thrilled that our senate majority leader has introduced legislation to repeal the death tax. You will see me dancing in the halls of congress if this happens. I'm proud to be a cosponsor of it.
▶ 2:48:11Sen. Hyde-Smith: Task legislation doesn't fall under this committee's jurisdiction, the farm committee needs to be more vocal. So many people don't realize how many acres are taken out of production when we are trying to feed this country. Would you please elaborate on the burden of the death tax in U.S. cattle operations? >> thank you for that question.
▶ 2:48:39Sen. Hyde-Smith: The value of it now with the owner of it, when it changes hands with death. They would either have to sell to pay the tax on it. This is a huge one. We are pleased with what the trump administration did in the first term. We know he wants to reauthorize tax cuts and jobs act and maybe even improve on it.
▶ 2:49:12Sen. Hyde-Smith: Even with the higher level, that even needs to be more. I couldn't agree with you more, that is a big one for landowners. Agriculture is high-volume volume, low margin. It is especially a hardship. We appreciate your concern and we will be working closely with the administration towards that.
▶ 2:49:41Sen. Hyde-Smith: Thank you very much, I am out of time.
▶ 2:49:42Chair Bozeman: Thank you. Senator hoeven.
▶ 2:49:47Sen. Hoeven: I work closely with our chair bozeman and ranking member klobuchar. I share agate appropriations under that. It is vitally important in keeping that tool going forward. That farm bill will be incredibly important. We were not able to put a new farm bill in place.
▶ 2:50:20Sen. Hoeven: I have course agree with that very strongly. We put an extension place and secured $33 billion. Addressing avian influenza, day in and day out when all these farm bill's happen, we need that tool to have the flexibility to respond to our farmers and ranchers.
▶ 2:50:51Sen. Hoeven: There are two instances that point out how important that is. To be able to work with the administration to use it in an effective way. First, your thoughts as we get this $33 billion out, do you have any specific recommendations as to how that could be done?
▶ 2:51:14Sen. Hoeven: >> the first thing would be to talk with the people that need it and hear what they need rather than making the decisions appear through a central planning idea.
▶ 2:51:28Sen. Hoeven: You don't think senator bozeman should just make the decisions arbitrarily by himself. >> I don't think that's what I meant. As the senator would do in the chairman would do is talk to the people out there in need. It needs to be expedited so it is quicker.
▶ 2:51:49Sen. Hoeven: It is key to get to the next farm bill with affordable crop insurance and other things we need to. Those kind of tools, right? It is vital to get to where we need to go, you would agree? >> I would.
▶ 2:52:09Sen. Hoeven: You may want to both comment on this. The secretary of agriculture came out with a comprehensive plan this morning to address avian influenza, I want to commend her for that, she has hit the ground running. We think she will be very strong, very effective secretary of agriculture.
▶ 2:52:34Sen. Hoeven: We are working closely, her five-point plan, I don't know if you had a chance to take a look at it. We are working very closely and want to continue to do that. Obviously the price -- have you had a chance to look at that five-part plan? Do you have any specific thoughts that might be helpful as we work towards that?
▶ 2:53:02Sen. Hoeven: >> I looked at it briefly before we walked in here this morning. I think it is a good start. The proof is in the details when you get down to it. I think we have to go down the road and see where it leads. All of the things that we were worried about they have addressed somewhat.
▶ 2:53:29Sen. Hoeven: When you look at the details to see if it makes sense how we will attack it. We have to start somewhere. I commend the administration and her for taking that step. It doesn't matter what happens. It only matters what we do today. I'm excited about it and I think it is a good start. I really do. We have to come up with funding for poultry research programs.
▶ 2:53:57Sen. Hoeven: To look at these things not just deal with this problem today but to deal with problems in the next decade and the decade after that. I think it could be done. We cannot do it with funding from these research labs.
▶ 2:54:16Sen. Hoeven: Thiis a comprehensive plan, I think she's taking the right approach. Obviously implementing it we need to work closely with folks like you. This trait affect so many things to get it right and make sure it is effective as expeditiously as possible. Anything you want to add? >> I agree. We have seen the plan and looked it over briefly.
▶ 2:54:42Sen. Hoeven: We do want to make sure that all harbors of the virus are included in this plan, eggs, poultry, dairy, wildlife, cattle. If we leave sources, we will just be reinfected. The population is incredibly expensive. Economically and emotionally devastating.
▶ 2:55:06Sen. Hoeven: As we move forward and look at different tools, on a parallel path make sure the trade issues are addressed long-term, this will be much more financially viable to this virus outbreak than what the current path has been. I think secretary rawlins for looking at that novel approach.
▶ 2:55:28Sen. Hoeven: Thank you.
▶ 2:55:30Chair Bozeman: Senator moran. Sen. g
▶ 2:55:41Sen. Moran: The last thing you want is somebody to walk in at the last minute and ask questions. I don't know what has been asked or answered but I did not want to miss the chance to get this panel's instructions to me and to the senate about the importance of trade and what happens in the current circumstance with the potential with tariffs.
▶ 2:56:07Sen. Moran: Maybe the easiest question in that arena is what countries could we enter into bilateral trade agreements with that would be the most beneficial and something we might be able to achieve? I direct that to whoever has the best answer. >> I will give a shot at it.
▶ 2:56:31Sen. Moran: I would say that we have an issue with two countries that perhaps we shouldn't be in agreement with, brazil and paraguay. That won't live up to the health standards that everybody else does. We have an agreement with australia. We have bought beef from them for 20 years and they haven't spent one cent with us.
▶ 2:57:00Sen. Moran: It is not just having an agreement but enforcing the agreement.
▶ 2:57:05Sen. Moran: Rather than looking for this next newmarket, make sure the agreements we have in place today are the ones being enforced and the advantages of trade are being realized? >> that's the way I would see it.
▶ 2:57:19Sen. Moran: Thank you. >> the dairy industry exports almost 20% of our products daily . About 40% of those go to our neighboring countries, canada and mexico. I would encourage this committee to look at the agreement at our partners to the north in canada.
▶ 2:57:48Sen. Moran: They have a history of circumventing the process they agreed to and many of theirs are traditionally given to companies from canada for the trade. That leaves us out. That plan needs to be revised with them. Mexico, they are a great trade partner. For them I would hope we would do no harm. Thank you.
▶ 2:58:17Sen. Moran: Let me follow up with that. Is there any efforts underway from the administration to dairymen or livestock producers particularly about usmca? At least the press reports that there will be a new usmca agreement or negotiating, is there conversations going on between the administration and are those personnel in place?
▶ 2:58:50Sen. Moran: >> as I understand the usmca will be reviewed with a violation of some of the parts of the agreement.
▶ 2:59:02Sen. Moran: At some point in time you expect to have input into those disagreements? >> we hope to.
▶ 2:59:08Sen. Moran: Thank you.
▶ 2:59:17Chair Bozeman: I want to thank again all of our witnesses for being here. You all did a tremendous job. This is very, very helpful. We appreciate your participation. I know you have other things to do. Both panels represented their industries very well. The record will remain open for five business days. With that, today's hearing is adjourned.