[Senate Hearing 117-605]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                        S. Hrg. 117-605

                  OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACING
                         FARMERS, FAMILIES, AND
                           RURAL COMMUNITIES

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                       COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
                        NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION
                               __________

                              May 26, 2022
                               __________

                       Printed for the use of the
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
           

                  [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]           


                  Available on http://www.govinfo.gov/
                  
                               __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                    
50-073 PDF                WASHINGTON : 2024                    


           COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY


                 DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan, Chairwoman
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont            JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio                  MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado          JONI ERNST, Iowa
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York      CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
TINA SMITH, Minnesota                ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois          TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey              CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia             DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
                                     MIKE BRAUN, Indiana

               Joseph A. Shultz, Majority Staff Director
                    Jessica L. Williams, Chief Clerk
               Fitzhugh Elder IV, Minority Staff Director

                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                         Thursday, May 26, 2022

                                                                   Page

Hearing:

Opportunities and Challenges Facing Farmers, Families, and Rural 
  Communities....................................................     1

                              ----------                              

                    STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS

Stabenow, Hon. Debbie, U.S. Senator from the State of Michigan...     1
Boozman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas......     2

                               WITNESSES

Vilsack, Hon.Thomas J., Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture     4
                              ----------                              

                                APPENDIX

Prepared Statements:
    Boozman, Hon. John...........................................    44
    Vilsack, Hon.Thomas J........................................    47

Document(s) Submitted for the Record:
Stabenow, Hon. Debbie:
    Grassley Regulation and Labeling, letter of support..........    62

Question and Answer:
Vilsack, Hon.Thomas J.:
    Written response to questions from Hon. Debbie Stabenow......    66
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman.........    70
    Written response to questions from Hon. Michael Bennet.......    83
    Written response to questions from Hon. Kirsten E. Gillibrand    87
    Written response to questions from Hon. Tina Smith...........    88
    Written response to questions from Hon. John Hoeven..........    90
    Written response to questions from Hon. Roger Marshall.......    91
    Written response to questions from Hon. Charles Grassley.....   107
    Written response to questions from Hon. Deb Fischer..........   110

 
                  OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACING
                         FARMERS, FAMILIES, AND
                           RURAL COMMUNITIES

                              ----------                              


                         THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
         Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., via 
Webex and in room 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Debbie 
Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Committee, presiding.
    Present or submitting a statement: Senators Stabenow, 
Brown, Klobuchar, Bennet, Gillibrand, Smith, Durbin, Booker, 
Lujan, Warnock, Boozman, McConnell, Hoeven, Ernst, Hyde-Smith, 
Marshall, Tuberville, Grassley, Thune, Fischer, and Braun.

STATEMENT OF HON. DEBBIE STABENOW, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE 
    OF MICHIGAN, CHAIRWOMAN, U.S. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 
                    NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well good morning. The Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is called to order this 
morning, and we are so pleased to have everyone with us and 
have our Secretary of the Department of Agriculture with us. 
Secretary Vilsack, welcome. In addition to thanking you for 
being here today I want to thank you and your 100,000 staff 
members who undertake every day to support American farmers, 
small towns, and consumers alike and all your work to protect 
our food system, both locally and globally.
    You have been very busy on a number of fronts, making sure 
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, 
and Children (WIC) moms can get baby formula amid a national 
shortage. I appreciate how quickly, once you were notified, you 
went into gear. I also want to thank Senator Boozman and the 
whole Committee for us working together on a bipartisan basis 
to take action. That was important for our Committee to do last 
week.
    You have been creating more opportunities for rural small 
businesses and strengthening opportunities for American 
farmers, both at home and abroad, mobilizing USDA to respond to 
the climate crisis and equipping our supply chain to better 
withstand shocks like the pandemic and Putin's war on Ukraine. 
Your work reflects the range of challenges facing our farmers, 
families, and rural communities right now.
    During the pandemic, we saw how highly concentrated food 
supply chains left both farmers and consumers vulnerable. 
Essential workers were on the front lines without adequate 
protection. Farmers had no choice but to destroy the crops and 
livestock they could no longer sell. Millions of families did 
not have enough to eat. The previous administration gravely 
mismanaged USDA's ability to address any of these crises.
    Under your leadership, USDA has implemented the historic 
investments in the American Rescue Plan and the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act to support local and regional businesses and 
get the supply chain moving again. After four years of 
disastrous trade policies, putting our farmers back on solid 
ground with our trading partners has been no small task.
    This has been even more critical as Putin's unprovoked war 
in Ukraine strains our global supply chain, as we know, putting 
the food security of millions in peril and causing prices for 
everything from diesel fuel to fertilizer to skyrocket. While 
Congress and the USDA have responded quickly with humanitarian 
aid and resources to grow domestic production, we know there is 
more we can do together.
    USDA is also helping to empower small towns and rural 
communities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. USDA has 
expanded high-speed internet and is investing in roads and 
bridges that keep Main Street moving. Mr. Secretary, I hope you 
can expand upon how these investments will increase the quality 
of life for millions of people who live in rural America.
    We will not have a home for future generations if we do not 
tackle the climate crisis. Wildfires and droughts out West, 
early frosts and thaws in Michigan, and torrential flooding in 
the plains all pose great risks to our ability to produce and 
distribute food. That is costing us, quite literally.
    The good news is that while farmers and foresters are 
directly affected by the climate crisis they are also uniquely 
positioned to address it, as you know. Farmers are eager to 
partner with USDA on cutting-edge research and innovation to 
increase yields, to participate in USDA conservation practices 
to protect the soil, and to invest in climate-friendly 
practices that are profitable and practical for farmers. Our 
Growing Climate Solutions Act that we have done together, for 
example, goes hand-in-hand with the work USDA is doing to help 
farmers lead on the climate crisis.
    Finally, all of us can agree that we want to make sure we 
have a rural economy that helps small towns thrive, gives 
producers a good return on all of their hard work, and keeps 
food on our tables.
    Again, welcome to the Committee, Secretary Vilsack, and I 
will now turn to my Ranking Member, Senator Boozman.

STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN BOOZMAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE 
                          OF ARKANSAS

    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Madam Chair, and we appreciate 
having Secretary Vilsack back at the Committee. Before I turn 
to today's hearing, I would like to congratulate the Chairwoman 
for hosting a very successful hearing in April on the campus of 
Michigan State University. This was the kick-off to the 2023 
farm bill process. I enjoyed learning more about the issues 
that are important to Michigan's agriculture producers and 
rural communities. I share many of the goals for our next farm 
bill that were highlighted by our witnesses. It is amazing, as 
you get out, whether it is in Arkansas or throughout the 
country, farmers really do have so much in common and just 
share the problems that they are facing.
    I am delighted that the Chairwoman will be joining me in 
Arkansas next month for a second field hearing. The Committee 
will formally notice the hearing later today, but I am pleased 
to share with the Committee that we will be holding our next 
field hearing in Jonesboro, Arkansas, on June 17th. I am 
excited to share the views of Arkansas' hard-working farm 
families with the Chairwoman and my colleagues on the 
Committee.
    This is an unprecedented time for agriculture. As we come 
out of a global pandemic, we confront a war in the breadbasket 
of Europe, which has choked off a sizable portion of the 
world's grain and oilseed production. Global food insecurity 
has become acute. My good friend, David Beasley, the head of 
the World Food Program, recently told me, is now faced with the 
decision to take food from hungry people in order to give it to 
starving people. While U.S. producers are willing to help fill 
the gap, our farmers and ranchers face declining farm incomes 
and steeply higher input costs. I have got some examples of 
that and will put those in for the record.
    USDA can play a constructive role to help American farmers 
and ranchers meet the challenges both here at home and 
globally.
    Also, I applaud the nomination of Alexis Taylor to serve as 
the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign 
Agricultural Affairs. America desperately needs some laser 
focus on working with our partners and competitors across the 
globe for the benefit of U.S. agriculture at this critical 
moment. I would encourage USDA to stretch itself and fellow 
agencies to make the tough decisions necessary that will help 
bring down food prices and enhance global food security.
    Food prices will decrease when the costs from the farm to 
the fork go down. The answer is more supply, more oil and gas 
development for lower energy prices, more participation in the 
labor market, more land in production, and more certainty for 
our farmers and ranchers. Until the Administration starts to 
focus on the core issues that are driving record food costs, 
there will be no relief and American families will continue to 
suffer.
    I will keep making that case to the Administration and my 
colleagues and encourage them to work with us to help create an 
environment where those factors start trending in the right 
direction and prices start to come down.
    I appreciate the announcement the USDA made this morning 
that will allow some additional flexibilities for those with 
expiring CRP contracts. I think it is a great step in the right 
direction, but I believe that we can do more.
    One suggestion is look to the past. In the 2014 Farm Bill, 
landowners enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program were 
given an opportunity to end their contracts early without 
penalty. We should give serious consideration to do this again 
until grain production returns to normal. I believe this 
flexibility would allow potentially millions of acres to return 
to food production. The world cannot afford for prime farmland 
to lie fallow.
    Second, and this is more focused on the EPA than USDA, I 
believe that there should be a two-year pause on any regulatory 
changes to currently approved crop protection tools. Producers 
need the regulatory predictability to plan for the future, and 
the companies that produce these inputs need the regulatory 
certainty to bring these tools to the market. American 
agriculture can meet this unprecedented moment--Federal 
Government should assure it is not in the way.
    With that, Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much.
    Senator Boozman. I look forward to the hearing.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. I am very much looking forward to 
coming back to Arkansas. I am looking forward to it. Thank you 
so much.
    Again, I want to welcome Secretary Vilsack back to the 
Committee. My first turn as Chair, from 2011 to 2014, coincided 
with his first term at the USDA. As Secretary for Agriculture 
under President Obama, Secretary Vilsack put Americans back to 
work by investing in the rural economy, advocating for American 
producers, and he helped them see record crop prices and farm 
exports, and made sure Americans had access to safe and 
nutritious food.
    Prior to his current term as Secretary, he served as the 
CEO and President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Secretary 
Vilsack was the 40th Governor of Iowa, a former member of the 
Iowa State Senate, and a former mayor of his hometown of Mount 
Pleasant.
    Thank you, Secretary Vilsack. It is a pleasure to have you 
before the Committee, and we look forward to your comments.

  STATEMENT THE HONORABLE THOMAS J. VILSACK, SECRETARY, U.S. 
                   DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

    Secretary Vilsack. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the 
opportunity to be here and appreciate the invitation from you 
and the Ranking Member for the opportunity to be in front of 
this Committee.
    I think it would be helpful if I could highlight three 
recent announcements from the Department in my opening 
statement, and then I will obviously be glad to respond to 
questions that the Committee has.
    As we all know, we are dealing with a situation involving 
formula, and thanks to the quick action of Congress you all 
have provided the Department of Agriculture additional 
authority in terms of WIC that will allow us to work with those 
who produce formula in this country to create more supply.
    We just sent a letter to all of the State health 
commissioners as well as to Gerber, Nestle, and Mead Johnson, 
indicating our willingness to work with them to provide waivers 
so that they can continue to expand contract brand options in 
terms of the WIC State agencies, allow the use of contract 
brand alternatives that were not previously authorized, as well 
as temporarily allowing them to use non-contract products to be 
substituted.
    We will pay the rebates in the WIC budget itself so the 
companies will not be at risk financially for these 
substitutions, and I think it will help assist in expanding 
access to product.
    We also filed today, in an effort to try to create more, 
new, and better markets for our farmers, the beginning of a 
process on our Packers and Stockyards Act. We start with the 
poultry tournament rule. There are two components to what we 
have disclosed today. The first is an effort to try to create 
greater transparency between integrators and producers, 
providing additional information to the producer before they 
enter into contracts. It is modeled after the FTC franchisee 
disclosure efforts, and it is really designed to help producers 
be able to better value the costs and risk that they are taking 
in entering into a contract with an integrator. It allows them 
to manage that risk by knowing a bit more about who they are 
doing business with.
    We are requesting that the integrators provide information 
concerning the number of placement and the stock density; a 
history of payments under prior tournaments so that folks can 
understand and appreciate where they might be in the process; a 
bit of information about the background of the integrator, 
whether they have been in bankruptcy at any point in time, 
whether they are involved in litigation; and the ability of 
producers to be able to share that information with their 
financial advisors and those who are providing them legal 
assistance so that they are in the best possible position to 
understand and appreciate the risk. There will be an exemption 
for very small live poultry dealers in this proposal.
    In addition, we also have provided additional disclosures 
concerning the inputs that a farmer is receiving, both at the 
time of placement and at the time of settlement. We want the 
farmer to be able to understand the breed, the facility that 
was breeding the stock that they are being provided, the sex, 
the flock age, health issues that may have cropped up, and 
essentially, at the time of settlement, understanding the 
distribution of inputs, the housing specifications, feed 
disruptions that may have impacted and affected the rankings.
    All of this is designed to avoid deception and to provide, 
again, farmers with the ability to understand precisely what 
they are getting into.
    Sixty-day comment period. We believe, from our analysis, 
that the benefits of transparency and additional disclosure 
exceed the costs. We will also be filing a study that was done 
on competition in the retail and seed area.
    We also are announcing today a $200 million effort to try 
to help our existing meat and poultry facilities. It is an 
intermediary loan program. It is going to provide grants to co-
ops and other nonprofit organizations, public agencies to 
create revolving loan funds to assist and help those facilities 
to remain in business.
    We are announcing, as well, as $25 million effort to try to 
expand work force through our NIFA programs. We think this is 
an opportunity to expand capacity. This goes along with the 
additional opportunities that we announced in terms of 
additional processing capacity. We received 265 applications 
for the $150 million grants that are available. It totals about 
$895 million of interest--46 States, 111 beef applications, 33 
poultry applications, 69 pork applications, 25 lamb, and 14 
goat. The projected cost of all these projects is roughly $5 
billion, so there is obviously great interest in this program.
    I might say, in my remaining time, we also saw great 
interest in the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry 
Partnership Initiative. We received 450 applications, $18 
billion in requests, from all 50 States, a diverse pool of 
applicants--nonprofits, cooperatives, for-profit organizations, 
government entities, commodity groups, forest groups, tribes, 
universities, small and large corporations. A wide range of 
commodities involved.
    This is the first of two application deadlines. June 10th 
is our small application deadline. About $8 billion of 
additional leverage. There is tremendous interest in this 
program as well.
    I would be happy to respond to questions from the 
Committee. Thank you, Madam Chair.

    [The prepared statement of Secretary Vilsack can be found 
on page 47 in the appendix.]

    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well thank you, Mr. Secretary, and I 
know that Leader McConnell has to go to the floor to help open 
the floor. Who says bipartisanship is dead? I am going to defer 
to Senator McConnell. Please go forward with your questions and 
we will continue. Thanks.
    Senator McConnell. Thank you, Madam Chairman and Senator 
Boozman. I am here today, Mr. Secretary, because I have got a 
particular problem that I am trying to address, but it is 
ultimately going to come down to you.
    Here is what happened. Last December, we got hit by the 
biggest tornado we have ever had. It actually ended up being on 
the ground for over 200 miles. It hit and largely destroyed the 
town of Mayfield, which is the biggest grain storage facility 
in our State, completely wiped out.
    I want to thank you for what you all have already done to 
help on numerous occasions as we try to recover, but as part of 
the destruction, with this grain storage infrastructure gone in 
western Kentucky, not only did we lose millions of bushels of 
storage, we have got a problem that has to be fixed or we are 
basically out of business this year.
    What I did was put a provision in the appropriations bill 
that asks you to identify funding sources that we can address 
pretty quickly to not completely lose our ability to have 
storage for this year's crop.
    I do not know if you are already familiar with this or not, 
but I wonder if you have any awareness of it and if you could 
give me any assurance that maybe we can address this issue by 
your decision shortly.
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I am aware. I know that our 
staff has been in touch with the Farm Bureau down in your 
State, as well as your own staff. I understand that there is an 
idea for a series of pop-up storage facilities there. I think 
there are some concerns about precisely how cumbersome that 
particular solution might be. We are very committed to working 
as expeditiously as possible to provide an alternative and to 
provide the resources that will allow your farmers to have 
storage.
    I totally understand and appreciate the challenges that 
this presents, and we are committed to trying to get it 
resolved as quickly as possible.
    Senator McConnell. Well, I really appreciate it. It is an 
emergency.
    The only other question I would ask, and I suppose anybody 
at the table could also ask, and that is this inflation issue 
that we are all hammered with. It amounts to well over $5,000 
of increased costs annually, including $780 in additional cost 
for food. In a rural State like mine, and a lot of the members 
of this Committee have similar States, small business and 
family farms are getting hit at both ends. In every single 
conversation that I have had with farmers in the last year, the 
burden of increased input costs has been right in the 
forefront.
    One recent study from Texas A&M estimated that despite 
higher commodity prices farm profits will drop by nearly 60 
percent in 2022, due to these higher input costs. Since January 
2021, animal feed has increased by 43 percent; diesel fuel, 115 
percent; natural gas, 202 percent; fertilizer, 220 percent. 
Agencies like EPA, Interior, and other seem bent on driving 
these costs up even further.
    Have you worked with your colleagues across the 
Administration to inform them how this regulatory onslaught is 
contributing to the burdens that farmers already have?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, our focus at USDA is to try to 
figure out ways in which we can provide assistance and help on 
the number of issues that you have raised. First of all, we are 
looking at ways in which we can increase productive land. Going 
into production, obviously, as Senator Boozman indicated, 
supply does have a tendency--if you expand it, it has a 
tendency to help bring costs down and potentially increase 
income.
    Second, in terms of the fertilizer, there are a number of 
things that we are doing. We are working with farmers to make 
sure that they are fully aligned with the right application, 
the right time, the right location, the right amount. We have 
also provided a new risk management tool that encourages split 
application of nitrogen to reduce the cost to farmers, with 
picking up the loss of productivity that may occur if they are 
unable to fertilize twice in a year.
    We also have allocated $500 million toward looking at a 
broad array of options in terms of how we might be able to 
expand fertilizer capacity in this country and not be as 
reliant as we have been on outside sources for fertilizer. We 
are also looking at a number of strategies in terms of ways in 
which we can better utilize precision agriculture to ensure 
that we are using fertilizer in the appropriate time and 
appropriate amount.
    There is a series of things that we are doing. We are 
also--and I would only finish by saying part of our 
responsibility is also to provide help and assistance to the 
families that, as you mentioned, are struggling. That is the 
reason why it is important to get the SNAP program where it is. 
It is important to continue to promote the WIC bonus buy that 
we have in our budget. It is appropriate to take a look at ways 
in which we can help our schools deal with the consequences of 
all of this. It is why we ask for a continuation for one more 
year of universal free school meals. We think that there are a 
number of ways in which we can provide help and assistance to 
families to get through this difficult time.
    Senator McConnell. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, 
Madam Chairman.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much.
    First let me just say, Mr. Secretary, talking about 
fertilizer and inputs and all the costs that have gone up, we 
hope in Michigan to be able to help with this is a new effort 
to have a potash facility created. We know that is part of the 
ingredients, a really important part that has not been produced 
in the United States. We hope we are going to have more 
production of these materials in the United States so that we 
are less dependent on what is happening around the world.
    The climate crisis. I would like to talk with you a little 
bit more about this. We know, I mean, whether it is what 
happened in Kentucky, whether it is what happened last weekend 
in northern Michigan, in a small town, Gaylord, Michigan, which 
I do not ever remember having a tornado, and certainly not one 
that went through and wiped out a very important housing 
project, mobile home park, and downtown small businesses and so 
on, and people are going to be picking up the pieces for a long 
time. We are seeing the climate crisis, when severe weather and 
what carbon pollution has been doing for us. One hundred years 
of carbon pollution, right in our face right now.
    I encourage the efforts that you are putting forth, and I 
know you said you have received a tremendous response to the 
partnerships for climate-smart commodities pilot project. I 
wonder if you could talk a little bit more about what that 
means and also how our efforts on Growing Climate Solutions 
Act, you know, Senator Braun, Senator Boozman, and myself, 
others on the Committee, putting together something that passed 
overwhelmingly in the Senate. Not too often you have 92 out of 
100 votes.
    The effort to create some integrity around these systems 
and transparency and expertise and so on, I wonder if you might 
speak to that as well, as how that effort, which unfortunately 
has not moved yet in the House, but we are going to get this 
done and get it to you and how it will help farmers as we look 
at the climate effort that we are all working on together.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, that act, Madam Chair, is 
extraordinarily important, because it provides a vehicle 
through which we can provide the level of technical assistance 
that farmers and producers and ranchers need to be able to 
understand and appreciate climate-smart practices. We have been 
providing technical assistance to both the House and the Senate 
Ag Committees in an effort to try to find common ground.
    In terms of the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry 
Products Initiative, this is designed to essentially create 
opportunities for marketing of climate-smart commodities. We 
think there is a value-added proposition. We think it is an 
opportunity to expand income for farmers, to be able to allow 
farmers to also qualify for ecosystem benefits.
    We are very, very pleased with the reaction from farmers 
and ranchers. We listened to them. They asked us to set up this 
pilot. They asked us to provide resources to enable farmers to 
aggregate their efforts. This is an effort that will result not 
only in adoption of climate-smart practices and an acceleration 
of those practices but an opportunity to measure and verify and 
quantify the results from those practices that will allow us to 
better understand how to essentially establish the standard for 
climate-smart commodities.
    It is also a way in which we are enhancing the notion of 
partnerships and leverage. Finally, it is a chance for us to 
really understand, to be ahead of the game, for American 
agriculture to lead not just our own domestic effort but 
internationally, to respond back and to push back a little bit 
on some of the other approaches to this that are occurring in 
other parts of the world that we think will jeopardize the 
ability to increase productivity. We think that there is an 
opportunity to increase productivity and be sustainable at the 
same time.
    This is part of an overall strategy that not only includes 
this initiative but taking a look at 33 climate-smart practices 
and having our NRCS folks work collaboratively with farmers to 
adopt those practices. It is about renewable energy. It is 
about forestry and better forest management. It is about a work 
force. It is about adaptation and mitigation, and we are trying 
to sort of address this in a very comprehensive way.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, thank you so much. This is so 
critically important for all of us.
    Then, finally, let me ask about urban agriculture. As you 
know, I authored several provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill, 
including the establishment of an Office of Urban Agriculture 
and Innovative Production, which we now have a new director of, 
which I am appreciative of, and things are moving forward.
    I wonder, when we talk about resiliency and we talk about 
community and we talk about access to food and so on, urban 
agriculture is a very important part of that, and I actually am 
very proud of the efforts in Michigan that have been going on 
across the State, really started with incredible leadership in 
Detroit.
    What specific actions is USDA taking to better serve the 
unique needs of urban producers, and can you describe the 
priorities for the new office?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, essentially there are 17 cities 
that have been designated, 17 counties if you will, and we are 
expanding that number this year. There were 11 initially and we 
are adding an additional six new cities.
    In addition to having an office, and in addition to having 
a presence, we are also providing grant money to promote 
innovative solutions in those urban settings, whether it is 
vertical agriculture or it is community gardens, across the 
board additional resources for that purpose. Also composting 
and making sure that we are also addressing the food loss 
issues.
    The exciting opportunity, as well, is to have FSA offices 
located in those cities. It is an opportunity for those urban 
farmers to understand and appreciate all the range of programs 
that will be available to them. We also are working on a 
toolkit, to refresh the toolkit on urban agriculture, so that 
you will have the opportunity to share with those who are 
interested in establishing an urban agricultural activity in 
their city. It is sort of a here is how you do it, here are all 
the issues that you can raise, here are all the programs that 
are available to you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Great. Thank you so much.
    Now we are going to go out of order one more time here 
because our distinguished Chair of the Judiciary Committee is 
going to have to chair a hearing, so Senator Durbin, we are 
going to turn it to you. Thank you.
    Senator Durbin. Thank you. Good to see you, Mr. Secretary, 
and thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member. This is a rare 
appearance because we scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee at 
the same time as Agriculture, and it is difficult. Thanks to 
the remarkable cooperation of Senator Grassley we got things 
done early this morning, and I got a chance to visit here for 
just a moment.
    I wanted to ask one very parochial but very important 
question on behalf of 8,000 people in the State of Illinois. 
Secretary Vilsack, you probably remember from your days of 
trekking through Iowa how important some of these senior 
activities are to our rural populations. For many of them it is 
a chance to get together during the course of a day, and it 
really is the highlight of their day.
    Well, for over 25 years Illinois has had a model where we 
have SNAP benefits available to these seniors, and they pool 
them in these senior living facilities, in 150 of them around 
the State, each day, for lunch. They get together for lunch. 
This has been okay for more than 20 years, but just a few years 
ago the Department said not okay anymore. We said, ``What is 
the problem?'' They said, ``Well, fraud and abuse.'' They did 
an investigation. There is no fraud and abuse. It is just the 
use of these SNAP benefits in a pooled situation to pay for 
their lunches.
    We have, thanks to the cooperation of both Senators 
Stabenow and Senator Boozman, each year in the appropriation 
bill extended the program so that they continue to pool these 
SNAP benefits for their lunches at the senior facilities.
    On behalf of the 8,000 seniors I appeal to you. Can you fix 
this for us?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we are trying to work with the 
State to develop the framework of a pilot that would allow this 
problem to go away so you would not have to deal with it each 
and every year in the appropriations process.
    I would also say that I think it is an invitation for us to 
take a look at ways in which the SNAP program can be more 
accessible and more meaningful. I think we have to be 
significantly flexible as we deal with an aging population in 
many of these States. We are committed to working with the 
State of Illinois to try to figure out how to establish the 
pilot in a way that does not require you to have to go through 
this situation every year.
    Senator Durbin. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, Mr. 
Ranking Member. I appreciate the opportunity.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, we are so glad you are a part of 
the Committee, so thank you. Senator Boozman.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you 
again for being here with us today.
    Rice farmers and some of our specialty crop growers may 
lose hundreds of millions of dollars this year due to increased 
input costs, and unlike almost every other commodity, they have 
stagnant prices. They simply have not increased while we have 
had this enormous increase, as we all know, with our input 
costs.
    I am worried about the future of our domestic rice 
production, the infrastructure it supports, again, and 
concerned about our specialty crops. Will you commit to working 
with us to ensure that economic viability of our domestic rice 
producers and others like specialty crop growers, who may be 
experiencing difficulties?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I hope all of your questions 
are this easy to answer. Yes.
    Senator Boozman. Well, I hope all of your answers are like 
that, and we get a yes out of them.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Boozman. Thank you very much. Let me talk to you a 
little bit about the Conservation Reserve Program, and I think 
all of us appreciate the fact that you are being flexible in 
that regard, and that is a good thing. I do not think we really 
understand--and I know this Committee, and I think I can speak 
for Senator Stabenow, you know, we are very concerned about 
what we do not want to do is get ourselves in a situation like 
baby formula, with shortages. I do not think we really 
understand yet what is happening exactly, the difficulties in 
Ukraine, all of the stuff that is going on right now to really 
understand where we are going to be at.
    I guess what I would ask you is, in regard to authorizing, 
allowing CRP contract-holders to leave the program early to 
open up even more acreage, this is something that has been done 
in the past. Can we just work really hard to get some good data 
to know, if we need to be doing some of those things, tinkering 
on the edges there? You have a little bit, but again, what we 
do not want is significant shortages perhaps. Looking at the 
inflation, what we project it going further, Americans now--and 
I just got through a primary campaign, and I can tell you as 
well as anybody, the people of Arkansas, people throughout the 
country, are just getting strapped. All of their discretionary 
dollars are being eaten up by gasoline, food, rent, and the 
list goes on and on.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, I would say a couple of things. 
First of all, we have basically taken a look at the acres that 
are currently in that program, and many, if not most, of those 
acres are really not very productive. I mean, it is not as if 
we are taking a significant amount of productive land out of 
production. We basically have been focusing on highly erodible 
areas, areas that are not particularly productive.
    Having said that, we also trust farmers to make the right 
decision for their own operation, and, in fact, farmers have 
actually made the decision to actually take about a million 
acres or so, maybe a little bit more than a million acres, out 
of the program this year. We have not created additional 
incentives to try to encourage more sign-up. We are well below 
the cap in this program. Frankly, we have got two challenges 
here. We have got a global food security challenge today that 
you have addressed in part.
    We also have a longer-term global food security challenge 
in terms of climate and the impact on production 
internationally, long-term. We are trying to make sure that we 
are paying attention to both of these. I think we will provide 
additional flexibilities when and if it is necessary, and we 
have done that in the past with haying and grazing, and we will 
continue to look for ways in which we can provide assistance.
    Right now more than a million acres coming out of that 
program into production. We think that farmers can be trusted 
to make the right decisions. They always have the right, as you 
know, to be able to leave the program whenever they so choose.
    Senator Boozman. Thank you. I understand USDA plans to 
release a proposed rule to tighten nutrition standards this 
fall. I guess the question is, will USDA enforce those 
standards in schools? We have got a situation there where, 
again, they are fighting the inflation costs, labor costs, and 
then also just the price of these because they are in a 
situation where many of these are specialty products that are 
not made as much and not as profitable.
    Are you confident that schools will have access to food 
that will meet the USDA's new standards, and have we done any 
work in really looking at what that is going to do toward 
increasing cost and availability?
    Secretary Vilsack. This is an interim rule, Senator. It is 
a not a full application of the nutrition standards. It is a 
bridge, if you will, to a longer-term recommitment to the 
Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids standards.
    You know, we obviously, at the time we proposed this, were 
hopeful, and I guess I continue to be hopeful, that the 
Congress finds a way to provide the resources to schools with 
universal free meals for another year, and the additional 
waiver authority that we had that will expire at the end of, I 
think, June of this year.
    In the meantime, if that does not happen we have, in the 
past, and we will continue to look for ways in which we can 
provide assistance to schools. We did $1 billion of additional 
financial assistance to schools. We provided additional 
resources for local and regional food purchases, which we 
strongly support, in an effort to try to help schools manage 
through this difficult time. We are going to do everything we 
can to make it easier for these folks. They do heroic efforts, 
and certainly did heroic efforts during the pandemic.
    Senator Boozman. We are not going to tighten the standards?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, the standards, there is an 
increase, but it is not a full-throated increase in terms of 
the whole grains standard. I think the sodium standard stays 
where it is. As I say, this is a gradual effort to try to 
ultimately, over the next couple of years, get back to where we 
were prior to the pandemic.
    Senator Boozman. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much, and I also want 
to just echo how critical it is that we move forward to help 
our schools, both summer programs and the additional costs that 
they are experiencing, you know, supply chain breakdowns and so 
on. We continue discussions on that, but it is critically 
important.
    Because I understand according to your Department up to a 
third of the schools, if we are not able to do anything to 
help, may not be able to provide school meals in the school 
year, which is certainly not acceptable.
    Let me turn to Senator Bennet and then Senator Hoeven.
    Senator Bennet. Thank you, and Madam Chair, let me just 
echo what you just said about schools, and I want to thank the 
Ranking Member, Senator Boozman, for the work we have done 
together on school nutrition and school lunches. It is so 
important, and at this moment particularly. Thank you for 
raising that.
    Secretary Vilsack, thank you for being here and thank you 
for coming to Colorado for the joint secretaries wildfire 
season briefing that we had last month. You learned there, and 
we all learned there, that the West is facing the worst drought 
in 1,200 years. Based on what we learned at the briefing, it is 
likely that this trend will continue, and Colorado could see an 
extremely active wildfire season. We have had the three worst 
wildfires in our State's history two years ago. Last year we 
had the terrible Marshall Fire the day before New Year's Eve. 
These are people literally getting ready for New Year's in the 
middle of COVID, who more than 1,000 families in Boulder County 
burned out of their homes as a result of fire.
    This year already is the first year when we have had the 
shortest season without significant fire. Every single day, Mr. 
Secretary, I get a briefing from my staff about a fire 
someplace that is starting in Colorado, and my State is still 
facing a funding shortfall of almost $150 million to recover 
from the mega-fires that swept through Colorado in 2020.
    I wonder whether you could provide the Committee an update 
on what you expect USDA to release additional resources so that 
Colorado can implement the critical recovery work before 
another severe wildfire season begins?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we announced the availability 
of a little over $1 billion focused on recovery efforts. I 
think the State of Colorado was allocated $79 million of that 
resource.
    We are going to continue to look for ways to provide 
assistance and help. In addition to those resources there will 
also be resources in terms of reforestation that will be 
available. There is also, as you well know, an effort to try to 
accelerate our hazardous fuel reduction efforts. There will be 
an effort to continue to support community resilience.
    There is a series of things that we are doing in Colorado 
and in the West, and with the resources we now have we are 
going to accelerate that as quickly as we possibly can.
    Senator Bennet. I really want to thank you for your broad 
commitment on this issue, Mr. Secretary. This is poorly 
understood by, I think, politicians in the East, certainly, and 
we are in a crisis now.
    For the Committee, this is where our watershed are. You 
know, every single farmer and rancher in Colorado who is 
downstream from these rivers that start in Colorado, which is a 
lot of farmers and ranchers in a lot of different States, are 
depending on us to figure out how to deal with the ravages of 
climate change and the complete lack of investment the Federal 
Government historically has made.
    I want to thank you again for the $5 billion that is in the 
infrastructure package that is going to allow us to do some 
important work on land here. It is not enough, and as you said, 
Mr. Secretary, waiting to just fight fires is the most cost-
ineffective way of dealing with this, $50,000 an acre versus 
$1,400 or $1,500 an acre.
    I wanted just to shift to one other thing, because you were 
kind enough to--it has been just over a year since you and 
Senator Mike Crapo and representatives from two producers and 
farm workers had a meeting to discuss ag labor issues. We 
talked about the urgency of addressing farm labor needs and 
providing some sort of pathway for those workers who have 
largely sustained this country's food supply throughout the 
pandemic.
    With both inflation and the crisis in Ukraine I am 
extremely worried that the H-2A program is going to be 
unworkable for our farmers and other employers. We should be 
working to fix the H-2A program so that the agriculture 
industry can have certainty with their labor.
    I want to say just how grateful I am to Senator Crapo for 
hanging in there on this issue. It is not easy for him to do 
it. If there are others that want to join the effort we would 
certainly love to have you, because we have made changes to the 
House version of the bill and we would like to get it over the 
finish line here.
    I wonder if you could talk about, Mr. Secretary, what you 
are seeing and hearing from employers around the country on the 
need for H-2A reform and what we stand to lose if we continue 
to perpetuate the system that we have.
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, it is my view that it is a 
crisis. It is a crisis that could result in a number of 
particularly small and mid-sized farming operations not being 
able to sustain activities, particularly in the dairy industry. 
There is a need for stability. There is a need for a fix. There 
is a need for courage, political courage, to pass immigration 
reform.
    The Ag Modernization Act is a bill that both the industry 
and labor has agreed upon, which should make it relatively 
simple to be for it. I tell you, people are puzzled as to why 
this has not passed. When I travel and talk to farmers they go, 
``We need to do something about labor. Why can't they get 60 
votes in the Senate?'' I do not have an answer for that.
    Senator Bennet. I will say, Madam Chair, again to my 
colleagues, any of you, anybody who would like to try to be 
part of getting this over the finish line here and helping 
partner with me and Mike Crapo, we would deeply appreciate it. 
Thank you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, thank you so much for your 
leadership, and I would just say this is the moment where we 
have better opportunity than I think ever before, and frankly, 
I would call on everyone in the agriculture industry to lean 
in, as they lean in on other issues that they are concerned 
about. If everybody leaned in like they lean in on tax policy, 
I think we could get this done.
    Senator Bennet. Yes, and I know my time is over, but the 
Secretary is absolutely right. This is something that the 
growers and labor have come together on, so let's try to get it 
approved.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. No reason to. If people want to do 
this, if the agricultural community wants to do this, we will 
do it. We see their power when they really want to get 
something done. I know they care, so I am doing a call to 
everybody within earshot here that this is the moment to get it 
done. Thank you.
    Senator Hoeven.
    Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Secretary, good 
to see you.
    I guess the first thing I want to bring up is Senator 
Klobuchar, Senator Hyde-Smith, myself, all of whom are on the 
Ag Committee, also Senator Cramer, and then House members too, 
on a bipartisan basis, have sent you a letter in regard to the 
end date on crop insurance. Because of excess moisture in North 
Dakota, Minnesota, and some other States, our farmers are 
butting up against that end date, whereby if they do not have 
their crops in the ground--be it corn, soybeans, whatever it 
is--that then they suffer discounts on crop insurance, which 
then, of course, causes then to go to preventive plant, because 
they become concerned about that discount.
    Well, obviously in the time of food inflation we want as 
many of them as possible planting crops. The proposal to you is 
through CCC or one of our programs to actually offer to cover 
some of that discount so that they will actually go ahead and 
try to get those crops in the ground, even though they are 
going past that crop insurance end date.
    I think it is something to look at because it would 
actually save the USDA money, save the government money, from 
the standpoint of you are not paying out more preventive plant. 
You are paying out less by covering that discount, and, at the 
same time, you get more crops in the ground to help with food 
inflation.
    That is the proposal to you, but it is something you would 
need to move on pretty quick if you are going to do something 
to help there, because obviously they are getting those crops 
in the ground now and they have to make those decisions.
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, is this the letter that was 
sent yesterday?
    Senator Hoeven. Mm-hmm.
    Secretary Vilsack. Okay. I have not had a chance to review 
it, and I am happy to talk to our team about it. I think part 
of the challenge that we face whenever we get into this 
particular area is making sure that we do not compromise the 
relationship between the insurers and the producers in terms of 
the overall crop insurance program, that we do not essentially 
create a circumstance where the risk is difficult for the crop 
insurance folks to be able to calculate. I am happy to take a 
look at what you all have written. As I think we have exhibited 
in the past we are more than happy to try to provide help and 
assistance where it makes sense.
    Senator Hoeven. Well, yes, we appreciate that, and I did 
talk to members of your staff about it as well, and that is why 
we have pitched in the format that we have, so that you are not 
dealing with your insurance contracts and you do not run into 
any of those issues. That is specifically why we structured it 
the way we have.
    I appreciate your help and support and work on the disaster 
assistance that we call WHIP+ but you have called it ERP, 
Emergency Relief Program, and also the Emergency Livestock 
Relief Program. Under ERP, Phase 1 is out. Just a brief recap 
of how that is going and when you anticipate getting to Phase 
2.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, on the crop side there are roughly 
over 300,000 applications that are prefilled that have gone out 
and are going out this week by Friday. All 300,000 will be in 
the hands of farmers. Prefilled applications, so all they have 
to do is check a few boxes and sign it. There have already been 
a number of farmers that have come into the office, and they 
have already received their checks. I believe it is a matter of 
days once you basically file your application you receive the 
resources.
    That is the first phase, and we would expect the second 
phase sometime this summer. After we have gotten a better 
understanding of precisely who was not covered by Noninsured 
Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), who was not covered by 
crop insurance, who was not covered by the Livestock Forage 
Program, so that we would be in a position to be able to define 
the universe of that second tranche. We wanted to get resources 
out as quickly as we could, and I think we have been able to 
accomplish that.
    Senator Hoeven. I appreciate your work on that and on the 
Emergency Livestock Relief Program, which we are working with 
you on as well.
    My other question, though, relates to livestock indemnity, 
the Livestock Indemnity Program. You and I talked about, you 
know, where they suffer mortality due to these blizzards is 
really in the smaller calves, for the most part, that 250 
pounds or less.
    We actually worked with our FSA director out in North 
Dakota, Marcy Svenningsen, who is doing a fine job. One of the 
ideas we talked about was combining those two smallest weight 
categories in terms of the reimbursement rate as something that 
would really work. The 250 pounds or less does not work. It 
just does not compensate the rancher for what they lost there. 
If you actually combined the two bottom of the four tiers it 
probably would work. That was an idea she put forward, and I 
thought a very good one, and so I want to pose it to you as 
well.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, as you know there were changes 
made in 2020, to create a new category, and we are certainly 
committed to taking a look at realigning the categories if it 
makes sense. Happy to do that.
    I would say, just as a general proposition, the questions 
you are asking, Senator, I think raise my opportunity to say 
when you are looking at farm bill, I tell you, this notion of 
disaster assistance, this notion of helping farmers through 
difficult times because of climate-related circumstances, there 
has got to be a real thought behind this in terms of 
flexibility, in terms of the capacity to adjust, depending upon 
conditions. Because I think we are facing a much different set 
of circumstances than we have in the past relative to disaster, 
and I think your questions basically underscore that.
    Senator Hoeven. Right. We have worked in that way to try to 
develop these programs, be it WHIP+ or what we do with some of 
the livestock programs, with the idea that we will go into the 
farm bill and address them as part of the farm bill.
    Secretary Vilsack. It is important to understand the 
regional difference and the commodity differences.
    Senator Hoeven. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right on. Thank 
you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. I believe we have 
Senator Gillibrand with us virtually, and then next will be 
Senator Ernst.
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
    The recent mass shooting in a grocery store on Buffalo's 
east side left an entire community without access to fresh and 
nutritious food. The incident has exacerbated the food desert 
that already exists there.
    Buffalo is not the exception, however, but more of the 
rule. Throughout many counties and cities across my State that 
are food deserts, sadly. This is an issue that plagues the 
entire country and not just New York State.
    Secretary Vilsack, what is the USDA doing to support 
communities that are situation in food deserts, and what are 
the existing resources currently available for communities 
living in food deserts?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we are administering the 
Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which is providing resources 
to communities to address the issue of food deserts.
    I intend to give a fairly significant speech next week at 
Georgetown, laying out some additional support for local and 
regional food systems, and the Healthy Food Financing 
Initiative will be part of the announcements we will make in 
that speech. We have resources under the American Rescue Plan 
that we are going to dedicate to try to provide some additional 
assistance. In fact, I think one of the potential grants is 
actually in the area in Buffalo that you mentioned.
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you. The Biden administration's 
focus on creating economic opportunity in rural America has 
been very positive. USDA's Rural Development mission is focused 
on helping improve the economy and quality of life in rural 
America and will be centrally engaged in this effort.
    My concern is whether the USDA's Rural Development efforts 
have infrastructure and staffing to meet the increased workload 
to provide needed resources to rural communities. What can we 
do to help improve outreach to our rural communities?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I really appreciate that 
question because the answer is we do not have adequate staff. 
It is one of the reasons why we have requested, in the 
President's Fiscal Year 2023 budget, additional resources to 
hire roughly 450 additional people in the Rural Development 
area.
    I will tell you, there is tremendous demand. Just to give 
you a sense of this, our business and industry loan program is 
basically out of money. There is so much activity and so much 
opportunity that is being created in rural places that those 
resources have been utilized, and we still have, obviously, 
several more months left in the fiscal year. We are going to 
have to transfer resources to make sure that we can meet the 
demand.
    It is an issue, and we hope, as Congress passes the budget, 
that they pay attention to this issue of personnel.
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you. With the cost of food 
increasing, school cafeterias will be stretched to provide 
affordable, nutritious meals. The enhanced pandemic relief 
funding for school reimbursement programs ends with the 2022 
school year, which will compound this problem. How can we 
assure that the USDA's National School Lunch Program will 
provide adequate funding for our students to receive nutritious 
meals for the 2022-2023 school year?
    Secretary Vilsack. Continue to have hope and faith and 
trust in the Congress to basically see the wisdom of continuing 
the Universal Free Meal Program for another year. If that does 
not happen then we will take a look at what we have done in the 
past, which is to provide additional resources, which obviously 
are not as significant and not as effective as the Universal 
Free Meal.
    You are going to see a 40 percent reduction in school 
budgets as a result of the ending of the pandemic assistance 
efforts, and that is the reason why we have asked for an 
additional year.
    Senator Gillibrand. Well I will support that effort. When 
you came back to USDA there were three major organic 
rulemakings pending: the Origin of Livestock rule, which was 
finalized recently; the Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards 
rule, which is at the OMB right now as a proposed rule; and the 
Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule. This important rule is 
the most significant revision to organic standards since the 
publication of the original organic rule in 2001. It will give 
the National Organic Program some more enforcement tools and 
responsibilities to continue to strengthen the integrity of the 
organic label and the organic supply chain.
    The 2018 Farm Bill laid out parameters for this new 
rulemaking and required the rulemaking to be completed by 
December 2019. Comment period ended on the proposed SOE rule in 
October 2020. What is the update on this final rule, and will 
you prioritize its promulgation?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we expect that all three of 
those rules will be out by the end of the year.
    Senator Gillibrand. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Senator Ernst.
    Senator Ernst. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank 
you, Secretary Vilsack, for being with us today. It is always 
good to see you.
    It has been a while since you have been in front of the 
Committee, and there has just been so much happening across the 
front of agriculture, and you have heard a number of those 
issues coming from my colleagues.
    Right now you know our farmers are hurting, and there is a 
multifaceted crisis happening across the Nation's ag community. 
There is a tidal wave of supply chain issues preventing our 
farmers from even getting the parts they need during the spring 
planting season. Farmers are paying more for fertilizer and 
other inputs, and they are really worried about the 
availability of them next year as well. With the sharp spike in 
a number of these input prices then, of course, we have the 
rise of inflation. The food that is actually grown is costing 
Iowa consumers significantly more.
    We have seen an 11 percent increase in food costs since 
January 2021, and at the same time if we compare and contrast 
this the Administration has been pushing a pretty radical goal 
to conserve 30 percent of the U.S. land and water by 2030. The 
scope of this 30x30 Initiative is expansive. We have tried to 
do a dive into it, but it is littered with a lot of different 
buzzwords but has very little when it comes to actual details 
of how this will be accomplished.
    One of the things that we looked for was an actual 
definition for conservation or what lands would be included. If 
we can dive into a few of those issues. I had this issue raised 
by an Iowan at one of my town halls just recently. He had a 
concern about the 30x30 Initiative, and his concern was that it 
would be used as a method to undermine private property rights 
and lock up more land. There are also concerns within 
recreational fishing and hunting communities that it will be 
used as a means to arbitrarily restrict land access for those 
types of activities.
    Can you commit to me here today that the 30x30 Initiative 
will not be used to undermine private property rights or to 
lock up land used for recreational fishing and hunting?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I would be happy to commit to 
the fact that private property rights will be respected in 
connection with any activities relative to conservation. This 
is voluntary. It is conservation-oriented. It is farmer-led. It 
is basically utilizing the conservation programs that you and I 
have been supportive of during our entire public careers. That 
is what this is. We are going to continue to look for ways in 
which we can provide assistance and help to expand the ability 
of farmers and ranchers to utilize conservation tools.
    Senator Ernst. Will we get additional details on how this 
is going to be accomplished? We have not been able to locate 
specifics on the initiative.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, I think the details that you are 
going to get are the development of an atlas, that is 
essentially going to keep track of the activities of farmers, 
ranchers, and producers relative to conservation.
    For example, Robert Bonnie was out in Wyoming recently, 
announcing a corridor initiative, a migratory corridor that is 
going to be protected. It is a partnership between the State of 
Wyoming, a number of those conservation, hunting and angler 
groups, to create a conservation corridor, resources provided 
by the USDA, State resources, combining, leveraging, creating 
an opportunity for assistance. It is that type of program that 
I think it is collaborative, it is farmer-led, it is rancher-
led, and I think, you know, we are going to continue to 
emphasize the fact it is voluntary, and it is by all means 
going to respect private property right.
    Senator Ernst. Will they also maintain the rights of those 
hunters and fishers to engage in those types of recreational 
activities then?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, part of the reason we are doing 
this is basically to expand opportunities for hunting and 
fishing, because we understand and appreciate the important 
role that plays in a rural economy.
    Senator Ernst. Okay. I do appreciate that.
    Iowa farmers are really working hard right now to raise the 
crops and the livestock that are feeding our Nation and the 
world, and they are being hit hard by inflation and supply 
chain challenges. You are the co-chair of the President's 
Supply Chain Disruption Task Force. What actions has the task 
force taken to help lower prices and ensure supply today of 
those necessary inputs for farmers during this growing season 
and for next year?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, we have been working in terms of 
our ports to increase hours of operation. We are providing 
opportunities for pop-up facilities that will basically take 
some of the pressure and congestion off of the ports. 
Department of Labor is working on expanding apprenticeships, to 
be able to put folks behind the wheel of trucks that are 
necessary. We have worked with the Surface Transportation Board 
to encourage our rail system to basically make the investments 
necessary to have a more resilient system.
    As you know, the Strategic Oil Reserve has been tapped. We 
have obviously provided for summer utilization of E15. There 
are ways in which we, as I alluded to earlier, ways in which we 
are, at the Department of Agriculture, assisting folks during a 
tough time. That gets into the TEFAP program, the SNAP program, 
the WIC program, things of that nature.
    It is a combination of all this, and we are going to 
continue to work hard to find ways to bring costs down.
    Senator Ernst. Yes, thank you. I appreciate it, Mr. 
Secretary. Hopefully with this supply chain disruption task 
force we can see more information broadcast widely so our 
citizens know exactly how the Administration is working with 
these problems.
    Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Absolutely. Thank you. Senator 
Tuberville.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank 
you, Mr. Secretary, for being here today.
    Mr. Secretary, Alabama's hard-working farmers and producers 
continue to face uphill battles. As they work to feed our great 
nation, constant roadblocks, and government overreach are 
creating challenging environments for my constituents. Our 
producers continue to face skyrocketing input costs for fuel, 
seeds, equipment, fertilizer, combined with supply chain 
disruptions, shortages, and backlogs.
    Since President Biden took office in 2021, inflation has 
caused prices in Alabama to increase over 10 percent. In April, 
Alabamians were paying $478 more each month for everyday 
expenses. It is more expensive for everyone to feed their 
families, fuel their cars, power their homes. This is not 
sustainable.
    Today gas prices in Alabama are $4.30 for regular gasoline, 
$5.36 for diesel. These prices are almost $1.50 more than this 
time last year. Secretary, I call on you to be a partner to 
help relieve the regulatory inflationary burdens on our farmers 
so they can do what they do best--feed the world.
    Now as we seek to begin farm bill discussions in the coming 
months, it seems that the Biden administration is only focused 
on two areas of the comprehensive package--nutrition and 
conservation. While these farm bill titles are important, so 
are the traditional farm programs like crop insurance, farm 
commodity programs that help our producers safely manage risk.
    Also, we need to acknowledge and thank our farmers and 
foresters who have worked hard for generations, and continue to 
work hard to voluntarily implement practices of sustainability 
and conservation on their land as they see fit. They are the 
first conservationists and best stewards of their land, knowing 
it must be preserved for generations to come.
    My first question, Mr. Secretary, is changes within the 
Administration keep bringing newly written regulations 
surrounding the Waters of the U.S., or the WOTUS. While know 
the Department of Agriculture does not have direct role with 
WOTUS as compared to the EPA and the Corps of Engineers, your 
Department clearly has direct engagements with landowners and 
our Nation's natural resources.
    The Supreme Court plans to make a ruling surrounding WOTUS 
later this year. Do you commit to working with others in the 
Biden administration and our Nation's farmers and foresters to 
uphold and implement the final decision from the Supreme Court 
in a timely, efficient fashion, and can you elaborate on that?
    Secretary Vilsack. Sure. Senator, I appreciate the 
question. We have a close relationship with EPA on this 
particular issue, wanting to make sure that as EPA promulgates 
and implements rules and regulations of any kind, including 
Waters of the U.S., that it does so with farmer input. We have 
encouraged Administrator Regan, and I think he has been very 
true to his word. He is sitting down, and he is listening, and 
he is making himself and his team available for farmer input.
    Our second responsibility, I think, is to take a look at as 
rules and regulations are implemented how can USDA provide 
resources and assistance to enable farmers and ranchers to 
implement whatever the rule might be in the most efficient and 
effective way for them and for their operation, and we 
obviously will be committed to doing that.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you. You know, between the 
publication of 2012 and 2017 Census of Agriculture report, 
67,000 farms ceased operation--67,000--and over 14 million 
acres of land went out of farming. What is your department 
doing to help protect and restore our Nation's farmland and 
farmers?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, there are a couple of things. I 
think first and foremost we are trying to figure out ways in 
which we can expand on what I refer to as the extraction 
economy. Right now, Senator, essentially farmers have two ways 
to make money. They can sell their crops or they can feed their 
crops to livestock and sell the product to the livestock. The 
reality is they need more revenue streams, and that is one of 
the reasons why the Climate-Smart Agricultural Product 
Initiative is so important, because it creates additional 
revenue streams for farmers.
    Also converting agricultural waste into more biobased 
products, another revenue stream. Increasing the number of 
revenue streams is one avenue.
    The second avenue is making sure that farmers have access 
to the information about programs that are available to them. 
We are expanding significantly the technical assistance, 
particularly to historically underserved farmers, because they 
are the ones who are most struggling and oftentimes they are 
either not aware or unable to go through the process of 
applying for the various tools and various programs that we 
have to help them. With these technical assistance grants that 
we are making to a number of organizations we are now providing 
more assistance and more help so folks can get access to the 
programs.
    Then the final thing I would say is we obviously 
continuously look for ways in which we can help beginning 
farmers and ranchers get started, and focusing on a variety of 
folks, including veterans. A number of things that we are 
doing.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you. One last quick question. Are 
you familiar with the EQIP proposal to our farmers about cover 
crops?
    Secretary Vilsack. Sure.
    Senator Tuberville. I am having problems in my State. My 
farmers are asking me, why would we plant these three grains 
when we do wheat? We have cover crops, and we need more wheat. 
We need more things that we can sell.
    Secretary Vilsack. We essentially have recently indicated, 
as part of this effort to try to expand production through our 
conservation agreements, that wheat would be essentially 
treated as a cover crop, an appropriate cover crop. We just 
recently announced that, Senator.
    Senator Tuberville. That will not be a problem.
    Secretary Vilsack. Should not be.
    Senator Tuberville. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Absolutely. Thank you. Next is Senator 
Smith, and then Senator Grassley.
    Senator Smith. Great. Thank you. Welcome to the Committee, 
Secretary Vilsack. It is great to see you again. I want to 
thank you for your visits to Minnesota. I understand you were 
at the Crookston campus to give a commencement speech recently, 
and we also appreciated you visiting us last August to talk 
about the drought we were experiencing, and also the visit to 
the rural hospital that you and I made together. I appreciate 
that.
    You know Minnesota well and you understand. I know that 
Minnesota is blessed because we have such a diverse 
agricultural economy, in really all ways. Particularly, we have 
Hmong, Native, Latino, Somali, Indigenous, and Black farmers 
that all play a really important role in Minnesota's 
agricultural sector.
    During your confirmation hearing I asked you what you 
thought the USDA could do, both internally and externally, to 
break down some of the barriers facing farmers of color and 
business owners of color. I have asked this question of pretty 
much every nominee who has come before this Committee.
    The idea, the need, of course, is to address some of the 
systemic and historic challenges that the Department has faced, 
and I know that you understand this. You and I have talked 
about it frequently.
    I am wondering if you could give us an update, give us a 
sense of how you have made equity and fairness a priority at 
the USDA, and tell us a little bit, maybe give us some examples 
of the work that you have been doing.
    Secretary Vilsack. Thank you, Senator. Internally, we have 
asked each of our mission areas to ostensibly establish a 
review of their programs with the use of an equity lens in 
everything that they do, and to put together a strategic plan 
to incorporate equity in all decisionmaking. Those plans have 
now been consolidated into a single Department-wide plan. Over 
500 recommendations that are in the process of being 
implemented. Each mission area is going to have a chief 
diversity officer that will also be responsible for overseeing 
that operation and reporting to us results.
    That is not enough to do an internal review. We also have 
to have an external review, and that external review is now 
being conducted by the Equity Commission that was formed as a 
result of the American Rescue Plan. We have individuals who are 
very serious thinkers, who are taking a look at the systemic 
nature of our programs, and we expect and anticipate the 
beginnings of a set of recommendations on both the Farm Service 
programs and on the Rural Development programs during the 
course of this calendar year. We will certainly look for ways 
to implement the Equity Commission recommendations to remove 
those systemic barriers.
    The third thing I would say is the reality is that many of 
those underserved populations simply either do not know about 
the USDA programs or are unable to access the very detailed 
information that is necessary to apply for some of these 
programs or, frankly, do not trust the USDA.
    In an effort to try to build a bridge and to build a better 
understanding and a connection to our programs and those folks 
who need our programs the most, we are in the process of using 
American Rescue Plan resources to essentially provide grants to 
organizations that have a trusting relationship with 
historically underserved producers and creating an opportunity 
for those entities to help those individuals apply for and 
receive the benefits of programs. We are excited about that 
opportunity.
    NRCS has also expanded on this by establishing another $50 
million initiative, and 108 organizations are now contracting, 
including the Hmong population in Minnesota, in an effort to 
try to make sure that we are getting the technical information 
and assistance out there to everyone who needs the programs.
    That is a representative sampling. I could go on for a long 
time on this, but I do not want to use up all of your time.
    Senator Smith. Well, I appreciate you putting into practice 
your pledge to make this a priority, and I am glad to hear 
about what sounds to me like the sort of a navigator strategy 
for connecting underserved communities to USDA programs, 
including, I hope, language translation services, which can be 
really helpful for a lot of Hmong farmers and other farmers. It 
sounds like we are working on that, so I very much appreciate 
that.
    Just in the short time I have left, there are many of us on 
this Committee who have worked a lot on issues of market 
concentration. I suspect that my colleague, Senator Grassley, 
might bring this up next. I am very happy to be supporting and 
working with Senator Grassley and Senator Fischer on the work 
that they are doing around market concentration and bringing 
more transparency there.
    A huge issue in Minnesota, where farmers, especially beef 
producers, are making pennies on the dollar while the big 
processors are making a lot of money, and everybody is paying 
more at the grocery store shelves.
    My question is, could you just quickly address the 
opportunity for the USDA to do better and more research on the 
impacts of market concentration? The University of Minnesota's 
Food Protection and Defense Institute is doing some great work 
to understand better how the lack of competition in the packing 
sector is directly impacting producers, and I wonder if you 
could just talk briefly about what more the USDA could be doing 
there on research.
    Secretary Vilsack. Part of what we announced as part of our 
package to provide assistance and help to expand processing 
capacity today is a study that was required by the President's 
competition order, that speaks a bit to this issue.
    Second, our Chief Economist's Office is obviously engaged 
and involved in taking a look at the market and how 
concentration can potentially impact, positively or negatively, 
capacity and income.
    You know, the fact that we had 263 applications for our 
$150 million, almost $900 million in requests, $5 billion in 
projects, suggests that there is a real demand and need. I am 
excited about the opportunity for us to use the resources that 
are available under the American Rescue Plan to begin creating 
more capacity and, therefore, more competition, which we think 
ultimately will lead to better prices. Obviously, the 
legislation that you all are working on, we look forward to, 
when and if it is passed, to be able to implement it in the way 
that you envision.
    Senator Smith. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Senator Grassley.
    Senator Grassley. First of all I want to congratulate you 
on the announcement that you made about rules beefing up the 
Packers and Stockyards Act. I know that you are committed to 
that, the use of that act, and the enforcement of that act.
    The first thing that I am going to ask you about is pretty 
simple, whether or not what I am going to describe to you was 
the USDA consulted in regard to this. Two weeks ago, the 
Solicitor General filed a brief of whether or not the Supreme 
Court should take a case involving widely used pesticides, in 
Iowa what we call Roundup, but the big classification is 
glyphosate.
    In that brief, the Solicitor General flipped the 
government's long-held position that has been the position of 
the law since 1972, that Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts State law. Then the Solicitor 
General argued even against the EPA authority that the law 
requires. Were you consulted on that in any way?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we were not. We continue to 
work with the EPA in terms of crop protection programs or 
products in an effort to try to make sure that farmers and 
ranchers have what they need.
    Senator Grassley. Yes. I think it is clear in the law that 
the EPA has this sole authority, and I think it is going to be 
a problem if the Supreme Court would not take this case because 
State law is trying to go beyond what the FIFRA law allows.
    Let us just suppose that they would take this case and they 
would somehow say that this California law is a legitimate law. 
Is the USDA doing any analysis that removing these products 
like Roundup from the marketplace would do to U.S. grain 
production, because, you know, this seems to me that this has a 
big thing to do with the productivity of our American 
agriculture.
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I am not sure that I know the 
answer to that question. I am more than happy to go back and 
ask our folks if they are in the process of reviewing that. We 
obviously have had a lot on our plate recently with global food 
security concerns, and that has been my focus. I would be more 
than happy to check with our folks and see whether or not they 
have done that. Depending upon the outcome of the case and 
depending upon the nature of the decision that may be 
forthcoming we will take a look at it.
    Senator Grassley. I would like to put in the record, Madam 
Chairman, a letter I wrote to the President on that subject.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Without objection.

    [The letter can be found on page 62 in the appendix.]

    Senator Grassley. The next one is, because of this 
possibility that we are going to run short of grain worldwide, 
probably not in the United States but worldwide, and increased 
U.S. production would have something to do with the shortage, 
mostly caused now because of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, has 
USDA discussed opening up the Conservation Reserve Program so 
that farmers can plant on those acres under these conditions 
that we have now?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, first of all, Senator, we 
announced the fact that in terms of the general sign-up, 
approximately a little over 1 million acres that was in the 
program is coming out of the program, so that 1 million acres 
is going to be available.
    Second, we announced an effort to try to encourage those 
whose acres are coming out of the program to be able to access 
their fields more quickly. As you know, they cannot, based on 
the rules, go into the fields and take activities prior to 
October 1st. Well, we are basically suggesting that they can 
now voluntarily terminate, without penalty, for those acres 
that are now coming out of the program so that they would be in 
a position to do work now on that land, to either prepare it 
for a crop or to potentially even think about other crops that 
could be grown during the course of the winter.
    We have looked for ways in which we can provide help and 
assistance.
    Senator Grassley. My time is out. I may submit some 
questions for answer in writing on other subjects. Thank you, 
Madam Chairman.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Senator Lujan and 
then Senator Marshall.
    Senator Lujan. Thank you very much, Madam Chair and Ranking 
Member. Secretary Vilsack, good to see you sir.
    As you know, New Mexico is currently facing the largest 
fire in our State's history, having now burned over 311,000 
acres, and directly impacting farmers, ranchers, families, and 
rural communities across the State.
    I want to thank you and the United States Forest Service 
for the decision this week to pause all prescribed burns for 90 
days while the Department reviews the process, and also for the 
exemption that allows ranchers to be able to access U.S. forest 
lands where they have grazing permits.
    As you know, this was a prescribed burn, and recognizing 
that, over 95 percent, 97 percent of prescribed burns do not 
result in this, I am more interested in the two percent that 
do, because this has destroyed lives.
    Accessing grazing still remains a top concern with a lot of 
families in these communities, Secretary Vilsack. What I am 
hoping is that I can have your commitment that you and the 
Department will do all in your power to ensure ranchers in New 
Mexico have access to all available grazing and feed options, 
including allowing the emergency haying and grazing of land 
enrolled in CRP.
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we will be happy to work with 
you to make sure that we are responsive to the needs of your 
producers. It is a commitment that I make to you, and it is a 
commitment I made to your Governor when we met last week--I 
think it was last week, or the week before last. Very difficult 
situation. I totally understand the concerns and stress that 
you and the folks in New Mexico are feeling right now.
    Senator Lujan. I appreciate that, Mr. Secretary. The other 
area that I have been hearing from farmers is that they are 
being told they are not eligible for preventive plant payments 
this growing season because of changes to the crop insurance 
program made by the Trump administration. As farmers and 
ranchers across the West, and especially in New Mexico, 
continue to deal with historic drought and now wildfires. I 
find it very concerning that this vital risk management tool 
would remain unavailable to the producers who need it most.
    Mr. Secretary, has the Biden administration examined the 
Trump administration's change to this program, and if so, why 
was the decision made to keep the change in place?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I think you are referring to 
preventive planning and the 1 in 4 rule. We have looked at it, 
and we actually have made changes in some areas, for some 
commodities. I would say to you that our review is not 
finished. We need to continue to look for ways in which we can 
create flexibility, for the very reason that you have 
addressed.
    Yes, changes have been made, and I suspect and anticipate 
that there will be additional changes forthcoming.
    Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. Where there is a lot of 
rain and water I can understand with what the goals was, to try 
to phase a little bit of this out. Back west, where we do not 
have water, and now where families are devastated because of 
fire, if they were in three years of drought, the formula is 
kicking in, it is just a kick in the face. I appreciate the 
work you are doing in this space and I look forward to working 
with you in there as well.
    The watersheds back in New Mexico, as you know, our water, 
for the most part, from small communities comes from watersheds 
up in the mountains. We depend on that snowpack, and we do our 
due diligence to keep it clean and keep it flowing and get it 
to the plants so we can it to families.
    Now small, historically underserved communities in New 
Mexico are not only continuing to combat active fires but as 
monsoon season approaches, having to quickly pivot to examine 
the damage done to our watersheds. Concerns range from the 
cumbersome process of having to seek cost-share assistance 
waivers to fix problems the Federal Government caused to 
uncertainty related to administrative and technical assistance 
necessary to effectively deploy the resources once they are 
delivered.
    Mr. Secretary, do I have your commitment to work with me 
and fellow New Mexicans to ensure that our communities have 
your and the agency's full support to provide the necessary 
financial, technical, and administrative support to recover 
from these fires, mainly in that water space?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, you do.
    Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. Will you direct all the 
offices under your jurisdiction to prioritize making the 
appropriate determination in a thorough and timely manner that 
allows aid to be released?
    Secretary Vilsack. I think that has already been done, but 
I will continue to emphasize it.
    Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. The last question I have 
is around PFAS and dairy cattle. Because of all the challenges 
that have already occurred from being able to move forward from 
the previous administration, who did not want to do anything--I 
want to thank you for immediately taking this on as soon as you 
took office--but now there is a question over the formula, and 
determining when accounts to get paid.
    Now because of the reality, if you can explain to me how 
USDA came to the decision associated with the timing of 
payments for cattle versus when these cows were determined to 
be contaminated, it is a little different than, you know, a 
healthy cow, I would say, or a healthy dairy cow. This is very 
different. Explain why the dairy should not be paid the day the 
cows were deemed contaminated.
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, I appreciate the question. 
First of all, as you know, we inherited a rule that would not 
have allowed for reimbursement for the value of the cow, and, 
in fact, what was done was basically pay for the milk that was 
contaminated. We continued to do that until we finally realized 
that really what we had to do was to actually pay for the cow. 
Dairies have received a significant amount of resources, in 
some cases millions of dollars of resources, for the milk that 
was contaminated.
    We are using the Livestock Indemnity Program structure 
which basically provides for the way in which the valuation is 
calculated. The difference between that and the Livestock 
Indemnity Program is that instead of 75 percent of the value we 
are awarding 100 percent of the value. We also made a decision 
to allow for reimbursement of cattle that were contaminated, 
even before the rule was in place.
    We think we have taken three steps: providing compensation 
for the milk, 100 percent of the loss, as well as covering cows 
that were contaminated before the rule was put into place, 
which we think is a fair and reasonable allocation of resources 
and fairness to the dairy industry in your State.
    Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. Madam Chair, I see my 
time has more than expired. There are a few others that I will 
submit into the record, but thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you 
for what you are doing, and please, everyone, pray for our 
State and the people with the fires that they are being 
impacted with. We need your help on this, so thank you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Very serious.
    Senator Marshall.
    Senator Marshall. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Secretary, it 
is great and we are honored to have you here in person for the 
first time this Congress.
    You mentioned in your written testimony that under 
President Biden's leadership America is building back better. 
Mr. Secretary, I am here to fight for American Agriculture for 
Kansas farmers. As you know, farmers and ranchers are facing 
record inflation. Fertilizer prices have quadrupled. The price 
of diesel has doubled. Farmers cannot find inputs, pesticide 
inputs. They cannot find tractor parts. We feel, many farmers 
feel that these supply chain issues have been exacerbated by 
President Biden's policies.
    Parents cannot find baby formula. The hope for new ag trade 
deals is bleak. We do not have a USTR for ag nominee. The EPA 
continues to push non-science-based decisions that eliminate 
pesticide tools that help produce higher yields but yet 
decrease their carbon footprint. Based upon your written 
statement I do not know which producers you are talking to but 
they are not producers I have been seeing in Kansas.
    You have been Secretary of Agriculture now for almost 10 
years, on and off. We expect you to be a loud voice, a voice 
for farmers, for agriculture producers in the White House.
    I want to followup with Senator Grassley's comment about 
the U.S. Solicitor General statement on Federal presumption of 
pesticide labels, emphasizing that glyphosate is reused in 
roughly 40 percent of acreage. It troubles me. I think you said 
you were not consulted on this issue. We expect you to be 
proactive. Did you not speak to the President or the EPA about 
this? Are you not urging them? Do they not understand how 
important these pesticides are to decrease the carbon footprint 
and increase the production of our land?
    Again, you have been doing this for 10 years. We expected a 
loud voice. Or maybe you agree with the Administration. Maybe 
you agree with the EPA.
    Secretary Vilsack. I am sorry. I am not sure what the 
question is, Senator.
    Senator Marshall. Yes. Why are you not a louder voice? Why 
are you not being proactive? It troubles me that you are not 
willing to speak up for American agriculture with this 
Administration and push back on the EPA to push back on the 
White House's policies in regard to this glyphosate.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, Senator, in fairness let's take a 
look at the record. You mentioned exports and trade. We have 
had a record export year.
    Senator Marshall. Can you speak to my question? Could you 
answer my question?
    Secretary Vilsack. Yes, I----
    Senator Marshall. Are you pushing back on the glyphosate 
issue?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, I have actually talked to the EPA 
about crop protection and encouraged the EPA to continue to 
follow the science. That is what American agriculture has asked 
me to do.
    Senator Marshall. You testified to Senator Grassley that 
you were not consulted, but now you are saying you were being 
proactive?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, you asked me if I was consulted, 
and basically I have talked to the EPA about crop protection 
activities and products and encouraged the EPA to continue to 
follow the science, and encouraged them to listen to farmers 
and the farmers' concerns, and frankly, they have.
    With all due respect, I am representing farmers. We are 
representing farmers on things like E15. We are representing 
farmers on record trade. We are representing farmers on 
climate-smart agriculture and providing resources. We are 
representing farmers in terms of disaster assistance. Six 
billion dollars of pandemic assistance came out from this 
debate----
    Senator Marshall. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I want to go on 
to my next question. I want to talk about fertilizers just for 
a second. As you know, nitrogen-based fertilizers are dependent 
upon natural gas as a substrate as well as to heat the process 
up. Natural gas has doubled. Nitrogen-based fertilizers have 
quadrupled.
    One of the things we could do is to maybe decrease some of 
the tariffs on fertilizers coming into this country. Have you 
spoken out as a strong voice for agriculture to the President 
as well as ITC chair about maybe decreasing those tariffs? This 
administration has done a really incredible job, I guess you 
would say, decreasing tariffs on solar panels. What are we 
doing to help lower the tariffs on fertilizers?
    Secretary Vilsack. We have talked about that issue. We have 
also pushed back on export bans that have exacerbated the 
problem. I have been very vocal about that. We have created 
alternative risk management tools for farmers to be able to 
reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer that they need and be 
able to be compensated for the crops that they may not be able 
to produce. We have talked about conservation programs in terms 
of precision agriculture. We----
    Senator Marshall. I need to get one more question in here 
if I can. 3030 is a big issue back home. When we spoke to you 
before, your plan was more CRP, but now we are talking about 
taking CRP out of the program. How do you balance those goals 
in this Administration? What does that look like going forward 
to you?
    Secretary Vilsack. Trust in the farmers. Farmers are 
basically speaking to us in terms of what their needs are. We 
are seeing an expansion of conservation practices with the EQIP 
and CSP, and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, the 
Climate-Smart Agriculture Product----
    Senator Marshall. Previously you said your plan for the 30 
program was more CRP, but it looks like more CRP is going to 
come out. How do you get to your goal of 3030?
    Secretary Vilsack. The 3030 goal, Senator, includes 
conservation programs. It is not just simply CRP. I would also 
point out to you that we are making an effort, in terms of 
grasslands. We are seeing an increased activity in terms of CRP 
on grasslands. Farmers, however, we trust farmers to make the 
right choice and set of decisions for their operation. This 
year they are taking roughly a million acres out of the program 
and putting it into production. That is their choice. That is 
their decision. We respect that.
    In the meantime, we are looking for ways in which we can 
provide more resources from conservation programs, EQIP, CSP, 
RCPP, the Climate-Smart Agriculture Initiatives. All of that is 
a significant amount of investment in conservation programs, 
all of which falls within the rubric of the voluntary, farmer-
led 30x30 effort.
    Senator Marshall. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Madam Chair, I 
yield back. Thank you.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Next we have 
Senator Klobuchar virtually and then Senator Fischer, and I 
will say that one of two votes that we will be having has 
begun, but I believe we will be able to get through all of our 
members wanting to ask questions before the first vote is 
completed.
    Senator Klobuchar, welcome.
    Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you so much, Chairwoman, for 
your great work, and Secretary, it is so good to see you again. 
I wanted to reiterate what I told you in person, just the 
fantastic work the USDA has done with regard to avian flu. It 
is finally going down. I described it to the people in my State 
that the waterfowl were taking too long of a spring break in 
our State, hanging out before flying north, and we had a real 
outbreak. Your people, working with our State, were just 
fantastic, and we are in a better place than we were a while 
ago, so I want to thank you for that.
    I want to focus a little on ag disaster aid. I know you 
know about these two separate storm systems that passed through 
Minnesota with heavy rains recently, on May 11th and 12th, 
tornadoes destroying barns and grain bins, flooded fields, left 
several rural communities without power.
    Our FSA executive director has requested disaster 
designations for 62 counties. Do you have a timeline for 
reviewing that request? I led a letter this week with the 
Minnesota delegation, supporting the request, and hoping you 
can look at it quickly.
    Secretary Vilsack. I will be happy to, Senator, and we will 
try to get that approved as quickly as possible.
    Senator Klobuchar. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, late 
planting flexibility. I know that Senator Hoeven raised this 
with you. It is really along the same lines because the storms 
have created significant challenges for farmers who are already 
behind on spring planting. In Minnesota, completed planting for 
corn is at 60 percent, soybeans 32 percent, wheat 11 percent, 
sugar beets 27 percent, are all significantly behind our five-
year average. Hoping that you will review the suggestions that 
Senator Hoeven and I have made and work with us to provide 
certainty and support to our farmers during this time of delay.
    Secretary Vilsack. We will certainly take a look at the 
correspondence we received yesterday and make a decision as 
quickly as we can.
    Senator Klobuchar. Okay. Thank you very much. I also want 
to thank you for all your work on climate change. As we know, 
part of what we are seeing, it is not just serendipity that 
this is going on, these strange weather events. It is exactly 
what was predicted. Of course, in the area of ag that means 
everything from conservation to cover crops on, and I want to 
thank you for that.
    I thought I would end here by focusing some on some supply 
chain issues with ocean shipping. We have seen vulnerabilities 
for U.S. exporters, including our ag exporters, who have seen 
the price of shipping containers increase four-fold.
    Senator Thune and I passed our Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 
2022 through the Senate. The House has a similar version, led 
by Representatives Garamendi and Johnson. It looks like we are 
going to be able to reach some agreement so that our goods are 
actually taken by these international shipping conglomerates 
and that we get some fair prices by some rules that we are 
going to push through with the Maritime Commission.
    Can you talk about the impact of shipping container 
disruptions particularly on ag exports and whether or not you 
think cracking down on some of these international shipping 
conglomerates' rates and practices would be helpful?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, I had an opportunity yesterday to 
speak to four of the major shippers about this very issue, 
asking them to create and provide a greater consistency in 
terms of access to containers and the ability of empty 
containers that currently leave our ports to be filled with 
agricultural exports. I received commitments from all four of 
them to basically take a look at doing a better job.
    This has been a difficult challenge for American 
agriculture. We have seen some improvement recently by virtue 
of the resources that we have put in play to create a pop-up 
site in Oakland. We have also provided incentives to move empty 
containers, financial incentives. We also recently opened up 
another pop-up opportunity in Seattle.
    We are going to continue to work on this, and obviously I 
think the legislation that is going through the process is 
sending a strong message that we are not satisfied, we are 
frustrated with the progress up to this point.
    Senator Klobuchar. Thank you. Just quick last, can you talk 
about the biofuel infrastructure investments that USDA has 
made. I am continuing to push on some of these issues, and I 
know you are an ally.
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, we anticipate in the very near 
future announcing the availability of another $100 million to 
expand access to pumping systems and distribution systems that 
would allow for E15 and B20 to be more readily available. That 
is going to continue.
    Senator Klobuchar. Okay. Thank you so much, Secretary.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. All right. Next 
we have Senator Thune, then Senator Warnock, Senator Fischer, 
Senator Booker, and then Senator Hyde-Smith. Senator Thune.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Secretary, 
welcome. It is nice to have you here. I appreciate the 
Committee turning its focus to the challenges that our farmers 
and ranchers and rural communities are facing, among those high 
inflation, rising food and energy costs, commodity market 
volatility, and supply chain constraints--I think all of which 
have been referenced at some level today--coming at a time when 
producers are working to ramp up production to address global 
food shortage concerns.
    We have got, in South Dakota, I think as you know, 
producers who are dealing with difficult weather conditions 
this spring, including, depending on where you are in the 
State, drought, severe drought, excess moisture, and 
significant storm damage. I would urge USDA to provide 
expedited assistance to those affected producers.
    Mr. Secretary, many of the commodity prices are high. 
Inflation has sent farm production expenses skyrocketing. As a 
result, net farm income is expected to decline this year. To 
make matters worse, some producers in my State recently had 
significant weather-related storm damage to their property, 
including farm equipment, buildings, and grain bins. There is a 
deep concern about replacing these critical elements of their 
operations and how expensive it will be, given the soaring 
costs that we are experiencing.
    What is USDA doing to address inflation and its effect on 
agriculture and what can USDA do to help producers mitigate the 
sharply increasing costs of these weather-related damage 
repairs?
    Secretary Vilsack. I would say, Senator, that our primarily 
focus is trying to make sure that the disaster assistance 
programs that are in place, that have been funded and financed 
by Congress, are made available as quickly as possible.
    An example of that is the WHIP+ program that folks refer 
to. We basically redesigned the way in which that program 
operates so we could get resources out to farmers as quickly as 
possible, making it much easier and much simpler for them to 
apply for those resources. That is going to continue, as is in 
terms of getting pandemic assistance out, over $6 billion of 
resources provided.
    We will continue to look for ways in which we can utilize 
the Livestock Forage Program and the Livestock Indemnity 
Program, Crop Insurance, NAP, all of those programs, to 
basically make sure that we are doing everything we possibly 
can to provide assistance and help.
    You know, in terms of some of the challenges, the 
fertilizer issue, I think there is an opportunity here for us 
to begin the process of being more self-reliant when it comes 
to the ingredients that go into fertilizer, which is why the 
$500 million is going to be allocated. We think there is going 
to be great interest in that effort, which we hope to be able 
to launch this summer.
    We think there is an opportunity for us to use the 
conservation programs effectively and efficiently to advance 
precision agriculture, that will help to reduce costs. We think 
there is research that is suggesting that perhaps some of our 
acres are potentially over-fertilized, and to the extent that 
we can give farmers that information they can make more 
informed decisions about their operation. There is a wide 
variety of things that we are attempting to do.
    Senator Thune. Well, and a lot of those programs you 
mentioned are programs in previous farm bills that I and others 
have been involved in creating, and hopefully they will work 
effectively in times when we really need them, like right now.
    I want to hit on the Black Hills National Forest and other 
forests which provide recreational opportunities and contribute 
significantly to local and regional economies. In the last few 
years we have seen enormous wildfires across the West. Those 
fires were, in many cases, devastating to local communities and 
have lasting effects on water quality, wildlife, recreation, 
and tourism.
    Proper forest management is as important now as it has ever 
been, and it plays a critical role in maintaining forest health 
and reducing the threat of catastrophic fires. In the Black 
Hills, the forest products industry has been a reliable partner 
in the proper management of the forest.
    Unfortunately, last year we had a sawmill in the Black 
Hills that closed due to a lack of timber availability, and I 
am concerned that more mill closures could be imminent if the 
Forest Service does not take action to maintain the forest 
timber sale program.
    Numerous concerns have been raised with the Forest 
Service's publication of a general technical report on the 
forest timber sale program and the agency's failure to uphold 
its commitment to work collaboratively with industry and State 
and local officials through consideration of the science-based 
recommendations from the formal Black Hills National Forest 
Advisory Board and State foresters.
    Following the Grain Transportation Report (GTR), we have 
seen a drastic reduction in timber sales and loss of milling 
infrastructure that is critical in meeting the goals outlined 
in the Forest Service's 10-year wildlife reduction strategy.
    What steps are you taking to make sure the Forest Service 
upholds its commitment to collaborate and to avoid additional 
mill closures?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, one thing we have done, Senator, 
is to establish a NEPA strike team directed to the Black Hills 
to make sure that we are determining the appropriate volume 
estimates for the next three years. We also have a national 
team working on a timber pilot transfer program, basically 
bringing in potential timber from the West for processing in 
South Dakota.
    As you know, you have asked--not you--the folks have asked 
for a reconsideration of the GTR report, and we are in the 
process of completing that reconsideration. I anticipate 
decisions on that in June.
    Senator Thune. Yes, and you are right. We have asked for 
that, so thank you.
    Madam Chair, my time has expired. Thanks.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Senator Warnock.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you so very much, Chair Stabenow. 
Mr. Secretary, before I start with my questions about farmers 
in Georgia I want to ask a brief question about the baby 
formula crisis facing Georgia families. My question is simple. 
From USDA's perspective when will families in Georgia who are 
searching for formula start to see more products on the 
shelves?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, our hope and belief is that we 
are beginning the process of turning the corner on this. I 
announced yesterday, or today rather, the opportunity for 
Gerber and Nestle and Mead Johnson to basically be able to have 
the ability to work with State health commissioners to provide 
greater flexibility, to substitute product, whether it is 
contract brand product, whether it is unauthorized contract 
brand product, or whether it is a competitor's brand, to be 
able to access and expand in the WIC program more product.
    As you well know, we are also bringing more product in from 
overseas through a series of flights that are currently being 
financed, in part, by USDA. We had one in Indianapolis over the 
weekend, which I attended. Yesterday there was one in Dulles. 
We also have been encouraging the FDA to continue to work with 
providers who have not yet been authorized to do business in 
this country, to be able to expand the capacity of imports.
    All of that, I think, together with bringing the Sturgis 
plant back online, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we 
should begin to see some progress on this, and hopefully over 
the course of several weeks we will see more product on the 
shelves.
    Senator Warnock. Good. The next couple weeks they will 
start to see more product aid----
    Secretary Vilsack. The next couple of weeks. Now it is not 
going to solve the problem. There are still going to be issues.
    Senator Warnock. Right.
    Secretary Vilsack. There are still going to be areas where 
there are going to be challenges. There are still going to be 
places where people are going to have to use the social media 
and the networks that they have created to try to identify 
where product is and be able to make sure that product gets 
delivered where it needs to be. I think we are going to begin 
to see some progress on this, and hopefully, as the spring and 
summer wears on, that we are in a much different circumstance.
    The Sturgis plant is important. The imports are important. 
The ability to substitute product in the WIC program is 
important. All of those are important.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you. Obviously, for folks who are 
trying to feed their children it cannot come soon enough.
    Secretary Vilsack. Understand.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you for traveling with me to Georgia 
earlier this year to hear directly from farmers who have been 
left behind by the USDA. Those farmers spoke to the two of us 
about the need for urgent debt relief, debt relief which I 
remain committed to delivering. They also spoke of the need for 
USDA to do more to support farmers who have faced historic 
discrimination and to protect them from adverse actions.
    I appreciate that the USDA responded to my call to suspend 
past due debt collections and foreclosures for these farmers, 
but many farmers who stopped making payments, because Congress 
promised them relief, are now considered delinquent, through no 
fault of their own. It is estimated that over 24,000 borrowers 
have deferred payments or are currently considered economically 
distressed.
    What is the plan, Secretary Vilsack? What are you going to 
do to ensure these farmers are not forced out of their business 
or off of their land?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, currently there is no capacity to 
force them off the land. There is no ability to foreclose. We 
have basically got a moratorium in terms of adverse actions for 
farmers, No. 1. No. 2, we continue to obviously going through 
the courts process on the 12 cases that are pending against 
Section 1005 of the American Rescue Plan, and we will continue 
to vigorously support and defend that action by Congress.
    There are ways in which the definition of those who are 
able to get debt relief could be adjusted by Congress, and we 
have provided technical assistance on how that might happen.
    Senator Warnock. The farmers I am hearing from in Georgia 
who are very worried about being forced off their land, you are 
saying there is no need for them to worry.
    Secretary Vilsack. There is no need for them to worry at 
this point in time. Then finally I would say we also are 
encouraging folks to take a look, in the long term, there is an 
opportunity for loan servicing. Depending upon how all this 
shakes out, depending on what the courts ultimately decide, 
depending upon what Congress can or cannot do relative to the 
definition of those who are covered for debt relief, depending 
upon our ability, at USDA, to provide help and assistance there 
are also debt servicing opportunities, ways in which we can 
help farmers stay on the land, and that is the goal.
    Senator Warnock. One other question. I know I am running 
out time here, Madam Chair. I sent a letter on December 10th, 
raising the concerns of farmers who are concerned about the 
lack of transparency at the USDA. It took three months for me 
to get a response, and I am still very concerned about the 
Department's outreach and engagement plan for these farmers. 
These farmers often hear about funding opportunities well past 
the application deadline, or when a funding announcement is 
made they feel consistently left out.
    Secretary Vilsack, your response to my letter acknowledged 
that USDA still has work to do here, and I appreciate that 
acknowledgment. What will USDA do differently to address 
systemic discrimination, and specifically, how have you 
improved outreach and engagement to historically underserved 
farmers?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, the first thing that we did is to 
take resources from the American Rescue Plan and invest them 
with community-building organizations that are trusted by those 
producers, to be able to provide the technical assistance, the 
information about the programs, and the ability to work with 
those producers to be able to successfully access the programs. 
Sometimes it can be difficult and complex to be able to get 
into our programs, and the reality is, I think, with technical 
assistance we are going to see more participation. That is the 
first thing.
    Now that was 20 organizations received $75 million to 
provide that level of assistance over the course of the next 
couple of years. We also recognize that there are smaller 
organizations that deal with smaller groups of these 
disadvantaged and historically underserved producers, and so 
there is currently a minimum of $25 million available under the 
American Rescue Plan for agreements with those organizations as 
well.
    The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has an 
additional $50 million which they allocated to 108 
organizations to expand outreach. That is the first thing. The 
second thing is each mission area of USDA has put together an 
equity plan in an effort to try to create an equity lens for 
everything we do. They have come up with over 500 
recommendations. Each mission area is going to have a chief 
diversity office.
    This is really important, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. I realize that. Absolutely.
    Secretary Vilsack. Also the Equity Commission. The Equity 
Commission is an outside look at trying to reduce systemic 
barriers, and we expect and anticipate recommendations coming 
from the Equity Commission sometime this summer.
    There is a lot more I could say but time.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. This is very, very important, and we 
certainly want to followup with that. We have four members 
left. There is a vote open and four members who have been 
patiently waiting as well, so I just want to make sure 
everybody gets a chance to ask questions.
    Senator Warnock. Thank you for your indulgence, Madam 
Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Senator Warnock, obviously this is 
critically important and we are going to followup together on 
this, so thank you very much.
    Senator Fischer and then Senator Booker.
    Senator Fischer. Welcome, Mr. Secretary. Senators Grassley, 
Tester, and I had the opportunity to visit with you in March 
about the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act. I have 
appreciated the more than 40 hours of technical assistance that 
you and your staff at USDA have provided on that legislation.
    This bipartisan legislation is co-sponsored by half of the 
members of this Committee. Our legislation is focused on two 
main policies: price discovery and transparency in the market.
    Do you agree that a robust, competitive, negotiated market 
is essential to ensuring price discovery takes place in the 
cattle market?
    Secretary Vilsack. Yes.
    Senator Fischer. Some folks have expressed concern about 
this, so briefly can you reassure us that when implementing the 
bill USDA would conduct a notice and comment rulemaking and a 
cost-benefit analysis when setting the regional minimums as 
explicitly required by the legislation?
    Secretary Vilsack. We will follow whatever Congress directs 
us to do.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you. At our legislative hearing 
exactly 1 month ago, USDA officials testified that our bill 
would make the cattle markets more competitive, transparent, 
and fair. Do you agree with that statement?
    Secretary Vilsack. I do, and I think it is important as 
well for us to increase capacity, to have more competition as 
well. I think there is a combination of both legislation and 
increasing capacity.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you. International trade is critical 
for my State's economy. We exported $7.1 billion in 
agricultural products in 2020. I have heard continuously from 
Nebraska's ag producers who are frustrated about the lack of 
trade agenda from this Administration. We have seen no push 
from the Administration to work with Congress on trade 
promotion authority. We have seen no push for the 
Administration to pursue new agreements that provide market 
access. That is true just this week with the announced Indo-
Pacific Economic Framework, and we have seen no push to name a 
qualified nominee to be USTR's chief ag negotiator.
    With that said, I would like to ask about a specific trade 
issue impacting Nebraska corn growers. I have concern about 
Mexico's policy on ag biotechnology which is set to bank 
biotech corn for human consumption as soon as January 2024. 
This policy is out of step with their commitments under the 
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It will restrict 
Nebraskans' access to innovative agricultural tools and 
increase costs for consumers on both sides of the border, 
something we do not need with current out-of-control inflation.
    Mexico is the top export destination for Nebraska's corn. 
We are the top producer of white corn, used in corn chips, 
tortillas, and other food products. Planting decisions will 
begin soon for the 2023 corn crop that will be exported in 
2024. That means that Nebraska farmers need certainty from this 
important trading partner right now.
    Secretary Vilsack, how is the Administration working with 
Mexico to ensure continued market access, in particular for 
white corn used in food products? Is the Administration 
prepared to use all relevant bilateral and multilateral policy 
mechanisms at its disposal, including dispute resolution if 
Mexico does not make any progress in fulfilling its commitments 
under USMCA?
    Secretary Vilsack. I recently had a conversation directly 
with the President of Mexico about this issue of corner, and I 
am confident that exports of corn that your farmers and farmers 
across the country are relying on are going to continue. We 
will continue to work with our trading partner. You know, the 
fact is we have finally got potatoes across the border after 15 
years, and I think we are going to continue to focus on 
developing a strong, confident relationships with the Mexicans, 
and I am confident that is going to result in us continuing to 
have very, very strong exports with Mexico.
    Senator Fischer. Thank you, and I hope you will be able to 
use the tools at your disposal with current trade agreements in 
order to be stern and resolute with Mexico on this white corn 
issue.
    Secretary Vilsack. We have not shown a reluctance to do 
that with our Canadian friends on dairy, so----
    Senator Fischer. Thank you. I appreciate it.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. Senator Booker.
    Senator Booker. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and Ranking 
Member. Mr. Secretary, we have talked a lot about the terrible 
history of discrimination amongst Black farmers. We know the 
discrimination within the USDA Farm Assistance and Lending 
Programs caused Black farmers to lose millions of acres of 
farmlands and rob farmers and their families of hundreds of 
billions of dollars of intergenerational wealth that land 
really represented.
    We know that one of the main sources of USDA discrimination 
against Black farmers, historically and still today, is 
discrimination in the county committee system. Can you talk 
about the actions you have taken or that you intend to take to 
root out and bring to an end, finally, the discrimination in 
the USDA county committee system?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, the thing I can do is to make 
sure that there is minority representation on all those county 
committees. When I was Secretary before I exercised that power 
for the first time ever, to make sure that in 300 counties 
where there was not minority representation that we had a 
minority representative.
    The Equity Commission that I alluded to earlier is in the 
process of taking a look at all of the issues, and I know the 
county committees is one of the areas that they are looking at. 
I am encouraged and hopeful that they will make a set of 
recommendations relative to the county committee structure that 
we can then utilize as a basis for going forward. In the 
meantime we will make sure that there is minority 
representation on every one of those county committees.
    Senator Booker. You are waiting for your strategy to come 
from the commission that you have created?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, I think it is important. We have 
asked them to take a look at the systemic barriers that have 
existed and make a set of recommendations concerning--well, 
actually, the Equity Commission was a result of the American 
Rescue Plan. You all basically directed us to put this Equity 
Commission together. In respecting the serious thinkers that 
are on that committee I am looking forward to their 
recommendations.
    We started first with FPAC. We started first with the Farm 
Service Agency review, because we knew that was the area of 
most concern. We are looking forward to the recommendations 
that they will make.
    Senator Booker. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. A recent 
inspector general report found that in 2019, the average time 
for a civil rights complaint to be processed by the USDA was 
799 days. Justice delayed is justice denied. What steps are you 
taking to address this issue?
    Secretary Vilsack. It has been cut in half since we took 
back control of the Civil Rights Office, Senator. I get a 
report on this every month. We are seeing more timely 
investigations, more timely reviews, and more timely 
decisionmaking at the Office of Civil Rights. I am very, very 
concerned about this, and we actually have seen that cut in 
half.
    Senator Booker. Could your staff reach out to mine and just 
let us know----
    Secretary Vilsack. Sure.
    Senator Booker [continuing]. a little bit deeper in the 
things that you are doing?
    Secretary Vilsack. You bet.
    Senator Booker. I appreciate your attention and I 
appreciate that.
    We know that the Amazon rainforest is being burned down 
primarily for animal grazing, and beef that is being produced 
out of Brazil, big companies like JBS then take that meat, ship 
it into the United States, and repackage it here, and then sell 
it in our stores labeled as ``Product of the USA.'' That is 
outrageous, and it is a fraudulent practice that hurts our 
consumers, hurts ranchers here in the United States. ``Product 
of the USA'' label claims should only be allowed on meat that 
comes from animals that were born, raised, and slaughtered in 
the United States.
    A petition, I think you know, has been pending at the USDA 
for four years, asking for the USDA to look into the issue. 
When do you anticipate taking action on this?
    Secretary Vilsack. We are in the process of conducting a 
rather extensive survey, Senator, on this very issue. We are 
asking consumers across the United States two questions, 
essentially: What do you think this means when you see 
``Product of the USA''? What do you think this means? Do you 
place value on it?
    That would basically form the basis for us to be able to 
utilize the power that we have to avoid misrepresentation and 
deception in labeling, and to make sure that the standard for 
use of that label, on a voluntary basis, is consistent with 
what people's expectations are. I would anticipate and expect, 
hopefully sometime this fall, we will have the results of the 
survey, and from that we will then begin to look at how we 
might be able to strengthen significantly the ``Product of the 
USA.''
    Senator Booker. Thank you. Again, I would really appreciate 
you keeping in touch with my team on this as well.
    Finally, the last question. I know the USDA is working on a 
new proposed rule on organic livestock and poultry standards 
that will clarify outdoor access requirements for organic 
livestock. Organic farms with high animal welfare standards in 
New Jersey and around the country have been waiting a long time 
for this rule, and they are being hurt by competitors with 
animal welfare standards that are lower than the public expects 
from an organic product.
    In the final rule that you released during the Obama 
Administration in 2017, the implementation period for egg 
producers was five years. I assume that the new rule coming 
more than four years later will take effect very quickly, much 
more so.
    When do you anticipate the new rule to be released, and can 
you confirm that this rule will have a very short phase-in 
period?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, we want to make sure that 
whatever we do is able to withstand legal challenge, and so 
that is going into the process. It is currently at OMB, and 
obviously it is not finalized until it gets through the 
process. Our hope is that it gets done sometime this summer.
    In terms of the time, you know, I think we are looking at 
making sure that we are structuring it in a way that is the 
most defensible, from a legal standpoint. Honestly, as I am 
sitting here, I do not remember what the timeline is, but I 
know that it is a timeline that we think is more defensible.
    Senator Booker. You will followup with us on that as well?
    Secretary Vilsack. Sure.
    Senator Booker. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you. Senator Hyde-Smith.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank 
you, Mr. Secretary, for being here today, and I certainly 
appreciate your willingness to serve. I enjoyed our 
relationship when I was Commissioner of Agriculture in 
Mississippi.
    I want to talk about poultry production in Mississippi and 
processing in Mississippi, because it supports thousands of 
jobs and generates billions in economic output annually. It 
consistently ranks at the top of Mississippi's diverse list of 
agriculture commodities, No. 6 nationwide.
    It is my understanding that today, this morning, USDA 
announced a proposed rule titled ``Poultry Growing Tournament 
Systems: Fairness and Related Concerns.'' I have not read all 
150-something pages of it yet, but the industry stakeholders in 
Mississippi, they have been quick to share their concerns with 
me over this.
    My question is concerning the poultry growing tournament 
system's fairness and related concerns. Is it possible that 
what USDA is proposing could push billions in additional cost 
onto poultry companies at a time of record inflation and sky-
high input costs, which would further threaten food security 
and raise food cost?
    Secretary Vilsack. Senator, that is surprising to me 
because what we are asking the integrators to do is to provide 
information, to provide information to producers before they 
sign a contract on flocks, on density, on the expectation from 
previous tournaments, what the farmer could potentially expect 
in terms of a return, the ability to share that information 
with their financial advisor. We are asking them to give 
information concerning the stock that they are providing, the 
age, the gender, the facility where it was raised.
    I do not think that you are talking about a significant 
increase in expense to integrators, but what you are providing 
is greater transparency and more information so as farmers make 
that decision to incur debt, to go into a contract, that they 
have a sense that they are actually going to be able to pay 
that debt off.
    Now we did ask a series of questions as part of this, and 
it may very well be that what you are reacting to are the 
questions that we are asking in terms of whether or not the 
system, as it is operating, is fair, and that is why we are 
asking the questions. We want to get input from people.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay. We are still, like I said, trying 
to fully assess and understand these rules, because it is my 
understanding today's rule is the first of three.
    Secretary Vilsack. That is correct. That is correct.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. The concern is could it end up costing 
farmers and companies and American consumers, and is USDA 
planning to conduct a thorough economic analysis on the 
tournament system rule or other Packers and Stockyards Act 
rules pertaining to the poultry industry?
    Secretary Vilsack. We have done an analysis of this 
particular rule that we have announced today and believe that 
the benefits far outweigh the costs. We will continue to do 
that because it is obviously part of the regulatory process.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Okay. I have a moment left that I want 
to switch to glyphosate. As you know, glyphosate is a widely 
used, proven, safe herbicide that combats weeds and grasses 
that threaten agriculture productivity. I certainly remember 
when it came on the market in the form of Roundup.
    The U.S. Department of Justice recently took a new, 
unprecedented position on glyphosate that could cripple the 
effective use of this very important ag product that we count 
on. If our farmers cannot use safe, common-sense, and effective 
products what would happen to U.S. crop yields if we had to go 
back to till instead of no-till?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, I think it would obviously impact 
and affect production, and I think it would obviously affect 
and impact our ability to deal with climate. One of the 
strategies for dealing with climate is, obviously, no till 
activities.
    You know, this is a personal injury case that they are 
involved with, and as I said earlier, I do not know precisely 
the reasoning and rationale behind the Solicitor General's 
decision. I would say that we have been very clear with the EPA 
in our conversations about these crop protection tools that we 
have to follow the science. Whatever the science says, that is 
what we should follow.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. Is it your opinion that it could have 
an impact on domestic food prices?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, there are a lot of things that go 
into food prices. The reality is that farmers, unfortunately, 
as you well know from your days as commissioner, gets so little 
of the food dollar, roughly 16 cents of every food dollar. I am 
not sure that it necessarily results in food cost increases in 
the same way that we are seeing with some of the supply chain 
challenges, but it may have an impact on it.
    Senator Hyde-Smith. What might the long-term impact be on 
our ongoing challenge to meet the growing global demand for 
food?
    Secretary Vilsack. Well, the challenge would be for 
American agriculture to innovate, and what we have to do is we 
have to continue to look for ways in which we can invest in and 
encourage additional research and development on a wide variety 
of initiatives, including crop protection. We need to continue 
to work with our industry to make sure that we invest in 
innovation.
    Chairwoman Stabenow. On that note, Senator, I am going to 
thank Senator Vilsack. They are calling us on the floor, 
because if we are going to make this vote we are going to have 
to go now. The meeting is adjourned.

    [Whereupon, at 12:11 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

      
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                            A P P E N D I X

                              May 26, 2022

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                   DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

                              May 26, 2022

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                         QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

                              May 26, 2022

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