▶ 0:11:39Chair Scott: We face challenges to agricultural production, sustainability and food security. U.S. food security is national security. American farmers are the nation's oldest workforce. In florida the number is even higher. 40% of all farmers. This group owns 80% of U.S.
▶ 0:12:10Chair Scott: Farmland. With farmers retiring and fewer children looking to take over, these legacies are risk. The U.S. lost 200,000 farms since 2007. 40 million acres of land repurposed for commercial, residential or industrial development, that are no longer producing food or products for the united states. Many factors contribute.
▶ 0:12:42Chair Scott: Most farmers aren't looking to sell to a developer. They prefer to keep a family farm functional and pass their land onto someone who can continue their legacy. More young people are turning away from farming and agriculture due to the increased cost of farming largely which is especially true for small farmers and those starting out. They are facing increased regulatory burdens and operating costs.
▶ 0:13:11Chair Scott: The national price for farmland has increased 7% in three years. 80% of farmers work a second job. Farmers faced challenges from national disasters to inflation. Rising input costs, especially energy, make continuing the business less attractive to younger generations. This is also true for inheritance taxes that can mean taking over a family farm overwhelming.
▶ 0:13:42Chair Scott: They face deeper obstacles including access to land. Other entities look to gain a stronger foothold of the sector by buying the land. China owns 350,000 acres of farmland across 27 states. That is not acceptable. American farmers must deal with unfair trade practices. Undercutting their product on an international level. Congress has not always done right by farmers.
▶ 0:14:14Chair Scott: The major legislative factors, farm bill has not passed since 2018. This is harmful for farmers who have suffered with rising prices for 40 years. President trump is having success in bringing down prices. He needs congress to act. Passing a good farm bill is a great place to start. Otherwise we will continue to use outdated info which compounds the harm.
▶ 0:14:44Chair Scott: As a result, burden increases on aging farmers who want nothing more than to see their farm continue in trustworthy hands. The aging farm workforce presents a critical challenge in sustainability of american agriculture. I hope to hear from witnesses how we can better protect heritage for aging farmers and better secure hand over to the next generation.
▶ 0:15:15Chair Scott: We owe it to them to make sure the legacy can be continued, ensuring our food supply and shoring up the security of our nation. Recognize the ranking member.
▶ 0:15:28Sen. Gillibrand: Our workforce is aging. They are older now than when the last census of agriculture was conducted in 2017. Many farmers who would otherwise have retired have had to keep working. Some face pressure to sell if their family doesn't want to continue.
▶ 0:15:53Sen. Gillibrand: Lack of training and rural amenities like broadband and childcare have made farming less appealing to younger families. Our farmers provide accessible and abundant supply of food to our nation but with increased consolidation and more farmlands converted to nonagricultural uses, we are sending ourselves down a risky path.
▶ 0:16:20Sen. Gillibrand: Our duty in congress should be to support farmers whatever way we can. With a changing climate, raising prices, volatile markets, our farmers face many challenges that make success harder.
▶ 0:16:36Sen. Gillibrand: One of the most important things we can do to pass robust bipartisan farm bill that addresses the needs of the community as well as the nutrition and conservation needs, to encourage younger generations turning to farming we must invest in rural communities. New and beginning farmers and young people returning to their family farm do not only consider the income tied to farming, they need to access broadband and childcare and health care.
▶ 0:17:10Sen. Gillibrand: We need to make sure there is enough mental health support at a time when we see more farmers dying by succumbing to scoot -- serves -- suicide. The anxiety and stress caused by fluctuating tariffs hasn't helped. Our farmers need consistent policy to make long-term planting and investment decisions.
▶ 0:17:37Sen. Gillibrand: They need reliability from congress in an unpredictable profession. 20% of our agriculture is exported and farmers rely on those markets to profit. Look forward to a productive conversation today to discuss ways we can support our aging farmers while making sure new farmers continue to enter the workforce.
▶ 0:18:01Chair Scott: Thank you. Our witnesses, all of whom bring important perspectives on the challenges facing the aging workforce in american agriculture. I'm proud to welcome Mr. zippy do duvall, a third-generation farmer from georgia who understands firsthand pressures family farms are facing.
▶ 0:18:32Chair Scott: He knows what it means to work the land, raising a family and building something for the next generation. Thank you for your service to our nations farmers and ranchers. You may begin.
▶ 0:18:44Mr. Duvall: Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity to testify today. Third-generation georgia farmer, president of american farm bureau representing farms from all 50 states and puerto rico. I am fortunate to follow my father and grandfather on a family farm.
▶ 0:19:13Mr. Duvall: My son is a veterinarian and helps support his farm. We operate a beef cow farm. We spent our life and restoring the land in our family over 90 years. As I travel the country and see farms across the country I see a lot of gray hairs. While the wisdom of older generations is critical we must ensure we make a way for young farmers to fill our boots.
▶ 0:19:46Mr. Duvall: Many challenges face these communities. There are opportunities for congress to support young and beginning farmers including a new farm bill. We need a modernized five year farm bill. Farmers and ranchers have faced unprecedented volatility since 2018 making it harder for many to hold on.
▶ 0:20:20Mr. Duvall: 2022 census showed the loss of 141,000 farms, an average of 77 farms per day. With rising interest rates, higher energy prices, supply costs that have gone unchecked, farmers must plant the most expensive crop ever planted. Many face the tough decision whether or not to plant.
▶ 0:20:51Mr. Duvall: This is why farm bill and title I safety net is critical. Despite skyrocketing costs, the 20 for payments to farmers projected to be the lowest since 1982. Additionally, farm that is expected to increase in '26 to more than $560 billion.
▶ 0:21:14Mr. Duvall: I remember streamlining programs to meet the evolving needs of farmers and ranchers. We are proud of secretary rawlins for establishing the small family farm policy agenda and it highlights the need to reform programs, to streamline delivery and increase efficiency.
▶ 0:21:43Mr. Duvall: Adding to the uncertainty farmers and small businesses face is the possibility of the largest tax increase in american history. One provision critical to keeping family farms going to the next generation is to increase the estate tax exemption. If the exemption level reverts backwards, many families risk losing their farms.
▶ 0:22:07Mr. Duvall: Farm bureau was pleased to see the progress made with the house passage of reconciliation and we urge the senate to join to ensure american farmers and ranchers can continue to provide food, fuel and fiber our country needs. We cannot paint the full picture on this issue without talking about our employees. Many of us, many of employees are like family to us. They are aging alongside us.
▶ 0:22:38Mr. Duvall: That's a problem. Most americans aren't interested in working on farms anymore. They aren't interested in coming back to a farm, despite the big investments in recruiting people. Congress needs to recognize farm workers as essential to feeding and fueling our country. It is time to modernize our outdated system and only congress can meaningfully do that.
▶ 0:23:10Mr. Duvall: A country that cannot feed its people is not secure. In order to meet the growing demand of food, fiber and renewable fuel at home and abroad we must ensure continued strength of our farms and ranches in our communities. I want to thank the gym for holding this. I look forward to working with you to support the next generation of farmers and I am happy to answer questions.
▶ 0:23:34Chair Scott: Thank you. Jim alderman, owner of alderman farms in palm beach county, florida, farming since 1979.
▶ 0:24:00Chair Scott: He has been a strong advocate for florida farmers speaking out on key issues like trade and labor and has served on multiple advisory committees to shape policy. You may begin.
▶ 0:24:12Mr. Alderman: [indiscernible] we are diversified farming operation.
▶ 0:24:29Chair Scott: Can you turn your microphone on?
▶ 0:24:33Mr. Alderman: It is on. I can start over. Jim alderman, I began farming alderman farms, 1979, approximately 1200 acres in eastern palm beach county. The first farming operation in florida growing mixed organic vegetables and we grow the finest find ripe tomato in this country. Trust me.
▶ 0:25:04Mr. Alderman: South florida is a unique climate which allows us to produce vegetables during winter . It brings unique challenges, hurricanes, pests and rising input costs. You learn to adapt and that it is not a sprint. It is a lifelong commitment. At 78, I have spent 4.5 decades working land.
▶ 0:25:31Mr. Alderman: I still wake up before sunrise, most days like my peers, I'm still going strong because there is more work to be done. The average farmer is now 58. 40% of our producers are 65 or older. We are proud of experience and knowledge but who is coming behind us? That keeps me up at night.
▶ 0:25:59Mr. Alderman: It is not growing the crops, it is passing down the way of life. The chain of succession is breaking. Less than 9% of farmers are under 35. The number is more sobering in states like mine. Young people want to farm but they are running into walls such as expensive land costs, equipment costs.
▶ 0:26:28Mr. Alderman: The cost of financing is difficult. The question is without young a the question is without young men and women stepping in, the incentive to make a profit is not there. Why can't they make a profit? The imports are being shipped below our production cost. A farmer cannot make money, he is not going to expand his operation.
▶ 0:26:57Mr. Alderman: If his opportunity to sell land, which he has formed for years comes, sometimes the opportunity is too great and they retire and then development comes. Parking lots, residential communities. No agriculture. How can we make it so we can be competitive to the north and south? We have to be on the same level playing field.
▶ 0:27:21Mr. Alderman: Another problem is the invasion of insects and diseases that have entered our country from other countries. For example, we have seen a citrus industry with citrus greening has devastated the industry. We have gone from 240 million boxes of orange production to 40 million boxes today because of an insect that came in with bacteria that causes greening.
▶ 0:27:50Mr. Alderman: I think it would help our country if we had a better inspection at ports of entry to combat the invasion of insects and diseases from other countries. One of the other problems we have is where being overrated. Food safety is a primary concern for all farmers. We are careful to make sure we have the safest produce coming from our farm. We have several food safety inspections.
▶ 0:28:19Mr. Alderman: It would be great if we could have one to serve for all of them. Farmers must make a profit, money to continue their operation or they will take the easy way out, sell the property and retire. Free and equal trade between neighboring countries is a must. Labor is a major problem in agriculture. We are now dependent on labor from mexico because we cannot get enough domestic labor.
▶ 0:28:51Mr. Alderman: Agricultural labor is a must. If you want to sustain agriculture in america we need to smooth a path for generations which means investing in beginning farmers programs, offering centers like state planning support to make it easier to transfer farms without losing land with legacy. These are not just policy tweaks. They are steps in our food sustainability.
▶ 0:29:23Mr. Alderman: I come before you today as a farmer and as someone who cares deeply about the future of our country's food supply. We need bipartisan support for farmers to keep american agriculture alive and we will for decades to come. Thank you for recognizing us and the urgency of this problem and for allowing farmers like me to have a voice.
▶ 0:29:49Chair Scott: Thank you.
▶ 0:29:52Mr. Alderman: Glad to take any questions.
▶ 0:29:56Chair Scott: Our next witness spence and find agricultural businesses the talent they need to succeed. He is focused exclusively on food and agriculture. He grew up on a small family farm in ohio and spent three decades working across the industry. Thank you for being here.
▶ 0:30:27Mr. Locker: Afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity. Aaron locker, I grew up on a small farm in ohio and spent the last 36 years working in agriculture from food production to executive leadership.
▶ 0:30:48Mr. Locker: Today I serve as managing director at buchanan reedy, largest executive search firm focused on identifying and improving leadership for organizations across the food and agriculture industry. For more than 40 years we've helped agate organizations develop talent. Right now that pipeline is under strain. 2025, more people will turn 65 in any year in history.
▶ 0:31:21Mr. Locker: In agriculture, where many senior leaders have been in place decades, this creates a success and challenge. The next generation leaders, especially those with agricultural backgrounds is smaller than ever. The 1980's farm crisis didn't just hurt balance sheets. It changed the interest in being involved in ag. The ripple effect was across the industry.
▶ 0:31:53Mr. Locker: Between 1980-1990 while college enrollment went up 7% nationwide, enrollment in land-grant colleges of agriculture like texas a&m, nebraska, penn state, iowa state dropped by 37%. That gap is being realized today. The complexity of agriculture is growing.
▶ 0:32:20Mr. Locker: Precision, ai on the farm, automation and sustainability is moving fast. Fewer than one third of agate companies we work with have formed succession lines. That is systemic risk. Job growth in agriculture is steady. Tech and finance are growing three times faster. We are not just competing for talent. We are competing for leadership.
▶ 0:32:46Mr. Locker: That matters because food security is national security. Attracting and retaining next-generation depends on profitability and predictability. Farmers face constant uncertainty, rising compliance costs, it discourages investment and makes succession harder.
▶ 0:33:10Mr. Locker: To keep agriculture strong we must reduce burdens and ensure producers see a future worth building. This is not a challenge the business can solve alone. Congress has a vital role. I offer for recommendations. First, a strong farm bill. Provides stability.
▶ 0:33:39Mr. Locker: Second, promote agriculture as a mission driven modern career path. No other sector blends health, nutrition, energy and tech like agriculture. We have built the safest most abundant food supply in the world but that system will not sustain without the people who lead. Young people and career changers need to see it as a place to lead and innovate.
▶ 0:34:05Mr. Locker: Third, invest in leadership development, support usta scholarships, fellowships and training through land-grant universities and agriculture nonprofits. Fourth, strengthen rural workforce development meeting apprenticeships, veteran transitions and community college programs, building career paths from urban and suburban areas into agriculture.
▶ 0:34:31Mr. Locker: The food and agriculture industries are involving fast but the leadership pipeline is not keeping up. This is not just a workforce issue. It is a threat to our most essential system, our food supply. If we want a sustainable agricultural future, we must invest in people. We must identify and support leaders early and give them room to grow. Thank you for your time and focus. Look forward to questions.
▶ 0:35:01Chair Scott: Thank you. Ranking member gillibrand to introduce her witness.
▶ 0:35:09Sen. Gillibrand: Dr. wolf is the ev baker professor of agricultural economics at cornell's charles h dyson school of applied economics and management, director of land-grant affairs. Conducting research, extension and teaching focusing on dairy products and policy. Business management, risk management and farm animal welfare.
▶ 0:35:39Sen. Gillibrand: He works with farmers to conduct research to identify how public policy impacts foreign behavior and financial outcomes with the intent of improving decision-making for policymakers and industry professionals.
▶ 0:35:54Dr. Wolf: Thank you. I currently serve as the ev baker professor. I have a three-way split. I have been at cornell since 2019.
▶ 0:36:23Dr. Wolf: Mostly I do work on dairy policy and farm business management. I have taught that for the last 25 years at universities. In new york, currently the fifth largest producer of milk, we are in the midst of $2.5 billion investment in dairy manufacturing.
▶ 0:36:49Dr. Wolf: We want to bring the next generation back to the farm, increase production sustainably and training students for dairy careers. There are number of explanations for the increase in the U.S. farm age. The largest share of U.S. farms are multigenerational in nature. Rather than the kids operating separate farms, they returned to the operation and become owners which enables management.
▶ 0:37:19Dr. Wolf: In this case the management team might have a younger average age than the primary operator. It tends to be capital-intensive and that accumulation occurs over the manager's lifetime. The average farm age is getting older. Given the usda definition of a farm with any place of $1000 or more of agricultural products sold during the year, a large percentage of firms operate as part-time businesses.
▶ 0:37:49Dr. Wolf: If someone retires, it increases farm age. This is not meant to imply there are no issues with farm viability related to the increase in age. There are hurdles that limit the entry of young people into farming. Family-owned farms which were 96% of U.S. farms are closely held businesses.
▶ 0:38:19Dr. Wolf: Farms tend to be of the size that meets the constraints and income needs of the family. Because of capital requirements, assets are often the retirement plan. Farmers hope to pass the business to the next generation, they need to recover the equity value to fund their retirement. Tracking the next generation of farm business owner managers is about income and rural amenities.
▶ 0:38:48Dr. Wolf: Impediments to successful intergenerational transfer often lead to information gaps and this is where land-grant extension programs could be a valuable partner. New york farm that was created in 1986 in response to the farm crisis.
▶ 0:39:04Dr. Wolf: In response to requests with a team of financial and mental health professionals to meet with farm families at no cost including mental health, was motivated by the fact that farmers face higher rates of depression and suicide. Farm that receives 700 calls per year that results in 400 new cases being opened.
▶ 0:39:30Dr. Wolf: Sources of financial stress include price uncertainty, labor costs and availability, capital costs and access to succession planning. Family-related stressors include health care issues, child care, elder care and drug abuse. Agriculture remains among the most dangerous industry in the U.S. with machinery accidents. Health care issues include the availability and proximity.
▶ 0:39:58Dr. Wolf: Farmers often report delaying health care due to constraints. Many farmers are underinsured or uninsured especially those self-employed operating small farms. Farm business succession is a major source of stress. Farm net and cornell collaborative extension offer educational workshops and materials on succession and transfer.
▶ 0:40:26Dr. Wolf: 2024, farm net businesses that represent $13 million revenue, 600 employees keeping more than 180,000 acres active. Farm that's experience is that managers who participate in programs are likely to engage with attorneys and accountants to complete successful transfers. Applied research and extension programs can provide valuable assistance to help ensure successful transitions and a healthy sector. Thank you.
▶ 0:40:55Chair Scott: Thank. Questions.
▶ 0:40:59Sen. Tuberville: Thank you. I am also on the agate committee. The economy is in dire straits. We have lost 150,000 farms. 25,000 farmers in the last five years.
▶ 0:41:25Sen. Tuberville: Producers have lost $40 billion net farming since 2022 and the current trade deficit has grown to $49 billion. Despite alabama producers making bumper crops, they can't break even, much less profit due to the low commodity prices, input costs, interest rates and inflation. We cannot keep this up. The only way we help farmers survive is to extend president trump tax cuts increase prices and hammer the heck out of foreign countries on tariffs. It is way out of control. We cannot continue this direction.
▶ 0:41:54Sen. Tuberville: It is concerning one third of farmers are over creates a worke farmers are over creates a workm as young people are not entering farming. As young people are not entering farming. This labor problem increases the need for reforms and h2 a programs.
▶ 0:42:27Sen. Tuberville: Can you speak of the struggles of keeping up with the adverse affect wage rate over $16 per hour in alabama, that is double the minimum wage? [indiscernible]
▶ 0:42:58Mr. Alderman: Minimum wage in florida is $12.50. With the rates going higher next year, we still have to pay for their housing. We would like some relief at least to get the housing back from the h2a workers.
▶ 0:43:27Mr. Alderman: We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just for housing labor. They are great labor. Without them we could not harvest our crop but we cannot compete with cheap prices of tomatoes coming from mexico against us. They are undercutting the price so cheap -- the tariff we are talking about is not enough to make a difference. 20% is not enough.
▶ 0:43:55Mr. Alderman: They need a floor for our minimum growing cost and put a tariff above that. It's not just florida. Mexico was coming after florida tomato farmers. 20 years later, they are growing peppers, corn, squash and every vegetable we grow all the way up the east coast to jersey, they will be competing, mexico with all those products.
▶ 0:44:27Mr. Alderman: They pay $10 a day. We pay $25 an hour. There has to be help with the balance of trade. Don't want the government to give us anything. Get us on a level playing field.
▶ 0:44:41Sen. Tuberville: Do you want to add?
▶ 0:44:45Mr. Duvall: We need congress to freeze the wage rate so farmers don't have to take another increase and give us time to work on this program so we can make it workable for employees and farmers. The way we are going now with the wage rates going up, we are going to price ourselves out of farming. We won't be able to pay the rate and provide those jobs. It has to be done quickly.
▶ 0:45:16Mr. Duvall: We have to work on creating h2a that speaks to all agriculture. All agriculture is suffering for the lack of labor and we need to help year-round workers that is not capped. We need to be able to control it and fill those jobs. We need to have those year-round workers in those areas like derry and other places where the work never stops.
▶ 0:45:45Mr. Duvall: The regulation to go along with those programs is so burdensome. The requirement of having housing, the liabilities that come with that. The difficulty for farmers to continue to abide by all these regulations. Every regulation cost a lot of money.
▶ 0:46:07Mr. Duvall: If we are going to continue to feed the people of the world we have to make sure we have reliable labor here so we can get the job done. How can a young farmer come back to the farm and bring his expertise he learned in college, expand the font without having the labor force to do it? Is one of the biggest limiting factors we have.
▶ 0:46:31Mr. Duvall: That rate is set by a survey done by usda that was created over 60 years ago to count employees, not set a rate. The formula is unworkable. We need to redo that and set a fair wage rate that encourages farmers to hire people and sustain business.
▶ 0:46:53Chair Scott: Thank you.
▶ 0:46:55Sen. Gillibrand: We have seen several tariff levels imposed on various countries at various points on different goods in the last several months. This impacted everything from feed costs to fertilizer and machinery increasing operation cost for farmers who already work within tight financial margins.
▶ 0:47:23Sen. Gillibrand: In the north country of new york state many dairy farmers depend on canadian feed and fertilizer for operations. This has been a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship we had with canada and has benefited businesses both sides of the border. What possible outcomes can we expect to see if the U.S. continues to impose tariffs which may lead to higher input prices and restricted access to export markets due to retaliatory tariffs?
▶ 0:47:53Dr. Wolf: U.S. agriculture is dependent on trade both inputs and export markets for outputs. Increasing tariffs and trade wars is not something we are going to benefit U.S. farmers. Farms are dependent on imports from canada for fertilizer. Maintaining that relationship is better for the farmers there. U.S.
▶ 0:48:19Dr. Wolf: Dairy industry on average exports one day a week of milk production. The most important outlets are mexico, canada and china. Maintaining that relationship is critical for U.S. dairy. Not that the stocks would surge in prices would be depressed, U.S. dairy farms are efficient. They can compete with anybody on the global market.
▶ 0:48:49Dr. Wolf: They have to be perceived as a reliable trade partner. That same statement could be made for many U.S. commodities. In a broader sense, the uncertainty of the last few months, uncertainty tends to inhibit investment. When an outcome and the probabilities are uncertain, they creates a positive option value of waiting, which is what we are seeing in the last few months.
▶ 0:49:20Dr. Wolf: We are waiting on investments at a lot of levels. Removing uncertainty would help U.S. agriculture more, a better longer-term investment and encourage investment in that sense.
▶ 0:49:33Sen. Gillibrand: Farming is one of the most stressful occupations due to unpredictability of climate, market prices and labor shortages. The rate of suicide among farmers is 2-5 times higher than the national average and approximately 60% rural americans live in a designated mental health provider shortage area.
▶ 0:49:59Sen. Gillibrand: I was proud to introduce the national hotline last congress to establish a national agriculture prices hotline while expanding and supporting the current work undertaken by the farm and ranch stress assistance network. Programs like farm net and the american farm bureau federation farm state of mind program are both critical to resources to support farmers.
▶ 0:50:30Sen. Gillibrand: How should congress expand resources to help farmers access mental health assistance they need and how could we reduce stigma surrounding mental health in the agricultural community to encourage farmers and ranchers to reach out when they are in need before they are in a moment of crisis?
▶ 0:50:49Mr. Duvall: I take that very seriously. During my time back on the phone before I got this job, I lost my wife of 42 years, my son went to war in iraq. I realized what the pressures did to me.
▶ 0:51:14Mr. Duvall: As farmers, we are crusty, sitting in the back room thinking we are not supposed to talk about our feelings. The embarrassment people think they experience is not really there and it is ok not to be ok but it is not ok not to talk. That is why we started the farm state of mind program.
▶ 0:51:37Mr. Duvall: We want to put together a group, a peer to peer group farmers can talk to each other. Free counseling all over the country. The support which you have brought up, the georgia foundation for agriculture, farm bureau did a study. It was sobering.
▶ 0:52:06Mr. Duvall: 29% are thinking about dying of suicide, georgia farmers. The younger generation, first-generation farmers, 49% thought about dying of suicide at least once a month. That is a devastating finding.
▶ 0:52:29Mr. Duvall: We have to continue to work with congress to make sure we tear down barriers that cause high regulation and pressure on farmers, find an answer to our labor problems that is workable for farmers and be able to work with an undocumented workforce. Agriculture knows 50% of the workers on the farmer undocumented.
▶ 0:52:55Mr. Duvall: Those people are like family to these farmers and we need a way to work through that situation the broken system has created here. There are a lot of things congress can do. Being able to put them on a level playing field, trade, teardown regulation, help them find a workable workforce would go a long way.
▶ 0:53:20Dr. Wolf: Couple different things. The big parties overcoming stigma. Education and awareness can go a long way. A series of public service announcements collaboratively with groups like the farm bureau and other commodity groups can provide more awareness and then accessibility.
▶ 0:53:48Dr. Wolf: A toll-free number they could call with counselors and resources would have a positive impact. Given the distance many have living in remote areas, having telemedicine in addition to the toll-free number with counselors and resources that understand what is going on in these areas would be valuable.
▶ 0:54:12Sen. Justice: Thank you. Thank all you great senators. Especially turberville. He and I are buddies. We are both on the agricultural committee. Our family has been in the farming business a long time.
▶ 0:54:44Sen. Justice: We got a real problem. It is so serious it is off the chart. Not only do we have a problem, we are getting old. As we get older, the problem gets more critical. Stay with me. If I were to tell you just this -- america is the greatest country on the planet a million fold.
▶ 0:55:14Sen. Justice: With that we have the greatest people, the most loving people, the very best of the best. We are spoiled rotten. Anyway you cut it, we are spoiled on food. Absolutely we are taking advantage of our small family farms beyond belief.
▶ 0:55:40Sen. Justice: Talk about taking for granted somebody and what they are doing with the work -- that is what we do every day. We won't address the problem. The problem is simple. If we don't do something about this we are going to have a crisis at some time like you cannot imagine. It may be a ways away. For god sakes, we deserve a farm bill.
▶ 0:56:08Sen. Justice: With that said, think about depression/suicide. I could ask you questions but I'm just going to talk. Here's the deal. Think about the average sized small family farm in america. 430 acres. If we could use 500 for a second and think of these gentlemen here and think what could they sell their farms for?
▶ 0:56:39Sen. Justice: 500 acre farm. Pick a number. $15,000 per acre. Their net worth after they throw away, they take care of debt -- they could give the money to goldman sachs, never touch the principles, go somewhere and live and honest to god make 10 times what they are making on the form.
▶ 0:57:10Sen. Justice: That farm. What if at some point in time in life some giant corporation, god for bid a foreign country, gives up owning a tremendous amount of our farm weight in america. Then think about this.
▶ 0:57:29Sen. Justice: What if all of a sudden they form one crop, put it in ungodly amounts of storage and say the price on that corn is $200 a bushel and if you don't want to pay that, we are not selling and we are not going to plant again. At that point in time, we spend in a crisis you cannot fathom.
▶ 0:57:52Sen. Justice: If you want a mile-long food at the grocery stores paying 14% or whatever of your annual income toward food, quick taking advantage of these people. Quit taking them for granted. As a government, we have smart people that can figure out what to do. I have done this over and again. I said this forever more.
▶ 0:58:19Sen. Justice: The point in time when we as a government, as our people put real passion and emphasis on this, we will solve it. If we don't solve it, it will bite. It will not be pretty. That being said, I could ask you a bunch of questions. There is no point. I have been on this rant a bunch of times. I'm on the agricultural committee.
▶ 0:58:50Sen. Justice: I can see it coming. This is like being in a bubble. They are screaming they have a problem. A real crisis. We don't have young people going into farming today. Why would they? They are not nuts. Why would they? Everyone is screaming in the bubble and we don't hear them. We best better hear them america. I'm done.
▶ 0:59:19Chair Scott: Thank you.
▶ 0:59:25Sen. Warnock: Thank you. My friend Mr. zippy do my friend Mr. zippy duvall, fellow georgian, for being a voice for farmers across georgia and the country and for your lifetime of service.
▶ 0:59:53Sen. Warnock: As you know too well in recent years it seems like georgia farmers have been hit by one thing after another. Tough business. There are so many things you cannot control. Like the weather. In addition, rising input costs.
▶ 1:00:22Sen. Warnock: In addition, these weather events we have seen in recent years that created setbacks for farmers. On top of all that. We are now dealing with pointless trade wars which will make it harder to get products to international markets.
▶ 1:00:46Sen. Warnock: Honored to work with many of my colleagues across the aisle to help farmers get their products to market and now all that is being disrupted. From all I've heard from georgia farmers particularly older farmers who are turning to drastic measures like selling off pieces of their family farm land or taking out second mortgages to stay afloat. Are you hearing similar things from your farm bureau members? If so, what concerns you?
▶ 1:01:18Sen. Warnock: >> all across america I hear the same thing. Farmers basically now are supportive of this administration of finding a level playing field. We are praying it works. Farm bureau policy is we don't support tariffs because we know there are other repercussions.
▶ 1:01:45Sen. Warnock: We also know our farmers have to have a level playing field. 20% income comes from trade overseas. They are willing to wait. What worries me most in what I see most references what you said. We farmers have to take another mortgage, selling their land.
▶ 1:02:10Sen. Warnock: When we get to this fall and we don't have solutions to the trade and tariff problems and everyone starts selling a very cheap commodity, they cannot pay for the expenses and inputs they bought to grow that commodity, then they have to turn around the next month and go back to their banker and say I am ready to borrow more money to plant next year, and you haven't paid off last year's debt, we are going to be in serious trouble.
▶ 1:02:42Sen. Warnock: You're going to see farmers and ranchers all over this country go through mental health issues like you have never seen before since the 1980's with high interest rates. It will be very difficult.
▶ 1:02:54Sen. Warnock: Being forced to sell their land which has implications for all of us but certainly you cannot pass it on to the next generation. Since 2017, the average number of farmers over 65 increased 12%.
▶ 1:03:26Sen. Warnock: That happens when farmers are forced to sell. Talk about the other consequences for farmers and us.
▶ 1:03:32Mr. Duvall: That land comes out of production and never goes back. There is so much competition now for land it prevents young farmers and beginning farmers that want to go in, god help them, have a difficult time finding the land to do that.
▶ 1:03:53Mr. Duvall: Availability of land, of money, loans is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for young farmers and beginning farmers.
▶ 1:04:06Sen. Warnock: Access to credit. Would you say tariffs and uncertainty created around tariffs has made it worse or tougher in a tough business?
▶ 1:04:19Mr. Duvall: In the short term it has not affected the net but when we get this fall and they start selling commodities and if we don't have solutions to the terror for, -- tariff war, we will have lost markets we depend on and then we will start seeing a crisis.
▶ 1:04:42Sen. Warnock: The uncertainty. You are having to make decisions within the context of uncertainty. People you would sell to our having to make decisions, all across the trade zones. Which makes it very difficult to plan. Thank you for being a voice this moment.
▶ 1:05:07Sen. Warnock: It is my view farmers are not helped by this increasing uncertainty and we need to bring sanity to this conversation about trade. By the way, congress could do something about trade tomorrow. If we decided it was in the wheelhouse of congress. Thank you.
▶ 1:05:28Sen. Tuberville: I have been advocating to permanently repeal the federal estate tax which is often called the death tax. It means a lot for farmers. Your thoughts?
▶ 1:05:53Mr. Locker: Modern agriculture is a massive investment. Even small farmers. Anytime you want to pass that along to the next generation, that comes at a cost and is in many cases cost prohibitive. Doing away with the death tax. We get bottled in with other businesses. Couldn't be farther from the truth in terms of comparable.
▶ 1:06:24Mr. Locker: When you are passing along a form business, it comes with a lot of cost and assets and takes a lot of to run a farm today so doing away with the death tax is the right thing to do to continue to pass it down to the next generation otherwise it becomes prohibitive.
▶ 1:06:45Mr. Alderman: Absolutely one of the necessary things we need to do.
▶ 1:06:50Mr. Duvall: I have spent my whole life buying back my farm, my daddy had to sell part of it off. My whole life. If we don't fix that problem, get rid of inheritance tax, other generations will have to sell the farm and that form will go out of production and we will not enjoy the production. It has to be done.
▶ 1:07:19Mr. Duvall: You have a lot of land, you have a lot of wealth. You have to have land to farm. It is like a tractor. It's like a car. It is something you have to have to do the job. Show me a farmer that has a retirement plan. It is tied up in his land.
▶ 1:07:44Mr. Duvall: When he retires, he's got to sell his land or sell it to his children and if you pile inheritance tax on top of that, they have to sell part of the farm to continue. It is one of the biggest devastating things that can happen to a family farm when you have a death in have to go through that.
▶ 1:08:09Mr. Alderman: Agree wholeheartedly. It is double taxation. It can put someone out of business and make them so. It shouldn't be there. One other thing somewhat related, years ago and I am not an accountant, a little bit with a lot of nothing you know -- some of the equipment I have been looking at laser weeder,
▶ 1:08:42Mr. Alderman: Ai, $400,000. I cannot afford it. Years ago we had rapid depreciation stage where you could write it off quicker. Is that something that could be done? That would probably help many farmers out there.
▶ 1:09:04Sen. Tuberville: Your thoughts?
▶ 1:09:08Dr. Wolf: With the increasing size of commercial farms and the average farm land value being $4000, and there was a lot of places farmers would be really happy to buy more land for that, so that average is hiding higher prices in some places. Certainly there are increasing forms running up against the potential to lose some of the value in an estate tax.
▶ 1:09:38Dr. Wolf: As the other witnesses said, you cannot give up the land and still be viable. It's not liquid. If you sell, it is gone. That highlights the need to do the farm business succession and estate planning and if you don't do it, and it is easy to forget that and no one likes to do it by the way, it is not fun. We all need to do it but that is admitting you have to have it.
▶ 1:10:09Dr. Wolf: Have that at some point, so that's not fun to do. It's different for farm businesses because they are small and medium-sized, family-owned, closely held businesses. It's fundamentally different than other types of businesses.
▶ 1:10:22Chair Scott: Mr. duvall, Mr. alderman, has mexico dumped any crops on farmers in the united states?
▶ 1:10:38Mr. Alderman: Yes.
▶ 1:10:40Chair Scott: You got your mic on?
▶ 1:10:44Mr. Alderman: It's on.
▶ 1:10:45Chair Scott: How do they do that?
▶ 1:10:47Mr. Alderman: A personal example happened to me two weeks ago. We were selling grape tomatoes to a company in new york state and our price is $16.50. We couldn't get the order. We have been selling for quite a while. Could not get the order this week. I can get them delivered from mexico for $10. I can't pick and pack and grow them for $10. We couldn't take the order. I'm not going to lose money.
▶ 1:11:19Mr. Alderman: I would dump it rather than losing money, and we dump a lot of tomatoes. We can't sell, we dump them. We don't have another market. It's not like corn or soybeans that we can keep and sell them next month. If we don't have a market, it goes to feed the cows.
▶ 1:11:34Chair Scott: Why are your costs higher?
▶ 1:11:36Mr. Alderman: Labor, as I mentioned earlier. H2a labor is costing me $24 an hour.
▶ 1:11:44Chair Scott: How do they come up with that?
▶ 1:11:47Mr. Alderman: The what you call it -- a word --
▶ 1:11:51Chair Scott: The federal government did that to you, your friends at the federal government?
▶ 1:11:56Mr. Alderman: You guys are friends. But you can do something about it. It's not fair because we have to pay the housing. It is $16.50 an hour --
▶ 1:12:11Chair Scott: You have to pay their way to get here, pay their way home?
▶ 1:12:15Mr. Alderman: Pay their visas, feed them. When they get here, we pay for their housing. When they go home, we pay for their way home.
▶ 1:12:23Chair Scott: How did they come up with the $16.50 an hour?
▶ 1:12:28Mr. Duvall: The wage rate is set by a survey done by usda that is 60 years old that was created to count the number of employees on bonds, not to set a wage rate. If you look at the calculations and that wage rate and what sectors they use to calculate it , they even use the wage rate of h2a workers to calculate it. That doesn't make sense. I have been across this country, every state, out on farms.
▶ 1:12:59Mr. Duvall: I found three farmers that filled out that survey. Who is filling the survey out? Where is the data coming from? Why would we set a wage rate based on a survey that's 60 years old and wasn't designed to set a wage rate by?
▶ 1:13:16Mr. Alderman: May I suggest they go to mexico and find out the average rate these men were making before they came over to work for me or the other farmers or bring in h2a workers? Probably a dollar an hour.
▶ 1:13:29Chair Scott: Plus the inspections and regulation that this gentleman and a lot of growers have to go through, that they don't do in mexico.
▶ 1:13:37Chair Scott: You mean they sell in our grocery stores without doing that?
▶ 1:13:42Mr. Alderman: One question I would like to ask. Have you ever seen the fda in mexico?
▶ 1:13:48Chair Scott: Nope. So you are paying for things they don't have to pay for in mexico.
▶ 1:13:55Mr. Alderman: Exactly.
▶ 1:13:57Chair Scott: Do you think our trade policy, we allow mexico to dump tomatoes on floor to farmers is fair?
▶ 1:14:06Mr. Alderman: No sir.
▶ 1:14:08Chair Scott: I did have the opportunity to visit Mr. greer at ustr and he and I talked about the dumping. It's not just tomatoes. It's cucumbers, bell peppers.
▶ 1:14:19Mr. Alderman: Strawberries.
▶ 1:14:20Mr. Duvall: Jerry's, -- cherries. It's all over the country and it's time for our country to stand up and say, no more you are going to dump your produce on our farmers.
▶ 1:14:35Chair Scott: Do you think the trump administration is doing the right thing, what commerce is doing with regard to eliminating the suspension agreement on tomatoes? What greer is doing to raise the tariff rates on produce coming from other countries?
▶ 1:14:52Mr. Alderman: It's hard to find out what this tariff president trump is talking about. First 20%, now 17%. Let me tell you what will work. If you have a minimum -- what did you call it --
▶ 1:15:09Chair Scott: Price minimum.
▶ 1:15:10Mr. Alderman: A base. Find out what it costs to grow a box of tomatoes in south florida. Between 12 and dollars -- $12 and $14 a box. Put that as the base comic-con sell it for any less than that, and charge a tariff above that. It won't slow them down. If you take away the minimum, now they can charge you five dollars for a box of tomatoes and charge 17% tariff.
▶ 1:15:41Mr. Alderman: It doesn't amount to anything. It's not going to slow them down. 100% tariff maybe would slow them down. Go to other countries and see what they do. Go down to the bahamas and see if you ship a box of tomatoes to the bahamas, what happens. If there is a grower and they are growing tomatoes. We just like to be equal and fair so we are on the same level playing field.
▶ 1:16:10Chair Scott: Senator justice.
▶ 1:16:18Sen. Justice: I don't have a whole lot to say. I know these witnesses are superstars and I congratulate you on the honors you have been able to do in your lives. I would be interested -- I don't know how many folks out here are some way involved in agriculture. I would assume most everybody.
▶ 1:16:40Sen. Justice: I know this from the bottom of my heart, that for those that are young, that live on the farm and grew up on the farm, you want to absolutely stay there. You love it. You love it with all your soul. Every one of you loves it with all your soul.
▶ 1:17:01Sen. Justice: You don't want to give up that way of life in any way, and you are providing a service for all of us. Why can't we get it? Why can't we get it? The fact that you have somebody -- a guy told me a long time ago , the president of stanford seed company at the time, jim billings. Jim billings said they were bought by another seed company, a little bigger.
▶ 1:17:31Sen. Justice: They were going to retain him and they asked him to write a job description. He said, I started writing and I wrote 13 pages of singlespaced stuff of what I did every day. Then I laid my pencil down and thought and picked it back up and said, see the right person is in the right job and they are motivated. That's you. That's all of us in agriculture today. We are a production engine like you can't imagine.
▶ 1:18:01Sen. Justice: You can't imagine how good we are at what we do. We are smart too. We have to solve this riddle, and it is complicated as it can possibly be. But you got smart people that love what they do and are motivated by what they do because of their love. We just got to solve the riddle.
▶ 1:18:25Sen. Justice: To solve the riddle, I have never seen a situation in my life that you can solve until you place a level of importance on it, a big-time level of importance. We don't solve it, shame on us. That's all I can say. I have stood on top of the mountain and screamed until I am blue-green. It's a real problem. Mr. chairman, thank you, sir.
▶ 1:18:56Chair Scott: Mr. duvall, how important is it to buy american products? Why is it important the food we put in our body is grown in america rather than places like mexico?
▶ 1:19:07Mr. Duvall: We have no clue what conditions or techniques are used in mexico to grow that food. We don't test it, we don't measure it. They don't inspect it coming across the border. They don't have enough inspectors to do it correctly. I think the federal government makes an attempt, but when have you seen inspectors from america in another country inspecting the food before it comes to us?
▶ 1:19:37Mr. Duvall: Like they do at his farm every day. It's important for us to realize, like in your opening statement, that food security is national security. If we are old enough to remember the long gas lines when we had to sit in line to get gas and how that almost brought our country to its knees, if we all remember how scared we was when covid hit and all of a sudden we saw some shelves at the grocery store empty.
▶ 1:20:07Mr. Duvall: If you don't solve our labor problems and put profitability back in agriculture and make young people come back, we will live to see that day again in this country and we will be dependent on some other country, whether it is our land or their land, to feed us. And we will not be a secure country.
▶ 1:20:26Mr. Duvall: If you could do three things that would impact --
▶ 1:20:30Sen. Alsobrooks: If you would do three things to impact the american farm, what would be those three things?
▶ 1:20:35Mr. Duvall: Fix farm, fixed labor, got to have a farm bill.
▶ 1:20:41Chair Scott: Mr. locker, what trends are you seeing with workforce ag not just farms but with companies that support ag?
▶ 1:20:48Mr. Locker: We are seeing it across the board. The whole agribusiness community is driven by the health of the farmer. So by having a farming population that is profitable, predictable, that drives everybody. We are coming off almost a 40 year period of pretty stable workforce coming off the farm. That, as I mentioned in my opening statement, is drying up.
▶ 1:21:19Mr. Locker: It is irrespective of whether it is crop inputs, add machine or he, retailers, cooperatives, all of them across the industry are facing the same thing. Because many of the executive leadership has been in place 30 or 40 years in agriculture.
▶ 1:21:39Mr. Locker: So what we are faced with is what happens -- and I saw a statistic not long ago that up to half of the current executives across agribusiness could be retiring between now and 2035. With that goes all that institutional knowledge. All the services, the technology, the things we do to help the farmer produce the largest and safest food supply on the planet, all that institutional knowledge can go away.
▶ 1:22:10Mr. Locker: It's definitely an issue that we are facing. We have done a lot of things recently working with companies on succession plans, on mentor ships, and even an intuitive conversation I had the other day with a company that are even looking, because of technology and ai, to reduce mentor ships.
▶ 1:22:37Mr. Locker: Actually pairing young people with a senior executive to help them understand the next generation of leaders and how you talk to them and get them attracted to agriculture, as well as technology. The trends are there. What I would say, and senator justice couldn't say it any better, we need a stable farming community, which starts with the farm bill.
▶ 1:23:03Mr. Locker: When we get that stabilized, the investment comes back in, the investment in technology, the investment in the tools the farmers need. Right now much of that investment is being held up because of lack of project ability, lack of profitability at the farm. We need that stability. The other thing I would say to close with his we need a greater share of mind in the U.S. today about agriculture.
▶ 1:23:35Mr. Locker: We need to attract a whole new generation of future leaders to agriculture. Because by being able to say agriculture has transformed and we are going through another technology transformation as we speak, like a lot of industries are with ai and on farm automation.
▶ 1:23:55Mr. Locker: So the technology and the domain experience we need to attract to ag is going to be unparalleled over the next several years. By working with congress -- we have said it more than once today. Food security is national security. Let's get a narrative that says because of that, we need to attract more people into the agriculture community now more than ever before.
▶ 1:24:22Chair Scott: Dr. wolf, what are the most significant financial barriers facing aging dairy farmers looking to retire and transition operations to the next generation?
▶ 1:24:33Dr. Wolf: Senator scott, the biggest problem is to be actively engaged in farming and be able to transfer or sell those assets at a fair value so you can fund your retirement. These farmers don't have 401(k)s or 403 b's.
▶ 1:25:00Dr. Wolf: Their money is tied up in the farming assets, so they have to make it work. There are ways to do it, but it takes planning ahead of time and takes considering things like long-term leases and land contracts and things like that to make it work. If you don't do that, it becomes infeasible. Tax policy is part of it and there are things we have in the tax code that work now and some things you are thinking about maybe extending that could help.
▶ 1:25:32Dr. Wolf: A lot of it is just an information problem, and also as Mr. locker pointed out, I think correctly, we definitely see more people wanting to go into agriculture when it's profitable. If you grow up on a farm and it looks like your parents are struggling, it's not something you are not going to want to come back to.
▶ 1:26:00Chair Scott: You have talked to jamison greer, I assume secretary rollins. Talking about trade policy, it takes two people to get a deal done. Do you think we are better off to leave it as it is or try to improve our trade policy to stop the dumping?
▶ 1:26:19Mr. Duvall: We have to try to improve trade policy. What we have done in the past has not worked. We have not regained some of the markets we have lost in the trade war eight years ago. We need trade deals. We need access. We need certainty. You give your farmers -- our farmers a level playing field, they will compete with anybody on earth.
▶ 1:26:45Mr. Duvall: Especially during harvest time of tomatoes and strawberries, they shouldn't be allowed to dump on top and depress the price so the farmer can't successfully run a business under all the rules and regulations that cost him tons of money to abide by.
▶ 1:27:03Chair Scott: With secretary rawlins and secretary let nick -- ludnick are trying to do, as difficult as it is, you think it is worth trying to improve the tradpolicy with other countries?
▶ 1:27:19Mr. Duvall: That's what I hear our farmers say. Short term they are willing to take the pain. Long-term they need solutions. When we go into the fall with this expensive crop and the commodities they have to sell, it's really going to be difficult for farmers all across america.
▶ 1:27:39Chair Scott: Mr. duvall, you talk about the farm bill. What's in it that's important to you?
▶ 1:27:47Mr. Duvall: Renewed title I with increasing reference prices, continued support for crop insurance to be able to -- if a farmer, small, medium, large, growing whatever he might grow, deserves to have a risk management tool that he participates in to be able to cover his risks in that crop. It ought to not be limited to certain commodities.
▶ 1:28:18Mr. Duvall: It should be widespread to all commodities, all sizes of farms. Research and development dollars are crucial. That's what keeps us on the cutting edge of agriculture. That's what keeps us the leading production place in the world, the research and development dollars. Great universities like cornell and university of georgia and university of florida. And then of course our conservation programs.
▶ 1:28:45Mr. Duvall: These lands that we accumulate, those natural resources and our neighbors, we all are entitled to protecting back. But farming doesn't allow the luxury of the farm to make enough money to do all that production. Conservation programs, 140 million acres have been voluntarily put in conservation programs across america.
▶ 1:29:10Mr. Duvall: That's the size of california and new york because it was voluntary and the government participated helping us to protect those natural resources. All of those programs, and even the trade part of the farm bill where we sold products overseas, all those programs are so important to agriculture and the farm bill.
▶ 1:29:33Mr. Duvall: We have been kicking this can down the road two years and the uncertainty has caught up with our farmers, with our bankers, and it is going to catch up to the american people.
▶ 1:29:42Chair Scott: Mr. alderman, you have been dealing with the redtape of the federal, local, state governments. What would be your top three things you want to change that would have a positive impact on your farm?
▶ 1:29:56Mr. Alderman: You mentioned crop insurance a minute ago. Crop insurance would be interesting to analyze to take into consideration these specialty crops that we grow. I could lose a whole crop in south florida with hurricane in october. We have crop insurance. You still don't qualify for getting paid.
▶ 1:30:26Mr. Alderman: We take it out every year, but crop insurance written in the midwest for midwestern farmers has no idea about vegetable farmers in south florida. We never qualified. We have to have it. That would help. Some of the regulations coming down from the fda right now and some of my neighbors, it's really scary whether we will be able to keep farming because of that.
▶ 1:30:52Mr. Alderman: If they are going to inspect every little thing, maybe they should try to help us find out what the problem is and help solve the problem. I got you now, I'm going to put you in jail. It's really bad because this is america, supposed to be free, but we have a government -- years ago when I was a kid, government actually helped you. They would survey the land for you and do so many things for you.
▶ 1:31:23Mr. Alderman: Today all that is gone. I guess there is some part still left. What the fda is doing, one of my neighbors, one of my friends last week, it's terrible. What other problems would I have? We just want to level the playing field again, make it so we are competitive with our neighbors to the south and north.
▶ 1:31:53Mr. Alderman: Canada grows a lot of hothouse tomatoes that compete with us every day on the shelves in the grocery stores. I don't want the government to subsidize anything I grow, but if we are competing with countries that are subsidizing their farmers, do something to make it a level playing field. I'm not smart enough to figure out what that would be. You have some economists to handle it. Put something on to level the playing field.
▶ 1:32:18Chair Scott: If you would tell somebody going to a grocery store that's buying produce, why would they buy an american product rather than a product from china or mexico? Why should they do it?
▶ 1:32:36Mr. Alderman: Number one, the food safety regulations we have in every farm out here. I hired a full-time person, all she does is food safety. She goes around with swabs measuring stuff. Our food is safe here, the safest food in the world. I would not hesitate -- that's true. You don't know what you are getting from mexico or guatemala.
▶ 1:33:04Mr. Alderman: I have been to those countries and seen how they farm and what their safety protocols are, which they don't have any. And it's fresher. If you buy my tomatoes, I picked it today and it's in the market tomorrow. It's not sitting in the corner for two days, three weeks, or on a trailer coming from chile.
▶ 1:33:30Mr. Alderman: It's picked here, it goes to the grocery store warehouse that evening and is in their store the next day. It's fresh.
▶ 1:33:42Chair Scott: Chair scott: chair
▶ 1:33:42Scott: Right now your produce is inspected. We allow produce into our country without an inspection.
▶ 1:33:47Mr. Alderman: I don't think that's quite true. They do inspect loads coming across the border but -- it's not only the food safety part of it, it's what I mentioned earlier. The invasive insects and diseases. We get a new threat in south florida every two years and it takes two or three years to figure out how to combat or take care of it.
▶ 1:34:14Mr. Alderman: It is either that or pepper weevils or a new disease on tomatoes from another country. I don't know the answer. You can't stop shipping it, we have got to have it I guess. It's not just vegetables, there are diseases and insects coming on plants and flowers. All of that comes into miami international airport. They get a bad lot, it goes to the junkman, then it takes over and we are fighting it for the rest of our lives.
▶ 1:34:45Chair Scott: You have been doing this for 45 years?
▶ 1:34:50Chair Scott: Closer to --
▶ 1:34:52Mr. Alderman: Closer to 50.
▶ 1:34:55Chair Scott: Do you like it? Why do you like being a farmer?
▶ 1:34:59Mr. Alderman: I like growing things, I like to see things grow. We were talking about stress earlier. I couldn't do anything else.
▶ 1:35:30Mr. Alderman: I could have been a road builder , gone into construction in south florida. You know how busy it is there. But I chose agriculture.
▶ 1:35:46Chair Scott: When you go out to the farm, is it great to be around the animals?
▶ 1:35:53Mr. Alderman: Tomatoes are not animals, but I love watching the crop grow. I don't physically do the work anymore, but there is nothing on the farm I haven't done. Picking everything there is. I started with zero.
▶ 1:36:10Mr. Duvall: I farm because I love my animals. He and I had the greatest visit talking cows.
▶ 1:36:17Chair Scott: What kind of cows you have?
▶ 1:36:20Mr. Duvall: Beef cattle, mostly angus. A few white ones here and there.
▶ 1:36:25Mr. Alderman: That's the most relaxing, clearing your head out , go ride and look at the cows. Take the day. Drive two hours to where my ranch is, go count calves, look at the cows, figure out how much grass, how much water you got and take care of the animals.
▶ 1:36:44Mr. Duvall: Rotational grace and doing all the right things for the soil. We use chicken litter on my farm for fertilization. Using comprehensive management plans. Grow my own hay. It is so rewarding, and probably the biggest benefit, asset, to being a farmer is being able to raise your children there.
▶ 1:37:15Mr. Duvall: When my son went to war, his commanding officer wrote me a handwritten letter and he says, when I started working with your boy, I knew he was from a farm and I wish I had a whole troop like him. Because he had the work ethic. I raised my children on a farm, making them understand how to take care of not just plants but animals and do it with all your heart as though you were working for the lord and not the man.
▶ 1:37:46Mr. Duvall: There is nothing more rewarding than that. But there is nothing more stressful and disappointing than to go to the mailbox, pull out all the bills, and not have enough to pay the bills with. After you put your heart and soul into it. And watch your heartbreak when your children can't come back and do it and make a living. They all would love to do it.
▶ 1:38:10Chair Scott: What are we going to lose if we lose our family farms, the biggest thing?
▶ 1:38:16Mr. Duvall: We are going to lose a way of life that built this country, and the values that we learned of loving, caring, people, animals, just good old living.
▶ 1:38:34Mr. Alderman: It's a way of life that can't be replaced.
▶ 1:38:38Mr. Duvall: It can't be replaced and it's not matched anywhere else.
▶ 1:38:42Mr. Alderman: You can't buy it, you can't sell it.
▶ 1:38:46Chair Scott: I want to thank everybody for being here. I look forward to continuing working with my fellow senators. If any additional senators have additional questions for the witnesses, the hearing record will be open until next wednesday at 5:00 p.m. I want to thank you for being here. I just think farming is a really rewarding opportunity and way of life.
▶ 1:39:17Chair Scott: Thanks for being here. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]