Senate Ag Committee holds hearing on domestic consumption

The Fence Post

Senate Ag Committee holds hearing on domestic consumption

By Jerry Hagstrom, The Hagstrom Report

The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing Tuesday at which farm leaders presented ideas on how to increase domestic consumption amid an oversupply of commodities and trade uncertainties.

Tuesday's hearing "comes at a time of great financial stress for America's farmers. If you are putting something in the ground, you are losing money. It doesn't matter what you are planting or where you are planting it, no row crop is currently profitable. In my home state of Arkansas, the last three years have been absolutely harrowing," Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said in an opening statement.

Boozman said he and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D., are committed to providing more farm aid this year, but that "our recent experiences have made me think about how we can build more robust domestic markets that will not subject our producers to the whims of foreign governments. This hearing is intended to begin that conversation. In the coming weeks and months, the committee will continue to explore this topic. I intend on discussing this topic with processors, manufacturers and retailers as well. Domestic market development will remain my priority as chairman."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ranking member of the committee and now a candidate for governor of Minnesota, thanked Boozman for holding the hearing and said, "Whether a farmer grows corn and soybeans or blueberries and apples, our farmers need domestic marketing opportunities to stimulate growth throughout our country."

Klobuchar said a new farm bill should help both struggling farmers and reverse the cuts that Republicans made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was passed under reconciliation procedures. She noted that both the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures have called for a delay in the bill's provisions that shift the cost of SNAP to the states.

FARM GROUPS WEIGH IN

Representatives of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union, the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association all called for policies to encourage more use of biofuels including sustainable aviation fuel. Biofuels advocates said Congress should pass a bill to allow the sale of E15, a higher ethanol blend, nationwide year round, and the Trump administration should finalize policies on the Renewable Fuel Standard and the 45Z tax credit for biodiesel production.

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall called for strengthening oversight and enforcement of Buy American provisions in school meal programs and programs to enable schools, food banks, and institutional buyers to source directly from U.S. farmers to strengthen regional fruit and vegetable markets and improve supply chain transparency.

Duvall said modernization of agricultural labor programs is vital to continuing the production of fruits and vegetables and other products in the United States.

Duvall noted that "when processing capacity narrows or concentrates, resilience declines," but he did not propose any actions to counter the trend.

North Dakota Farmers Union President Matt Perdue, who testified in place of National Farmers Union President Rob Larew, said, "Congress must do more to ensure our antitrust and competition laws are strengthened and better enforced." Congress should strengthen the connection between USDA and our chief federal competition and antitrust law enforcers at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission and protect the Packers & Stockyards Act and re-establish country-of-origin labeling for beef, establish the right to repair farm equipment and establish a Farmer Seed Liaison at USDA to strengthen competition and choice in the seed marketplace, Perdue said. He also called on Congress to spend more on local and regional meat processing.

Local and regional food procurement programs, including the Local Food Purchase Assistance and Local Food for Schools programs, strengthen the food system, putting a larger share of the retail food dollar in farmers' pockets, helping farmers expand and build new markets, and creating a stronger connection between farmers and their local communities, Perdue said.

Federal programs such as USDA's Value-Added Producer Grants remain essential tools that help farmers take the next step toward higher-value markets, Perdue added. Congress could help farmers tremendously by increasing funding to meet demand and simplifying the application and reporting requirements, he said.

American Soybean Association President Scott Metzger noted that, while soybeans are the No. 1 export crop, half of the soybeans "stay at home for a variety of uses." ASA is concerned about state-level legislative efforts related to defining and labeling "ultraprocessed foods" and about the criticism of soybeans and seed oils by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Metzger said. "While ASA supports the goals of this administration to improve health outcomes for Americans, policies must be backed by sound science and not arbitrarily malign soybean oil and seed oils more broadly," Metzger said.

CORN AND COTTON

National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower said that in addition to supporting the nationwide, year-round use of E15, there is ethanol's potential as a marine fuel. NCGA "will be focusing more of their engagement in Washington on removing policy and regulatory barriers and increasing incentives to scaling uptake of bio-based products," Bower said. It will be important to maintain the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade because Mexico is the most important export market for corn and Canada the top export market for ethanol, he said.

National Cotton Council Chairman Nathan Reed said that cotton has seen no consistent demand growth for the past 20 years, while manmade fiber consumption including Chinese polyester has more than doubled.

Reed said NCC's top legislative priority is the Buying American Cotton Act introduced by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss. "Under this legislation, items that are fully manufactured in the United States or imported into the U.S. would qualify for a transferable tax credit that scales with the level of U.S. cotton content or U.S.-based cotton processing," Bower said. The bill would apply to cotton products including, but not limited to, apparel, home textiles, and nonwovens, either fully manufactured in the U.S. or imported into the U.S., that are made in whole or in part from U.S. upland cotton or extra-long staple cotton. Reed noted that NCC is pointing out the dangers of microplastics in clothing as it strives to increase the demand for cotton globally against synthetic fibers. Reed noted that Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again initiative has highlighted these concerns and that the most recent MAHA Commission report calls on HHS, the National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency to further research the health implications of microplastics.

International Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Cathy Burns, who represents the full supply chain of fresh fruits and vegetables - growers, shippers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, foodservice partners, and allied companies - called for fully funding the nation's nutrition programs including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children and the school programs and providing incentives for produce in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program in elementary schools.

"Growers and consumers need systemic solutions that integrate produce into health care, strengthen federal nutrition programs, modernize procurement practices, and make it easier for families in every community to choose fresh fruits and vegetables," Burns said. She also said a patchwork of state regulations on packaging "could reduce access to fresh produce - an outcome no one can afford."