and ownership. land ownership.

♪♪ called a meeting to order of the agriculture committee. welcome everyone this afternoon.

your leadership is important and essential rural communities strong. i share the concerns of my colleagues doctor years of record income, you show farming team is to be one of the riskiest businesses there is. this makes sense it is abundantly clear, it's time to get together on a bipartisan farm bill that supports our farm bill and helps rural communities. farmville is always possible. your willingness to work with us to find creative important needs. together we have made significant progress. in october which are leadership,

senator boseman and i 2.3 billion working with you from commodity credit appropriation that will double funding for the trade promotion programs for the next five years and grandpa american grown food a growing crisis hunger around the world. secure $350 million in additional funding support the rights in the industry application process. it fully funded all of the programs in the tenure baseline funding. we together the farmville full.

all of these actions joke we work together. to report our efforts to meet the needs of farmers. i should tell you this is no accomplishment because i remember the first farmville in 2014 with the leadership in the senate required us to cut $20 billion and that was extremely difficult so it's nice to be in a situation can add some resources. we need to use all the tools in our toolbox and draft new ones to improve safety net for farmers. the foundation of the 18 has the ability to regional producers with timely targeted assistance.

some disasters we need additional help. unfortunately emergency assistance delayed and inconsistent. some give 75% or more are covered and in other years it can be as little as 25% still uncertain if anything will be available for the 23 disasters. an opportunity to have more certainty and reliability. american family, workers in rural communities, that is the foundation of the network american families who need just a little bit of help to make ends meet usually just for a while. bipartisan evaluation has been redirected in the 2018 farmville after the years of the program resulting in just an additional dollar 40 a day.

any benefits to about $6 a day to put food on the table but this was enough to let 1 million children will not have the support they need to be unhappy a healthy and productive members of the community. as a bipartisan achievement. in the last congress made conservation, moral development and energy to address the climate crisis hitting farmers bottom line every day. it's not been put to work on farms and fields across america. as i said, is where bipartisan solutions that help farmers for me, family said in rural communities. we can invest in rural healthcare which i know will

care about deeply. americans benefited from the biden administration investment in rural healthcare. usda was the first agency, i want to thank you for this, first agency to get high-speed internet funding through the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act. to build on the improvements made to grow connections between local farmers, local businesses and families so your leadership partnership essential to find creative solutions for a bipartisan path of bipartisan farmville done. we appreciate you being there today. i want to turn to my partner and ranking member senator boseman. >> thank you for calling today's important hearing.

february 15 during an agriculture reporting usda keep accountants, usda prices for most crop this year and he remained elevated. a week earlier ta forecast 27.1% and 43.1 in inflation over the last year. when you consider since 202280 billing dollars this will be the largest farm income of all kind. we welcome you back to the community and as we continue to work to reauthorize the bill you're interested in your perspective and the challenges in the economy.

in hundreds of farmers and their very concerned. most importantly of all, the declining commodity prices and comes that would make the next five years the most challenging and their lives. all sectors of agriculture of all areas of the country lower incomes some pointing to a 20 here average in the former colonies health and we should talk about a 20 year average because current interest expenses are nearly double. the 20 year average, farm income

above the 20 year average not accompanied reinforcing these margins under which farmers operate. for some 20 year average income is for some but not for other workers. when talking to producers from across the country sharing concerns thinker land and other assets as collateral to hundreds of thousands of dollars of crop in the ground. it was less than 3%. in the family operations put so

much emphasis on concerned about this as well. traveling to arkansas care about rural communities and ranch families off scales must be economically viable and how it works. in the administration worries in farm country and there are more

uncertainty farmers. i do believe in the next farmville and have the opportunity to make things right in rural communities but it takes a commitment for support together. no in the history of this committee is said passing the farmville is but something the committee with the help of previous administrations comes to accomplish time and time again i do not believe the farmville should be different. a partner to accomplish these goals. thank you. >> i am pleased to officially

welcome secretary tom phil suck. he's no stranger to the senate agriculture committee. the iowa state senate iowa. secretary bill suck the porn programs we are assessing today for rural america. provide for the record. >> appreciate the opportunity to be here today and appreciate the opportunity afforded to me.

recently i came across a relatively well-known house divided itself cannot stand. utilize it to address the state of agriculture and rural america. in the history of the united states on the one hand. the other hand he just indicated we are returning to historical norms in terms of the farm income. lower commodity prices, a result of crop and a strong u.s. economy and u.s. dollar. a weaker chinese economy all of which impacted our ability. it's interesting the farm income

is not equitably divided among all farmers and 70% of farmers represent 150,000 firms, about a third owned by investors receiving 85% of the income over the last five years which meant 92% or 1.7 million families had to share 15% of the income. at the same time from income families was significantly higher than the family income across the united states. 88% of families productive farm and a majority of the income utilized by most families is generated. a firm story here in the 1970s established farmers to produce and farmers responded.

at the same time we saw a consolidation of farmland and farm loss. in progress prospectively lost by 44000970 farms 1981. this was for long-term impact on rural communities and we have seen over the course of time reduced job growth, high unemployment. however, recently we've seen an upturn in the rural economy.

now have returned to pandemic levels, poverty rate is down for the first time in quite some time persistent poverty is down. the five counties categorized as silly poor that. those are counties in past had a poverty rate of over 20% for over decades. see that the client in the poverty category. we okay farmland? will be okay with the notion is expressed in the past? or is the alternative? an alternative for relevant the farmer working two jobs creating opportunities the firm itself creates multiple sources of

revenue so the farmer doesn't have to work full-time job the farm. provide opportunities and what they love to do. the questions from the committee. >> thank you very much and for the committee will do a round of minutes in the little time provoked thank you for working with senator boseman and i hope programs.

the number two and what's important to us the metaphor for many years and you talk about money to build markets. >> on the trade side, we are focusing on the trade market because we already bent and invest marketing resources into significant amount so starting with japan moving down the list

of market opportunities trying to increase present and promotion and people in those alternative markets and allows diversified away over her lungs in china in particular so that is beginning and will continue for several years and allocate resources to enhance and encourage opportunity. we created a special opportunity for experts enabling education and how producers may be able to take better advantage for these opportunities to work with usaid 50 that corrects for the resources are needed and when most needed and will work with them to get the resources and commodities to countries as quickly as possible we might thank you.

also potential for the funding revoked by your congress or the targeted limit for certain crops, are you willing to work with us possibility of offering longer term contracts targeted regions? >> absolutely, the key is encourage diversification so we are not overland, he saw what happened with the trade workers years ago these cops don't have everything, working on crop

insurance and make sure that's continuously effective but they have special challenges and i would ask you work to ensure any application process there is streamlined and workable. >> happy to do that directly no selling and servicing a firm revenue program and other policies for small operations can vary significantly, it's been a real challenge. three assurance agreement includes lex ability for the board to adjust reimbursements for delivery, it varies significantly. using this flexibility seems like it can allow opening up and avoiding other appropriations and farmville issues, can you have rna look into this and put

this on the tic board? >> we would be happy to work with you on that issue especially since our project offered in the last couple of years, 12 policies 50 modifications. obviously in some cases they may have increased. >> thank you. last week usda announced the 2023 conservation fund out the door, congratulations. eleven of the top 15 practices across all among the practices being support. can you talk about these practices, how farmers are using the money and what it meant for traditional funded programs that

are popular? getting conservation on the ground for all purposes and areas in the data that 49 of the top 50 practices saw an increase in funding traditional farmville so i'm wondering if you could speak about the. >> there was a record number in the contract entered as a result of 45000 and believe, 45 and 48000. having said that, there were significantly greater numbers of people applying for the resources which is why we are excited to meet this need. equip had 250 million available there were 8000 applications for total of $405 billion. the program helped craft

previous farmville received $250 million of ira money and the request is to billing and eight times the amount so it is incredible popular opportunity for us to utilize all practices we know from science will make a difference in terms of increased productivity and better water quality and better use of resources and inputs which is really the purpose of this and we are excited about the opportunity because of the resources and we are streamlining the process to make it easier for people to apply for multiple programs at once so all that is taking place. >> on a different topic, how does spending on the program interact the spending on nutrition programs?

usda evaluated after 50 years of operation, to that process or the outcome affect spending on commodity programs or crop insurance? >> you said weekly. [laughter] >> thank you for being here, the reality is these firm economies down 80 billing 2022 i've had the opportunity as we all have in the last year end a half and the need for better risk management including reference prices making sure crop insurance is available. right now it's up for 30. last week there were about $4 so

the situation now is more difficult so you commented on the challenge with the priorities in the farmville and is a solution you've offered to address the firm safety net. can you tell us about guidance you've received from the office of general castle for others that describes how the ccc could be used to provide more resources and increase revenue? >> actually what i said was not what you indicated. i said i'd be happy to work with congress to find a creative way to utilize resources in the ccc to address concerns you will have relative to reference prices. as i did when you requested assistance which are more than happy to do my happiest down,

our team is happy to sit down and explore or create ways we could use the ccc on the part of folks to think with the farmville is the only think we should be focused on, it's a budget, a farmville, the ira and ccc and all those work collaboratively together to address the issues that divide in terms of the farmville today. >> even though your testimony fails to make sure this program, it is important topic for the farmville reauthorization. reevaluation and increase cost by 20 billion in 2022, does usda determine the cost of 2021 across all nutrition programs?

the food assistance program and others whose costs are based on the cop? >> i'm not sure we've made that calculation and i would be more than happy to ask doctor look at it. having said that, i think we did was justified and appropriate because the whole thing is to provide to families based on reality of what they live in. but we have not done we did do a couple of years ago was asked question, how much does it cost the grocery store and for people buying? but assuming but what impact are they buying? from their we calculated an increase for families an opportunity to avoid serious consequences especially lift off. more than happy to look at this and happy to take into

consideration and want us to consider at the end of the day there are many ways in which we can look at this program. we are seeing your people use it today so expectation is the cost will come down a little bit. >> the gao made eight recommendations for the re- evaluations. usda permits only four of those regulations and it begins before and the recommendations made we have made a concerted effort for in a timely way. you will find cooperative much more than previous administrations. >> what do you think you'll get it? >> i don't have a specific timeline today but i'll be happy to get it. >> i'm sure it's -- it will be

before we have to reevaluate. >> so you could reevaluate is that what you're saying? >> no, we will take actions requested prior to reevaluation of the food plant because it focused on making sure who work collaboratively on recommendations as we do with oig. >> in may of last year the plan for the 2026 reevaluation, my understanding is usda as additional data on food prices and guidelines for americans, to have insight on how the information will impact the taxpayers?

will begin the process for the reevaluation. >> obviously we don't know because we don't have the information but i think it is appropriate to ask the information, we have to deal with what's happening in the marketplace in terms of actual cost and a better understanding of what family skus and need. i can go into great detail in terms of assumptions about families struggling financially but they were not wind up to the reality. the amount of time preparing food from scratch, other items purchased not aligned with everyday american life is important to have information to make an informed decision. >> i'm concerned that a lot of us are concerned about california's prop 12 and state

laws on animal housing at a time when producers and prices will break even. preventing chaos in the marketplace and other similar initiatives, can you describe what you perceive congress does not choose to invest prop 12? >> you got 50 states essentially could make decisions based on their own individual value system and their own agricultural economy. with literally travis of the beginning and we get states basically the ability to make decisions on the reality of the scale and this is why we have a constitution. i understand why californians want to regulate what happens in their state in terms of their own producers little think the supreme court decided that

producers had choice to participate in the california market are not understood the market with 12% in one state, there is not a choice between doing business in california and not in california. you essentially will drive, it will be driven by the which will make it difficult so somebody asked to provide some degree of consistency and 30. otherwise you're inviting 50 different states to do 50 different iterations of this and almost certainly the chaos, they need certainty. >> q, manager. >> thank you, senator boseman. >> thank you very much.

i don't have a complaint, we have the best usda people in vermont, we are so grateful so i will accuse you of hiring good people. i hope you don't take that the wrong way. she came up after a disaster and i want to say, it's been very responsive and heartening to vermont but there's such a response from the department to thank you for the. a couple of questions, 12% of the food dollar.

>> less than 15 cents but if you take the cost up, it's about seven. >> that's unbelievable. in my appreciate the emphasis for comes and there is a way to do that and get the input costs down the income come up. taking advantage of a mother number of firms being able to take advantage with a lower cost. that is the program. i just want you to comment what do you have any suggestion that might help us make it more possible for more firms, particularly smaller firms under pressure to access program like this? >> we've already done 58 hundred degrees this for the hiring of your getting the word out about it and continue to see thousands

more the grant. we recently announced resources for small projects, an example of an opportunity for farmers and those in the small distribution system to get the word out which will allow farmers to utilize one or 2-megawatt opportunities to reduce costs. honestly, i think the thing you could do that would have the most profound impact would be to figure out ways you could encourage the establishment of cooperatives between farmers who can produce excess energy on their farm and courtney that excess energy provided in the midst of utilities looking to convert or transition from fossil fuel based to renewals and why the program part of ira is very popular see that happening. >> i want to talk about crop insurance in vermont as you may

know in may we had a freeze that really hurt and a big flood in july it wipes out crops. vegetables are good for you but it is tough because under the existing programs a vegetable producer had to comfort how much damage and whatever and be have introduced the weather act intended to make it much more streamlined for these farmers and they are relatively small but a fool in the local community. the positions in the wrong state. can you speak to administrative policies and the usa considers

to ensure the disaster assistance and other insurance programs are more responsive to the small diversified firms? >> we venture creased crop insurance products for a number of fruit and vegetable products across the country and we have modified existing policies to expand coverage. we've established an increase under the farm revenue protection program available and made it easier to qualify for the program available for those who don't have crop insurance. we take a look at ways in which we expand production under the microform program and expand months of coverage and opportunities in those programs and cover a greater number. we will continue to do that and try to use tools to the extent

million acres in the u.s. and 42 million livestock nuts and expansion in the last three years in iraq in this disaster we thought, but got a lot of small towns as i know you do in iowa, towns under 2500, they don't have the technical capacity, generally very helpful but my question is whether we should consider having technical assistance program specifically for towns having emergencies, it doesn't have to be competitive in the process, he got a disaster, you know they need help, they have the technical assistance and we get it right away. >> will be implemented? >> world element resources and the ability from congress utilizes it. >> a good suggestion because it's tough.

essentially when you have a small town, select boards going through and truck but there are ongoing things that need to be done in a couple. >> a number of communities have regional government associations provide that service. >> thank you very much. i go back. >> thank you very much. we will not go to senator ernst and senator bennet the second boat has started. we will continue. >> thank you, madam chair and thank you so much mr. secretary, it's great to have you in front of us today great to have another eye on here. last month i kicked up meyer river to river to work going back and put between the state of iowa and mississippi river

she and missouri on the western side and while visiting one of the questions that continues to stand up is one of us will come together to pass a farm bill. it's really active in our town halls and producers in rural communities deserve to have a company has a piece of legislation that provides them with certainty. to resort to a kick the can mentality isn't an option for farmers and ranchers and should not be an option for congress either so i hope we can come to the table and negotiate a bill of bill that actually focuses on the farm. victoria built, before i dig into those specific questions, i would like to address the work policies of the department of agriculture. we are weeks away from the four year anniversary of federal

buildings being temporarily closed due to the covid pandemic. as you know gao says headquarters have a safe utilization rate of just 11%. it's gotten so bad one of your employees went so far to write me an anonymous letter today and i would like to submit that to the record, please. let me read just a few sentences. the vast majority of usda employees are not working person. on the occasions i brought usda headquarters in washington d.c. ever assembled a ghost town. your employee goes on to say remote work and telework employees are often unreachable and do not respond to simple e-mail questions for hours so with that, knowing your own staff is recognizing issues with

the policy currently put into play, how many days a week do you require your managers and employees covered by collective bargaining agreement to be physically in the office? >> the majority of the week. >> quote that majority of the week be? >> for some three, for some it for. >> yet the occupancy is 11%. >> senator, that is not correct. that's not even close to correct democrats from the government accountability. >> i don't know what the data is of that or the letter you referred to but that is not what's happening in february of 2024. >> okay, thank you, mr. secretary. other than supervisor oversight, does the usda do to monitor those federal employees that are working remotely to make sure they are actually working?

>> forcible to suggest they are not working i think of front to our working members. i can show you chapter and verse of all the work being done. i can tell you how many home loans, farm loans, nrcs contracts entered and i can guarantee you compared to other administrations, this team is working there tail off so please don't tell me the work is not getting done because i can show you that it is. >> we will take that up because we do receive calls at the office where our constituents are having trouble with the usda so we will continue to forward those questions on to you. federal employees defining their location based pay requires them to show up to the office at least once in the standard is waivable on employee by employee basis. do you know how many exceptions

to the standard pricing appear. the usda issued since the pandemic and the agency provoked any of these? >> i don't know the specific answer but i can tell you 82% of the hours are working in the offices. >> 82%? >> 82%. >> thank you, mr. secretary. moving on to other issues, another issue top of mind especially for islands is 815. last week we had an announcement from the administration and the eight governors request. i welcome this, i think it is long overdue and i applaud the work but we know pushing off implementation until 2025 is discouraging for those in that area so with the 2024 driving

season approaching, i will families and ethanol producers and fuel retailers still have no idea if it will be at the pump this summer so hearing the statements you made, it appears as if you are confident that epa will announce another emergency waiver if that's correct. in your discussions with the administration and the epa, what do you believe we can expect to see an announcement for nationwide scale systems the summer? >> consistent with the last two years whether you should waiver, i could be wrong about this in the april timeframe but i'm pretty sure they will have resources and data necessary to make the decision. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i do hope you will continue to lean into the administration on this as well.

earlier this month and in regard to stamp, i'll submit questions for the record because i do see that i am running out of time so thank you and i yield back. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, i appreciate you holding this, thank you for your public service in your leadership as well. before i post my question, i want to pay tribute, today in the west we mourn the loss of a chief ranger whose family has operations, he served as president there for nearly 20 years.

i came to the senate in 2009 and brought me up to speed in colorado and the range in the river valley and all over the west and the conservation challenge. one of these observations in the western landscapes and prefer the advocate and secretary bills back as well. the greatest priority with their

three children and six grandchildren and future generations before starting this process to preserve to usda conservation. the community is profoundly grateful for the dedicated service commitment in his generosity. i want to associate myself with those words, pat was an incredibly passionate individual who believed strongly about and was committed to not only his operation but showing it modeling a different way and encouraging others and we are saddened by his loss. >> i'm going to ask that you give the family condolences so

thank you. >> thank you for doing the. you know i was in ukraine and had the opportunity to talk with you on the way back from the airport of all places but we are going to miss him a lot. and he felt a way to make progress. >> we are going to reset your clock here. i want to make sure -- this is important. thank you. >> secretary bills, i want to thank you for the recent announcement of $35 billion part of the bipartisan infrastructure

law and inflation reduction act. i know you know this will because of what the economy spent in the west. in colorado and the west continues to experience record shattering wildfires and our way of life. an active wildfire already burning in colorado this week expect a rough fire season and we are hearing no staff are available the fuel production work to help projects both small and land scale, obviously not acceptable. i wonder if you could talk about addressing the staffing shortage

and prepare for the upcoming fire season. >> i'd be happy to look at that particular forest. it surprises me because haven't had significant numbers. candidly right now we are concerned with the lack of budget on whether or not we will be able to retain any of those who fight buyers absent firefighter fix or pay. we will see a lot of those folks leave so that is a big concern right now. as i say, we streamlined the process for hiring and reached out and expanded significantly outreach and a significant number of people. >> we will work with your team given this information. i agree completely. i should mention them of the

opportunity yesterday to meet with firefighters in my office. they reminded me this is a battle we've had for a long time just to get folks a decent paycheck and decent mental health care and access to education and housing which in colorado throughout the west is virtually impossible. we got good work with the agency and the department of agriculture gracefully has done land swaps with local communities and housing but we are way behind and i agree with you we are going to be in a

crisis because the next generation of firefighters will not come from nowhere. the people they need to train all the ones losing right now. >> i went to spare my last two questions and i will submit it for the record but i don't need a judge. [laughter] i'm just doing it out of the goodness of my heart. i would say in closing i deeply appreciate what you said on forestry and salary issues continue to make it impossible for the agency to staff field offices adequately. we do have the budget you are talking about. i will send you a question about that.

>> thank you very much. he came in and said can i go next? we said sure so we go back with regular order or what do we do? google back with regular order. all right. >> thank you so much for all you've done and i appreciate the secretary being here and we have had the opportunity to work together i've enjoyed. during the recess going up into mississippi looking at different things, we have a serious problem in mississippi right now so i was so excited is going on today. it's the southern time beetle which is the most destructive in the southern united states is your well aware but my goal is to make you aware of the issues

so serious, so many people have a college savings fund. so many people see you as their retirement and want to make you aware of this today and see if i could get to help me address this because it is truly critical. mississippi suffered a historic drought last year and a one time all 82 mississippi counties are in an extreme drought or worse according to the u.s. drought and monitor, especially pine trees and stressed pine trees bringing a dinner bell. all this to say mississippi is experiencing a seven beetle outbreak and they are devastated.

client mortality have never seen anything like it driving down the side of the road these trees are often farmhouses spread over 12.5 million dead trees, we call them widow makers in mississippi and the economic impact, $96 million in lost timber. but that so many things including sawmills and everything else. the commission has reported to 30 fires across 9000 acres in forrester's expect these problems to get worse as we go into spring season. now is the time for action. time to respond and importantly prevent further outbreak.

it's so sensitive. i understand usda some service agencies emergency restoration program provides culture assistance landowners to carry out emergency measures and national disasters. ...

never take action. only the fsa national call office not county committee can optimize this which makes getting that authorization potentially more time-consuming as well. so my question to you, mr. secretary are there ways that we can improve the overall quality of assistance provided through ef rp? >> i think the answer to your question is yes. there is concern about transitioning it back to the county because it's difficult to keep track of the resources that are allocated county to county. certainly we can look for ways in which we can streamline that process. we can also i think look and should be looking at a way in which we can perhaps adjust the cost share issue in terms of advance payment so that work is not delayed. i think those are two things we

ought to be doing. >> fantastic. by the fsa national office when it happens. wonderful. trying to go ahead and mississippian throughout the south. >> will you get me a budget, senator. >> be glad to. this is critical. we are getting flooded with calls about this. what we do as former add commissioner. >> i am very familiar. obviously devastating the west. it is a very serious issue. >> i so appreciate your willingness to help. >> thank you very much.

>> thank you, madam chairwoman. thank you so much for being here we appreciate you very much. i have a line of questioning. you know we are in the middle of a compromise as to whether we will have a pilot program about nutrition, nutrient dense food. under the dietary guidelines, whole milk, for example, is not considered nutritionally dense. how would you define nutrient dense foods, for example? would you draw the line at nutrient content between a flavored yogurt and a dessert. what would the process to determine which are in and out usda guidelines based on your guidance today on what is

nutrient dense, would you create new ones? much more broadly, what will the impact be on retailers? how would this type of policy impact retailers? will it make it harder for retailers to use the snap program? what is the impact on consumer choice and dignity. would you agree that investing more in nutrition education could be a better way to address some of the root causes of diet -related diseases? >> i will try to answer. >> i'm giving you all the questions to answer the parts that make sense to you. >> first of all, i think obviously congress has to direct us to do this. if you do, there may be parameters that you put around it. if you don't, we would obviously look for a partner in a state or states depending on what you tell us to do that would be willing to work with us. the states administer the snap

program. we do not administer the day-to-day activities of snap. there are a couple of states that have looked at this and i think they looked at it in a very tailored way. this is why you have a pilot. to find out whether or not a system like this does work or does not. does it create serious it issues at the grocery store or not? letting us know the dietary guidelines. we have some scientific basis. depending on the capacity of an individual state.

part of the program. and increasing of the nutrition ed. that express purpose of trying to better educate people about the snap dollars in an effective way to promote nutrition. i think that i have touched on most of the questions. the impact on improving nutrition security. >> you would find a significant audience for that. how do i know that?

you did that in the pandemic assistance bills that you passed as a result we saw a fairly significant up take -- uptick. we are working with pediatricians. looking at chronic disease situations and instead of prescribing a drug, they prescribed fruits and vegetables as a way of dealing with chronic disease opportunities. anything you do in that space will be beneficial. it will increase our knowledge base and help us formulate better policies for transition. in the government of puerto rico to facilitate a transition to the program. in your view, what would you say puerto rico and the usda are in a position to eventually have the proper infrastructure to allow puerto ricans access. >> we are working very, closely with. the challenges that they need to

make sure that they have the administrative foundation to administer the program so that so they get benefits quickly. it is not a matter unfortunately of weeks or months but it is in the foreseeable future. in the meantime usda did publish a feasibility study where concluded that puerto rico is ready to transition from that to snap. is that your position? >> my position that we are working closely with them to make sure that they have their ducks in line. the were saying that could

happen is a transition in place to not administer properly. >> i want to address national security. obviously, our farmers are as vulnerable as any other businesses in america. especially when they do not have strong data protections and don't have cybersecurity of their data and their information . a one health proposal where we create a commission of the fda plus cia, nsa, dod, hhs will prevent the next pandemic. have you had the opportunity to work with any of the other agencies on pandemic preparedness? recommendations about collaborating to share data in advance so we can protect

against the next pandemic. >> in which they are involved in most recently either today or sometime this week they will table talk exercise on that very subject. >> thank you. mr. secretary, welcome back. continue to appreciate your service to this country. let's go back to prop 12. as you know, california's proposition 12 is another costly regulation. it would seem to me that a larger company that you could overcome these hurdles a little bit easier than a small packer could. in the pork industry, we see a company that dominates 25% and they are able to overcome all these regulations. they are big enough that they can handle another regulation.

they continue to read to consolidation in the packing industry. what effect do you think prop 12 has on independent producers that cannot afford to comply with this drive further consolidation? >> this is the reason we have invested in expanded processing capacity at the local level. 400 projects have been funded. we expect more to be funded in the next several months. this is part of building out local and original food system so you're not at the whim of a handful of large-scale facilities or at the whim of a policy that you have a hard time complying with. >> thank you. should congress act like prop 12 across the country? >> i think you have to provide some clarity and consistency. i do not envy your capacity to do it.

and will not be easy to craft that. >> thank you. one producer to comply with 50 different states and how we are supposed to raise in kansas. let's talk about disaster assistance for second. kansas coming off back-to-back years of drought. we've had to apply for more disaster assistance. we probably have more complaints about the response in the rollout of this latest disaster assistance and anyone issue in the last several years. specifically they were getting disasters at a greater per acre rate than our families were. it was a progressive way of what is seeming to be very complicated. it seemed to be very slow. i would ask you to do this in the future. >> it is interesting. i'm looking at the numbers for

kansas. 45,132 got more money as a result of this factor. 10,217 got less. 82% of your producers actually benefited from this effort. having said that the way to avoid this is very simple. provide the resources fully and completely for the disaster. it was a 10-12 billion-dollar disaster. we told congress that. >> we gave $3.7 billion which i think was more than adequate to cover the situation. i think it is unfair to punish because they have more acres. let's talk about the packers and stockyards act. i don't know if we got a cover that today. in june of 2021, usda stated and i quote re- proposed their rule to clarify that parties do not need to demonstrate harm in order to bring action.

under certain provisions of the packers and stockyards act. the office of management and budget before it is proposed. i point out that eight federal appeals courts have affirmed that the packers and stockyards act requires a person to generate. certainly we have over 60 livestock organizations opposing the rule because it hurts livestock producers. the position for the usda that you can implement a rule that will be a blatant violation of circuit court president by not requiring harm to competition to bring an action under the packers and stockyards act. >> the rule itself has not been finalized, senator. i think obviously we have to take into consideration any litigated risk associated with the ruling crafting at. i think that you will see more activity from packers and

stockyards before that rule is available for folks to look at. i think that there is still work to do on the system. there is more work we have to do to avoid discrimination and retaliation. seeing those roles coming forward relatively soon. i think that there is still work to be done and we are continuing to do work on the rule that you mentioned. i think that it is appropriate for us to craft it in a way that we believe response to any of the concerns in the past. >> i am digesting that answer. so, you do not feel that if it has its harm to competition, it is almost like a double negative on me here. in violation by not requiring harm to competition to bring an action of the stockyards act? >> i think it's incumbent in response to whatever has been

raised in the past to avoid those problems. at the same time to provide more balance marketplace for producers. >> thank you. >> i think i would just close by making a comment that if we want to guarantee affordable food, access to affordable food for everybody, we are spending plenty of money on the backend, but i'm concerned as we work on a farm bill going forward that we are not spending enough money on the front end to make sure our farmers are able to play at next year's crop. not really questions, just a statement. thank you. i yield back. >> senator durbin. >> thank you, madam chair. good to see you. congratulations on caitlin clark >> she something. i'm not sure i pay 400 bucks, but i might. she might be worth it. she has one hell of a player.

>> i will ask you a question that starts with part of it that does not belong in this committee. i wanted to talk to you about the environment and particularly the dead zone in the gulf of mexico. it is a recurring and threatening phenomena where some 4000-8000 square miles of gulf of mexico dies because of the runoff, primarily from the mississippi river. that runoff is chemicals, nutrients, animal waste, sewage and the like. it has a dramatic impact on the gulf of mexico on weather patterns and a lot of other things. i know enough about you, personally, that you care about things like this. i do, too. they trace the origin of many of those elements of runoff to overstate spirit illinois and

iowa. i guess my question to you is, what do you think about our current harm programs, whether they are addressing this, and whether there are things we need to be doing in the future. i think about illinois situation blessed to have similar states we are from. pretty big state. we ranked 37th in the nation when it comes to participation in the major conservation programs that may avoid some of the runoff. what are we missing? what do we need to do. >> providing some ammunition to begin to address this issue in a more meaningful way. we have expanded the number of

cooperative groups that are reaching out to farmers to encourage them to participate in basic conservation that could significantly reduce the need. we are also funding research. we apply some of these nutrients i think that we will do a better job of understanding which acre of land actually needs nutrition in which does not. 30% of our corn acres in iowa and illinois may not require any fertilizer at all. we may see a reduction in the use of that. we have resources that have been applied from the ccc that we are utilizing to create alternatives to the fertilizer. so we will look at different ways to fertilize the land. we have our climate smart agricultural practices and effort where we are trying to encourage climate smart practices by paying farmers to embrace them, provide a market premium for what they raise sustainably. that should also have an impact.

if you utilize, if you expand conservation, if you reduce the level of fertilizer being applied, if you create financial incentives for farmers to embrace climates of our practices and you do research that allows you to be more precise, i think the combination of those factors will significantly over time reduce the risk of the dead zone continuing to expand at the rate that it is. >> i know i am stepping into a minefield here, but initial statistics which you offered earlier about ownership and in the size of the farms for average farmers and income in such suggest that many of the key decisions are being made by investors. rather than actual farmers of the land. in that situation, do we have the right incentives in place for these investors to be part of these programs? >> i think we do because if you

invest in conservation you approved the value of the soil. you also have water quality improvements. in the long-term best interest of the landowner to have conservation practices embrace because it will increase the value and productive capacity of that form over time. >> i recently took a flight last week to africa on a delta air lines plane and they were making it clear to all of their passengers that they are taking this global warming and climate change seriously. and they want to be zero carbon producers in a matter of just 10 or 20 years. to the point where they offer and where was sitting, i had a nice seat, it is not unusual, but it had a wooden handle on it less plastic. it appears the private sector in this country, at least some

parts of it are taking it very seriously, climate change in the way you do your business in the future. what you think we need to do to bring the farming sector into that? >> 141 projects that we are funding through resources. encouraging in 50 states climates to be embraced by farmers. it involves, as i say 141 contracts. those involved well over 100 commodities in over 205 climate smart practices. the system basically pays farmers and sends them to embrace climate smart practices and then is linking them up to markets that will essentially provide a reward, if you will. a value-added proposition for farmers. by being able to measure we are helping to create the opportunity for that same farm to generate an ecosystem market

credit which will generate more income from the farm. finally, many of the projects in the conversion of agricultural waste which is another answer to your dead zone question, if you could actually begin by taking the newer instead of overplaying it on land, you could created as a feedstock from the bio products. it could be a variety of other bio products. not only new income source and new commodities for the farmer, you've also created jobs in rural communities. >> thank you for your service. thank you, madam chair. >> thank you, senator. thank you, mr. secretary, for being here. let's talk about snap for a second. 48% of the farm bill is for snap funding. we need to reign in fraudulent activity and make sure food assistance goes to those that truly need it most. i think we all agree without.

i hope we do. the usda overseeing the program. requiring the asset test and states help address fraud and snap. >> i think what would be best to do at this point, senator, get back to regular order in terms of the process for people qualifying and staying on snap. during the pandemic, there was essentially a waiver of that process, including constant interviews and touching base with folks. getting back to regular order i think would be significant. sending letters to governors in a number of states encouraging them to get back on track. >> what additional information does the usda need to help address the root cause of fraud? anything else that we need to make it easier to catch them? >> i think that we have made

some significant steps in that regard. i think probably what i need to do is i need to give you your team a full briefing of the steps are taken given your interest in this spirit i think sometimes people see the error rate in it is overpaying. we want to make sure that we are calculating the benefits properly. getting the assistance that they need. >> thank you. i will get my staff to get in touch with you so we can work on that together. the u.s. has historically been strong on agriculture exports but due to president biden's economy, the trait has a trade deficit over 30 billion due to rising imports and lack of new market access. can you share how the usda is

working with trade representatives to underscore the need so that competitors do not gain market share and opportunities that would otherwise have been hours. >> looking at what is driving the important issue. horticulture and sugar. to areas. i would also say that sometimes there is a tendency for trade agreements. work below this process that matters. we have calculated $20 billion of tradewinds that have occurred in the last 20 years. mexico and potato access. beef quota. expanding access to apples. the philippines extended access to port. egypt extended access to poultry a substantial number of things that occurred that do not get the headlines but actually

result in increased trade. the reality is, we have a much stronger economy than the rest of the world. it has an impact on sports as well. a combination of factors. do we want a week dollar? do we want to weaken the american economy so people are not buying stuff? i don't know. we will continue to work on this as far as trade agreements are concerned, maybe you think you can pass trade promotion authority. i have not seen that happen here in this body. until it does it becomes very difficult for us to negotiate a trade agreement when the people we are negotiating with, yourself included can renegotiate the deal. it's hard to have a trade deal without trade promotional authority. >> let's talk a little bit about

poultry. they extended the time-limited trial report processing facility allowing them to operate at higher line speeds. the poultry industry waivers are set to expire at the end of march. can you say whether usda plans to extend the waivers. >> i think we will see an extension of this because we want to make sure we get the right information about whether or not lightspeed actually does relate to increased injury, worker injury worker safety. that is the whole purpose of this. finding out what the facts are. we need to structure these in a way that gives us the information. i am not interested in making decisions on this until i have all the facts. i don't have all the facts yet. >> thank you. we are struggling to survive. i know you met with a lot of them. especially our family farms.

net farm income. 70 billion since 2022. that is the fastest and largest decline over a two-year period of time. overall input costs are up 27 billion since 2021. up over 100 billion since the last farm bill driven by rapidly rising interest rates which we cannot control. record high labor costs. if you can find labor and inflationary pressure across all of their farm inputs. farmers are struggling to keep up with ever evolving bureaucratic environment that requires them to hire lawyers and lobbyists to ensure compliance with the endless red tape up here in washington forcing them to do. these are additional costs that they really cannot bear to contribute into further consolidation in the egg industry. when do you think that farmers are leaving the industry?

the next generation does not want to keep farming. do you have any answer to that? >> i have several answers i think. one is that there has been a focus on production. talking about a commodity -based system. we have encouraged farmers to produce. we suggested you have to get bigger get out. what we need to do, in my view is create an alternative market opportunity for the small and midsize producers so they are not competing slowly and completely in a commodity -based market which is not really designed for them. .... ....

it's all about regulation at the end of the day and the farmers no about something all the things coming out them alabama good crop everything works a lot better. thank you. >> senator grassley.

[laughter]

create a level playing field which i know you want at the same time for any litigated challenge that may come to the rules. we're in the process of the complete transparency rule will be asked to provide more information. we are close to getting the retaliation and incrimination rule out in final form that says you can't retaliate against the user and rights. in the process and there is a discovery rule.

to provide a balance in the circuit court of opinions. just one. >> could you characterize a few things and what you would like to do as effective or it enhances? >> do what needs to get done in a way that doesn't create a cesspool litigated challenge. >> maybe gently could you speak about your role for airplanes

and farmers have a big interesting but your role in the, preserve feedstocks without diluting it? i know some people want to dilute it. i think we have two roles, one is to advocate for a rule that allows broad array of stocks including the traditional clocks for biofuels to qualify for the incentivized ethanol for example part of the responsibly to integrate the need and the science behind and we have been successful getting the model incorporated in the process and now process of the claimant tornado climate.

the second responsibility is for usda to provide science and data behind the availability logistics for the supply chain and accelerate adoption commercialization. i was in georgia recently the first scale plant, we need to get to $36 billion $10 million gallon plants we have to accelerate the commercialization and availability to figure out the tools to use for programs and so forth to accelerate that. >> would you characterize for me the advice you been doing in this, how it is? >> they appreciate the fact that i am a strong advocate our team

thoughtful the scientific data to back up what it is we are saying, not just advocating because it would be good performers, who advocate because support the and as a result a number of folks who may have been a bit skeptical the model now embrace it. we are in the process of educating about private agriculture so they understand rob's and efficient fertilizer and things of that nature, you can calculate the benefits of those and it should be incorporated in the calculations. >> a position or a feeling, there seems to be an inconsistency, i would think primarily environment the group

is not you can correctly but they want to clean up the pollution airplanes put in the environment if you don't use ethanol then you aren't going to help fuel and all the other nurses you can use so it seems to me we are to be on the same wavelength, environmentalists and farmers. >> i would add if you can't domestically produce feedstocks for this will you will have to import them. what would we do that? >> thank you for your courtesy. >> are you going to be long

serving secretary of agriculture? >> i think so. >> you are not? >> no. >> fifteen years and 11 months we also have a jeopardy question. >> did you answer it? [laughter] >> that's one of the few ones i can actually answer. [laughter] senator fetterman, welcome. >> thank you. >> it's a pleasure to be here. i meet with a lot of farmers for my state it is a top business in pennsylvania that may come up

with these discussions but i want to bring about these issues i hear a lot. other farmers and the same argument is to have support to remain in business and profit and undersea by all things and one thing i wanted to talk about and i hear this again and again is foreign countries voting our land. is that an initiative you might be concerned with flex. >> it's roughly 3% or so by foreign interest. the challenge is whether or not we have an accurate read based

on the system where folks are supposed to report. some folks do, some may not. >> you don't believe it is a concern? >> you look at the people, it's canadians, uk, often times people talk about this in terms of china, one tenth of 1% of that amount. >> i believe they are but even the other in terms of ownership, they effectively own about half the size of rhode island. >> my concern is twofold. one is the location of whatever they own, we found recently the

desire to buy in to the defense installation, i have concerns about the. china is number one customer and when i was meeting the agriculture minister inquiring about certain laws which means they are sensitive but they are hearing and whether it matters to anybody in congress. >> american farmers or companies, are they buying in. >> china doesn't provide that. >> if we don't allow them, that doesn't seem -- connect states can pass laws and many states have done that.

>> moving on but again, i'm not concerned canada owns a lot for not worried denmark china has been here it is not an ally and it is the category and they don't even allow us to have that same situation and it is a concern and i have a lot and moving back to another thing. the republican side especially the ones in the house they want to make that a target and that is. given my position and chairman of the subcommittee or whatever, i would do anything lately i can get that in legislation to what

denies that or do anything. in 2018 the farm bill authorized in a bipartisan way usda regularly evaluating. can you explain a food plan that would cut to the benefits? >> it would result in less benefit over the long-term. it wouldn't cut the benefit today but result in a lower benefit in the future. >> it's untouchable and sacred

people. under siege by plant -based so-called plant milks. i don't believe it is something made out of oats or whatever, they can make whatever products they want but it is impacting the bottom line for dairy farmers and also talked across this. what are your personal thoughts on labeling plant milk when it's nothing to do with milk? >> i think the challenges the term milk has a certain brand associated with it in terms of nutrition. i think people believe milk is a nutritional food so anybody uses

the term milk or to establish nutritional value of what it is they're trying to sell. oftentimes what you find with alternatives is they don't match nutritional value of milk and therefore in my view they ought not to be able to use that term. >> ninety seconds perhaps? it pains me to agree with governor desantis but he is doing club meet and i find it very unattractive basically. i know another challenge as well and it's one more product or movement that will impact farmers, beef or other kinds of chicken so call that or will

kind of category is that kind of thing? >> we are grappling in terms of labeling what you call it. if the biological process is equipment to what takes place with lance talk, they argue is it ought to be called meet. however, consumers need to understand and appreciate the differentiation between culture and livestock produced on the farm and that's what we are dealing with trying out how to distinguish so consumers can distinguish what thereby. >> i find that very different. but i do think it's another impact and challenge for farmers but anyway. >> important questions in

labeling. senator hogan. >> in cuba being here and for your work on behalf of farmers and ranchers across the country. my colleague from pennsylvania mentioned snap. in the baseline for the farm bill, snap baseline is about 607 billion, 1.25 trillion so doubling is there any other program for the baseline is going up that much? >> it may be a smaller program for you see an increase but probably not. >> i referenced that and most i checked it's about doubling so i don't understand so maybe we can

talk about. want to bring up programs that i think are fundamentally bottle for farmers and ranchers and it will surprise you what is it insurance the second is safety. i think these are fundamental. we have an amazing system of agriculture in this country still largely small businesses, family -based forms across the country. look at other industries we seek concentration over and over and other industries but informing we have a diverse system of farming and ranching largely family -based small business and

it's incredibly important. i think sometimes it's taken for granted and we better be really careful not to take it for granted because we have the lowest cost food supply, highest quality and not only americans across the board but they spent less of the budget than other developed countries because of of what our farmers and ranchers to so it benefits every single american every single day. i know you believe that, too so who got to get it right because we can't take that amazing enterprise which is fundamental in so many ways, national defense and everything and that means the number one risk

management tool with got to get it right and it reduces the need for disaster programs so when i ask you, do you support making sure we update crop insurance, it is affordable for producers, fair as possible state to state and access for supplemental? you have ideas on how we can and should advance that? >> new crop insurance policies established a dramatic increase in modifications to crop insurance policies and whole form over the production and we appreciate the points of it.

i would take issue with the comment you made, there is consolidation happening. i'm not happy with the fact that in my professional life we lost by 44000 farmers. gone. these are families. folks can tell me is about relations and taxes and so forth which is what i hear all the time but what's missing in the conversation is development, domestic partner development so as you talk about farmville, i would hope we understand the importance of the food systems and understand the capacity for additional revenue streams. otherwise we will seek

consolidation. >> talking about as we think are important, who got a great system and make sure sustain. >> we want to make it better, that's for sure. >> he would agree it starts with crop insurance. if you ask farmers, horse the first thing they tell you? the most important in terms of risk management. >> there's no question that's the answer but it's whether or not we've challenged ourselves to think more broadly. i'm not suggesting we shouldn't do, absolutely but if you just stop at the, is not enough. >> celexa good job again and

update make sure it is relevant? so long as your damaging opportunities could create a chance for us to benefit to the extent you're talking about reference prices of expensive -- fill in the blank, irate, offer challenges which is why suggesting would be more creative than can i suggest you agree to be voluntary, friendly, not one-size-fits-all? >> everything we have done has been consistent with the. >> and livestock area, neglect

dear that because we listen to farmers all the time and they will funding and emphasizing, you are from iowa so you know what. how do we get more transparency? they suffered for a long time but i hope it continues. what we do to improve? >> greater transparency, more processing capacity. >> you support our cattle contract with. >> absolutely we have a number of members coming in thank you,

senator. senator warnock. >> thank you so very much manager. to get the news a little while ago. it looks like we may be avoiding a government shutdown and we are engaged in governing this, a terrible way to learn anything let alone the u.s. government. included in the deal we struck is ag but obviously it will be over the weekend so as we think about this, millions of

hard-working families at risk and those who run small family farms. which consequences of the government shutdown keeps you up at night? >> first of all, the number will be able to get the payment, the disaster assistance program for the farmer that will be able to get the contract signed. the snap recipient potentially that will get snap resources to go to the grocery store. the bic mom, they won't go to get the program. somebody who's done extraordinary research only to have the lab set down and

millions of dollars of research shutdown. they want to open up the force. >> i appreciate the exhaustive list because it explores how much of the state shows. >> if i could say one thing. the battleship on about the worst time we went planning for long. interestingly, depending on the timing of the check on depends on is characterized and what category in terms of the workforce. it is an extraordinary waste of time. >> is backing to make them want to topics, your well aware child hunger, over the summer months,

they often have access to meals. how many students have a summer lunch programs? >> you want to know how many of the states agreed? 21 million out of the 30 million or so my 13 states agreed to participate in the program. >> my state of georgia is one of the states, the summer field office one of the most children at risk of being hungry. >> 1.1 million children in your state. >> refusing to participate in the program, auto who they are

talking about. can show folks not for my church would benefit. how much money is georgia leaving on the table? >> $138 million in and you figure out how it rolls in the economy is a half billion dollars. >> 138 billing not to mention the economic impact and same thing with medicaid expansion. i appreciate your efforts standing up this program and appreciate the hard work you've been doing and i hope you continue in a state like georgia often. we have to continue working until the wheel cap and all of our children have access to food. i want to get to another topic,

sections two double zero six and 22007. the inflation reduction act i fought hard to include with senator booker and picture providing 5.3 billion dollars for distressed farmers and farmers who experience discrimination by usda. here in the senate when i think about the program is one reason i do this work and it is transformational. one of the farmers in georgia all these loans and you know what this means and he's no

longer at risk and the outreach plan and apply for assistance in the window is now closed. when i talked to farmers in georgia who applied their trying to plan for the next season and they need to know when they can have assistance. what is your timeline for getting this into the pockets? >> nearly 60000 applications have been received. our hope is we get the resources out sometime in the summer.

>> these farmers have had a long pole because of over decades is long overdue. i want to strongly encourage to rule out the funding so they can remain on the land for the work usda has been doing. >> 40000 farmers receiving assistance under zero zero six. >> thank you very much. the back with us on our thinking as secretary was growing, climate solutions and the time defending and now in the department. >> thank you madam chair and was off long journey and imagine getting a bill like that. ninety-two -- eight.

>> jon tester drives the tractor in his spare time. other things out of your jurisdiction over the last six months to a year heard the topic what farmers are worried about in its report i have right here, the gao made six recommendations usda modernized in this process makes the data collected and collaborate better national security. i like to submit this for the record. >> without objection.

>> civil legislation and improvement and 14 republicans and 90 democrats i believe bill is low hanging fruit it should be the next step in the ownership and agriculture land. do you agree this would be a good bill to get through the process? >> it would be a fine bill but i don't think anybody should be fooled that it was somehow result in a significantly better system. today and honor system, we have a self reporting system. you are

system decide not to report. and no one know about it. unless there is a central database which i don't think folks are excited about, real estate transactions you've got an honor system and these are great things to do. it will not be a complete understanding of this ownership. >> did you look at the understanding? >> they really don't do much in terms of this asset of the issue. >> if the bill were amended to take care of self reporting, will not be what you would need to see to make it more

effective? that would be a way of ensuring the information. a good bill would you be okay? telling you right now the national database. >> it is a self reporting system. >> it's something we could probably do it has to be a national database. and you have the ability to look into and go deeper because they can hide and how much of an

ownership interest are you concerned about? are to be smart enough to get to the bottom only ground and it might be hard to do. so another issue with the hear a lot about his prompt 12 in many places in a quandary between what they're currently doing in their own operation and what they may have to do in other markets. who's your farmers?

between the investment they made and have to make, some may choose to do it in terms of things happening in california, may be opportunities but for many and my concern is you don't want to homogenize things across the country. there may be a good idea there. what do you think about what's happening along the line in terms of how top producers worried if there investors will be irrelevant? >> didn't fully understand the work.

determining this was not a violation. the reality is the decision the supreme court issued opens up opportunities for all 50 states to do this in one form or another. we don't let one state a shadow regulator that does places going to be reflexively looking at it and declare the new standard and not concerned about it.

and that is the challenge. >> that looks like it's going to be more out there than not and a lot of the stuff originated there sweeping across the country and we have to be careful. >> there are other issues in this discussion that are also challenging. >> thank you, i am out of time. >> thank you for this hearing and thank you and your team for being here as well. bottom check on our to say thank you for coming to new mexico. thank you for taking time.

then there i was glad to sta released this report. i want to ask if i have your continued commitment to make this a priority at usda. >> i can't thank you enough and one of the most recent visits, he went to new mexico the first cap yourself which i can't thank you enough because it's one

thing to hear about what's happening on the ground and another to see it for yourself. you took time to visit with those families who are devastated but what is our largest fire and states history. this devastating fire in 2022 and i appreciate the partnership some of would you address there. there are some areas that need some attention and creating a one-of-a-kind plan to help at home, there is some additional direction week could benefit from working with and what i still here is about confusing guidance from nrcs on this plan and in addition, how they should apply for other usda programs. my question, can usda do more to

help new mexicans recover from the spires? >> it sounds like we do. recently we allocated additional resources from a disaster fund to create additional resources available to new mexico, vermont and alaska but if there are relative, i'm happy to reach out to make sure we are paying attention to whatever the issues are. >> i appreciate that. as a matter fact, the local farmer impacted by the buyers and there are a few issues raised and i will submit that in writing to make sure we work with the team to get a response and help better understand how to take advantage of those programs. going forward, how does the department plan to limit lessons

learned from recovery efforts in new mexico? the reason i ask is there is this revelation when there is fire disaster across america and in forest areas whether bimah of the federal government as a whole will react to the buyer but the flooding or other aspects of the disaster that needs to be included in all the alphabet soup of the acronyms, every one of these agencies has a responsibility to work in new mexico and this is one of the first unique practices we've learned here so is there a way we can work together to ensure if this happens anywhere else in the country lessons learned from these families on the ground, the leaders within usda to capture those and include them in the policy? >> one thing we learned was the necessity of a central location

where all of our people are in one place at one time available to talk to folks well for a variety of issues depending on the nature of the disaster and how it is impacting their community. we did this in gymnasium new mexico, i think we learned a lot from that particular experience we ought to figure out how to make it standard practice in response to disasters. >> i appreciate that very much. one area related to this fire in new mexico as you know, reports and investigations, the burns were put out completely. on one of the investigations i believe the folks looking out with her hands over it and said it's not hot, they didn't use infrared technology available to ensure something is put out in the question i have, is usda

moving more aggressively to ensure prescribed burns or other buyers started or put them out that technology is being used to ensure is out completely? >> another lesson learned is basically a much more extensive plan behind the prescribed burn and ensure it is safe and the damage we've seen in new mexico so yes, that is happened. >> i appreciate that. the last thing i will touch on and i know you have heard this from colleagues, the importance of making sure people who need to get food, that they are able to get that food. the conversations taking place with all of us here, i think we all agree, democrat, republican when we talk about the most portable and communities, more

than we can do to work together so will the recent up to help combat child poverty? >> i think it did, there is obviously more to do, some programs will have a positive impact. good news, i mentioned earlier in rural areas, we saw a reduction in poor counties in this country and first time in over a decade we have seen relations increase and things are beginning to slowly improve but there's always the a lot more work to do. >> thank you very much. senator fisher. >> thank you. thank you for being here today, i am going to follow below but.

my colleague was talking about burning over 70000 acres and currently there are not any reported injuries but obviously when you have this time of year is taking place getting hay bales, it's going to be an issue. as we learn of the damages, i appreciate your commitment, disaster assistance to be produced in a timely manner. >> we encourage your team to look at what is available. >> senator heidi smith talked about the programs and the bipartisan that would ensure

usda provides the cost share payments for the emergency conservation program and the restoration program. >> a lot of times it takes a year or two to get those out and you see a lot of business. >> it is also important because we see disaster on top of disaster. in new england they had a flood and just when they got things right, they got hit with another disaster which eliminated all the good work they had done. it's important to figure out a different mechanism. >> we hadn't had snow for a while but we still have the

wind. i also expressed concern previously that conservation needs to be prioritized based on locally driven conservation needs. we have large resources we hear about in nebraska and water quality and they are not prioritized. 65% of the practices in nebraska from 20222022 were eligible or not eligible at all under the ir a. as usda considers what practices should be eligible and they must

use their own limited time and resources to make that case? >> i'm not sure we are tracking because nebraska is part of the western water initiative will be allocated resources above and beyond ira focused on this issue. >> i'm speaking specifically the water project will qualify under the ira. there are other programs that can qualify but not be ira. is that correct? >> i think that is correct. i think that is correct but there are other programs available and budget resources available for that purpose. >> correct but when you have over half the program that needs to address water and nrc offices in the past i've always

prioritized those and continue to, it limits availability to what i believe are conservation practices that should be recognized when we talk about the ira instead of it based on a mission, we should be able to recognize. >> i think it's based on the science that these practices will impact and affect greenhouse reduction. again, the regular programs can be utilized for the purposes of folks at the local level they feel are most appropriate. >> i agree with that statement but also continue to push what needs to be made at the local level and passing a bipartisan bill that addresses just one

segment and recognize the and prioritization of other resources. i am saddened but those are not recognizes by the federal government, more is important for the state. >> they are not being important, they are not necessarily i'm a support. >> we will have a discussion on that because you understand the importance the state of nebraska and the value we have for that resource. >> and that's why they are part of the water initiative. >> i think the climate smart project as well so we differ on

the. the usda is investigating significant funds in the independent processing capacity and thank you for the. we have seen a number of grants awarded 186 million went to 24 projects in another 171 million went to other projects yet we see the epa, their own regulatory analysis shows if they take their preferred regulatory route anywhere between 16 to 53 of those facilities will close as a result. my office most from independent facilities concerned that epa is under estimating the impact they are worried their facilities are going to close so thank you for

the investment by usda, are you worried about that? >> we provided input to epa which is why their preferred alternative is limited to 16 and offered three options. the third option is the 58 and we will continue to work with those. i think we will continue to have a strong commitment to expand the process and we are not finished with additional resources. we'll put together a plan so facilities that may be on the edge have access to credit to get them to a better place so that option is available to address what they are requiring. >> i appreciate that as well because we have three of the four big processes in the state but also big movement in

nebraska to have more localized processing plants and the effect it has on local communities and producers is tremendous so people are getting weary about that. if i hear some questions great. thank you very much. >> thank you very much and last but certainly not least, the senator from new jersey. >> thank you very much. we are still usda and ait to move quickly to the shipment of u.s. commodities in response to the unbelievable global hunger crisis, tens of millions around the world are women and children on the brink of starvation. do you have any update you can share with us on that? >> we are reliant on usaid for

directions because they are the ones who administer the distribution of those resources and i would be happy to reach out and find out her thoughts but we are anxious to move quickly as they give us direction. >> i appreciate the process that's been dragging on too long, the usda controls the funding and asked to make this personal priority and expedite this process. i believe it is a perfect example of why we need the usda authority to utilize and not allow partisan writers to interfere with the in the future. you know i disagree with this administration and their position on prop 12 as discussed before, i was glad the supreme court rejected it and i disagree with the comments made allowing

states to enact laws such as prop 12. i don't think there's any evidence of this and i hope you can understand at least maybe not agree with but why millions of voters in states like california and massachusetts legislature sent dates are simply appalled by the way pigs and chickens are treated in these large fauci farms when they are immobilized in tiny cages. i hope you can understand why the taken action to ban these in humane practices but even if you don't understand or agree they are cool practices, this is an issue about democracy based on democracy biden has said time and time again it's at an all-time low and he's rightfully

declared democracy as a central cause of his presidency so this issue of democracy in my opinion and questioned more than ever right now in my lifetime, i hope we can express caution one of reconsider overwriting the will of people in the states. ... we thank you very much. the animal more humanely from around the country. the supreme court in support of prop 12. siding that brief from american

small farmers spirit like prop 12 creating a lot of market opportunities. this is the 2,229,000 farmers since 2017. we should give these laws a chance for farmers that is willing to be humane for the small farming matter. my question, to put it simply, should we allow these, at least give a chance to create the market opportunities for these farmers and for our small farmers in america.

i have no problem with the state essentially directing how their farmers in that state should operate. they clearly should have the right to do that. the challenge is when they tried to extend that to other producers and the court basically made the decision that this would not discriminate against hog producers because they had a choice. i'm not sure how much of a choice actually have in terms of markets. we are trying to create more choice by expanding processing. so, my concern is, if every state does what california does, there will not be any consistency at all in the marketplace. it will be very difficult for them to know what the rules of the game are. >> my concern is simply that, you know, they gag pursuing this as a way to squeeze out of the market a lot of the people that would benefit prop 12. >> to me, you and i can disagree about this, but i think a better

roaches to figure out how their farm can figure out how multiple sources of income. i think that there are two-day ways that we put in place to allow them to do this and yet 9000 will continue to lose. maybe this gets to my last point time is running low. the equity commission released its final report. i was glad to see that one of those recommendations was the creation of the office of small farms. losing farms at an alarming rate sitting with families, have had farms with family going back to the homestead act. in order to ensure the small farms, this was one of the recommendations. i have introduced a bill that is created and ensure it has funding to help small farmers and pushing to get this included in the farm bill.

do you support the equity commission? >> that would be helpful. in addition, we need the resources to provide a cooperators outside of the usda to provide assistance as well. i think that it is both. >> independent family farmers face outrageous challenges as the consolidated world of multinational corporations continued to begin to dominate the market with more and more consolidation. that is why think fighting for small farmers is more critical. steps like prop 12 are supporting what small farmers are wanting. i want to bring up one last point. just the issue of access of crop insurance. i know that it has been making new crop insurance progress and changes to whole farm and micro farm policies to make them more attractive for producers.

i am learning in hearing from small farmers that they are not even able to purchase these products because agents and companies will not sell to those independent small farmers. we have a major problem with the way we are incentivizing agents and companies to only service a larger farm. in many ways, the system seems to be more and more rigged against small farmers, independent family farmers. we need serious safeguards to ensure every farmer has the opportunity to purchase crop insurance. usda already has the authority to address some of these issues. i know that i need to wrap up, but i will submit some questions on the record for this topic. >> senator, could you give me some details about the farmers that you have talked to? >> i would love that. across the country. >> thank you so much. really important questions. thank you, mr. secretary, for

being with us today. you can see the broad interest from all the members that have been participating. we know how important you and your agency are as we talk about supporting our farmers and our families and rural communities that we all agree we want to thrive and want people to live in rural communities and have the fullness of opportunities. thank you for your partnership. your dedication over the years. we look forward to working with you as we go forward. the record will remain open for five business days and without, the meeting is adjourned.