[Senate Hearing 118-632]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-632
PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
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HEARING
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SPECIAL HEARING
August 15, 2024--WHEATLAND, NORTH DAKOTA
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: https://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
60-218 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
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COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chairman
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine, Vice
JACK REED, Rhode Island Chairman
JON TESTER, Montana MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware JERRY MORAN, Kansas
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West
JOE MANCHIN, West Virginia Virginia
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
GARY PETERS, Michigan BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona KATIE BRITT, Alabama
MARCO RUBIO, Florida
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
Evan Schatz, Staff Director
Elizabeth McDonnell, Minority Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies
MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico, Chairman
JON TESTER, Montana JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota, Ranking
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine (ex
JOE MANCHIN, West Virginia officio)
GARY PETERS, Michigan JERRY MORAN, Kansas
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
Professional Staff
Dianne Nellor
Rachel Erlebacher
Hannah Chauvin
Angela Caalim
Morgan Ulmer (Minority)
Daniel Mencher (Minority)
Alex Shultz (Minority)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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Statement of Hon. Xochitl Torres Small, Deputy Secretary......... 1
Opening Statement of Senator John Hoeven......................... 1
Statement of Senator Amy Klobuchar............................... 4
Statement of Senator John Boozman................................ 6
Statement of Senator Tina Smith.................................. 8
PANEL II
Summary Statement of Hon. Xochitl Torres Small................... 11
Statement of Hon. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, Under Secretary for
Research, Education, and Economics............................. 13
Statement of Mr. Greg Tehven, Co-Founder and Board Chair, Grand
Farm........................................................... 24
Statement of Dr. Greg Lardy, Joe and Norma Peltier Vice President
for Agriculture, North Dakota State University................. 26
PANEL III
Statement of Mr. Harrison Pittman, Director, National
Agricultural Law Center........................................ 28
Statement of Mr. Josh Gackle, President, American Soybean
Association.................................................... 30
Statement of Mr. Harold Wolle, President, National Corn Growers
Association.................................................... 32
Statement of Mr. Jay Debertin, President and Chief Executive
Officer, CHS................................................... 34
PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2024
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m. at
Grand Farm Innovation Campus, 3729 153rd Avenue, SE, Wheatland,
North Dakota, 58079, for a Field Hearing, Hon. John Hoeven
(ranking member) presiding.
Present: Senators Hoeven, Boozman, Klobuchar, and Smith.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
STATEMENT OF HON. XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, DEPUTY SECRETARY
opening statement of senator john hoeven
Senator Hoeven. I would like to call this hearing to order.
This is an Ag Field Hearing.
We appreciate all of you being here, very much, and of
course the staff that has worked so hard to arrange this formal
field hearing. We will thank all of them at the end, which is
traditionally how we do it, but there is a lot of folks who
worked very hard to make it happen, and we appreciate them very
much.
And, of course, we greatly appreciate the incredible people
that have come here for this field hearing, and I want to begin
by thanking some of them before we go into formal remarks.
Certainly my colleagues from the Senate, who are all
absolute leaders in agriculture, and in all aspects of
agriculture, whether it is writing the next Farm Bill--writing
previous Farm Bills, as well as writing the next Farm Bill, and
undoubtedly we will be talking about that today, but really in
all things agriculture.
And one of my absolute closest friends in the Senate from
Arkansas, Senator John Boozman, who is our Ranking Member on
the Ag Committee, and he has been up here before, and not only
an esteemed colleague, but also a very good friend, and we
certainly appreciate him being here.
And of course, then two Senators that are no strangers to
this region, Senator Klobuchar, who I have been working with
since Governor days, and I mean it goes almost back to her
Attorney General days, but we have worked together on many
issues, from flooding to you name it, agriculture and
everything else, and she has been very good about working with
us on so many important issues. For example, flood protection
for the Red River Valley, very important and meaningful things.
And Senator Tina Smith, same thing, we are working together
on veterans issues and many other things. And of course, she is
no stranger to this region as well from her time as Lieutenant
Governor, working on issues that truly matter, not only to her
State of Minnesota, but certainly to North Dakota.
And that is one of the amazing things about this region, we
really are a confluence here in the Red River Valley for North
Dakota, Minnesota, even South Dakota to Canada, it really is an
area where we bring people together and make great things
happen, and it is certainly an area where we are absolute
leaders in agriculture.
We are also very privileged to have somebody else here who
has been here before. And I would love to say about two
individuals who have been here before in other capacities as
well, and I want to thank them as well right at the outset.
Certainly the Honorable Xochitl Torres Small; Xoch is easier
for me. I know I never get it quite right.
But going back to her days as Secretary for Rural
Development, she has been here and she has helped us on
important issues, particularly with our livestock producers,
and other areas as well. And she, of course, now is Deputy
Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture. And
we know how much in demand you are, and so you are probably
coming from somewhere and going somewhere, but we are sure glad
you are here today.
And Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, who is the leader of all
things research at USDA. And of course that is a big part of
the focus, the focus today being the future of agriculture, and
precision agriculture and research, of course, are huge when we
talk about the future of agriculture; and certainly huge as we
write this next Farm Bill.
North Dakota is an Ag powerhouse for this country, and you
all know that. Certainly Arkansas and Minnesota are Ag
powerhouses as well, and our fellow senators here will talk
about that, but they will all acknowledge, too, that North
Dakota is an absolute Ag powerhouse. And North Dakota State
University has long been one of the leading schools of
agriculture, Ag research, Ag extension in the Nation.
And again, you will hear about the University of Minnesota,
the University of Arkansas, they do great things in ag too, no
question about it, but my colleagues will acknowledge that
NDSU, home of the Mighty Bison, I had to add that, is an
absolute leader in agriculture, and a big reason why North
Dakota is an ag powerhouse for this country, but we are
building on that.
And that is why it is so important that our colleagues, my
colleagues are here, as well as the leaders at USDA, is because
we are really building on what NDSU is already doing. You are
here at the Grand Farm, okay, Innovation Shop, this is the
Innovation Shop, a multi-million dollar facility at Grand Farm,
where they are taking precision agriculture to the next level.
And so now you have got NDSU with all the amazing things
they do in research, and precision Ag, and you have got all
these amazing companies that we have here in the Valley, and I
could start naming them off. Whether it is John Deere, or AGCO,
or Case New Holland, or all the companies, Bobcat, and already,
you know, those are all clear leaders in the industry, but
there are so many more, right.
And so you have got a confluence of all those things, and
now we have put together NDSU, together with Grand Farm, and
the Ag Research Service, ARS, at USDA, Department of Ag, into a
formal cooperative agreement. We are not just working together.
We have a formal collaborative relationship now, which we fund
through Ag Appropriations, that is just building on that
synergy in regard to precision agriculture, Ag research, and
the future of agriculture.
And so this hearing is not just about what we are doing
here in the Valley, but how it affects the entire country when
we talk about the very best farmers and ranchers that produce
the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world that
benefits every single American, every single day, and many
others around the globe as well.
So in addition to that formal alliance, that formal
partnership now, between NDSU, Grand Farm, and ARS, now we have
also added a National Policy Center that will really be the
expert on all things crop insurance, and other very important
issues for our farmers and ranchers.
And most recently, in addition to the National Policy
Center now, we have the only National Science Foundation
innovation engine in the country, focused on agriculture.
Now, there are others, and to the tune of about $160
million investment by our friends like Secretary Torres Small
and others, $160 million, together with state funding, together
with private sector funding, that is just the Federal
insurance. This innovation engine, farms innovation engine with
the National Science Foundation, again, all things related to
the future of agriculture, and it is the only one in the
country focused exclusively on agriculture.
So that is what I mean when I say we are building on this
incredible foundation that we have in agriculture. And the only
way to really build, at least in the North Dakota way of doing
it, is you build relationships. You build relationships with
really good people like we have here today from all walks of
life, public sector, private sector, state, local, Federal, and
they benefit. They benefit.
We go into it with the understanding that it is not just
about our benefit, that it has to be mutually beneficial. You
have got to give a little to get a little, sometimes that gets
lost in the political world, but it is fundamentally true for
every walk of life.
So again, I want to thank all of you for being here. I do
want to start, before I call on the first witness, by just
acknowledging some of the statewide elected leaders and
legislators that are here, in part, because they are great and
doing a great job, but in part because there is a lot of them.
And I want people to know, I want people to know that we
appreciate, when folks come to our state, we appreciate it, and
we show up. And we thank them, and we acknowledge it, and
because all of these individuals are working very hard on
behalf of agriculture as well.
So it is only fitting that I start with our Ag
Commissioner, Doug Goering, and Ag Commissioner Goering, thank
you for being here and for all your great work.
Also from our Public Service Commission, somebody who knows
agriculture very well, Julie Fedorchak; Julie, where are you?
And from the Senate, also people that get it. Let me
introduce from our State Senate, Mark Weber, Bob Erbely, Kathy
Hogan, Janne Myrdal, Ron Sorvaag, Terry Wanzek, and Cole
Conley. Why don't you guys just stand for a minute or raise
your hands?
Senator Hoeven. And from the House, Paul Thomas. I will
have you all stand for a minute at the end here too: Paul
Thomas, Jared Hagert, Greg Stemen, Craig Hedlund, Jay Fisher,
Bill Tveit, Mike Nathe, Don Vigesaa, Jonathan Warrey, Brandy
Pyle, Carrie McLeod, Dick Anderson, Karen Anderson, Cindy
Schreiber-Beck, Mike Beltz, Mike Brandenburg, Austen Schauer,
and Zac Ista.
Would you stand for just a minute? Thank you.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you. Okay. With that, we will return
to our first group of witnesses. Again, I am so pleased to have
them there. We will start with one of our very good friends,
just across the river, as I said, somebody who has come up here
on a myriad of issues over the years, but who is right now
actually second on the Democrat side of the aisle on the Ag
Committee.
Senator Stabenow is, of course, the chair. Right next to
her is Amy Klobuchar, who will be either the chairman or the
ranking member next year, one way or the other. So she has got
a big voice when it comes to writing a Farm Bill, and certainly
all things agriculture.
Senator Klobuchar.
statement of senator amy klobuchar
Senator Klobuchar. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you,
John. Thank you. Well, I guess I would start by saying, just
like I am not competitive, you don't have to stand, but anyone
who has lived in Minnesota, worked in Minnesota, does business
in Minnesota, or went to school in Minnesota, please wave your
hands.
Oh, yeah. Woo. Gophers. Okay, just wanted to point that
out.
Okay, John and I have been good friends for a very, very
long time, and we believe the river doesn't divide our states,
but it brings us together, as you know, with this incredible
spirit of our communities when there is flooding, but also the
incredible possibilities we have. And this Ag innovation is
certainly right at the top of the list, for not only helping
our own country, but for feeding the world, and fueling the
world. So I couldn't be more happy that he put this together.
I will say this, is the coolest field hearing I have ever
been at. Wouldn't you agree? To our esteemed witnesses;
complete with this beautiful view, thank you to Grand Farm,
this beautiful facility, a rose-colored gavel of some kind,
that is, yes, quite cool.
And then, of course, there was the music, which you should
know at some point Senator Hoeven said, how do you cut this off
so we can start? But I did like the idea of background music
through the entire hearing.
When I think about Ag innovation, I think about Norman
Borlaug. I was so proud when the State of Iowa actually
sponsored his statue for one of their two statues in Statutory
Hall a few years back, and I got to be there because, as you
know, he studied at the University of Minnesota and did a lot
of work in Minnesota.
You think way back zone, he fed the world with what they
called then the Green Revolution. He figured out what to do
with seeds so things could grow in really hard climates, and it
helped us here at home as well.
That was innovation. And we cannot rest on our laurels in
America, we cannot do this. I think that we heard this from the
Doctor, from one of our esteemed witnesses last night that we
can't rest on our laurels. And that is what is so exciting
about what is going on in North Dakota, Minnesota, Arkansas,
across our country.
Strong research funding is critical for ensuring American
farmers can feed the world. You think about the needs if you go
to the problems, $20 billion in crop losses in 2022 alone, from
natural disasters, not including infrastructure damage,
livestock losses. We know what we have seen with some of the
animal diseases out there, including avian flu in poultry, and
it affects our food supply across the country, poultry flocks
causing a loss of 43 million egg-laying hens in 2022 alone.
I don't want to emphasize the challenges, but no one better
knows than farmers what those challenges are. But I also want
to emphasize the positives. So Ag research helps us on both
sides. It helps us to fix these things, which we know have
plagued our country in different ways, over time, whether it is
barley rust, whether it was H1N1. I personally ate bacon on
national TV to show it was safe at that time. I did that.
But we know that we are going to need this kind of
research. It also can be used as a barrier to trade, where
countries lift up these barriers that may not be fair, or
oftentimes are blatantly not fair, and so having this kind of
solution on the disease front matters.
But I really want to talk, and I know we are today going to
talk about the next step beyond that, and that is the
excitement of this innovation.
Senator Boozman was in Minnesota. It was a little colder
when he came. And we went to a farm and saw the glory of
precision agriculture and what that means to a farm family when
they can know what they can use to have less water, where they
can get it, what they need to put pesticides, and do it in a
really smart way that is better for them financially, better
for our environment, and better for our country.
So I am really excited about precision Ag. Senator Hoeven
and I have worked together on a number of bills, including one
to make it easier to get loans overall for farmers. And then I
have another specific bill with Senator Fischer, and Senator
Hoeven is in my bill, is in both the Democratic-Republican
versions of the Farm Bill that we really want to actually get
done this year, right, to my colleagues. And Senator Smith
actually heads up the Commodity Subcommittee of Ag.
So there is just some real work that is being done right
now when it comes to loans, and specifically loans for
precision agriculture. Precision Ag can greatly save farmers
time and money, and I think that we need to make that a major
point of our research.
But it has to even go beyond that to the seeds that can
feed the world. We have seen the droughts in many parts of our
world. I was in India last year and met with the Farmers Union.
There they call them FUs; it is a true story. I brought it up
to Modi. I saw an FU, and he got very excited, to the horror of
my colleagues.
But the point is that there was American technology being
used to make it easier to plant seeds in the middle of some
really difficult territory. Sugar beet producers in the Red
River Valley have different soil types, growing seasons, and
weather patterns than those farmers will face in rice growing
in Eastern Arkansas.
And as we work to develop sound agriculture policy, we have
to make sure that one size doesn't fit all, and that we
understand how this research is going to work in other parts of
the country.
But I am just honored to be here with my friend Senator
Hoeven, and my two great colleagues, and look forward to
hearing from them, and being part of the discussion. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.
And now we will turn to our ranking member on the Ag
Committee. As I say, somebody who has been up here before, not
only to see what is going on with Grand Farm but NDSU. Somebody
who has actually not only worked in the public sector on behalf
of farmers and ranchers, but he actually used to raise cattle
in Arkansas. So he has actually an optometrist by trade, but
also a cattle rancher.
And so he brings such great practical experience but also
just brings incredible relationships, not only incredible
relationships on our side of the aisle but across the aisle.
And as we all know, to get a Farm Bill done; that is what
it takes. It is about putting people together on both sides of
the aisle, from all different parts of the country. And
agriculture is a big, diverse industry in our country, and we
have to have a Farm Bill that works for all of our farmers and
ranchers across the entire country, across all 50 states. So
again, thank you for being here and for being part of this
panel.
Senator Boozman, from Arkansas.
statement of senator john boozman
Senator Boozman. Thank you, John. I am an eye doctor, so if
you are having trouble with your glasses, or contacts, or want
to talk about glaucoma, or any of those things, I will be glad
to give you some free advice later on.
I want to thank John for inviting me. It is good to be
here. I think this is the third year in a row that I have been
here. This is becoming an annual tradition. It is great to
discuss innovation in agriculture, the opportunities that exist
for the industry through research advancement, and technologies
like precision agriculture.
Thank you to Grand Farm for hosting today's important
discussion. You all are doing the hard work of developing
solutions to some of agriculture's most challenging problems
and ensuring these exciting new technologies are actually
making it to the farm, which is so important. We appreciate all
the hard work that you do.
While we are here to focus on research and innovation in
agriculture, I am also so pleased to join with Senators
Klobuchar and Smith, along with Senator Hoeven. These are three
of the most hardworking, thoughtful people on the Ag Committee.
They do a tremendous job, and are also good friends. You know,
you hear a lot about the rancor in Washington. The nice thing
about agriculture is it is not about Democrats or Republicans,
it is about easy things like commodities, regions of the
country, all of those. But it is important that you understand
that we are working as a group to try and get things done.
Similar to North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arkansas,
agriculture is the economic underpinning of rural communities
across the country. And no matter where we are or who we are
talking to, we all hear the same things from our producers and
rural communities. Trade is vital for agriculture, investments
in broadband and modern infrastructure are needed in rural
America, and interest rates and input costs are eating into
producers' profitability.
So it is not a surprise that our producers everywhere tell
us the future feels very uncertain. This Farm Bill must
absolutely put producers first. They need more farm in the Farm
Bill. Although our efforts to draft a new Farm Bill are taking
a little longer than expected, I know the senators serving on
the Agriculture Committee have every intention of crafting a
new and improved Farm Bill that meets the needs producers face
today.
But more important than just getting this done, is getting
it done right. Today's topic of research and innovation in
agriculture is an area were are scrutinizing through our Farm
Bill process to ensure continued and improved research
opportunities exist into the future. We must foster new
technologies for the next generation of producers.
Many on the Agriculture Committee favor ag policy in the
Farm Bill which would double funding for agriculture research,
the investments in the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, the
Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and the 1890s
Scholarship Program, and also provide a generational investment
in agriculture research facilities, which is so very important.
But the majority of the research programs authorized by the
Farm Bill depend on the Appropriations Committee. So that means
we are grateful for the work of Senator Hoeven and our
colleagues on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee to
identify and support agriculture's most urgent research needs
through programs administered by the USDA, our impressive
network of land-grant institutions, and various private sector,
and nonprofit partners.
We also know investments in broadband infrastructure are
critical for enabling producers to access the results of
research, including precision agriculture technologies. Our
framework reflects this need for greater connectivity.
Precision agriculture technologies are helping our producers be
better stewards of our environment, and are supported by Farm
Bill conservation programs.
Resource concerns ranging from soil health, to water
quality and water quantity can be better addressed as these new
technologies come online.
In closing, I look forward to hearing from USDA Secretary
Xochitl Torres Small. We appreciate all of her hard work. Under
Secretary Chavonda Jacobs-Young, which we also very much
appreciate. They have big jobs with big responsibilities. And
our other witnesses about the barriers to furthering innovation
in agriculture, and what policymakers need to be focused on to
encourage innovation, make these technologies more affordable
and accessible, and ensure a safe and secure management of
sensitive data.
I am pleased that Mr. Harrison Pittman, a proud Arkansan,
and Director of the National Agricultural Law Center, is
joining us today. The center, which is a unit of the University
of Arkansas' System of Agriculture, and receives critical
funding through USDA Agricultural Research Service, provides
accessible, dependable, and objective legal analysis to food,
environment, and agricultural stakeholders across the country.
We are grateful for his expertise as we confront some of the
legal implications of applying new and emerging technologies in
agriculture.
Thank you again, John, for holding today's important
hearing.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Boozman. Again, thanks
for being here and being part of this field hearing.
I also now I want to turn to Senator Smith for her
comments. As I say, she has worked on many issues important to
our region, and certainly agriculture is right at the top.
Appreciate you being here. Actually, Minnesota has a unique
position on the committee, on the Ag Committee. I think it is
the only state that has two members on----
Senator Smith. Iowa, sometimes Iowa, yes; right, sometimes.
Senator Hoeven. Sometimes.
Senator Klobuchar. But we are unique, John. That is true.
Senator Smith. We are.
Senator Hoeven. Right; no, Grassley, right, and Joni. But
they do have two members, and that obviously gives them an
incredible influence, fortunately----
Unidentified Speaker: I am not going to tell Grassley that
you favored the----
Senator Hoeven. I thought he had moved on to judiciary and
didn't show up that much.
Senator Klobuchar. He has tended to only get on in the year
of a Farm Bill, so let us just say that.
Senator Hoeven. The good news, the good news is that
agriculture in Minnesota and North Dakota, have a lot of
similarities, and so as they are working on things that are
important for farmers and ranchers, they are working on a lot
of things that are important for our ranchers in North Dakota
as well. So we are good with Minnesota having a lot of
influence on the committee as well.
But Senator Smith, thanks so much for being here and for
your commitment to all things agriculture.
statement of senator tina smith
Senator Smith. Well, thank you so much, Vice Chair Hoeven.
I feel like I should call you Chair since you are chairing this
meeting.
And my good friend and colleague, I was telling folks last
night that every Thursday, usually every Thursday afternoon
when the senators get ready to head home, I call it the school
bus, and there, on the Midwestern school bus, you have me, and
Amy, and John Hoeven, and Kevin Cramer, and often the senators
from South Dakota and others. And so in that sort of ride home,
we have a chance to connect on a lot of things, including our
many shared interests.
So I greatly appreciate being here along with Senator
Boozman, and my friend and colleague, Senator Klobuchar, to be
a part of this really interesting field hearing.
And I also want to thank Grand Farms. You all are doing
really impressive work here, and it is wonderful to have a
chance to see what you are doing.
So as with North Dakota, agriculture, food, and energy are
the backbone of Minnesota's economy, contributing $106 billion
to our state's GDP and energizing over 388,000 jobs, and this
ag sector is, of course, driven by technology and innovation,
so staying on the forefront of research and technology is
essential to us staying competitive. It is essential to higher
farm income, essential to our national security, and to our
food security.
And Minnesota has also long been a leader in agricultural
innovation and invention, as Senator Klobuchar noted. The
University of Minnesota, which is our flagship land-grant
agricultural research institution, has been the source of
internationally significant discoveries and accomplishments.
We invented the Honeycrisp apple, cold-hardy wine grapes,
and we also created advances in shelf life and food safety,
along with breakthroughs in precision agriculture. And this
work continues today. At the University of Morris campus, we
work on clean ammonia fertilizer, and that work has led to a
pilot project to produce local clean fertilizer with the
potential to give farmers an alternative to costly imported
fertilizer.
The USDA Cooperative Extension is helping farmers and
ranchers in Minnesota put USDA research into action. For
example, the University of Minnesota's Climate Adaptation
Partnership is giving farmers new tools for climate forecasting
and land management choices, like cover crops and seed
selection, and that is boosting their resilience and hopefully
their bottom lines.
The USDA has two Minnesota research facilities in St. Paul
and in Morris. In St. Paul, the Cereal Disease Lab is
researching diseases found in wheat, and barley, and oats,
crops that are important, of course, to both Minnesota and
North Dakota. And thanks to this research, grain farmers can
continue to feed the world.
In Morris, ARS researchers have developed a double cropping
system, so farmers can grow winter oilseeds as cover crops,
followed by soybeans the next summer, and this innovation can
help to improve soil health and also boost bottom lines. These
are just a few of the examples of the incredible innovation and
research that are happening in agriculture, and we need them.
Farmers are incredibly resistant, and they also face a
whole host of challenges, whether it is fluctuating commodity
prices, industry consolidation and concentration, high input
costs, labor shortages, and severe and unpredictable weather.
And these challenges make research even more important.
Thankfully, support for agriculture research is bipartisan,
and it is also true that our investments in Ag research have
fallen behind the rest of the world. According to the group,
Supporters for Agriculture Research, funding for Ag research
has declined by nearly a third since reaching a peak in 2002.
The U.S. invests just 2 percent of its total research dollars
into agriculture research, a percentage that is far outpaced by
our global competitors, and agriculture research makes up
actually less than 1 percent of the total Farm Bill
authorization.
So we have more work to do, which is why I think this field
today, John, is so important to the work that we have ahead of
us. Senator Hoeven, I am so grateful for your leadership and
the bipartisan work that you have done with Chair Heinrich on
the Appropriations Subcommittee, including advancing a bill
that increases funding for USDA research programs. That is
incredibly important.
And on the Senate Ag Committee, where we all serve,
agriculture research is also a bipartisan issue. Minnesota
farmers tell me that it is urgently important that we complete
a bipartisan Farm Bill this year, and as we work towards that
goal, we can't forget Ag research. And I know that as
frameworks, including the one that Chair Stabenow has put
forward as a basis for finding common ground, includes many
bipartisan provisions, including for agriculture research.
So I want to thank you, Senator Hoeven, for holding this
field hearing. Our two states share a lot in common, including
our bedrock support for farming and agriculture. And I look
forward to working with you, and Senator Boozman, and Senator
Klobuchar, and all of our colleagues in passing a strong
bipartisan Farm Bill to boost our support for Ag research and
technology.
PANEL II
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Smith. Again, thanks to
all three of our senators for joining us and for their great
work on agriculture.
And we are now going to turn to our two witnesses from
USDA. And as I said, we are extremely pleased to have both of
them here.
And I am going to start with Deputy Secretary Xochitl
Torres Small. And you need to tell me how close I was on that
one, Xoch.
Ms. Torres Small. That was exceptional. That was really,
really good.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you. Well, I am glad.
Ms. Torres Small. But also, Xoch, is perfect.
Senator Hoeven. That is why everybody likes you. Yeah.
Thanks for being up here. Thanks for being up here when you
were the leader of Rural Development, working with new,
innovative, and creative programs then, and for your
accessibility. And of course, it is always--in your role, just
always important for making all the trains run on time and
everything in USDA, but particularly important now as we work
on a Farm Bill as well. And your commitment to, as we talk
about the future of agriculture, to new and innovative things,
which I know you are very open to.
So again, thanks for being here. And we welcome your
testimony.
summary statement of hon. xochitl torres small
Ms. Torres Small. Thank you so much, Senator Hoeven, and
thank you for the first panel. Thank you so much, Senator
Klobuchar, Senator Boozman, Senator Smith. It is a joy and an
honor to get to work with you. It is also really exciting to
see this appropriations hearing with the authorizing input and
recognizing how crucial it is to have that collaboration.
Earlier this spring, I got to participate in the Land-Grant
Institution College Tour, where I went across the country and
visited with students who are the next generation of
agriculture. And in one of those formats, I had--a woman ask me
a question. She asked: What distinguishes American Ag research?
And for me, what distinguishes American Ag research is the
direct connection to application, through extension, through
the way that ARS and NIFA across the board, partner with
farmers, work to show that what we are researching has a direct
application to support farmers, feed the country, and feed the
world, we are able to target that work intentionally.
After that conversation, I learned that that woman was
visiting from China, which underscores how other countries are
looking at what we are doing with research and trying to
outpace us. And as Senator Smith recognized, we are certainly
facing that challenge when it comes to funding for agriculture
research.
When we look at 2002 being the time when we reached our
peak, and in 2019, being in a place where we are at the same
funding levels as we were in the 1970s. We know that other
countries are attempting to outpace us to take on this work
that we have done in the past.
So what are the opportunities when it comes to agriculture
research? Well, first it is about the work, when you look at
precision agriculture and unique relationships and
partnerships, such as this relationship, this cooperative
agreement with Grand Farms. When you look at the opportunities
in precision agriculture that then are multiplied by
opportunities in artificial intelligence and data, we know
there are real chances to expand farm income and invest in
farmers.
But it is also about investing in the facilities. And you
will hear from Under Secretary Jacobs-Young about the 90-plus
facilities that ARS operates. The impact that you have when you
come to a college and you are trying to figure out what to
major in, and you are looking at the medical facility, and you
are looking at the ag research facility, and that might
influence what you think is going to be the most prosperous
opportunities for you and your family.
And then it is about investing in people. It is about that
relationship, those collaborations that we saw here today, that
when we are connected to farmers, when we are connected to
private sector, and nonprofit sector, we are able to best
expand our research opportunities.
I think one way to show that was a recent conversation I
had with a generational farm. It talked about the advancements
of each successive generation. And the first, the grandfather
was the one who purchased the land and got the first tractor.
The father invested in water tiling and water technologies for
managing control. The son called himself a soil scientist,
recognizing that investments in precision agriculture, being
able to save on the cost of inputs like fertilizer through
directed application, make a world of difference and allow him
to continue his farm into the future.
But it will also allow us to continue to advance United
States agriculture across the world. One of the last
conversations I had at a land-grant institution was a
researcher, who said it had always been his dream to work at
USDA. And the reason why is because he was an immigrant from
India. And he grew up receiving USDA commodities as support for
nutrition. And so getting the chance to now come here and
contribute to the research that continues to feed the world,
gave him purpose every single day.
So those are the many reasons why agriculture and
investments in research are fundamental to who we are as a
nation, and fundamental to the opportunity of people, all the
people sitting in this room, to make sure that we can continue
farming into the future for generations, for whatever new
innovations to come. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Secretary. And I look forward to
some questions and answers with you, so I appreciate that
opening statement.
And now Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, again, it is so
appropriate that you are here, Assistant Secretary, and
particularly appreciate your strong leadership on all things
research funding for both ARS and NIFA. So please, we welcome
your testimony.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Thank you so much.
Senator Hoeven. Oh. And I do need to highlight that this is
not your first visit as well.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Right.
Senator Hoeven. And so you need to keep coming back as we
continue to improve the weather every time you come.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Exactly, exactly. Thank you so much.
STATEMENT OF HON. CHAVONDA JACOBS-YOUNG, UNDER
SECRETARY FOR RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND
ECONOMICS
Dr. Jacobs-Young. I certainly appreciate that, Senator
Hoeven. And to our esteemed senators, thank you so much for
making time to be here today with us. I enjoyed our
conversations last night. To my colleague, Deputy Secretary
Xoch, she is amazing, and I am just honored to be sitting
beside her this morning.
I have had 22 years at USDA, and all of that time working
in the science arena, and really working to advance our ability
to be able to meet the challenges that we face, not only as a
nation, but as a global community, as we do all of this because
we want to make sure that there is no one left hungry in this
world.
Currently, there are over 800 million people around the
world without enough to eat. And a lot of those people are
right here in the United States of America. After all, why are
we doing what we do? And so as we gather together to talk about
Ag innovation and research, you all have made some very strong
statements today.
I would like to just talk about three things that I think
are important to innovate, to make sure that we can meet the
challenges before us. And the first one is be prepared. You
have heard about the status of our buildings and facilities. We
were at University of Florida when the young lady said: I take
tours, and then I have to show the kids our building. And that
is not okay.
When we look across our land-grant system, we have
tremendous deferred maintenance. In ARS alone, you have heard
about some of the amazing work they do. We have over a billion
dollars in deferred maintenance. I am thankful for the support
that Congress has given us to invest in our facilities, and we
just hope to have that continued success.
To innovate, to integrate artificial intelligence, machine
learning, GIS systems, we have to have broadband. We have to
have high-powered networking systems to move that data to and
fro, to analyze, to share, to high-performance compute in the
cloud storage. So we need all of those things.
And we need professionals. Currently in ARS, NIFA, ERS, and
NASS, we have 1,500 employees eligible to retire today. The
2022 Census told us that our producers are average age 58.1
years old. At point-1, I don't know what that means, but point-
1. As I get older, that doesn't sound so old. But we know that
a large portion of those producers are over the age of 65. We
have a tremendous need to train the next generation of Ag
professionals, in a multitude of disciplines and diversities
that look like America.
I am thankful for the $262.5 million in the NextGen Program
that was supported by the American Rescue Plan, and further
cemented in further legislation, we thank you for that. That is
going to help us. So we need to be prepared. Making those
investments are going to be important. We can't wait for
tomorrow to get prepared for tomorrow.
And the second one is push the envelope. We talked about
the amazing work that is already been done by some of our
scientists, working together. We can't rest on our laurels. We
have to continue to push, push, push, looking 10, 20, 50 years
down the road, making sure that we are prepared.
And then the third one, is pass the baton. As many of us
have just continued watching the Olympics, I know some of you
know how the relay races turned out. And we know that properly
securing the baton is critically important to our success.
Well, that is also true in science. If all of the great
work that happens here at Grand Farm stays on Grand Farm, we
have failed. And passing the baton means that in agriculture,
we don't do science for science's sake. There is a problem, we
find a scientific solution, and more importantly, we get it
into the hands of the people that need it.
And so today, my three points: Be prepared, push the
envelope, and pass the baton. And I believe that we have the
capacity to do all of that.
So thank you for allowing me to be here today.
Senator Hoeven. That was very appropriate.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. I dropped the mic.
Senator Hoeven. I thought that was very perfect, because as
I recall, the women just blew everyone away.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Passed the baton well.
Senator Hoeven. Perfect baton passes, and really fast
running. And it was awesome. And then the men; what is up?
Right? Like how many; what, fourth Olympics in a row?
Dr. Jacobs-Young. As a former track athlete, it upsets me,
very much so.
Senator Hoeven. I know. You get the four fastest runners,
and they finish, I don't know. Anyway, you are right on passing
the baton, a great analogy. And I am glad you are here today to
help do that.
Actually, Senator Klobuchar has to step out in a couple
minutes, but she will be back. And so she is going to go first
with some questions. And that was the agreement we worked out,
that she could go first, but she has to come back. So when she
goes out there, keep an eye on her. And if she makes a break
for it, we will send somebody after her.
Go ahead, Senator.
Senator Klobuchar. All right. Thank you so much, Senator
Hoeven. And I know you did call two women Ag leaders here,
because they know how to pass the baton.
Okay. So I want to start with something we talked about
last night, Dr. Jacobs-Young. And I really appreciate your
insights on this. It is just, we are seeing investment in
research and infrastructure from countries like China,
specifically around the world, and if we want to stay ahead,
not just for our own, which we have all talked about, domestic
production, and helping feed the world, we are going to have to
step it up on innovation, because that is how we have always
been able to be the leader. Could you talk a little bit about
what is going on around the world with some of these other
countries and investment?
Ms. Torres Small. I will say a brief amount and then I am
going to pass it over to Under Secretary Jacobs-Young.
Senator Klobuchar. Oh, oh. Thank you. Oh, Deputy Secretary.
Nice baton, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Torres Small: But absolutely, Under Secretary Jacobs-
Young can speak to the specifics and the value of the
investment. But when we think about the next opportunities,
specifically in artificial intelligence, we know we have real
competition when it comes to China. And what we have seen when
it comes to Chinese investments in AI, is that they have
enormous access to data. And more data, and they are mining
more data than we are able to compete with right now.
And so that is why investments in, and specifically NIFA
investments and ARS investments in datasets are fundamental to
be able to drive that. Because as the United States Government,
we have an enormous opportunity because we own so much of those
datasets, but being able to put them in a usable way where data
can be analyzed, and then used and, then applied for a farmer's
benefit is going to be crucial, to be able to continue to
innovate the future.
And with that, I will pass it over to Under Secretary
Jacobs-Young.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Yeah. Absolutely, I agree. With high tech
comes a lot of data, reams, and reams, and reams of data. And
back to high performance computing, cloud storage, how do we
put all of those things in place so that we can be competitive?
And as we work internationally with our partners, a lot of
times we need our international partnerships to solve problems.
We also have to be very cognizant about the need to protect
our intellectual property, to establish, you know, basic
understandings about how we operate together, because some of
these challenges are just too big for us to try to solve alone.
Senator Klobuchar. Good. And my point is, as we, senators
up here at this table, make the case for Ag research, we just
can't see it in isolation in our own country. It is part of our
own national security. It is part of our global
competitiveness. You did, as you talk about AI, and the need to
move there quickly, you did, Deputy Secretary, talk about
broadband, as did the Under Secretary. The latest technologies,
as we all know, require good broadband, often fiber, often
being able to have the right satellite, and the like. Could you
talk about how important it is that we pass the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, as well as why we need this significant
investment in broadband in rural America?
Ms. Torres Small. I was at a roundtable in Virginia when
the first farmer of several came up to me and said: Thank you
with the work that you did in ReConnect, to make sure that you
are measuring connection directly to farms. Because when it
comes to rural places, having that connectivity right on the
farm is fundamental to futures like precision agriculture.
It also is crucial in terms of collecting data, the
satellite imagery, and other components that allow for more
precise applications in the future. So thank you for the
investment in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and
specifically the $2 billion that went to USDA Rural
Development. Rural Development was the first to deliver
infrastructure, funding for specifically infrastructure as
opposed to mapping, and delivered it directly to communities.
And now, with the recurring appropriations, we are able to
continue and build upon that work.
The other thing that was really fundamental to that
investment was that it included funding for TA. So now, as the
rest of the enormous $60 billion investment in infrastructure
is delivered to states, USDA Rural Development is on the
ground, helping provide technical assistance to communities so
that they are not left out of this enormous investment.
Senator Klobuchar. Right. Okay, thanks. University of
Minnesota is on the cutting edge of developing new crops and
hybrids that are hardy in harsh winters--I wonder why we care
about that--are resilient to the changing climate that result
in efficient and productive yield. The work is supported
through USDA NIFA and the many Ag industry companies we have
based in our state. How is the Department planning to continue
supporting the kind of R&D to get these innovations into the
hands of growers?
Ms. Torres Small. When you talk about innovations into the
hands of growers, I think about the opportunity in biotech, and
specifically when we look at what new seeds and management of
seeds might be able to generate, continue to generate higher
yields. I have been able to visit some of the really exciting
work that has happened, both here and also at North Carolina
State University, specifically focused on increased yields with
climate resilience, recognizing that drought as well as
disaster can also impact that.
If there is anything additional, I will pass it over to
Under Secretary Jacobs-Young.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Just back to the infrastructure point,
you know, the U.S. has one of the largest germplasm collections
in the world. And that germplasm collection allows us to
continuously be on the hunt for traits, the markers we need to
continuously improve plants and animals to be responsive to
high temperatures, low temperatures, floods, droughts, so in
essence to be resilient.
And that germplasm collection is often not seen, and it is
something that is a gem for this country, because we have the
largest collection, and we can go back and find the genetics
that we need to breed into whatever plant or animal that we are
dealing with to make sure that we can be responsive.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay. Thank you. One last question; we
have done a lot of work on biofuels. We have leaders from our
corn growers here, you will hear from shortly, leaders from our
soybean growers here, big up here. And as I work with farmers
and ranchers across Minnesota, I am often reminded of the
importance of our foreign trading partners, but also the need
to expand our domestic markets when it comes to bioproducts.
Senator Ernst, and Ricketts, and Stabenow, and I lead the
bill to strengthen the BioPreferred Program. Could you talk
about, Deputy Secretary Torres Small, could you talk about what
research initiatives have the Ag Research Service and the
National Institute of Food and Agriculture undertaken to expand
the use of Ag commodities in nonfood markets?
Ms. Torres Small. Thank you so much for your focus on the
BioPreferred Program, recognizing that as we invest in biofuels
and sustainable aviation fuel, we also need to use byproducts
to create things like bio-based plastic, or bio-based car
seats, and recognizing that by diversifying that market, we are
able to build the economies of scale necessary to continue that
production.
When it comes to the work and research that we are doing,
NIFA is doubling down in multiple ways. Under Secretary Jacobs-
Young mentioned the germoplasma, which is also a resource which
is also being used to identify and specifically research feed
stocks and the ability to make them more usable for non-food-
based applications.
Senator Hoeven. Thanks, Senator Klobuchar.
And I have got a couple of questions for our witnesses, and
then we will move on to our other senators as well.
So starting with Secretary Torres Small, but really for
both of you, I would mention at the outset that we put together
a formal cooperative agreement between North Dakota State
University, Grand Farm, and the Ag Research Service, USDA. We
are very excited about it, and we have not only put that
cooperative agreement together, through Ag Approps, we are
putting money behind it, and we have now since 2022, and we are
going to continue to.
Already have done it again in the Ag Approps Bill, which we
have moved through the Full Committee this year, and
hopefully--last year we were one of the first bills to the
floor, I hope we are this year too, and broad-based, bipartisan
consensus.
But now I want to ask you about it, because we see this
kind of collaborative partnership as one of the ways to put
some jet fuel behind reaching into the future when we talk
about ag technology, when we talk about precision agriculture,
when we talk about ag research, right, because you are bringing
all these different sources of innovation, of funding, and of
expertise together, right.
And so I want you to tell me if you support that concept. I
certainly hope the answer is yes. And then to expound on that a
little bit.
Ms. Torres Small. This would be a dangerous place if I said
no, but fortunately it is a wholehearted yes. When it comes to
public-private partnerships, it is crucial that we work
together. And one of the exciting things about Grand Farm and
the Cooperative Agreement is that it is not just USDA and Grand
Farm, it is also the connection to North Dakota State
University, and being able to leverage all of the resources of
the land-grant institution.
We have seen that bear fruit in other similar
relationships. When I visited Florida, we got to see some of
the exciting work that was happening with blueberry genetics
because of a public-private partnership that was similar. And
one of the things that was unique about that, or that was
special about that was being able to have USDA researchers on
site with researchers from the University. And that provides an
opportunity for some of our expertise, also some of our
perspective in terms of working with various different types of
farmers, small, mid-size, and large, and what was most going to
be needed in terms of research to direct that.
So we are eager to continue to expand this cooperative
agreement to look at possibilities like locating ARS employees,
and also recognize the importance of making sure that the right
technology and lab equipment is here to be able to fully
leverage that expertise.
But I am glad that you also mentioned Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-
Young, because she was chief scientist when the cooperative
agreement was first signed. So I will pass it over to you if
you have any additional thoughts.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Simply to say that the cooperative
agreement, when that vehicle is used, means that we are
entering into a partnership. So it is not a grant, so it is not
some sort of award. It means that we are walking hand-in-hand
with the other party to the agreement.
And so this idea about public-private partnerships, both
with private industry and philanthropy, is something that, you
know, your wisdom in Congress is infinite wisdom created a
foundation for food and ag research, because you will also
recognize how important it is that we all work together.
We have talked about the decline in investments in Ag
research. We can't afford not to work together. We have to
leverage every dollar and every ounce of potential.
Senator Hoeven. And I want to pick up right there. And
again, thank you for being on board and helping us put that
agreement together. And you are 100 percent right. The
agreement is an official partnership to work together. The
funding we bring, whether I work on that through ag
appropriations, or whether these great legislators that are
here work to bring state dollars into it or whether these
outstanding leaders of industry in the ag world that are here
today, bring private resources, that is the leverage that makes
this a new paradigm that when I say jet fuel, I mean it.
And this is about how in a resource-constrained environment
we do a lot more for the people we serve in agriculture. And so
when Doug Goering, Secretary Goering goes into--Commissioner
Goering goes in to see these legislators, we just give him a
stronger hand to get those matched dollars.
Or when a visionary like Greg Tehven goes to his friends at
all these Ag companies, large and small, and says, hey, you
need to invest in this project, right; it is that leverage, it
is that coming together that creates a synergy that takes us to
the next level. And that is a very important concept that we
want to highlight. And not only is that important for us here
in the Red River Valley, that is a national issue. And we want
to make sure people understand it and we are going to put all
the muscle behind it that we can.
And so any ideas that you have on how we can do a better
job, we want to hear them now, and on a continuous basis. So
again, as we go into this Farm Bill, are there other things
that you would recommend that we do to continue to build that
paradigm? And again, starting with Secretary Torres Small and
then Dr. Jacobs-Young.
Ms. Torres Small. We have been in close collaboration about
the Farm Bill and recognizing that although currently the
majority of funding for NIFA comes through appropriations,
there has been conversations across all proposals, whether it
is the House version, the Senate version, from Senator
Stabenow, or from Ranking Member Boozman, all of them recognize
the need when it comes to investments and research.
One of the challenges when it comes to the Farm Bill is
figuring out how to fund it and knowing that we have got to be
honest about the numbers that are available, and basing that on
an appropriate assessment. So as we look to invest, both in
facilities, in partnerships, making sure that we have a long-
term plan that is based in an honest assessment of what money
we have available.
And I will turn it over to Under Secretary Jacobs-Young for
additional comments.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Yes. So in addition, and I know we are
talking about the Farm Bill, but I want to talk about overall.
And having spent 2 years at the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy, and been in Ag 22 years at USDA, we
continue to have the challenge of impressing upon people how
high-tech agriculture is, that we are a high-tech,
scientifically driven industry. So when we talk about whether
it is in the Ag Committee or any committee, we should be a part
of the conversation, and that we should not have to depend on
our cousins to partner with us, that we should be seen as high-
tech, scientifically driven, and important for investments.
Senator Hoeven. Did Greg Tehven, write some talking points
for you?
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Oh, no.
Senator Hoeven. Because I don't know how you could have
said that any better.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. No, he didn't, but I like it.
Senator Hoeven. That was awesome, and that was 100 percent
right on, and that is absolutely the idea. So thanks to you
both.
Also, Dr. Jacobs-Young, and I do want to commend you both
there in OBAN. You are an on-the-ground person here with Rural
Development--or I should say Torres Small--excuse me--your on-
the-person-ground (sic) here with Rural Development, following
your footsteps, I might add, but is doing a great job.
And also Marcy Svenningsen, our State Director, you are
doing good work, and we appreciate them very much. So I wanted
to acknowledge that as well. Thank you.
Senator Boozman, do you feel up to asking a few questions?
Senator Boozman. I think so. I think I have got enough
energy to do that.
Again, thank you all for being here, and we really do
appreciate working with both of you. I have gotten to know you
both very well, and we appreciate all of your hard work, and it
is a lot of work.
Under Secretary Young, before your confirmation and after,
we have talked a little bit about the USDA's Agricultural
Research Service partnership with the National Agricultural Law
Center, and we have a witness here, Harrison Pittman, who
actually runs that, and he is going to talk a little bit later.
Because we have got all of this advancing technology, and there
is legal implications, you know, regarding that. But can you
speak to the importance of USDA's partnership with centers like
the National Ag Law Center, and others located in states
including Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Dakota?
Ms. Torres Small. Senator Boozman, if you don't mind I will
start, and then pass it over.
Senator Boozman. Yes ma'am, whatever you say.
Ms. Torres Small. I am sorry. I can't help but speak about
the great relationship that we have with Harrison Pittman, and
specifically when it comes to how usable the National Law
Center's information is. The direct relationship with
Cooperative Extension, and providing that national--that legal
advice to Cooperative Extension is crucial because it is
information in the hands of farmers.
Also, we were just talking about how increasingly important
that kind of information is going to be as we look at recent
Supreme Court decisions that are going to impact how we are
able to promulgate regulation, and working with the National
Law Center is going to be fundamental to identifying how to
respond and make sure that our decisions are appropriate, and
defensible in courts of law.
It also strikes me in conversations with young people
recently that a large portion of farmers are thinking about
going into ag law because they see it as fundamental to doing
the work on the ground, and so having a resource like the
National Law Center is crucial to be able to train not just the
lawyers of the future, but the farmers of the future who have
that background.
I will pass it over to Under Secretary Jacobs-Young.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Yes, and as we talk about pushing the
envelope, often we have to make sure that we have an innovation
ecosystem that is prepared for, you know, often people ask me:
So what is the next big thing? And I will say my response is, I
know what the next big thing is. It is not big enough.
And so often our systems have to catch up with the next big
thing, and so the Ag Law Center is important, as well as a lot
of our different processes to make sure that when we have these
developments and these discoveries, we can actually use them.
Senator Boozman. Good, thank you very much.
Deputy Secretary Small, you mentioned making it easier to
access USDA programs by providing simpler forms, loan
applications. I agree that it shouldn't take a grant writer to
apply for USDA programs. So can you describe what USDA has done
so far and what is planned for the future to make USDA more
accessible to rural America?
We have talked about this a lot. In fact, she was actually
down in that, we had a, it wasn't a hearing, but we had a
listening session in Arkansas, and a mayor from a little town,
expressed her concerns of this. You know, this was a very small
community, they felt like they needed to hire a grant writer
that was going to cost $30,000, or something, so the Under
Secretary jumped in and really helped with that and got the
USDA loan.
But I was at the groundbreaking a couple months ago where,
it was the biggest area in Arkansas that was underserved with
water. So it is 500 families that had no water, that you know,
had wells that had gone bad that were hauling water, and
because of USDA, and then others, all working together, we were
able to solve that problem.
But again, I think what I hear, and I know what you hear
too, is it is too complicated, it takes too long to decide, and
it takes too long to get the money. I know you have been
working on it. Tell us, tell us what is happening and how we
can help, as a committee, to make things a little bit easier in
that regard?
Ms. Torres Small. Thank you, Senator Boozman, for your
strong focus on this. It is a joy to get to work with you on
it. And I will tell the story of farm loans as one example of
the different ways we have to work to be a better partner to
farmers, and everyone who relies on USDA.
When it comes to farm loans, one of the things we recently
announced was the ability to apply for your loan online. Now,
that doesn't sound like much, but it has been--it has not
occurred before, this administration, and the ability to not
have to drive into an FSA office, but you can if you want to,
is huge. But it wasn't just about applying for the loan online,
it was also about having a tool online that a farmer could
navigate to identify what is the right loan product that I
should be looking for based on my needs.
And then it was about being able to, we just recently
announced another advancement, to be able to pay your loan
online, because believe it or not, you couldn't pay your farm
loan online before this year.
Senator Boozman. I would believe it.
Ms. Torres Small. Those are the challenges that we face,
and so now we have also cut down the farm loan application from
29 pages to 13, and just last two weeks ago, we announced a
change in regulation. The farm loan regulations hadn't been
updated for 40 years, or longer than I have been alive, and
when it comes to making sure that farmers have that access.
Being able to decrease the amount of collateral that is
required, limiting whether or not you have to put your home,
your private home on the line, in order to get a loan, or
extending the term payment so that it fits with your plan and
your business plan; this should be able to better serve farmers
so that they have the financial freedom to make the investments
that they need.
Senator Boozman. Very good. Dr. Young, can you talk about
the outreach the Agency does to producer groups, private
companies, public research institutions, to understand what
they are looking to see the Federal government focus research
investments on for innovation, precision agriculture?
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Absolutely. We spend an enormous amount
of time in conversation with stakeholders. I was just talking
to my colleague sitting behind me here, I just met this
morning, about March Madness.
And it is not basketball. No worries, Senator Hoeven, I
know I use a lot of sports analogies.
But March Madness for us is right after the President
typically releases his budget in February. We have all of the
stakeholder groups come to Washington, D.C., and I know they
stop by and visit you guys, but they also come to USDA, and we
get a chance to hear from them about their top priorities.
More importantly, we get a chance to be able to hear where
our programs are working well, and where there are
opportunities for us to maybe refocus, and sometimes redirect
funding in terms of how we are prioritizing our investments. We
spend a lot of time in communication and deal with the 95-plus
locations for ARS. A third of our labs on university campuses,
we are constantly in the community engaging with folks.
Senator Boozman. Very good. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Boozman.
Senator Smith.
Senator Smith. Thank you, Senator Hoeven. Super interesting
panel, I am grateful for this. And I also suspect, Senator
Hoeven that I know we are all eager to hear from the industry
panelists as well, so I am going to confine myself to one
question so we have a chance to hear from everybody.
What I would like to ask you both about, last night we had
a really interesting discussion about the value of value-add
research, and what we can do so that Midwestern commodities,
for example, we don't just ship them off to the Pacific Coast,
but we are adding value here, keeping more money and more
opportunity here at home.
So I wonder if we--I mean, I think the example that Senator
Klobuchar was getting at around advanced biofuels just as one
example of what we can do here. So I am wondering if you could
both talk about the importance of research in this area, talk
about how the public-private partnership mechanism needs to
work in this area, and what opportunities you see for farmers.
I am particularly interested in where the opportunities
might be for emerging farmers, or smaller scale operations in
this area of value add?
Ms. Torres Small. When it comes to value add, it is crucial
that we are investing in opportunities for all types of
farmers. And specifically, when you look at Ag income, and how
it is defined, and how it is distributed, where we have over 85
percent of the funds, of the Ag income, are going to 7 percent
of the farmers.
We know that it is crucial that we invest in all, and that
added value can be accessible to all. So when you look at
sustainable aviation fuel, for example, that is a system that
is already set up to be able to--that any farmer that is
growing corn or soy should be able to have access to, but we
have got to make sure that there is the scale for that. And
that is why the upcoming Regulation 45C is going to be
fundamental to giving farmers credit for the practices they are
implementing on the ground to support access to that market
through sustainable aviation fuel.
Another way that we know added value is important is
investing in bio-refineries close to home here in the Midwest.
Now, Rural Development has a program, 9003, that does recognize
and invest in that crucial middle point between when you have
got an idea, when you have got the technology, but you have to
commercialize it.
Unfortunately, we have had some barriers in 9003, and we
have really appreciated the collaboration with the Ag Committee
on ways that we might be able to make those funds more
accessible, and make sure that that money is being utilized in
the most intentional way.
Then it is also about, as we talked about, bio-based
products, how do we not just invest in the biofuels piece, but
recognize that all of the additional components that might be
used through bio-based products and building a real marketplace
around that through labeling with rural development.
So with that, I will pass it over to Under Secretary
Jacobs-Young.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Everything that Deputy Secretary Torres
Small said. And I will just add that from a research
perspective, it is part of our job to stay on the cutting edge,
looking at feedstock development, looking at agronomic
practices, harvesting, conversion practices, and processes.
And so we want to be in the laboratories, and on the farms
really trying to discover what is the next big transformational
step in this space, whether we are doing bioplastics or
biofuels. So how do we have that one-two punch, an economic
opportunity for our producers in those communities, and protect
our Earth?
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Smith.
Thank you, again, both to Secretary Torres Small, as well
as Dr. Jacobs-Young for being here for your testimony, most of
all for your hard work, and the good relationships that we have
that are so important as we work forward on this Farm Bill, and
all the other things that are important to agriculture in the
future.
So that will wrap up this round of witnesses. Although it
will not wrap up the work that both Secretary Small and Young
are doing here, because there will be a Young Farmer Roundtable
that will start at 1:00 o'clock, that I look very much forward
to and obviously anyone that would like to listen in on that is
certainly invited to attend as well. We appreciate so much your
focus on young farmers, beginning farmers as well, and
obviously that is going to be a very important component in the
Farm Bill.
I think the average age for farmers right now, Dr. Boozman,
is about 60, which is remarkably young for guys like you and
me.
Senator Hoeven. But certainly for a lot of folks they think
that that is getting up there, where we better get this next
generation into the business of farming, and there are some
pretty tall barriers to entry, and so that is a very important
focus.
So again, thanks so much to both of you. And maybe we could
have a round of applause for these outstanding witnesses.
Dr. Jacobs-Young. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Senator Hoeven. Okay. We will take a quick, and I mean
quick, it is five minutes to get the next crew up there, so we
will reconvene in five minutes. Okay.
PANEL III
Senator Hoeven. We continue now with our third panel. We
are very pleased to have outstanding leaders from really
diverse aspects of agriculture, and very much look forward to
their testimony. And it is very appropriate that we are
starting with Greg Tehven, who is actually our host here at the
Innovation Shop at Grand Farm. And I will say, Greg, this is a
little nicer than the farm shops I am used to, although I have
got to admit, I have been in some really awesome farm shops.
But it does have the flies that I always seem to be in the
shop, so that kind of gives it kind of a homey feel for us.
But again, thanks for your great vision, and your
leadership, and for being here today. Please start with some
opening comments for all of you, and then we will have some
questions.
STATEMENT OF MR. GREG TEHVEN, CO-FOUNDER AND BOARD
CHAIR, GRAND FARM
Mr. Tehven. Well, thank you, Senator Hoeven, great to be
with you. Senator Klobuchar, Senator Boozman, and Senator
Smith, on behalf of the Grand Farm Board of Directors and our
staff, we welcome you.
This is the first ever official event here at the Grand
Farm Innovation Shop, so give yourselves a round of applause.
Mr. Tehven. We are an organization of 70 partners, many of
which are here. And I also want to just provide a special
celebration to the technology demos that were here at 9:00
a.m., unlike you, said Senator. But I know Senator Boozman,
Senator Klobuchar, and others, enjoyed the technology demos at
9:00 a.m.
Senator Hoeven. We don't want to have to cut off your mic.
Mr. Tehven. Okay. All right, all right. My name is Greg
Tehven. I am a co-founder of Grand Farm. I serve as the Board
Chair. I grew up on a family farm near here. I had the
opportunity to be a University of Minnesota Golden Gopher. I
got involved in research. Yes, there is three of us here at
least, Representative Pyle, Representative Nathe, if it is safe
here to admit that.
But I am really grateful for my experience as a young
person and being part of this important effort. Barry
Batcheller was a technologist that put the first computer chip
on a Steiger Tractor. He went on to build Phoenix
International, which John Deere acquired, and then went on to
build a company that EGCO acquired. And he asked an important
question. What is this region's major? What can we do to make a
difference that is transformative? And that was back in 2017.
We got together and looked at the problems advanced
technology and agriculture could solve. How could farms be more
efficient? How could they be safe? How could we save time? And
how could we make sure policymakers were involved in meaningful
efforts that allowed those folks to innovate, to do research
that could be applied, and provide a healthy economy?
In response to that, Senator Hoeven invited the Secretary
of Agriculture out to a piece of dirt that had a porta potty
and a tent. And we shared our vision of Grand Farm. This was
back in the spring of 2019. And we looked at a robust ecosystem
and how these different groups of established organizations,
startups, research organizations could work with producers to
solve real problems.
Later that fall, Microsoft made a $1.5 million contribution
to seed this effort to get us off the ground. In 2021, the
State of North Dakota's legislature, many of which are here.
Let us give them a round of applause.
Mr. Tehven. Applied $10 million of American Rescue Plan Act
funding to build a permanent location for the Grand Farm. It
was matched by private sector donations through organizations
such as Tharaldson Ethanol, Ag Country, and many more that are
on the board outside.
The state continues to invest in our state through programs
like the LIFT Program to support technology innovation, through
our in-state investment program, and countless others. This
effort seeded us to provide regional and meaningful
collaboration with the Federal government.
We are grateful for the United States Department of
Agriculture Research Services Group. This winter, we were able
to give our Grand Farm Partner of the Year Award to ARS. And
Dr. Jacobs-Young, as long as Dr. Simon Liu, joined us for that.
Our work extends beyond just North Dakota, but allows us to
work in Nebraska, at the University of Purdue, and with our
friends in Georgia. We even have the opportunity to have the
leadership of ARS influencing our thinking. From Dr. Liu's work
on the White House's Artificial Intelligence Committee, to the
work of Dr. Kappes, a recently retired ARS teammate that has
joined our Board, to one of our farm program managers out here
on the Farm who is an ARS alumni; she, and the rest of the team
learned the problems weeds provide, as you gave us one week to
prepare for today.
We are grateful for the Federal partnerships. We are one of
nine organizations, the National Science Foundation has
partnered with the Engine 2, the only one focused on
agriculture. The Farm's team, led by Dr. Hollie, and Cathy,
that are sitting in the front row. It is a critical project.
But Senator Hoeven, when I came to visit you with a
migraine, you provided me an opportunity to walk up the five
flights of stairs to meet with Senator Boozman. And you looked
at him and said: Wouldn't it be something if we had an
agriculture project?
And you, Senator Boozman, said: It would, but remember our
Tribal Nations and what we can learn from the past. And look
around at your leaders in your community and ask them to help.
We have done that.
I also want to celebrate the work of the Economic
Development Administration's technology hubs. We are partnered
with the great folks in Montana, with your colleague, Senator
Tester that created an opportunity for a rural project. Tim
VanVranken, who leads that effort, is here today, as Senator
Tester, alumni staff member.
We are part of the Economic Development Administration's
Good Job Challenge, where we upskill talent. Senator Smith, you
were there to kick that off over in our wonderful Moorhead
community. And we also had the SBA administrator here, Guzman,
last month, where we worked with startups and entrepreneurs on
how to solve these problems.
When I look at the future of agriculture, I am excited
about the potential of autonomy, machine learning, and
artificial intelligence. I am curious what it would look like
for us to continue our collaboration and host the first Federal
lab that would focus in these areas for agriculture.
At our grand opening on June 10th, just 2 months ago, I
brought my three children with to the opening, a three-year-
old, a five-year-old, and a six-year-old. They were
disappointed there was no zip line. They were frustrated that
AGCO won't let us go in the equipment. There were no robots to
play with, and they don't have the certification to fly drones.
But they sat through a presentation where we heard from
North Dakota leaders, from our, to our senators, to our
congressmen, to several representatives. And that night when I
got to bed, I put my five-year-old son--I was trying to put him
to sleep, and he started asking questions, he said, dad, if we
are going to farm on space, how big does the rocket have to be
to bring the tractors with? Dad, how does the fertilizer work
on the moon? Dad, can I be part of agriculture?
We have got FFA students here today. We have got
technologists. I am excited about your investment in research,
technology, and collaboration because we are standing on the
shoulders of giants, and we are improving the human condition
because food matters. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven. Thanks, Greg. And that is why we are
really--well, we are very glad you are here for many reasons,
but you are right, I am not sure we have had a sufficiently
robust discussion about how we are going to get the tractor on
the spaceship. But that is a pressing issue, and we are going
to delve into it deeply. Always fun to have you here, and
thanks for your great vision and leadership.
Dr. Greg Lardy, same thing to you. We are doing new and
innovative things because we have people that are willing to
build the relationships and network and make it happen, and you
epitomize that. So Dr. Lardy, please.
STATEMENT OF DR. GREG LARDY, JOE AND NORMA PELTIER VICE
PRESIDENT FOR AGRICULTURE, NORTH DAKOTA
STATE UNIVERSITY
Dr. Lardy. Thank you, Senator Hoeven. In my role at North
Dakota State University, I have the privilege of serving as the
Joe and Norma Vice President for Agriculture, and I want to
extend a warm welcome to all of our guests that are here today.
Thank you for joining us.
In my role at NDSU, I lead our efforts in teaching,
research, and extension in areas related to agriculture. This
land-grant mission is critical to the future of our state. Our
trifold mission began in 1890 with the creation of North Dakota
Agricultural College. And it carries on today with 700
dedicated employees across the State of North Dakota, research
centers located at seven different locations, and a local
county presence in each of the state's 53 counties through NDSU
Extension.
In partnership with USDA NIFA, the State of North Dakota,
and our county partners, we carry out that extension mission
proudly. It should be no surprise that agriculture and food
production is changing rapidly. A growing global population,
much of which is emerging from poverty, is demanding additional
and higher quality foods. North Dakota, in this region, is
uniquely positioned to play a vital role in providing those
foodstuffs.
Our state produces over 40 different agricultural
commodities, and we lead the nation in a dozen of those. Our
producers literally do feed the world, and NDSU is proud to
play a key role in that effort through education, research, and
extension.
One of the ways we do this is our partnerships with USDA. I
just want to give you a couple of examples of those
partnerships with USDA's Agricultural Research Service. We have
scientists that are working collaboratively with USDA-ARS on a
long-term mission to develop tools to ensure North Dakota's
public crops are sustainable in the face of many different
abiotic and biotic challenges and stressors. They use highly
sophisticated models and tools to select plant varieties that
are adapted to this region. They also enhance the resiliency of
our food supply through those efforts.
Federal investments in that public research allow our
farmers and the Nation to remain competitive and have varieties
that perform well under harsh growing conditions.
NDSU is also a leader in precision agriculture. We
collaborate with USDA-ARS, private industry, Grand Farm, and
other organizations to accelerate the development of those
critical technologies. This relationship is enhanced with a
testbed that is provided by Grand Farm. Thanks to Senator
Hoeven for his efforts to strengthen this relationship even
more by investing in technology that allows rapid data transfer
and utilization of data collection across broad geographic
areas. Our scientists can now rapidly solve the various
problems that are vexing our farmers and ranchers.
Our partnerships with USDA, private community partners, and
others are founded on solid investments by state and Federal
resources. These regional collaborations have brought a unique
ecosystem to this region and that is at the forefront of
agriculture in a fact that was recognized by this region being
only one of ten National Science Foundation Regional Innovation
grants. The grant provides $15 million to establish North
Dakota as a critical economic hub for Ag technology.
This initiative is poised to drive workforce development,
economic growth in the Ag tech sector with the potential to
expand to a ten-year $160 million investment in our region of
service. That does not happen with the investments that are
being made at the state level.
NDSU is also emerging as a leader in Federal farm policy.
The creation of our new Policy Research Center, NDSU will be at
the forefront of the development of Federal farm policy related
to crop insurance, livestock risk protection, and other
critical Farm Bill features that are essential to an adequate
safety net for our ag producers. I would be remiss if I didn't
mention the need for continued investment in research
facilities and infrastructure. You heard this morning from Dr.
Torres Small and Dr. Jacobs-Young on data security and data
investments, but also our Federal research laboratories and
laboratories at land-grant universities need replacement or
refurbishing to effectively function for modern research
capabilities.
Without reinvestment in critical facilities, the United
States will likely lose its competitive advantage as a leader
in agriculture and food science research. NDSU is proud of our
land-grant mission and the ability to serve the State of North
Dakota. We stand ready to do even more with the investments in
innovative teaching, research, and extension programs driven by
the needs of our stakeholders.
Thank you, Senator Hoeven, for your support. And I would be
happy to answer any questions your other committee members
have, following the conclusion of the other testimony.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Dr. Lardy, and again, thanks for
being here.
Mr. Pittman, thank you for being here as well. As somebody
who is a strong advocate of facial hair, I do want to commend
you on very strong performance in that category.
Mr. Pittman. And I even trimmed it.
Senator Hoeven. But perhaps even more importantly, for
being an expert on legal issues as it relates to agriculture.
And we are pleased that Senator Boozman recommended that you
join us. And so, again, thank you for being here.
STATEMENT OF MR. HARRISON PITTMAN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL
AGRICULTURAL LAW CENTER
Mr. Pittman. Appreciate you having me. So thank you for
hosting this, and to Senator Smith, Senator Boozman, and
Senator Klobuchar, it is an honor to be here with you, and I do
commend you for taking on this very challenging and important
area of Ag research and innovation and technology.
I will very briefly give you just a quick background on the
National Agricultural Law Center and highlight some key issues,
and then, of course, I am more than happy to answer questions.
I would also like to say it is really impressive to see
such a great turnout, and I think that is very important and it
shows the commitment people here have, and to see so many
friendly and familiar faces. You can tell by my accent I don't
get up this way very often, but I get to see a lot of you guys
and gals around the country, and it is good to see you here.
So I serve as the Director of the National Agricultural Law
Center. The Center was created by Congress in 1987, so just
think back to a time period where the country was in the throes
of the farm crisis of the 1980s, and you had a variety of
interests from producers, to lenders, to government employees,
to elected officials at the Federal and state level, and the
list goes on, who were suddenly confronted with what to do when
the music stops, and there really was not a place to turn to as
an objective, nonpartisan resource.
And so the idea was pitched to create the Ag Law Center,
and the function that we were originally created for continues
today, but the issues have grown, and they have expanded in so
many different ways.
Our mission is to serve as the Nation's leading source for
agricultural and food law research and information. We work
basically for everybody in the ag community, producers of all
commodities in all states around the country, state ag
departments, farm bureaus, county committees, you name it,
trade associations, commodity groups, and the list goes on and
on, and the work. For example, here in North Dakota on issues
like foreign ownership of agricultural land, we have interacted
quite a lot with stakeholders here in helping think through and
draft legislation where they drafted. We were a resource to
them in terms of what states do.
We are federally funded. We do have one of these
partnerships that we have talked about today with Agricultural
Research Service. We enter into cooperative agreements with the
ARS, specifically what is called the National Agricultural
Library, which is a part of ARS. A lot of the issues we cover,
Federal crop insurance, all things, environmental law, Farm
Bill, and I would add to that Farm Bill implementation.
And then I would add into that, based on the panel we had
just in the last hour, we do a lot with students, too. We try
to do a lot of outreach for students that are interested in
careers and issues in agricultural law, and that is pre-
college, and undergraduate, and law students.
Turning to some of the key issues in ag technology and ag
research, in my view, and this is an area of pesticides, it is
an area that has changed the most in my 20-plus years, almost a
quarter century of being involved in agricultural law, and if
ever there were good old days in pesticide registration, I
think they have ended. And I don't think that it will get
easier any time soon. I think the changes are likely long term,
and just given the connection between the technology of
pesticides and productivity.
But then the further connection with conservation, and we
think about things like carbon sequestration that enable
conservation practices like no-till or minimum till, the more
difficult it is to have predictability with respect to the
registration and the use and availability of pesticide
products, it will have an impact on those areas.
I would highlight that it is also an area that ties into
your general picture of innovation in Ag biotechnology, because
we are now in an era that the spray, the pesticide, is attached
to the seed technology, and that is an Ag biotech issue that is
an important one to think through. Checkoff programs or Federal
research and promotion programs, I think those are important to
keep in mind.
Those do not involve appropriations, but they do involve
funding that comes through the Federal research programs, and
right now there is roughly two dozen that are overseen by the
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and those programs provide
a lot of funding, producer-funded, a lot of that is in the
research realm.
They do face legal challenges from time to time. There are
some actions in the court system now. But I think one area that
I have encountered, and over the past several years, are
questions about: What types of expenditures are allowed from
one checkoff program to the other with respect to, what I would
call, physical infrastructure; particularly at the land-grant
systems, whether that be certain equipment or even bricks and
mortar. And I think that is an area that is deserving of
further exploration.
The last things I will mention, foreign ownership. That is
been a red-hot issue. It continues at the Federal level, and
certainly at the state level, and that ties in a lot on your Ag
innovation. There is a lot of foreign investment in
agriculture, and it has presented unique challenges as state
legislators have worked through these, and, of course, there
are issues at the Federal level, and I would be more than happy
to answer questions on that.
And the very final, I would throw out something that I
don't think has come up yet today, but the theft of data. And
that is something we have seen in different states, including
Arkansas, that, frankly, it is as simple as picking up the
technology, the seed from a field, putting it in a pocket, and
going back to whatever country that is.
And we have had that happen in Arkansas, and effectively
putting the technology of a company in a pocket in reverse
engineering, and it is gone. And I think that is another area
that warrants attention.
I will stop there. I am less than a minute over, and that
is pretty good for me. And I am going to stop right there. I
thank you very much.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you. We will move on to Josh Gackle.
Josh, again, having you on this panel is so appropriate. You
are out there farming every single day, and so getting the job
done, knowing what those challenges are that your fellow
farmers face. Also as the president of the American Soybean
Association, representing them in that capacity, you know, that
is exactly the kind of input we need to have on that, not just
today but every day, to get things done the right way.
So thanks for being here. Go ahead with your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MR. JOSH GACKLE, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN
SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION
Mr. Gackle. Sure. Thank you, Senator Hoeven, and Senator
Boozman, Senator Smith, Senator Klobuchar, for being here today
and for this important meeting. And thank you for allowing me
to testify today.
As Senator Hoeven said, my name is Josh Gackle. I am a
North Dakota soybean farmer as well as a corn farmer, barley
and wheat as well. But I work with my dad and brother on a
third-generation farm in Kulm, North Dakota, about two hours
southwest of here.
And this year I also have the privilege of serving as
President of the American Soybean Association, which represents
U.S. soybean farmers across 30 states. The states that you
represent, North Dakota, Minnesota and Arkansas, planted about
20 percent of the U.S. soybean acreage in 2023. For farmers to
plant, market and transport over 80 million acres of soybeans
each year, we rely on Ag research and technology to help move
us forward.
Funding and public policy supporting Ag research and
technology are impactful and their benefits are far-reaching to
soybean farmers and throughout the entire value chain. Research
helps increase productivity and environmental and economic
sustainability. Thanks to investments in seed technologies that
make production possible in colder and drier climates, like
here, and like where I farm, two hours southwest of here,
soybean acreage in North Dakota has increased tenfold over the
past 30 years.
Precision Ag technologies improve efficiencies of critical
inputs, including land, water, fertilizer, and pesticides, but
their adoption is limited by farmer affordability, and
especially during this difficult farm economy. So ASA supports
legislation in the new Farm Bill to make precision Ag
technologies and research tools more accessible.
On a different note, research also helps improve farmer
resilience. It supports farmers' mental health by improving
understanding of these very real challenges and helping to
identify solutions and connecting farm and ranch families with
stress assistance services. In addition, soybean market
opportunities also expand thanks to research. Research helps
drive market development of over 1,000 new uses for soy.
Some examples, these include protein-rich livestock feed,
clean-burning biofuels, and PFAS-free soy-based fire
suppressant. That is just to name a few examples.
Market research and investment benefits extend to trade as
well, resulting in over $32 billion in U.S. soybean exports in
the 2022-2023 marketing year. Research contributes to the
building of efficient infrastructure, which is necessary for
moving crops to market and enhancing the competitiveness of
U.S. agriculture. Soybean farmer funding has contributed to
research enabling port capacity expansion in Washington State
and the dredging of the lower Mississippi River, just to name a
couple examples.
Funding for research and technology does not come from a
single source. We rely upon multiple funding streams, public,
private, and checkoff resources, as Harrison mentioned. Each of
these funding streams is critical to our success and should not
be viewed as substitutes for one another.
So we appreciate this subcommittee's work to provide
Federal resources for various needs, and we encourage funding
in a timely manner. We also appreciate the Senate Agriculture
Committee's efforts to authorize and fund initiatives impacting
research, technology and beyond. ASA is grateful for the
opportunities provided by the Ag Committee in 2022 and 2023,
and for our organizations to testify regarding the many Farm
Bill challenges and needs of soybean growers. We need your help
again this year in getting a new and improved Farm Bill done in
2024.
Strong funding streams are necessary for USDA, land-grant
institutions, and others to deliver research results, this
contributes to a more informed soy industry and public, but
only if funded sufficiently. It is concerning to us that U.S.
Federal Ag Research funding has declined while other countries
have maintained or increased their funding levels.
Private-sector resources complement other funding streams.
There are significant investments of resources and time to
bring innovations and technologies to market, ensuring that a
science-based and risk-based approach to regulation is critical
for continuing meaningful access to farmer production and crop
protection tools.
And finally, here, farmer-funded checkoffs at the national
and state levels complement public and private funding. Created
over 30 years ago through an Act of Congress, the soy checkoff
delivers a high return on investment for farmer-invested
dollars, $12.34 for every dollar invested by farmers.
So ASA urges the protection of the checkoff from harmful
amendments that may arise in the appropriations process or
through the authorization of a new Farm Bill this year.
So to conclude, if U.S. agriculture is to remain a leader,
regulatory regimes, technology adoption, and system programs,
and increased ag research funding that welcome and stimulate
innovation, are necessary.
Again, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify.
And look forward to any questions and further discussion.
Thanks.
Senator Hoeven. Thanks. Thanks, Josh. Again, thanks for
being here.
Also, Mr. Wolle, thanks for being here. As you are a
Minnesota farmer, I would ask if Senator Klobuchar might make
some opening remarks for your introduction.
Senator Klobuchar. Very good. And I want to thank you for
being here, Harold. Harold Wolle, we are not only proud of him
as a Minnesotan from Madelia, Minnesota, Madelia strong, but
also he is, in fact, the President of the Corn Board--of the
National Corn Growers Association, which is a farmer-led
association. And he has been a long-time farmer, and has been a
leader in our state. And we think it is very cool he is out
here on the national stage.
STATEMENT OF MR. HAROLD WOLLE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL CORN
GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Mr. Wolle. Well, thank you. I am Harold Wolle, President of
the National Farm Growers Association, and a corn, and soybean
farmer from Madelia, Minnesota. I appreciate being invited here
today to speak on behalf of NCGA's 40,000 dues-paying farmers,
and 300,000 farmers contributing to corn, research, and
promotion through checkoffs in their states.
I want to thank you, Ranking Member Hoeven, for holding
this important hearing today in your home state. It is also
nice to see my home state Members of Congress, Senators Amy
Klobuchar and Tina Smith, here today along with Senator Boozman
of Arkansas. You are all doing yeoman's work as members of the
Senate Ag Committee to get the Farm Bill through Congress this
year.
And Senators Boozman and Hoeven, you are doing double duty,
serving on both the Appropriations and Agriculture Committees.
All of your efforts are deeply appreciated.
Turning now to the topic at hand, agriculture technology
and research, these are important topics and are top of mind at
NCGA. There are many issues related to this topic that we are
focused on advancing. But today, I want to talk to you about
securing appropriations funding for two key projects, the
Agriculture Genome-to-Phenome Initiative, and NCGA's Aflatoxin
Mitigation Center of Excellence.
The Agriculture Genome-to-Phenome Initiative provides
collaborative research opportunities that expand the industry's
knowledge of genetic traits across crops and livestock. This
type of research is critical to fully characterizing these
genetic traits and, in turn, providing producers with the
knowledge to make better management decisions, increasing both
their productivity, and their sustainability, and
profitability.
NCGA and the Iowa Corn Growers Association have a long
history of supporting this initiative and have worked with
Congress to secure Federal investments into the program, we are
grateful that the Senate Appropriations Committee has shown
support for this funding in the fiscal year 2025 and we are
pleased to see that the House Ag Committee has proposed
reauthorization of funding for the Agriculture Genomes-to-
Phenomes Initiative, is in its draft of the Farm Bill.
This initiative is well positioned for continued Federal
support, and we urge the Senate Committees on Appropriations to
continue to elevate this program as negotiations continue.
A second priority in the area of technology and research is
securing funding to address aflatoxin contamination, which has
been a significant problem for producers in southern states for
several years. More recently, it has expanded into the Midwest
and Western Plains States. The increased frequency of extreme
weather events will further exasperate this problem and
continue to expand the impacted geographic area.
Direct losses of corn caused by aflatoxin are estimated at
$200 million annually with indirect losses from byproducts such
as distillers grains further adding to the loss. Recognizing
the significance of the threat, corn producers have contributed
more than $5 million since 2012 in private funding for research
projects through NCGA's Aflatoxin Mitigation Center of
Excellence to better understand and attempt to mitigate the
risk of aflatoxin to corn growers. While research conducted
over the last decade has made meaningful progress in developing
and deploying mitigation strategies, there remains a
considerable gap between the amount of research currently being
performed, particularly regarding responsive agriculture, human
nutrition, and food safety, and the magnitude of the issue.
To expand this important research, NCGA and its state
partners pursued Federal funding for the program, and
successfully recruited $1.5 million through fiscal 23 and 24
appropriations. These dollars have been thoughtfully invested
in select research projects nationwide to advance the
development of aflatoxin mitigation.
We are pleased that the House Appropriations Committee,
report for its Fiscal 2025 agriculture funding, including an
increase of a million dollars for AMCO, and ask you and your
fellow senator appropriators to secure that funding as
negotiations progress.
Finally, corn growers appreciate the multiple roles of
public and land-grant universities including education,
research, and extension. At the National Association and State
Association levels we often partner with these institutions on
agriculture policy research to help understand and evaluate the
farm economy, expected budgets, and Federal policy.
In summary, Federal funding for Ag research has plateaued
and the industry cannot afford to weaken that investment. By
bolstering Ag research across the board we can address the
issues I have enumerated while tackling additional challenges
related to other areas impacting agriculture like trade and
biofuels.
Thank you again for the invitation to attend this field
hearing. And I look forward to answering questions.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you Mr. Wolle. Thanks for being here.
Mr. Debertin there was a big fight over who will introduce
you.
Senator Smith. And I won.
Mr. Debertin. I hope it wasn't a big fight.
Senator Hoeven. They did go in the back room and settle it.
Mr. Debertin. I hope it wasn't a big fight.
Senator Hoeven. And Senator Smith is accorded the honor.
Mr. Debertin. Okay.
Senator Smith. Senator Klobuchar and I rarely have big
fights, and never in public, so.
Senator Smith. Listen, thank you. Senator Hoeven, I am
really honored to be able to introduce to the group, Jay
Debertin, who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of
CHS, which is the nation's leading farmer-owned cooperative and
an agronomy global energy grains and processing company.
Jay has been president of CHS and CEO since 2017, but that
was following 33 years of leadership roles across the country,
so he brings a broad range of experience to these issues, and
is a good friend and we value CHS very much in Minnesota. So
thank you Jay for being with us.
STATEMENT OF MR. JAY DEBERTIN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CHS
Mr. Debertin. Thank you Senator. Yes I have been with the
company for 40 years, so when the Deputy Secretary said she
wasn't even 40 yet it was humbling.
The thing I would like to just start with for the people in
the room that maybe don't see these four people in Washington,
that you know, they do have a D or an R behind their name, but
when you are in their offices you wouldn't know that.
The Ag focus that they have is dead-on, and they are
focused at solving Ag solutions whether, they have a D or an R,
and I have seen it in action, I have worked with their staff,
and that is the way they work.
You know, Senator Klobuchar raised Norman Borlaug's name
earlier today, and I hadn't thought about him in some time, and
did great work at research at the University of Minnesota,
Iowa, went on to Mexico, largely centered around wheat, and
then some other things. He won the Nobel Prize. He won the
Nobel Peace Prize because of what food means to world peace.
And so if we don't have enough gravitas about the work that
we are doing here that should remind us of strong farmers,
strong agriculture, and what that means to the world, so kind
of a good reminder, a good reminder for me.
So at CHS our purpose is to create connections to empower
agriculture, and that means we provide what the farmer needs at
every step along the way, meaning the fuels, and renewable
fuels, and fertilizers, and seeds, and grain, and grain
processing. They harvest it and then when they are ready to
sell that grain we find the best market and the processers from
around the world.
So Harold and Josh, we thank you for the business that we
get from your crop that comes off.
Today, I will address not only the importance of
agriculture technology which people have spoken very, very well
to, and CHS is a founding member in Grand Farms, and we are
very, very proud of it. I would also maybe like to spend just a
moment speaking about some other things within a future of
agriculture, too, certainly creating certainty in programs like
the Farm Bill, tax codes, free and open trade markets are
foundational for American cooperatives, and for farmers and
ranchers to thrive, and that that world market has to be kept
in mind.
But beginning on the importance of agricultural technology
being on the forefront of technology enables our cooperative
model owned by farmers and our owners to stay as efficient as
possible while competing in a global scale. Our business relies
on innovative thinking and in the supply chain to move things
faster, better, and safer, by harnessing the power of
technology we are positioning the farmer owners for the future.
We are a proud partner in Grand Farm. We are also a proud
partner in Ag technology venture called Cooperative Ventures,
which is $50 million that we have--we and a partner have
devoted towards capital JV within Ag technology space. So we
are all in on Ag technology, it is just so fundamental and
foundational to the future of agriculture.
There is also other things that we are focused on in this
in this environment. And I just would like to take a moment to
speak up about you know the Farm Bill that came up.
And Senator Boozman, we were together in your office just
two weeks ago, and your commitment to getting it done this
year, if it wasn't clear to me then it is today, of the
importance of getting the Farm Bill done this year. The change
that we have seen in agricultural conditions just in the last
few months that many people in this room know what is happened
on commodity prices.
If we thought we had an option to push it into next year, I
don't think it is there. I think you were dead on with the
importance to get it done this year. And I just want you to
know that at CHS, and I am sure for the other people at this
table, whatever we need to do to help, because it means cutting
some--making some decisions and arriving at an agreement which
you, all four, have done before in the field of ag, and others
have too. We will be there.
And likely somewhere somebody is going to be unhappy with
the decision made, we will support--if all four of you are
voting for it, CHS will be right there, because that tells me
that you have crossed the aisle and you figured it out. So I
just give you that piece of support for a Farm Bill yet this
year for CHS.
And then the last thing I would speak to is just to remind
everybody the importance of the international trade, this
industry relies on international markets, this industry relies
on that global customer as one option, clearly a couple of
really nice processing assets built, where you can see them
over here, and that is good, and we have got a handful of them
too, and it is a great option for farmers, and it is a great
option for the crops. The global customer also needs to be part
of it.
And so trade promotion, trade protection is really, really
important to us at CHS, and I think to agriculture, in general.
So happy to take any questions you might have on any of those
fronts. But thank you for your leadership.
Senator Hoeven. Thanks to all of you for your comments and
now we will take some questions.
I want to start actually with Greg Tehven and Dr. Lardy.
For both the Farm Bill as well as the farm Appropriations Bill
I want to know what is most helpful in terms of what I talked
about here a minute ago, and what you all addressed, and these
new partnerships, synergistic partnerships that we are putting
together, like the one I have talked about between NDSU, Grand
Farm, and ARS USDA; how do we do more and do a better job?
Obviously more funding, I got that part. So Greg you don't have
to mention that, or Dr. Lardy. I got that.
But the whole point is we are thinking beyond that aren't
we? We are thinking about how we bring more resources to the
party from all the partners, I mean, how do we do a better job
of that Greg and--both of you are Greg, so that is easy, Gregs
how do we do a better job of that?
Mr. Tehven. Well I want to defer to Dr. Lardy. And I just
did want to make one comment. When Grand Farm got off the
ground when it was back, we went from one porta potty to three
porta potties, so we were expanding. It was both NDSU and CHS
that were the collaborators. A land-grant university and a
large co-op that said we are going to help. And we have learned
a lot from both organizations and so I think it would be most
appropriate for Dr. Lardy to start.
Dr. Lardy. Senator Holman thank you for that question. One
of our key parts of our strategic plan within NDSU agriculture
is more partnerships, and so those partnerships can take a
variety of forms, they don't always have to involve financial
resources. And so sometimes those partnerships are the
technical resources, and that scientific collaboration that
happens across agencies, and within collaboration between land
grants and private industry.
One of the unique things that the State of North Dakota
does is for higher education is challenge grants, and so that
is bringing state resources with private resources to fund
scholarship endowments, and those sorts of things. So maybe
there is an opportunity for the Federal side to look at those
sorts of things to leverage those Federal resources against
resources that can be brought to bear from private or NGO
sources, or others that might be helpful as well.
But really, when we think about partnerships it is not just
those financial resources, but it takes a variety of forms.
Senator Hoeven. But in the funding maybe matched, matched
funding.
And maybe that is good for everybody, right. Like, if we
are going to get out there and hustle, and raise a lot of
resources from the private sector in the State of North Dakota,
and other places, maybe other folks should have to get out and
hustle a little bit, or maybe they don't get the same level. I
mean, right, it is about encouraging folks to leverage, and
rewarding those that get it done.
Mr. Tehven. Senator, I would I would bring three things to
the forefront, one is the role of ecosystems. So as we look at
the role of ecosystems and the collaboration around multiple
sectors, we are absolutely better together. And so when we look
at the Federal funding opportunities there seems to be a
stronger focus on ecosystem development of which we agree with.
The second area, I just want to thank you all, is your
process. All these Federal grants, from the CHIPS and Science
Act, to the work with the Economic Development Administration,
those collaborative application process are very well thought
through, even the Small Business Accelerator Grant
opportunities, those working exercises allow us to collaborate,
we learn from each other.
I think about the work that we are doing with Montana
through Senator Tester's leadership in the tech hub, the
opportunity for us to collaborate with a Paris-based startup-
that has a solution for potato-based organizations to
collaborate with researchers at Montana State University, to
apply that research in a testbed at Grand Farm that improves
our productivity with lower input costs, that collaboration
matters.
The last thing, and Senator Hoeven, I would argue, you are
the best at this, because you provide platforms for
entrepreneurs. I remember early in my career as a University of
Minnesota student, a professor giving me the opportunity as an
undergrad with a white very curly afro to present to the MBA
students about our startup in the dorms.
The platforms matter. You brought me to the State of the
Union when I didn't even own a tie. I thought it was in
Bismarck, and Amy was nice to me there. But when you provide
platforms for entrepreneurs to share their work, like you have
done with Appareo, as you have done with so many of our
startups. Your platform matters.
When we began the exercise to raise the funds for Grand
Farm, Senator Hoeven, you hosted the dinner that brought the
funders to the table and saw the vision. You all have
platforms, and I would advocate and urge you to continue to
look for the entrepreneurs, look for the problem solvers, look
for the folks that are emerging versus established, because
their solutions are sometimes hard to understand but your
ability to bring us up matters.
And so I thank you Senator Hoeven for doing that, and I
challenge you to look for more entrepreneurs to elevate, and
use your convening power.
Senator Hoeven. Thanks to both of you for those thoughtful
comments.
I am going to shift now to Josh Gackle and Harold Wolle. As
we do these things you know whether it is the research the
technology, all these things, how do we do a better job of
making sure it is, you know, farmer-friendly, it is going to
work on the farm and getting it to them--getting it to you
sooner? So how do we make sure that has utility, and what do we
do to, you know, get it to you sooner, better, and so forth?
Mr. Wolle. Well that is always one of the issues in
research: How do you distribute your results in a meaningful
fashion? And my answer is what we have talked about already,
collaboration. You know, in the corn world it is a lot of state
check-off dollars that get collaborated with the Extension
Service, and you know, extension does a good job in Minnesota
of them distributing their research results, and communicating
what they have found to the actual farmers. So that is my
answer to how we get the information out to folks,
collaboration.
Mr. Gackle. Yeah. I would certainly agree. I think when it
comes to rolling out the programs, and implementing them, and
doing it so efficiently and farmer friendly as you mentioned,
as with the funding, it is a collaborative effort. We need the
public-private commodity organizations, checkoff organizations,
you know, government dollars. The coordination there, it is
just as important to coordinate the outreach on the backend,
once things are funded and programs are developed.
It is really great to have Deputy Secretary here, and USDA
represented, it is these types of conversations that can
ensure--you know, identify what the challenges are, find some
solutions, so that the programs that we use as farmers, what we
are using on the ground, is farmer friendly, makes a difference
on our farms, contributes to our profitability, all those
things that we want to be wise and good stewards of the
resources that we are given. So that cooperation on the backend
is, I think, what we need to do more of.
Senator Hoeven. For both Mr. Pittman and Mr. Debertin, just
a couple quick thoughts, maybe just one or two thoughts. What
can we do on trade, on trade to advance the ball?
Mr. Pittman. You said to be brief, so I would say more.
Whatever we are doing is never enough. I think that that--
if you were to ask me, like, what I think are the top, say, two
or three issues in the ag industry going forward, trade is
always going to be a one two or three. And you know it is a
very challenging environment to, you know, look at the
experience like with TPP, the years that go into that, and you
know, it is very difficult to get these bilateral agreements,
and they take a long time to get them out into multi-country
agreements and get the consensus.
And so, I think it is really difficult, it is a very
challenging environment. I wish I could say more than that, but
it is just dropping your shoulders, and going for it over and
over, and you have to push, and sometimes you don't succeed
with it, and you know, an effort at a trade agreement failure
on one day could be preparation for success when you come back
the next time around.
But it is obvious that it is a key part of long-term
economic viability of the Ag industry in the United States, and
so whatever we do, regardless of who is in the White House,
regardless of who controls Congress, it is always more, in my
view.
Mr. Debertin. And Senator my comment would be this is an
area that we have no trouble competing with, the U.S. farmer
can compete with anyone around the world. We don't have our
hand out, we don't need incentives. We would like it if people
were supportive, that would be nice. The thing to stay away
from is the barriers that go up that inhibit the trade, as
those go up by either party it hits agriculture right in the
forehead, right in the forehead.
And so if I--my answer to your question is, be positive for
it, say nice things about trade, we are not asking for any kind
of assistance in that regard, but we are very cognizant of
barriers that get put up that get in the way, because the U.S.
farmer can compete just fine, just fine. It is when the
barriers get put in the way that it gets problematic, by
anyone.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, all.
Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much Senator Hoeven. And
thank you for that impassioned note Mr. Debertin, for trade.
And I think, what is it, 95 percent of the world's customers
are outside of our borders, and we need fair trade agreements
that work for America, but it has been very important to our
success in agriculture. We just see the lowering of the tariff
on frozen turkey into India, and what a difference that is
going to make when there is over a billion people there.
Could you talk about how the co-op system could be used
since you are the biggest co-op?
Mr. Debertin. Yes.
Senator Klobuchar. When it comes to innovation and
research, and how you can partner with public and private.
Mr. Debertin. So we are, and that is why--that is what
brought us in to be a founding member of a Grand Farm, and a
venture capital firm, focused on technology. The benefit of the
cooperative model is, kind of answers the Senator's question,
of how can we bring these quicker to producers. The cooperative
model allows us really to do that, because the sooner that we
get our hands on it, the sooner we can bring it to roughly
575,000 farmers that we either serve directly or indirectly,
and we can do it really fast.
The question is how fast does it scale? Because scale is a
big issue, and good ideas are great, but can they scale to the
production capabilities that the U.S. farmer has, because it is
massive. So good ideas, and how fast can we get them to scale,
and then get them out in the trade territory, and the
cooperative model is particularly well positioned to do that,
and so.
Senator Klobuchar. Good. Well, thanks also on that pitch on
the Farm Bill and getting it done now. I am obsessed with this
because the last thing we need is uncertainty, and we already
have these volatile and lowering prices right now on the
commodity side, and getting it done now, we don't know what is
going to be going on politically next year. You know I have
some views of what I would like to see happen, but we don't
know.
And no matter what, we are going to have new leaders in
place and that takes time for people to get set, and we don't
really have that time right now, and so I want to get this done
this year.
So Mr. Wolle, we know what we are talking about here with
the commodity prices, the droughts, and what we have seen in
the past, but now flood conditions this year that causing some
diminished yields. I have seen them myself out there. What
innovations are farmers using to improve crop resiliency? What
would be helpful here in terms of leveraging public and private
resources?
Mr. Wolle. You know, everything seems to be interconnected
to me. I know tomorrow Secretary Vilsack is coming to
Minneapolis, St. Paul, for a roundtable on the bioeconomy. So
you know, what we can do to improve our carbon sequestration
helps us with the durability of our land, and the resiliency of
our crops.
So you know, cover crops are going to be a part of that. I
would like to say we intensively manage our farm, and the
different soils are going to require different practices, and
hopefully as we implement those practices, going forward, we
are going to be sequestering more carbon, we are going to be
producing low carbon corn for the biofuels for sustainable
aviation in the future. So I think, you know, it is all
interconnected and we need to work to go forward and solve all
of these issues.
Senator Klobuchar. And of course those fuels also include
biodiesel. We know that. So thank you very much.
I wanted to--Dr. Lardy I am getting freaked out by that
yellow and green tie you have on.
Senator Klobuchar. And then we have got this up here too. I
get this Bison theme. It is particularly hard for Senator Smith
and myself, because it also looks like the Packers colors.
Senator Klobuchar. That is like a double whammy from both
sides. But however, the truth is there is a lot of
collaboration going on with our states. Your work facilitating
the collaborative research takes place between University of
Minnesota and North Dakota State. One area that has really
benefited from this collaboration is research on sugar beets.
This work is one of the reasons the Red River Valley is the
largest sugar beet producing region in the U.S.
Could you speak to the ways that your collaborative
research approach is able to stretch the dollars further to
provide accurate info to producers?
Dr. Lardy. Senator Klobuchar happy to answer that. And this
is the NDSU Tartan tie. So it is produced by our Fashion
Apparel's Department. They did a very nice job.
Senator Klobuchar. But it is still the same colors though.
Senator Klobuchar. It works for Packers fans too. Here in
the audience today is Joleen Hadrich, and Joleen is a member of
the administrative team with the University of Minnesota. And
we are very proud of the long-standing collaborative
relationship that we have with U of M. In fact, we have about
six faculty positions that we jointly share, specifically
across state lines.
And as you mentioned, one of those is related to sugar
beets. And so for opportunities and collaboration, one of the
ways to stretch those dollars is to seek those partnerships
where two parties or more are bringing resources to the table
to provide those resources. And specifically in sugar beets, it
has really resulted in some key opportunities here in the
Valley to enhance productivity of our sugar beet farmers,
because of an emphasis on things like disease control, plant
pathology work, and improving the ability of our sugar beet
farmers to respond to some of those challenges.
And as you know, as you think about those industries on
both sides of the border, critical to the economy in this
region, and we really appreciate the U of M's willingness to
collaborate with us on those types of positions.
Senator Klobuchar. Yeah. One other area, quickly, Senator
Thune and I lead a bill that would require USDA to identify,
collect, link, and analyze data on conservation and production
practices, and that can help with producers to reduce risk,
increase profitability. How can the USDA, in your mind, better
utilize this data to improve the technical assistance to
farmers?
Dr. Lardy. Yeah, Senator Klobuchar; great question. And as
you look across the scientific literature, there are thousands
of studies related to, as Harold mentioned, you know, the need
for carbon sequestration and carbon in soils. But they are all
very discreet. They are all separated by geography, separated
by soil type, et cetera.
So I think an emphasis on a national database, meta-
analysis to help analyze that data and provide at least better
initial predictions or recommendations on how we might proceed.
We are still going to need additional field research to verify
some of those sorts of things, especially related to carbon
storage. But it is critical that we develop a more robust
database and a way to analyze that in a meta-analysis that
brings better results.
Senator Klobuchar. And I assume, just a quick one-sentence
answer, that AI and the potential there would be very helpful
with that?
Dr. Lardy. But Senator Klobuchar, by AI, I am an animal
scientist, so I am assuming you mean artificial intelligence
and not animal----
Dr. Lardy. But the answer to that is yes.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay. Yes. Thank you for defining it.
Senator Hoeven. Now, we are going to turn to, I think, the
only AI-certified member of the Senate, Senator Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, again, thank
you all so much for being here.
Harrison, I was taking notes. You said data protection,
pesticides, checkoff, foreign ownership, theft of data, and
several others. I would add the orphaned land problems that we
have. I think the carbon credit market is going to create some
problems with greenwashing, and things like that. All of these
are new things.
I am going to be in Texas in a couple weeks, in August,
South Texas, with Senator Cornyn. And again, I am going to be
down there for the purpose of talking about the water war with
Mexico. And that has destroyed the sugar industry in Texas. It
doesn't exist anymore. So these are big things.
This, we have got who's who of people in agriculture here
that represent all different phases, from our legislatures on
down. If people want to contact the National Ag Law Center, how
do they do that? What is the easiest way? How does it work?
Mr. Pittman. I thought you were going to ask a harder
question.
Senator Boozman. Well, this is a really important question.
Mr. Pittman. So it is simple. You just email us or call us.
You get a real person, and we interact with people, literally,
numerous times each day from all over the United States. And so
just go to our website, nationalaglawcenter.org, or go to
Google, type in anything close to Ag Law Center and you will
find us. And just reach out.
I do always--since we are putting this out so publicly, I
would always caution people that we are, in general, subject to
FOIA. And so, if you just want to send an email that says: Hey,
do you have a minute to talk? That is fine. But we interact
with people like that all the time, and so when y we are super
easy to get in touch with, and phone or email works quite well.
Senator Boozman. So when you call them, tell them I said to
be extra special nice to you.
Mr. Gackle, your testimony mentioned the importance of
science-based, risk-based approaches to regulation so that
farmers can gain access, quick access to innovation, including
crop protection products and advancements in biotechnology. In
many cases, a confusing regulatory system is an impediment to
research in the first place. Can you speak to the importance of
regulatory certainty to avoid disincentivizing innovation?
Mr. Gackle. Thank you, Senator Boozman. Thank you for that.
That is a really important question, an important topic. It is
something that American Soybean Association, corn growers,
other commodity groups are constantly involved in that
discussion with EPA, and other state and Federal regulators.
Certainty for the companies that are producing the product
is needed. You know, a particular herbicide to bring to market
can take over, you know, a dozen years or longer, and $200 to
$300 million to bring one particular chemistry, or one
particular new herbicide product to market.
So you know, who pays for that? We do. As producers, as
growers, as users of the product, right, so any length in time,
extended time, difficulty in getting there, bringing those
products to market adds to our cost as farmers, particularly in
these difficult financial times for us, it causes great
uncertainty.
And then kind of on the--also on the producer side, just to
talk a little bit about what we are facing as growers, and you
know, we spend a lot of time talking with EPA, but encourage
you as well, as Congress, to engage with EPA. You know, one
specific example right now is EPA is, you know, they are in
court a lot, getting sued when they bring a new--if they
approve a new label for a particular product. Typically it is
related to the Endangered Species Act.
So EPA is now in the process of identifying insecticide and
herbicide strategies that they can use to become ESA compliant.
And we as growers, and as American Soybean Association,
appreciate the difficult spot they are in. You know, we don't
want them to get sued either. We need these products. And when
they are sued in a particular label, glyphosate, or dicamba, or
any particular thing, it takes that tool away from us.
So we want them to get through this, but we also really
engage with them and want to make sure that what they are doing
is usable on the farm, that we can actually employ those
practices and still use the product. We as farmers, we are the
best stewards of those products. We don't want to use more than
we have to, but we need to control the pests, the insects. We
need to be able to do the conservation practices, we want to
apply on our farm when it comes to no-till or minimal-till,
Harrison identified that earlier, but we need those products to
be effective in that way.
Senator Boozman. Very good, thank you.
Mr. Wolle, precision Ag technologies rely on a massive
amount of data. Have you seen producers' views about privacy or
data ownership concerns change as more producers have been
adopting these technologies? And what challenges still exist in
this space?
Mr. Wolle. Well, I think that we will see change, as you
have indicated. It is so important to have this data available
and used in our systems. You know, we are going to have to
verify that we are producing low-carbon corn. We are going to
be relying on our equipment manufacturers to automatically
collect that data, and turn it into useful information that is
verifiable so that we qualify for the different programs that
are out there.
So I think producers are starting to realize that. And so,
you know, they still want to own their data, they still want
privacy for it. But they know that it needs to be collected in
order to be useful.
Senator Boozman. Very good. Mr. Tehven, can you describe
your observation of how private investments in innovation and
precision Ag technologies has increased or decreased compared
to Federal investments in the areas? And can you describe how
these two funding streams complement one another?
Mr. Tehven. Thank you, Senator. You know, in our journey of
building Grand Farm, when Microsoft's then President Brad Smith
stood on the stage with Governor Doug Burgum and made a $1.5
million commitment, it sent a signal to folks that both the
State of North Dakota as well as a private player were
interested in participating.
There are several legislators in this room that challenge
the private sector to participate in funding of this facility
as well as the 590 acres of land that we have the opportunity
to do applied research, education, and demonstration on. My
sense from what I have heard from folks like Representative
Nathe or Senator Wozniak is they wanted to see the private
sector engagement.
What they didn't anticipate was the out-of-state
engagement. Organizations like Farm Credit Services of America
out of Omaha, CoBank, or AGCO. When AGCO became our anchor
tenant and committed to not only putting team here, resources,
but bringing 10,000 producers and educators to this facility at
maturity, it sent the signal that this collaboration works.
As we think about the ability of private sector
organizations like CHS to use their venture fund to identify
startup companies like Sabanto, an autonomous tractor solution,
investing their resources, and bringing the technology solution
to the producer to be more efficient, less labor-intensive, and
profitable, that is what gets us excited.
As for the Federal Government, there are some challenges.
We have over $1.4 million of accounts receivable of earned
contracts from Federal appointments. Thank goodness we have
friends like the Bank of North Dakota that provided a loan for
us to make sure that we can pay for our costs. I would
encourage all of you to work with the Federal agencies to
increase the efficiency of these dollars that have been
committed and ensure that we are paid in a timely way.
It was very uncomfortable sitting in this room and telling
my Board of Directors that we needed a loan to make payroll.
And when you have $1.4 million of accounts receivable, it is
really challenging.
And yet our friends like Maple River Grain wired us the
money on the day it happened. Or when we asked North Dakota's
Farmers Union and the four additional Farmers Union
organizations to support us, they said--when we asked for a
$100,000 commitment, they said, would you take $300,000? And
that money showed up in our account. And so that is where I
think part of the challenge of the Federal system is, is to
fulfill the Federal commitment to us that are taking risks,
that have talented team, and we have to stay up late at night
and convince our Board to take out a loan so that we can make
payroll.
Senator Boozman. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Hoeven. Senator Smith.
Senator Smith. Thank you, Senator Hoeven. And thanks again
to all of our panelists. It is great to be with you. I am going
to start with Mr. Wolle. Harold, I think, let us see, I saw you
last week at Farm Fest, today, and last night, and then
tomorrow at the University of Minnesota. So it is great to be
seeing you. Harold and I first bonded when I led an Ag trade
mission to Cuba when I was lieutenant governor. So we had a
good time on that trip, didn't we?
Harold, I want to ask you the question I asked the first
panel, which has to do with the issue of value add. And we were
talking last night about how, you know, Midwestern produces.
This is true, of corn growers and soy. We want to be able to
add value to our products here at home and not ship those
products away. We want to be able to have that money and
opportunity stay here. So could you just talk a bit about the
importance of research in the area of value add, where the
public-private partnership opportunity is, and what we should
be thinking about?
Mr. Wolle. You are absolutely correct. Value added is so
important to our communities. You know, but whether it be the
hog industry in Southern Minnesota, or the ethanol industry,
those are so important to provide good jobs. Plus, we are so
blessed in this country to be able to produce more than we can
consume locally, domestically. So we need to have trade in
order to balance our supply with our demand.
So we need research that helps us, whether it is research
into the animal diseases that I see as a huge threat to our
livestock industry, or whether it is research into the biofuels
that are value-added for us. When we can become a more
sustainable industry, when our value-added industries can be
more sustainable, any research that helps them do that is very
necessary and greatly appreciated.
Senator Smith. Thank you so much.
Josh, would you like to comment on that?
Mr. Gackle. Yeah. Thank you, Senator Smith. Maybe just a
specific example; and it is a little bit beyond the research
part, although very important. Harold mentioned biofuels and
that industry. What we have done here in North Dakota with
renewable diesel, and the expanded crush, just right down the
road here, with the new plant here that had a groundbreaking
just last week, I believe. And then down the road about 70
miles, another crush plant, around 100 million bushels of
soybeans each year available to be crushed in North Dakota and
used mostly for renewable diesel.
What we are seeing right now is the rules of the road to
bring that renewable diesel to market, and the feedstock that
we are using to get there is causing some concern in farm
country, and you all are, I am sure, very much aware of it.
But getting the rules right when it comes to the 45Z tax
credit, or working with our states to make sure that they are
putting--that the rules of the road are--California is a great
example, CARB, just the other night came out with their new set
of rules that is going to be very, very disadvantageous for
U.S. soybean producers, and other agriculture feed stocks that
we grow as farmers here.
So I think, you know, the research is critical, and the
funding there to bring those products forward and to promote
them, but getting the rules right at this stage in the game is
equally as important.
Senator Smith. Thank you. Thank you. So next I want to
follow up a little bit on Senator Hoeven's question about what
we can learn from the Grand Farm collaboration, what is working
here. And I was really struck by, Greg, your description of
this as a--and we heard this on the first panel, too, the
description of this sort of ecosystem or hub. You know, we
think about that a lot when it comes to med tech or IT, but
maybe we don't think about it enough. I am sure we don't when
it comes to Ag tech.
Everybody in this room is on top of it, but people outside
of this room don't really think of agriculture as a highly
technology-intensive field. They just don't understand it. So I
want to kind of drill in a little bit.
Maybe, Jay, you want to get on this. I want to drill in a
little bit on what that hub or ecosystem means for attracting
investment? Whether it is venture investment, or early-stage
investment to fuel the innovation that is happening at places
like Grand Farm?
Mr. Debertin. So Senator Smith, I would say this. The
people outside this room that are in the tech space, they know
about Ag. They found it, and they are jazzed about it, and they
are throwing money at it. Now, some of the ideas probably
aren't going to go where they might hope to go, but plenty of
them are. And I think Ag farm--or Grand Farm provides that
opportunity to test that technology, help get jump-started in
some cases for us to bring kind of the beginning technology
ideas to this platform to do something with.
The other aspect that I wouldn't lose sight of is the new
people joining agriculture, they are jazzed about this kind of
work, and they want to be part of it, and some of us can kind
of get weighed down by the issues and the problems. They
essentially have an attitude of: Give me the ball. Give me the
ball. I want to have a part of this, and I want to do something
with it.
And it just gives me tremendous optimism that the
technology ideas that will come to market are--it is going to
work. Now, we have just got to do our part around consistent
funding, and having at least a view that the rules that we are
operating under will be there for some period of time, rather
than two-year windows or four-year windows. It gets difficult
to make significant capital investments by people in our shoes
when those windows get so short.
Senator Smith. Yeah. That is helpful.
Mr. Debertin. So I would just offer that up. The longer you
can give us some certainty, then I think the more you are going
to see that investment follow it. The shorter certainty we
have, people will tend to stand back, I think.
Senator Smith. Yeah. Thank you. Greg, or Dr. Lardy, would
you like to comment on this?
Dr. Lardy. Absolutely. So one of the beauties of Grand Farm
is that it brings together such a unique set of players, and so
our scientists and faculty members that come to Grand Farm get
to interact with startup companies, they get to interact with
scientists from USDA, ARS, they get to interact with people
that are the long-term players in the ag industry. And you
know, when you have that sort of ecosystem that is what results
in the National Science Foundation investing $15 million over
the next couple years in that ecosystem, because we are
bringing together players in a way that doesn't happen
everywhere.
And so I think that is what is really exciting. And Jay
mentioned the young people that are involved here. These young
people are the future of agriculture, and we have got some of
them in the audience today, but we have a lot more that we can
reach. A lot of high schools that don't have ag programs, ag
science programs, that is another critical function of getting
somebody that goes to Fargo Davies or Fargo Shanley, that might
not have grown up on a farm or ranch, interested in the, gee
whiz, about why I can't I--how can I engineer a solution here?
Or how can I get involved in Ag policy? I am interested in law,
but what about Ag and food policy?
Senator Smith. All right, thank you.
Mr. Tehven. Senator Smith, I think about our work to
understand the pain points and frustrations of farmers. We had
a conference for a while that had an Angry Farmer panel. And we
would just ask the farmer, hey, you are angry. And then 45
minutes later, it was like a Senator Hoeven opening statement.
He just kept going--they just keep going, right? Sorry, too
soon?
Senator Smith. There is a level of directness in North
Dakota that I think we could learn from, Amy.
Senator Hoeven. We still might shut off your mic, right.
Mr. Tehven. But when we look at those pain points, then the
ecosystem can solve them. And sometimes it is unlikely folks.
You saw Boson Motors in the back. These folks read a pain point
report and they needed on-farm mobility autonomously. So there
we have it. Or we think about how does the farmer get the crop
from the field to the elevator? And all of a sudden this
summer, CHS announced their autonomous trucking solution here
on our opening day, because they are working with North
Dakota's Department of Transportation.
Or just last month, the folks at Heartland Forward out of
Bentonville, Arkansas, which is definitely an amazing city that
we should have the next field hearing at, and I hope I get
invited, as well as to the inauguration that Senator Klobuchar
is hosting. But we went to--these folks from Heartland Forward
came and they hosted a roundtable with national leaders on
artificial intelligence and agriculture. And there is former
United States Senators, like Heidi Heitkamp. And there is a 20-
year-old student that is investing in artificial intelligence.
These are the collaborations as we think about the
Heartland. We need strong workforce. We need strong schools.
But we also need imagination and creativity, and the ecosystem
provides that.
Senator Smith. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Smith. And we will wrap
up now. I just want to thank--there is a lot of work that goes
into official field hearings. So I want to thank staff members,
and then I will ask the senators for their closing comments,
and we will wrap up.
And I will start with, from Senator Klobuchar's staff,
Thomas Liepold, Ben Lien, and Erica Nelson; from Senator
Smith's staff, Adam Schiff, Carson Ouellette, Sara Silvernail,
and Miranda Morgan, Lilla; from Senator Boozman's staff,
Coleman Garrison, and Kate Covington; from my staff, Daniel
Mencher, Seven Sassano, Jessica Lee, Tom Brusegaard, Alex
Finken, Maddie Fazen, Aaron Weber, and Dan Auger.
Also, at the outset, I introduced the legislators, I did
miss one, Representative Karen Karls, who comes from an Ag
background, and is a big friend of agriculture. So I certainly
didn't want to leave her out.
With that, I am going to turn to Senator Klobuchar for just
any final comments before we wrap up the hearing.
Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you so much, Senator Hoeven.
Two things I have learned is Senator Smith and I were having a
coffee drinking game over how many times we could mention
Minnesota. You guys might not have noticed it. We did quite
well.
And then, Senator Hoeven, one of the hallmarks of a senator
that is in touch with their state, or any representative, is
when people are willing to give you a hard time sometimes. And
I thought Greg really rose to that occasion. As well as a
server last night, when we were having dinner, where he is
commanding the room, and says, we are so glad to have Senator
Boozman here, all these out of town guests. And she has
standing there, very strong North Dakota server.
And he then says, and you guys, we can stay as long as we
like tonight. You can stay as long as you like. She goes, no,
you are not. We are ending at 9.30.
[Laughter.]
Senator Klobuchar. So we have had a great time here. I
especially want to thank Senator Boozman for coming all the way
from Arkansas and being part of this. And I look so forward to
working with him. I think as many things you come away with
here, the challenges that we are having with corn and
soybeans--looking at Marv over there--right now, and the
challenges that all our farmers are having, that we can't keep
our eye off that long-term ball, which is the research. Because
the answer to some of these challenges for the world around us,
for feeding the world, for keeping our leadership and security
in the world, is making sure we are investing in this research
and that we are not outdone.
And it is actually the answer for the short-term problems,
but it is certainly the answer for a lot of our long-term
innovation. So I am really excited about the work that is going
on here, Greg, as well as the work going on in Minnesota. And
we are just ready to lead. And to that, we need to get the Farm
Bill done as soon as possible.
The way I look at it, let us get this done now. And there
will be other opportunities as well for us, especially on this
research side, to make the case in other bills and the like, to
continue to expand on that, because we have such a strong
argument to make for the research now that is in the Farm Bill,
for our great appropriators that are going to get this done.
But then we can keep expanding that, because I believe we have
an argument way outside of agriculture in the immediate to do
that.
So thank you for planning this, John.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Thank you, John, for getting us together.
And it is great to be here. It was great to be in Minnesota
when I was visiting with Amy and Tina and being in that part of
the country.
You know, the one thing I have learned traveling the state
in the situation that I am in, if not traveling the state,
traveling the country, is farmers are the same every place. And
they are the same, and yet a one-size-fits-all from Washington
is certainly not the answer.
So I think these types of things are so important to get us
together, to get you all together. We learn so much from our
witnesses, but you learn so much just visiting with each other
between the sessions and things.
So again, thank you all for being here. This has been
really meaningful to me. I believe with all of my heart that
the answers need to come from the ground up. I am committed to
getting a Farm Bill done as soon as possible. I don't think it
is going to get any easier next year, regardless of the
administration. Farm Bills are tough. On the other hand, we
don't need to just do something. We need to do the right thing.
So that is going to take all of us working together. But again,
we can get there. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you. Senator Smith.
Senator Smith. Well, let me just add my thanks to John and
Amy, and especially to all of our panelists for your insight
and feedback. And I love doing these field hearings, Senator
Hoeven, because I think we all understand that the best ideas
are going to come from folks that are closest to the work. The
best insights are going to come from people who really know
what is happening on the ground, and can advise us and guide us
as we think about the decisions that we are making about
policy, and also about spending.
And so to be able to hear from all of you has been really a
treat. I am so glad that our colleagues from USDA were able to
be here, too, to provide their feedback and insight, and also
hear from all of these great folks from this part of the
country about what is happening, and where the gaps are in
research, and what we need to do differently and better.
So just huge thanks to everybody. And look forward to
continuing this conversation as we move forward.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Smith. Thanks to all of
the senators for being here. We truly appreciate it so much.
Also to Secretary Torres Small, and Secretary Jacobs-Young,
thank you for being here. We deeply appreciate it. As well as
to all of our witnesses, and all of you that have come to this
hearing today. Again, we appreciate you being here today, and
we appreciate your advocacy for agriculture.
With that, a transcript of today's hearing will be
available on the Senate Appropriations Committee website in the
coming days. Again, thank you.
And we are adjourned. Thank you.
subcommittee recess
[Whereupon, at 12:56 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[all]