Senator Marshall: Agriculture is Such an Important Part of Our Economy

Senator Marshall Joins RFD TV

Washington - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined Eliza Petry on RFD TV's Market Day Report to discuss his work advocating for Kansas farmers and ranchers in Washington, D.C., including his Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, the Homegrown Fertilizers Act, and the USDA's "Product of the USA" label campaign.

Click HERE or on the image above for Senator Marshall's full interview.

On the importance of advocating for agriculture in Washington, D.C.:

"Well, Eliza, happy Ag Day, right? I think it's important that my perspective here is that I'm a fifth-generation farm kid. If you think about any economy, the backbone of any economy has to be agriculture, manufacturing, and mining, so agriculture is such an important part of our economy. And I was just sitting here thinking about this today, when my grandparents were born and took over our family farm, 30% of Americans were farmers, when I was born, it was only 10% of Americans were farmers, and today it's 2%. So 2% of Americans are farming and feeding not only our country, but the rest of the world. You know, from a policy standpoint, I'm so proud of what we have accomplished. Our Working Family Tax Cuts bill: it doubled the death tax limits, raised the reference prices, provided more money for crop insurance, and protected the 199A pass-through as well. So in a world where inputs are so high, the only way these farms stay alive is good policies in Washington, D.C."

On the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act:

"Yeah, so my dad's farm was a dairy. They had, I think, some 45-50 mama Holstein cows that they milked every day. They didn't take a day off, like most dairies, for over 20 years as well. And even after the economy got so tight that a small dairy couldn't survive, my grandfather still brought milk to us - whole milk - twice a week. And we would take the cream off the top of it, and we'd put that on our cereal, and of course, my dad would take that cream and put it in his coffee as well. But milk is the most nutritious drink out there, known to humankind. You know water would be right there with it as well, but it's full of nutrients, full of protein, and it was important to get it back into our school lunches as an item. You know, the kids quit drinking milk when they went to this 1%, 2% skim milk - there's no taste to it. So we lost a generation of children who didn't drink any milk, and consequently they're going to have osteopenia and osteoporosis at a very young age."

On lowering input prices through the Homegrown Fertilizer Act:

"Yeah, Eliza, so this fertilizer issue I've been focused on since I was elected to the Senate. Under the previous administration, we saw fertilizer prices go up 50%. And certainly the wars in Ukraine, as well as Iran, have impacted the prices of fertilizer, remembering that nitrogen-based fertilizers come from natural gas. So one of the bills we just introduced, and I want to give credit to my co-lead, Senator Amy Klobuchar - talk about working across the aisle, this is what people never talk about back home - but Senator Klobuchar has been a great agriculture partner for us on many bills, and this fertilizer bill is one of them. Unfortunately, like many inputs in agriculture, fertilizers are controlled by three or four big, big companies, so we're trying to promote more competition. We're going to reward some money to small businesses that want to get into the game of making fertilizer as well. And I would go back to our Working Family Tax Cuts bill, that we are allowing manufacturing, and also some really good tax breaks as well. So again, trying to promote more competition, trying to encourage small businesses to get back in this game of making fertilizers."

On the USDA's "Product of the USA" label campaign:

"Yeah, so this is one of the signature bills that we introduced shortly after becoming senators. And I want to give Tucker Stewart credit, who was then my Ag Legislative Director. Tucker is a fourth-generation ranch kid and certainly understands the beef industry. And what we wanted to do is a 'Product of the USA' label. Particularly beef, if that head of steer, that heifer was born, raised, and then processed in the U.S., then you could put that label on, 'Product of the USA.' So very proud of the USDA for moving forward on this. I hope Congress will codify it as well. And again, it is just so great that we have these multigenerational farm kids, ranch kids from Kansas up here influencing policy. And just encourage your listeners that your children and grandchildren that come up and do an internship with us, or there are internships back in the state as well, that ag policy is important, and that by the way, food security is national security."

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