[Senate Hearing 119-127]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 119-127
NOMINATION OF RICHARD FORDYCE TO BE
UNDER SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE FOR
FARM PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
July 23, 2025
__________
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on http://www.govinfo.gov/
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
61-257 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
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COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas, Chairman
MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
JONI ERNST, Iowa TINA SMITH, Minnesota
CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas CORY BOOKER, New Jersey
TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico
JAMES C. JUSTICE, West Virginia RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia
CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa PETER WELCH, Vermont
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska ADAM SCHIFF, California
JERRY MORAN, Kansas ELISSA SLOTKIN, Michigan
Fitzhugh Elder IV, Majority Staff Director
Jessica L. Williams, Chief Clerk
Lauren Santabar, Minority Staff Director
Chu-Yuan Hwang, Minority Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Page
Hearing:
Nomination of Richard Fordyce to be Under Secretary of
Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation............... 1
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STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS
Boozman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas...... 1
Klobuchar, Hon. Amy, U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota.... 2
WITNESS
Fordyce, Richard, of Missouri, to be Under Secretary of
Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation............... 4
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APPENDIX
Prepared Statement:
Fordyce, Richard............................................. 26
Document(s) Submitted for the Record:
Boozman, Hon. John:
Agriculture Coalition in support of Richard Fordyce, letter
of support................................................. 30
Missouri letter of support of Richard Fordyce, letter of
support.................................................... 34
National Cattlemen's Beef Association in support of Richard
Fordyce, letter of support................................. 36
Statement by Senator Schmitt of Missouri in support of
Richard Fordyce, letter of support......................... 39
Fordyce, Richard:
Committee questionnaire, Office of Government Ethics
Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure
Report and 5-day letter filed by Richard Fordyce........... 41
Question and Answer:
Fordyce, Richard:
Written response to questions from Hon. Amy Klobuchar........ 72
Written response to questions from Hon. Joni Ernst........... 73
Written response to questions from Hon. Cindy Hyde-Smith..... 74
Written response to questions from Hon. Deb Fischer.......... 75
Written response to questions from Hon. Michael Bennet....... 76
Written response to questions from Hon. Tina Smith........... 77
Written response to questions from Hon. Richard Durbin....... 78
Written response to questions from Hon. Raphael Warnock...... 81
Written response to questions from Hon. Peter Welch.......... 86
Written response to questions from Hon. John Fetterman....... 87
Written response to questions from Hon. Adam Schiff.......... 88
NOMINATION OF RICHARD FORDYCE TO BE UNDER SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE FOR
FARM PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2025
U.S. Senate
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:03 p.m., in
Room 328A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Boozman,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Boozman [presiding], Hoeven, Ernst, Hyde-
Smith, Marshall, Tuberville, Justice, Grassley, Fischer,
Klobuchar, Bennet, Smith, Fetterman, and Schiff.
Also present: Representative Sam Graves.
STATEMENT OF HON. BOOZMAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF
ARKANSAS, CHAIRMAN, U.S. COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION,
AND FORESTRY
Chairman Boozman. Good afternoon. It is my privilege to
call this hearing to order.
I thank my colleagues for joining us today. We will be
considering the nomination of Mr. Richard Fordyce of Missouri
to be Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation at
USDA.
Mr. Fordyce, congratulations on your nomination, and thank
you very much for your willingness to serve again. When
reviewing your background, it is clear you have the experience
to lead the mission area. You have experienced the challenges
of operating a family farm. You have been a customer of and
have led FSA offices yourself. You served as a public servant
in state government and at USDA during President Trump's first
term. These experiences will be critical for you to draw on as
you make decisions that will have the bearing on family farms
and rural communities that are so, so very important amid an
extremely challenging farm economy.
Your nomination comes at a crucial time for American
agriculture. The men and women at FPAC agencies work hand-in-
hand with our farmers, ranchers, and rural communities to
utilize the tools and resources necessary to mitigate depressed
commodity prices, shifting markets, persistently high input
costs, and intense natural disasters. In the face of mounting
risk, American farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners
persevere to continue their family legacy and feed and fuel and
clothe their nation and the world.
I appreciate the ongoing work at USDA to implement the $10
billion Emergency Commodity Assistance Program and the $20
billion Supplemental Disaster Assistance Program and the
updates to farm safety net and risk management tools we
recently included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This bill
also provided needed investments in conservation programs, and
we will rely on your leadership to ensure NRCS efficiently
implements these programs for our producers.
We still have a lot of work to do. We need to modernize
current farm loan limits, which have not kept pace with an
increasingly capital-intensive industry. Approval times for
farm loans vary greatly by state and county and can lead to
unacceptable delays at critical times when producers are
attempting to purchase land or get seed in the ground. FSA must
have the personnel and the technology necessary to responsibly
reduce the amount of time it takes for loans to be processed.
We also must lower existing hurdles for young and beginning
farmers. Every day the next generation of farmers are working
hard to buy land, expand their operations, and streamline the
process of transitioning farm ownership and operation from one
generation to the next. There needs to be an emphasis on
maximizing the efficiency of FSA programs to better enable
young farmers to capture this dream.
If confirmed as Under Secretary of the USDA mission area
that oversees these critical producer-facing programs, the
Committee will look to you to quickly implement improvements
authorized by Congress and follow in congressional intent. I
look forward to hearing from Mr. Fordyce on these issues.
Again, congratulations on your nomination.
Now we will turn to our Ranking Member, Senator Klobuchar.
STATEMENT OF HON. KLOBUCHAR, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF
MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you very much, Chairman, and
thank you to Mr. Fordyce for being with us, as well as his
wife, Renee. I also see that Congressman Graves, of course, is
here, as well as former USDA Trade Under Secretary Ted
McKinney. We welcome all of your guests, Mr. Fordyce.
Mr. Fordyce, you have been nominated to lead a mission area
that serves a critical customer-facing role for America's
farmers and ranchers. Between your strong experience at the
Department and your experience being a farmer customer of these
agencies, you clearly understand the mission and responsibility
to serve all of the Farm Production and Conservation mission
area.
The FPAC agencies, what a name, the FPAC agencies are the
Federal Government's front door for producers across the
country. They administer programs that provide farmers with
disaster recovery, the farm safety net, access to credit, and,
of course, voluntary conservation programs. I was just with
corn and soybean farmers last week from Senator Smith's and my
state, who talked about the financial stress from the commodity
prices, trade policy, high input costs. Unfortunately, this is
showing up in the form of an uptick in farm loan mediations. In
Minnesota alone, our extension service's Farmer-Lender
Mediation Program had nearly 1,300 mediation notices this
fiscal year by the end of June, more than 50 percent higher
than at this point in recent years.
As I have made clear many times, I am concerned about some
of the actions by this administration during these difficult
economic conditions and that these conditions are exacerbated
by unstaffed or understaffed FSA offices, what we are seeing
with grants and contracts, and then, of course, the tariffs.
Nearly 2/3 of Regional Conservation Partnership Program
contracts have been withdrawn without full explanation. This
includes two projects in Minnesota, totaling $34 million in
assistance to the Board of Water and Soil Resources and a
county conservation district for improving water quality and
stabilizing soils.
Mr. Fordyce, you are an experienced leader with a track
record of bipartisanship and a passion for the mission of
serving farmers. As we discussed when we met a few months ago,
I hope you will work with me and all Members of this Committee
to bring needed benefits for producers in this challenging
time.
Congress provided $31 billion in economic and disaster
assistance to provide much-needed assistance for losses in 2023
and 2024, while roughly half of this funding has made its way
into the hands of farmers, those without crop insurance, or
farmers with shallow losses are still waiting, and the
structure of assistance is uncertain.
During your first stint at USDA, as the FSA administrator,
as noted by the Chairman, you effectively reached out to a
population of farmers that had never participated in FSA
programs before in administering the Coronavirus Food
Assistance Program. We need you to use the same creativity here
so farmers who have not traditionally utilized USDA programs
can access disaster assistance.
I look forward to hearing more about your vision for FPAC
and how, if confirmed, you will work with this Committee in a
bipartisan way to help farmers and ranchers across the country.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. We are really pleased to be
joined by Representative Sam Graves from Missouri. I had the
opportunity to serve with Sam for many years in the House, and
he is a dear friend and somebody that is so well respected in
the House and really just has his finger into lots of different
things that he is a champion of.
You are recognized, and again, thank you for taking time. I
know you guys are really busy.
Mr. Graves. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
I really appreciate the opportunity to be here today to not
only introduce someone who is incredibly qualified for the
position of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production
and Conservation, but he is also somebody that I can call a
very close friend and fellow farmer from northwest Missouri.
Richard Fordyce, along with his wife Renee, they farmed in
Harrison County, Missouri their entire lives. Raising corn and
soybeans on the family farm, Richard understands intimately
exactly what farmers see and feel every single day. Richard has
not just been content to stay on the farm. As has been pointed
out, he knows that good farm policy impacts our ability to put
food on the table, and that is why he has been heavily involved
in the Missouri Soybean Association, University of Missouri
Extension, the United Soybean Board, the Missouri Agriculture
Leadership of Tomorrow program, and Missouri Farm Bureau.
Richard is probably most well-known, as you pointed out,
from his time as a director of agriculture in Missouri and as
the administrator of the Farm Service Agency during the first
Trump Administration. As Under Secretary of Agriculture for
Farm Production and Conservation, Richard will oversee some
critical agencies that impact farmers and ranchers every single
day, and I cannot think of anyone more qualified for this
position than Richard is.
It is not because of his leadership credentials or his
positions in ag policy that Richard has held. It is because
Richard, he will make an incredible Under Secretary of Ag
because Richard is a farmer through and through and he knows
the people that he is going to serve and the challenges that
they face, and he knows every single policy or rule change can
make or break a farmer or their operation.
That is why I am proud to introduce Richard Fordyce to be
the next Under Secretary for Agriculture for Farm Production
and Conservation. Again, I thank all of you for your time and
your indulgence in letting me do the introduction.
Chairman Boozman. Well, again, thank you so much for being
here and taking the time. I know that Mr. Fordyce appreciates
it very much, as do we.
Mr. Graves. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boozman. Again, thank you for being here, Mr.
Fordyce. I will now administer the oath, and then you may begin
with your testimony, where you will have five minutes.
Please stand and raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm that the statements you are about to
provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?
Mr. Fordyce. I do.
Chairman Boozman. Do you agree that, if confirmed, you will
respond to requests to appear and testify before any duly
constituted Committee of the Senate?
Mr. Fordyce. I will.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. You are now recognized for
your statement.
STATEMENT OF RICHARD FORDYCE, OF MISSOURI, TO BE UNDER
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE FOR FARM PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION
Mr. Fordyce. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Klobuchar,
and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today as President Trump's
nominee to serve as the Under Secretary for the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's Farm Production and Conservation mission area.
I want to thank President Trump for nominating me to serve in
this role, and I want to thank Secretary Rollins for her trust
and confidence in supporting my nomination.
Since I was five years old, I knew I wanted to be a farmer.
That early passion for agriculture has been the driving force
throughout my life, shaping my decisions and inspiring my
commitment to learning, growing, and giving back to the
agricultural community. Every step of my career in agriculture
has been marked by a willingness to raise my hand, take on
challenges, and contribute to the strength and resilience of
our farming systems.
My farmer volunteer journey began on my local county Farm
Bureau board and led to leading the young farmer programs in
both Missouri and the American Farm Bureau. I have served the
soybean checkoff for a total of over 25 years, both on the
Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council and the United Soybean
Board. My passion for soil conservation led to an appointment
to the Missouri Soil and Water Districts Commission where I
ultimately served as chair.
Some of this volunteer work caught the eye of Governor Jay
Nixon, and he asked me to join his administration as director
of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Following the Nixon
Administration, I was appointed as the Missouri State Executive
Director for the Farm Service Agency, serving in that role for
six months. I was then appointed as the administrator of the
United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency.
This personal journey guides my vision for the Farm
Production and Conservation mission area to deliver an
effective, efficient, predictable, and transparent service to
farmers across the Nation. At FPAC, we have a duty to serve as
a steadfast ally to those who work tirelessly to feed, fuel,
and clothe the world. This means not only providing consistent
support for our producers but also modernizing the tools used
for delivering these programs across the entire mission area by
our amazing and dedicated staff.
Disaster payments are one such critical tool, and my
commitment is to align them with the goals set forth by
President Trump and Congress, making them more timely, fair,
and impactful. Our farmers deserve nothing less than a system
that supports recovery and resilience in the face of adversity.
Additionally, I believe in the incredible potential of
private and public partnerships to drive innovation and success
in agriculture. By fostering collaboration between government,
private industry, and communities, we can unlock new
opportunities and create solutions that benefit both producers
and consumers alike.
Together with a shared commitment to the values of
integrity, transparency, and service, we can ensure that FPAC
continues to be a beacon of support and progress for America's
farmers and ranchers. This covers all aspects of FPAC,
including programs that support conservation of our vital
natural resources, programs designed to respond to disasters,
and tools to help manage risk and access to credit, all of
which are so vitally important to the industry of agriculture.
This vision is not just about today. It is about building a
sustainable, thriving future for the next generation of
agricultural leaders.
To the Members of the Committee, I appreciated the time to
have met with many of you and your respective staff before
today's hearing. The opportunity to learn about what is
important to you and the people of your state was invaluable.
My commitment would be to continue those conversations, so we
are as well informed on all the various issues across these
great United States.
I am truly humbled to be considered for this position. If
confirmed, I commit to following Secretary Rollins' leadership
and using the experience gained through my years of varied
agriculture leadership to support the Farm Service Agency, the
Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Risk Management
Agency, all of which make up the FPAC mission area.
I have always raised my hand, dedicating my life to the
service of improving our industry. I look forward to working
with this Committee in the future and thank each and every one
of you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I look
forward to answering any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Fordyce can be found on
pages 26-27 in the appendix.]
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. Before I ask my questions, I
would like to add letters of support from various farm groups
for Mr. Fordyce's nomination in the record. Without objection,
so ordered.
[The letters can be found on pages 30-38 in the appendix.]
Chairman Boozman. Mr. Fordyce, you have had extensive
engagement with the Farm Service Agency. How do you plan to
best utilize the FSA county office employees while also
improving technology and communication between FSA and the RMA
to provide exceptional service to producers across the country?
I know we were out and about, have been out and about a lot for
the last couple years in regard to trying to get together a
farm bill, trying to help our farmers, but in talking to the
FSA people, it is not unusual for them to talk about having to
get into multiple different entities in order to get the
information they need in order to do things in a timely
fashion.
Mr. Fordyce. Senator, thank you for that question. You
know, I, too, have had those very same conversations. When I
was the administrator in the first administration, you know, we
implemented a lot of programs, most notably the 2018 Farm Bill.
With those implementations, it lots of times creates the
necessity to create software that supports that implementation.
I think I can safely say, and I think others would probably
agree, probably some in the room, that a lot of our
technologies are woefully old and antiquated, I would almost
say, in some cases, and so certainly, there is a need for some
modernization in the tools that are used by FSA to deliver
those programs. Also, we probably could see some modernization
in the ways that we participate with the producers that we
serve at FSA.
Chairman Boozman. The other thing that we hear a lot about
is just the time that it takes in dealing with the loan
process. We hear that from applicants and lenders across the
board. I think it has gotten a little bit better, but it is
still a problem.
Again, I know that is something that you are well aware of,
and hopefully, we will be able to have you back in several
months and you tell us a good story as to how we are moving in
the right direction in that regard. Many of these things are
just inefficiencies that cost some money, but the efficiency
will gain us so much, and it is just a matter of us helping you
to get those things done.
You have got a wealth of experience both on the farm and in
leadership at USDA. How can existing federal programs be
expanded or modified to better support young and beginning
farmers and ranchers?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, again, Senator, a good question, and I
appreciate that question. You know, I think that all of us
probably in this room certainly have an eye to the next
generation and that population that is new or beginning
farmers, and, you know, we are all probably pretty aware of the
capital requirements and things that it does take to start a
farm. They can be enormous.
You know, I think that in some cases, I think, depending on
where you are located geographically, what your history has
been as a new farmer or beginning farmer, you know, I think we
could probably do a better job of outreach and communication,
making those new and beginning farmers more aware of what is
available that can be of assistance and can be of help to
starting a new farm, you know, not only from a program
standpoint, a financial standpoint, but also even as a
mentorship standpoint, and I think we could look to do that.
Chairman Boozman. Very good. As you know, the farm bill is
the single largest source of federal funding for private lands
conservation implemented by NRCS and FSA. The voluntary
incentive-based conservation programs are a key part of the
safety net used by farmers and ranchers to maximize on-farm
efficiencies and opportunities along with productivity.
If confirmed, how do you plan to promote and enhance
voluntary and incentive-based conservation programs like EQIP
and the Wetland Reserve Program?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, and thanks again for that question,
Senator. I think a lot of it is, again, it is talking about
that outreach, but I think it is that peer-to-peer outreach.
You know, we have got a lot of producers across this country
that have good experiences with EQIP or the Wetland Reserve
Program, and they sometimes can be our best advocates and, you
know, look to find ways to include more folks to be able to
share that story.
Chairman Boozman. Very good. Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much, Senator Boozman. I
am going to have to leave after my questions to see one of our
colleagues' first Floor speeches, but thank you again, Mr.
Fordyce.
FPAC is the most customer-facing mission area, as I noted
in my opening, and I ask that you be responsive to both
Republican and Democratic sides of this Committee. I have every
reason to believe you will be based on your past work. Will you
commit to providing answers to oversight questions throughout
the implementation of the bill that was just passed, the budget
bill, and other areas?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, Ranking Member. Thank you for that
question, and yes, the answer is absolutely yes. I think when I
was here in the first Trump Administration as administrator, I
came to the Hill and visited with folks on both sides of the
aisle, answered questions, solicited input, and would certainly
commit to doing that this time if confirmed.
Senator Klobuchar. You also have a good recommendation from
Senator Blunt, which means a lot to many of us.
CRP is a critical tool for improving wildlife habitat,
water quality, soil health. Leader Thune and I have long
partnered to improve CRP. Will you commit to working with me
and others on improvements to CRP, including improvements the
USDA currently has the authority to make?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, absolutely, and I would say that, you
know, CRP now is, what is it, 30 years old, 40 years old, and,
you know, I think that is truly a success story and the
evolution of CRP, the different practices that have come about.
Yes, Ranking Member, I definitely would commit to working with
you as we improve CRP.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay. When confirmed, you are going to
go walk into a lot. FPAC has lost nearly 4,100 employees in the
Deferred Resignation Program. FSA alone has lost over 1,000
employees, and there are offices who are understaffed or
unstaffed. This is particularly troubling as Congress has
tasked USDA with implementing economic and disaster relief this
year. The recently enacted reconciliation bill will require FSA
to sign up 30 million new base acres over the next year. As a
former administrator of FSA, do you think having offices open,
available, and fully staffed is important? How do you believe
FPAC can meet its mission of serving farmers with these kinds
of reductions of 4,100 employees?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, thank you for the question, Ranking
Member. You know, I have not had an opportunity, and--but will
once confirmed, to dig into the data, understand where those
folks--where those retirements came from, where they are
located, and certainly, you know, I cannot say enough about the
folks that work--and it is across all three agencies within the
mission area, but I am most familiar with the Farm Service
Agency, and they are, again, some of the greatest folks that
you will ever meet and ever work with.
Again, understanding what that is, looking at the data, but
I am confident, Senator, that we can deliver our mission-
critical responsibilities in a very positive way.
Senator Klobuchar. Very good. Last question. I look forward
to building on the work that was begun in the 2018 Farm Bill to
improve USDA efficiency and provide farmers with a better
understanding of the potential economic farming benefits, not
only of the commodities programs and the like, but also
conservation practices. Advances in data paired with widespread
adoption of precision ag technology present exciting
opportunities to empower farmers with the best tools available.
Senator Thune and I, again, have an Agriculture Innovation Act,
and then Senator Fischer and I have partnered on another bill.
How do you think the USDA can partner with academic
institutions and other researchers to better inform the
conservation practices? What barriers does USDA face in using
data and working more closely on conservation?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, I do appreciate that question a great
deal because that is an area that I am very interested in, very
passionate about. I think that there is an opportunity for USDA
and the FPAC mission area, and more specifically, to--and maybe
it is understand the technologies better and how can those work
to create better opportunities for the farmers and ranchers
that we serve. I would just say that that is--there is a lot
there, and, you know, we would be--I would commit that we will
do what we can to learn more about it, understand it, and see
what kind of a partnership could exist.
Senator Klobuchar. Very good, thank you.
Chairman Boozman. Senator Hyde-Smith.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much, and
for the Ranking Member for holding this hearing today. Mr.
Fordyce, thank you for being here, and I see another friend in
the back there as well, lots of friends, good to see you.
I have been so concerned over the farm economy, and as you
know, they have struggled for the past few years in a serious
situation. Farmers continue to deal with the high input costs,
low commodity prices, the natural disasters, and the interest
rates that have been so inflated, along with the labor
shortages and the issues we have had there, and the
regulations.
Last December, Congress passed the American Relief Act,
which provided $10 billion to support producers. This
assistance, known as the Emergency Commodity Assistance
Program, the ECAP, was passed. The Trump Administration, with
clear direction from Congress, delivered it in a record time,
very proud of that and the way that they handled that. On top
of that, Congress recently passed the One Big Beautiful Bill,
which included critical improvements to farm programs that
Republicans have been strongly advocating for, including the
reference price increases that were so needed and the crop
insurance improvements and the disaster program assistance
programs.
These legislative achievements handed a lifeline to the
American farmers and ranchers. Again, I would like to reiterate
my appreciation to Chairman Boozman and his staff and the many
Members in this room, and the Appropriations Chair, Susan
Collins, as well, played a role in that. She took a last-minute
flight from Europe to get back to D.C. to help with that
supplemental effort for securing these victories.
Bottom line is this, American agriculture is not out of the
weeds yet. As we well know, so many of these things still
exist, and we know what the struggles are, despite our best
efforts. The times are still tough, and farmers are going to
have to survive some unfavorable conditions, as much as the
farm safety net improved, kicked in. With the current situation
we are experiencing in the farm economy, we have to have an
all-hands-on-deck approach to support that as we head into
harvest season.
Mr. Fordyce, if confirmed, and America's farmers find
themselves in a situation where emergency support is necessary
to keep them afloat again, how willing are you to explore any
and all authorities under USDA's jurisdiction to help them?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, Senator--and it is good to see you again
today. Thank you for the question, and you are exactly right.
It is tough in farm country right now, and you laid out all the
reasons why that is. I would say that, you know, certainly, you
know, I would be supportive of looking at what authorities we
might have at USDA, but certainly would, you know, love to
partner with Congress, and understanding how both USDA, more
specifically the FPAC mission area, you know, could work
together to find some solutions going forward. You are exactly
right. It is going to be a tough go for a little while longer,
I am afraid.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Are you confident that there are
existing authorities now that can be used if this situation
gets increasingly dire? For instance, I understand per an old
USDA factsheet that the Department provided timely targeted
assistance to farmers through its long-standing Section 32
authority 18 times between 1999 and 2009. I am not suggesting
that we go there just yet, but just pointing out examples
outside of the Commodity Credit Corporation Section 5
authority. Are you comfortable with these?
Mr. Fordyce. Senator, I will have to admit, I am not
familiar with Section 32 that you reference but certainly would
be more than happy to look into that and see if that would be a
possible option.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Well, thank you very much, and my time
is up, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. Senator Tuberville.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Fordyce, for being here. I grew up close to
a town called Fordyce in Arkansas, home of a famous football
coach years ago, Mr. Bear Bryant. Thanks for wanting to do this
again in another fashion. Thanks for your service because it is
awfully hard, and you go through a lot.
First of all, I want to know if you will help me support
these bills. I just put two new ag bills on the Floor today. It
was today, wasn't it?
[Laughter.]
Senator Tuberville. The first addresses the Federal Crop
Insurance Board of Directors. There are four seats for
producers, and we want one of those seats to be for a producer
of both livestock and crops to provide a different perspective
for various new livestock/crop insurance products RMA is
implementing. That is my first one. Does that sound pretty
good?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, Senator, it actually does. It sounds like
it makes some sense and would----
Senator Tuberville. Now, we are from Alabama. Now, we can
make some sense now, okay?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, sir.
Senator Tuberville. Go ahead.
Mr. Fordyce. No, I think that is--I think I am--I think I
have answered that.
Senator Tuberville. Would you vote for that?
Mr. Fordyce. Would I vote for that?
Senator Tuberville. Yes.
Mr. Fordyce. I think--I mean, I am not backpedaling,
Senator, but I think what I would need to do is understand
exactly what the makeup is of the Federal Crop Insurance Board,
and--but it sounds like a good idea to me.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. Thank you. The second bill
would authorize a study for double and rotational cropping of
winter canola in the Mid-South region. This would gather data
as farmers in north Alabama and Tennessee are starting to grow
winter canola for synthetic aviation fuel and diesel fuel. All
these bills get complex, I know.
Mr. Fordyce. I am sure that is complex, but I am aware of
the winter canola effort. I would say that I would applaud the
RMA for being responsive and having the ability, you know, to
evolve as things change. I would think that that--that they
would take a look at what kind of options might be available.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. As we all know, our farmers
are in bad trouble. I have a lot of friends that are huge
farmers, and they do not know whether they are going to make it
through the year, much less through this crop. You know, right
now, farmers are the largest group with the most suicides in
the country right now. It is that bad. It is really, really
serious.
Access to credit is becoming harder and harder. This year
was really tough. We had to come up with some subsidies for
some of the farmers to get them through this past winter to get
another crop. Poultry producers are facing huge challenges,
steep costs of poultry houses, $3.5 million for four houses.
Can you discuss the importance of increasing our guaranteed
loan limits to $3.5 million because of that?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, well, I was actually--I was serving as
the administrator of the Farm Service Agency the last time the
loan limits were raised, and I think it was welcomed,
certainly, by the agency, and it was welcomed by the producers
that the farm loan programs serve. You know, if that were the
intent of Congress to raise those loan limits, I think that,
you know, would be appropriate given the cost of things and the
entry-level costs of things.
Senator Tuberville. It is going sky-high. It is not getting
any cheaper. One quick question. Feral swine, we have got huge
problems in our state and I know other states. In the Big
Beautiful Bill, we had $105 million for the Feral Swine
Eradication Program. What is your stance on the eradication
program? Do you think we are making progress?
Mr. Fordyce. That would be tough for me to say. We do have
those in Missouri as well.
Senator Tuberville. You all have hogs?
Mr. Fordyce. We have--yes, we have----
Senator Tuberville. Oh, you do?
Mr. Fordyce [continuing]. feral swine. Yes, we have wild
hogs in Missouri. Go ahead, sir.
Senator Tuberville. No, go ahead. I am listening.
Mr. Fordyce. Well, in Missouri, they have stopped the
ability for folks to hunt them because the idea was that if
they are hunting them, then there has to continue to be a
supply of them, and somehow they just keep showing up. I do not
know. I guess it maybe is one way of looking at it.
Senator Tuberville. Well, just let them know that us in
Alabama will send you some if you need them because we have got
way overabundance of them.
[Laughter.]
Senator Tuberville. We are going to send them to Senator
Grassley in Iowa. He loves hogs.
[Laughter.]
Senator Tuberville. He loves hogs.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Fordyce. Thank you.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. Senator Fetterman, you are
recognized.
Senator Fetterman. Oh, I cannot go in front of--that is the
legend. No, really, please.
Chairman Boozman. I think----
Senator Grassley. I will be glad to go ahead, but----
Chairman Boozman. Go ahead, Senator Grassley.
Senator Tuberville. Yes, he is a legend in his own mind.
[Laughter.]
Senator Tuberville. Yes.
Senator Grassley. Thank you very much, Senator Fetterman.
I know you are very qualified for this job because I know
what you did in the previous Trump Administration, so there is
no doubt about your qualifications. I have got some questions
along some things that I have been believing in in farm
programs, and I would like to have you answer.
I have been an advocate for one overall amount of money
that one farmer can get, and that one farmer ought to have dirt
under his fingernails in order to qualify for payments. I got
nothing against big farmers getting bigger. I just do not think
we ought to subsidize big farmers to get bigger because if we
are subsidizing them, it drives up the price of land. It drives
up the cost of cash rent, and most young farmers getting
started farming are the type that have to rent their land and
competition with people that maybe are farming 2,000 acres
versus somebody farming 10,000 acres.
There ought to be not a limit on the size of the farm, but
there ought to be some limit on how much the Federal
Government's going to help because the principle of a safety
net is that we have a safety net for the last 70 or 80 years
because there is certain-sized farmers, small- or medium-sized
farmers that do not have any control over Nixon freezing beef
prices in 1970 or Carter putting a grain embargo on in 1979 or
even the uncertainty that comes with the way that Trump is
doing business.
I say we ought to be helping those that are hurt by things
beyond their control, so that is why I advocate a limit on farm
payments. Do you think that there should be any limit on how
big a payment would go to any one farm operation?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, Senator, thank you for that question,
and I appreciate that. I do not know that I have thought about
that necessarily, but I would say that whatever Congress says
is under that definition of actively engaged, what the payment
limitations are, certainly we will follow the letter of the law
and enforce that as the agencies are doing today.
Senator Grassley. I was not going to bring up actively
engaged, but let me--I do not think I have so much a question
on it, but it would be a matter of informing you how I see it
within the Department of Agriculture. Sometimes Congress has
expended the term ``actively engaged'' so people do not have to
actually be involved in the management of the farm operation to
get some help from the farm program. Some of it has been done
through either guidance or regulation within the Department of
Agriculture, and I have seen it expanded even under Democratic
Secretaries of Agriculture, but for sure Republicans have done
it. I think if you are involved in any of those regulations,
you ought to review what they are and see if they have not gone
too far because when third cousins can start getting some
benefit from a family farm operation, it is not right, so I
would just like to have you take a look at it.
Secretary Rollins is focused on supporting small farms. Do
you agree that payment limits help protect small- and medium-
sized farmers, or is this something you want to say you have
not given a lot of thought to yet?
Mr. Fordyce. Senator, could you repeat the question?
Senator Grassley. Yes, Senator Rollins is focused on
supporting small farms. Now I get this from my conversations
with her. I got it from her confirmation conversations we have
had. Do you agree that payment limits help protect small- and
medium-sized farms?
Mr. Fordyce. I think--if I understand the question
correctly, I think that payment limitations on smaller farms,
the--typically, the producer that is operating a smaller farm
does not necessarily bump up against the payment limitations.
Farmers that are farming larger farms, more acres, a lot of
times do bump up against those payment limitations.
Senator Grassley. Okay.
Mr. Fordyce. Did that answer your question, Senator? I am--
because----
Senator Grassley. Yes, you have answered it. Let me just
finish with this. I hope I get a chance to have a conversation
with you and explain what my motives are. I have already
expressed them. I cannot express them much more than that, but
I would like to have some consideration given to it. Thank you,
Senator Fetterman.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. One of the concerns Senator
Grassley has had that we have discussed is there are rules and
regulations, and sometimes, there is concern that people maybe
do not always follow those. We do expect, you know, that we
look at making sure that people abide by the rules. A lot of
this stuff got really--during the pandemic, in an effort to get
payments out and this and that, things got really loose. In
some cases they have never tightened back up. The natural
tendency is to take advantage, so that is something that we are
going to want you to look at and really delve into and make
sure that whether it is this, whether it is nutrition, whatever
the program is, we want to make sure that the appropriate
people are getting what they are supposed to get versus, you
know, something else.
Senator Fetterman.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Fordyce, I have read that you are a farmer.
Mr. Fordyce. Yes. Yes, Senator.
Senator Fetterman. Yes, and so then I would want to thank
you for that. I mean, the more farms that I visit across--you
know, I am more and more convinced that that is a job that is
too tough that I could ever do. People can walk to a grocery
store, and they forget where it came from and the efforts and
the things and the work that got in to just be able to walk in
and just, you know, like that big thing. They really do not
deserve the kind of credit that they do.
Regardless, beyond that, if you have ever been to
Pennsylvania, and if you did, that would make you a very lucky
guy, but in Pennsylvania, some people do not realize that that
Mushroom Capital is right in Chester County in Pennsylvania.
Were you aware?
Mr. Fordyce. Senator, I was not, but I do have a good
friend that is from Chester County, and he is currently the
deputy administrator for Farm Programs at the Farm Service
Agency.
Senator Fetterman. Oh, okay. Well, then that is a great
connection then. Now, like a lot of people do not realize that,
you know, we really are the Mushroom Capital of the world. Now,
for me, I have always been pushing and because I really want to
represent, you know, this very important industry in our state,
pushing mushrooms to be eligible to the crop insurance for
that. You know, I have introduced the bipartisan Protecting
Mushroom Farmers Act with my PA colleagues. You know, and
unfortunately that never really happened. I was disappointed
that we were unable to use that authority to include mushrooms
in crop insurance.
I would be grateful to maybe work together on this. For me,
I am an advocate for an important industry, and I would love to
see that included there. Really, I would like to offer you for
what your thoughts with that.
Mr. Fordyce. Well, Senator, that is--it is interesting. I
am a big fan of mushrooms, all kinds actually. I do know
certainly that the federal crop insurance system ensures a
number of different crops. I do not know what the number is. It
is over 100. It is less than 200, I think, but certainly do
cover a lot. It is a lot--obviously, our Title I commodities,
historic Title I commodities, but a lot of specialty crops.
I do know we had a question just a little bit ago about RMA
and the federal crop insurance program, and I do believe that
they are--they are pretty responsive when there is actually a
need or there is a market. Now, there is a process by which
those products come to the marketplace. I was actually--when I
was the administrator, I actually sat in on a board meeting one
afternoon, and there was a company that was talking about
providing coverage for carrot seed, and so there is a policy
for carrot seed. I--so it was interesting to watch the process
happen.
Certainly, we can take a look at, you know, is there an
opportunity with RMA and crop insurance? The Farm Service
Agency also has a crop insurance program called NAP where a lot
of times that can fill in the gaps of crops that are not
covered by RMA at that time. Yes, let us take a look at that
and see what we can do.
Senator Fetterman. Okay. All right. Cede back to the Chair.
Thank you.
Chairman Boozman. No, thank you, Senator Fetterman.
Senator Hoeven.
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Fordyce, I am really pleased to see that you are
willing to serve in this capacity, again, having served before
and done excellent work the first time. I want to welcome you
back and tell you how much I appreciate your work and how much
I look forward to working with you.
I know you are going to be spending an awful lot of time in
Arkansas due to the powerful Ag Committee Chairman. When you
are not tied up in Arkansas, would you be willing to come to
North Dakota?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, yes, Senator, I would. As you know, you
did invite me a couple of times the last time, and I think I
came both times.
Senator Hoeven. Yep. You will still come back again, won't
you?
Mr. Fordyce. Oh, absolutely. Yes, sir. In the summer would
be better.
Senator Hoeven. Yes.
[Laughter.]
Senator Hoeven. Well, we will absolutely make sure it
works, but we want to get you up there. We appreciate that and
of course all the good work you do. Talk to me how the Chairman
and myself, others work very hard on getting that disaster
assistance, you know, passed. My understanding is it is going
well. It has been very important to our state. Now you are
starting, you know, on the weather piece. Talk to me how that
is going.
Mr. Fordyce. You know, I--the only information that I have
is anything that I might see in the ag news, ag press. I have
not had any conversations related to policy, policy development
with the folks at FPAC. I do know, just because I have heard it
from a number of farmers, that the first $10 billion, the
implementation of that was incredibly swift, seemed to be
pretty seamless. You know, I would expect, while the second
part of it is probably--just from the way I read some of the
language is probably going to be a bit more complex and
complicated. You know, I have confidence that that is being
worked on, not--I would have no idea as to what the progress is
in that at this point, but I have confidence that they are
working on it.
Senator Hoeven. Maybe somebody else brought up to you, but
both the corn growers and soybean growers have been in to see
us over the last week or so. In the case of the corn growers,
they still have a lot of 2024 crop they have not moved. Of
course, they have got 2025 crop coming, and they are not able
to get that contracted right now. Same with the soybean guys.
You know, we put the disaster assistance in place. We put, you
know, important components of the farm program in place, ARC/
PLC updates, enhancements to crop insurance to make it more
affordable in the 03-B, but, you know, we have got to have some
sales going. You know, any thoughts in terms of what we can do
there, you know, to try to address some of these sales that we
need to make?
Mr. Fordyce. Certainly. You know, I know that the market--I
know you mentioned corn and soybeans, and, you know, that
market is not incredibly robust right now. You know, if I am
confirmed, we actually are going to have to change the
structure of our farm. Currently, my wife and I--and my wife is
sitting right behind me, Senator. She is the marketer for the--
--
Senator Hoeven. She looks awfully young, Richard.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Fordyce. Well, would you believe we were married 36
years ago yesterday?
Senator Hoeven. I would not. I would not.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Fordyce. She likes that answer.
[Laughter.]
Senator Hoeven. Are you sure he has the right number there?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Fordyce. It is, yes.
Senator Hoeven. Well, congratulations on that, for sure.
Mr. Fordyce. You know, from a marketing standpoint, a sales
standpoint, I am not completely sure why that is happening,
unless it is just the fact that the market is not in a place
where they want to move grain. I think, you know, we have--in
the first administration when I was the administrator, we had a
very open dialog with a lot of organizations, both commodity
groups, farm groups, conservation groups. I would commit--if
confirmed, I would commit to visiting with those organizations
and understanding a bit more about what that problem is.
Senator Hoeven. Yes. Well, we have some work to do there.
As you know, in the first Trump Administration, we worked
together with Commodity Credit Corp., which is funded out of
the Ag Appropriations Committee. You know, we are going to need
to continue to do that work with our Chairman and Ranking
Member on Ag. I know you are committed to making sure that we
do that as needed. I am looking for a yep or a no.
Mr. Fordyce. Yes. Yes, Senator. Yes, for sure.
Senator Hoeven. Okay. Again, thanks. Look forward to
working with you and appreciate your service. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. Senator Schiff.
Senator Schiff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Fordyce, thank you for being here, appreciate your
work.
During the first Trump Administration, you oversaw the
implementation of the Market Facilitation Program, as well as
the Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program. Both of those
programs were implemented in such a way that, as I talked to
farmers throughout California, they found that they had a lot
of difficulty in accessing them because of the different nature
of the specialty crops they grow than farmers in other parts of
the country. Will you commit to working with me to ensure that
any future rollout of USDA financial assistance is more fairly
distributed, that is, that specialty crop farmers are equally
able to access it as other farmers?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, Senator, and thank you for that question.
You know, I do appreciate very much the agriculture nature of
the State of California. It is the most agriculture-diverse
state in the country, and I appreciate that and understand that
fairly well. I would not want to completely tell you that I
know how all of those crops are grown, but do appreciate that.
You know, and I think you make a good point on the programs
that you mentioned, and part of that was due to the fact that
the agencies had not worked with those commodities, those
crops, and those growers really before. You know, I felt like
we were fairly innovative in trying to get the word out and the
message out, and certainly through our outreach programs and
communications programs attempted to do that more on a personal
level. Then we discovered that it worked--it would work much
better if we were having those conversations with the
organizations that represent those growers. United Fresh and
others were organizations that we partnered with, which we had
never partnered with before, to get that information out. It
was a little bit, it was probably a little bit of a slow start
at the beginning of the program, but I think it became quite
robust by the end of both of the programs that you mentioned.
Absolutely, I will--I would commit to working with you if
there is another program similar to that to make sure we are
talking to the right folks and getting the right message out
there.
Senator Schiff. Great. I appreciate that, and we are happy
to help facilitate those meetings with those associations.
I also want to raise a concern about USDA's ongoing rollout
of disaster funding, as authorized by the American Relief Act
of 2025. First, I am concerned that the rules USDA has created
in establishing block grants for states which faced disaster in
the past few years make it pretty much impossible for
California to receive aid.
Second, I hope that in the second round of the Supplemental
Disaster Relief Program that it is developed in such a way that
specialty crop and diversified farmers may more easily access
relief. I recently sent a letter to the administration on this
issue, and I know you are not currently at USDA, but are you
committed to working together on this matter and others so we
can make sure that California and specialty crop producers more
generally receive their fair degree of USDA support?
Just to give an illustration, some of the disaster relief
is focused on hurricanes and only hurricanes. We have had
hurricanes that turned into tropical storms when they went
inland that did a lot of damage. Of course, we have been
ravaged by atmospheric rivers and the flooding that they result
in and fires. To exclude certain disasters and only include
others that, frankly, are visited on other states seems very
inequitable for the West. I want to make sure you are committed
to working on that issue as well to make sure that these
decisions are made in a nonpartisan and nongeographic way that
is accessible for all farmers throughout the country.
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, Senator, absolutely would commit to that.
I cannot speak much to the progress of those disaster programs
or the cause of loss for the declarations, but yes, would
commit to certainly working with you moving forward.
Senator Schiff. One other issue if I could, over 1/3 of the
country's vegetables and 3/4 of the country's fruits and nuts
are grown in California, but just nine percent of farms growing
specialty crops are insured. Given your past experience at
USDA, can you speak to the challenges that specialty crop
producers face in accessing crop insurance and what you think
you can do as Under Secretary to address it?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, that is a great question. You know, I
know that the Risk Management Agency or the NAP program through
the Farm Service Agency insures--and we talked about this just
a little bit ago, and I am not sure how many crops that is, but
it is a lot. You know, I think if there is not a safety net/
risk management product available to a specific crop grown in
California, we can get--there is a process at RMA by which we
can start the process to look at the opportunities to
potentially have a product that is available to them. We--I
would commit that we will be taking a look at that.
Senator Schiff. I appreciate it, and I think some of the
challenge, Chairman, is that these specialty crops and trees
that are a long-term investment are really different, and some
of the historic practices that go into some of these grant
applications are more suitable and easier to access if you are
a commodity crop grower. It may also require some modifications
to make sure that all farmers can participate. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boozman. Senator Marshall.
Senator Marshall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, Mr. Fordyce. We are glad to have you here. My
first question will have to do with AGI limits and off-farm
income. Personally, I was real impressed, and my farmers back
home, how swiftly USDA administered the Emergency Commodity
Assistance Program, the Supplemental Disaster Relief Programs,
as well to the tune of over $600 million to Kansas farmers
alone. What I am hearing back from now is concerns about these
AGI limits and their off-farm income.
More and more of our farmers, because of these tough
economic--record drop in net farm income last year, they are
working a job--a full-time job off the farm. Their spouse is
working full-time off the farm with negative income. They are
not hitting the 75 percent income requirement, but farming is
their primary occupation. Any thoughts how you can work with
our office to fix this problem?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, absolutely. You know, the AGI limit is
$900,000--well, in most programs, I think it is $900,000
adjusted gross income. Yes, absolutely, be happy to, if
confirmed, to work with you and your staff to understand--I
guess maybe understand the issue maybe just a little better.
Senator Marshall. Okay. I look forward to that.
Next, I want to talk about something near and dear to my
heart, and that is the health of Americans. Sixty percent of
Americans have a chronic disease, and we certainly believe that
a healthy, nutritious diet can make some improvements. It is my
firm belief that healthy soil makes healthy food, makes healthy
people.
As we look at these conservation programs within EQIP and
RCPP, how can we get geared up to focus on that healthy soil,
whether it is precision agriculture or technology? Any thoughts
how we can update these programs or really prioritize soil
health?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, so I think--that is a great question,
Senator, and again, another area that I am pretty passionate
about, improving soil health, being an adopter of technology
that makes sense. You know, I think that--it seems to me--and I
do not know--I do not know really how to articulate this, but
it seems to me that we are learning new things about soil
health. You know, if you would have told me 10 years ago that
after I harvested my cash crop in the fall that I am going to
plant something else on it, I would have said, well, why would
I do that? Well, you know, there were some folks at the time
that knew that introducing biodiversity into the soil structure
was a very healthy thing, and it created some benefits within
that soil structure and so on.
I say that to say that innovation happens and is happening
very quickly in that very space, and I would commit to trying
to at least keep up with it and understanding what kind of
opportunities there could be for FPAC agencies that could help
either promote that, make folks aware of it, or whatever, but
would certainly----
Senator Marshall. You know, as we get geared up for, you
know, a farm bill and a conservation title, I think there are
some great opportunities. We have early adapters out there that
are preventing 90 percent of the chemicals from leaving the
field. They are using 60 percent less fertilizers, pesticides.
We have the opportunity to add bio stimulants back into the
soil as opposed to traditional fertilizers as well. I think
that we need some help from USDA to help us modernize
conservation programs so that we continue to grow more with
less, and I am asking your commitment to doing that.
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, Senator, I would commit to doing that.
You know, you mentioned some, but I would--you know, biological
nitrogen's that--you know, that are put into the soil and
throughout the growing season, that biological nitrogen is
feeding that corn plant or whatever grass, you know, it might
be. Certainly, there is a lot that has been learned. There is a
lot more that can be learned, but certainly commit to working
with you.
Senator Marshall. Certainly, part of the puzzle is, again,
we have these early adapters and it is working, but now we have
got to spread the gospel and get more people using them. There
may be two or three years, Mr. Chairman, when we are decreasing
the commodity production as we go through this transition from
traditional agriculture into modern regenerative agriculture as
well, and I think we need to somehow stabilize that as well.
Mr. Fordyce. No, I agree. I, again, commit to working with
you and your staff as we maybe learn together while we go
forward.
Senator Marshall. Thank you so much. We look forward to
working with you.
Chairman Boozman. Senator Ernst.
Senator Ernst. Thank you, Chairman Boozman.
To our witness today, Mr. Fordyce, congratulations on your
nomination to you and your family. Welcome to the Committee.
I appreciate your testimony and your willingness to fill
such an important role within our administration. I am also
going to start by saying that you have quite a team waiting for
you when you get to USDA, including a fellow Iowan, Pat
Swanson, who is the administrator of the Risk Management
Agency, as well as one of my former staffers as well, Matthew,
who is now serving at FPAC. Alongside these great folks and
with your extensive ag background as well, I have no doubt you
are going to be able to hit the ground running, and I am really
excited about it.
Mr. Fordyce, a phrase I have heard you use, ``one farmer,
one form.'' Okay. I really like that. I know it resonates with
my producers back in Iowa as well. A lot of our farmers are
still juggling multiple forms across various agencies, and the
process is very time-consuming and redundant. While some
producers prefer walking into their local FSA offices with
physical yield maps, others are ready for a digital option. We
need a system that will work for both those that prefer to put
their hands on a map and those that would like to do it
digitally.
That same modernization is desperately needed when it comes
to how USDA tracks and monitors foreign land ownership in the
United States. The Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure
Act, AFIDA, was signed into law in 1978 and has been barely
touched since then. Even today, foreign land purchases are
reported on paper, and staff must manually reenter each
submission, a process that is inefficient and prone to errors,
and I have seen this firsthand.
Last year, USDA's reaction to my oversight letter with
Senator Fetterman was to add a disclaimer on their website
saying ``Typographical errors may occur because of the manual
nature of data entry.'' I am saying, Mr. Fordyce, that this is
absolutely unacceptable, and I am glad that the Trump
Administration agrees with me.
The recent commitments from Secretary Rollins to modernize
the AFIDA reporting process is welcome news. It is a much-
needed step to protect American farmland from our foreign
adversaries. In the upcoming farm bill, I am hopeful we build
on that momentum with my FARMLAND Act to make clear our food
supply is not for sale, at least not to our adversaries.
Mr. Fordyce, if confirmed, will you commit to making USDA's
digital modernization both for farmers and programs like AFIDA
a top priority?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, Senator. Appreciate your comments and
certainly your questions. First of all, let me say that Pat
Swanson is--she is fantastic.
Senator Ernst. She is the best.
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, she is great. I have known her a number
of years.
You know, the ``one farmer, one form'' was just, I guess,
me thinking about like what could be something that was short
and maybe got to the point. I would say that we--so we started
to work on that a little bit in the first Trump Administration,
did not quite get it to the finish line from a modernizing
acreage reporting standpoint. We have talked quite a bit during
the hearing about technology and precision agriculture and
those type things. You know, we do not know the number of
farmers that employ precision agriculture on their farms.
Depending on where you are located in the country, you know,
that number can--that number--that percentage number can be
pretty high.
Those farmers right now are sharing that data with their
seed supplier, their fertilizer company, their crop insurance
company, if that crop insurance company has the ability to
accept it. I think it makes a lot of sense to be able to get
you--get the three agencies and to--maybe more than NRCS, but
to get them in a position to be able to accept that data.
You know, my hope would be is that, as a farmer is planting
his or her crop, that they are actually populating a--an
acreage report as they are progressing through planting season.
I mean, that would be fantastic. That certainly will be
priority one from a technology modernization standpoint, and
AFIDA as well. I was director of the Missouri Department of
Agriculture. I was responsible for that reporting at the state
level and then as the FSA administrator. There is certainly
probably some better technologies to be able to capture that
information.
Senator Ernst. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Mr. Fordyce. I
do have some questions I will submit for the record regarding
45Z as well. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Thank you, Chair.
Chairman Boozman. Thank you. Senator Justice.
Senator Justice. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and all
those in the room and especially you, Mr. Fordyce, and
everything.
My comments are going to be just generalized. I mean, I
could get in the weeds on a lot of stuff with you and
everything, but it is refreshing to think that we have got a
superstar from Missouri, which has done all kinds of stuff. He
is a farmer, you know. It is so refreshing to have you.
With that being said, you know, you may not know this,
but--and I do not say this terribly braggadociously, but a
little bit, you know, my family's been in the farming business
for 7,000 years. With all that being said, we are eight times
national corn growing champions. I could get in the weeds right
with you.
I absolutely want you to know that I support you through
and through. I know a lot about you. Absolutely, I am so proud
of the job that you are going to do because you are going to do
so much good for the greatest people on the planet, and that is
all there is to it. These people are the most giving, the
kindest. They have the most passion for what they do. It is off
the chart. Innovative, are you kidding me? They are a
production engine like you cannot fathom. What their
contribution is to every single one of us is just limitless.
I absolutely want you to protect them and help them and do
anything and everything in your power to legally, no matter
what it may be, do everything you can possibly do to help them
because I just think--and I have said it 10,000 times, but I
just think tomorrow if they decided, well, I am going to leave
the farm, I am going to sell out, they would do so much better
financially, it is unbelievable, but yet they have a love and a
passion for what they do that drives them to do greatness for
all of us every single day.
With all that being said, you know, Senator Marshall just
spoke about innovation, and I just thought to myself, my
goodness, are you kidding me? From where we have come to where
we are today and what the horizons are in the future, it is
limitless beyond belief.
You know, Senator Ernst just said, you know, ``one farmer,
one form.'' Well, I do not know why we cannot almost in America
get to one American, one form. I mean, we do not need to keep
making it so difficult for all of us all the time.
All I can do is just ask you to just do what I know you
will do, and that is you will stand up for the greatest people
on the planet in my book.
That is all I have got. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boozman. I think that was very well said. Thank
you, Senator Justice.
Senator Bennet is on his way, so let's see what we got
here.
Mr. Fordyce. Senator, thank you and appreciated those
words. That was very, very well said.
Chairman Boozman. Senator Bennet is on the way, so we will
wait just a minute or so for him to get here. Thank you.
Appreciate you.
Senator Bennet. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boozman. Take your time. Senator Bennet, when you
get ready.
Senator Bennet. Thank you. I really appreciate it. We were
at the Intelligence Committee. Actually, we were not, I was,
but I appreciate it.
Nice to see you, Mr. Fordyce. Thank you for being here. I
wanted to ask you first about staffing and red tape. Colorado
producers are always telling me how important local NRCS and
FSA offices are, yet these offices are stretched very, very
thin, as you probably know, and they have lost valuable
experience and know-how in recent months. I am just curious,
with fewer staff on the ground, how you are going to cut red
tape and streamline processes to keep up with demand and to
make sure that we can ensure timely and on-the-ground support
out of these local offices?
Every single year that I have been here, I have had this
conversation with people in Republican administrations and
Democratic administrations, and everybody commits to do the
same thing, and things never, ever get better. Let me ask for
your perspective.
Mr. Fordyce. Well, Senator, that is a great question, you
know, certainly something that is certainly important. You
know, I said earlier, I was talking about FSA staff, but this
goes across the mission area. You know, they are some of the
best people you will ever meet, whether they are implementing
conservation or they are helping a farmer sign up for a program
or whatever. They are the best people. They are passionate
about agriculture and certainly understand it.
You know, I think that any time there is an opportunity to
reduce red tape, I think we ought to look at what that is. You
know, I am--I hate to answer this way because I have had to do
that on a few questions today, but, you know, I am not in the
building. It has been a number of years since I have been a
part of USDA and so understanding what that red tape is and how
we can reduce that, I mean, I think that is just good
government and good management.
Senator Bennet. I appreciate that. As you get into the job,
I hope we will have the opportunity to talk about it more, and
this Committee maybe should have a conversation with folks
about that in the Department. Do you have a view--I was not
here earlier--about how to rebuild the staffing in the agency?
Mr. Fordyce. Well, you know, and I have not--I do not have
access to the data of the folks that either took the early
retirement and, you know, where they are, where those numbers
are geographically, how do they--how is that dispersed across
the country? Certainly, looking forward to--if confirmed, to
get in and looking at that data and understanding, you know
where those places are, where we may have some coverage issues.
I think that--and we talked a little bit about technology
improvements and things, and I think--I mean, I think we can
bridge some gaps there if we can figure out ways where we
talk--you talked about red tape. We also talked about some--
earlier talked about some antiquated platforms that support a
lot of the programs. The one I am more familiar with would be
the Farm Service Agency and looking at ways to improving that
would be another thing that I would----
Senator Bennet. Yes, sorry, Mr. Fordyce----
Mr. Fordyce. No, no, no.
Senator Bennet [continuing]. I have one more question to
ask. I would tell you that I have never heard a producer--and
these folks are generally fairly sensitive about bloated
government. They are fairly sensitive about inefficient
government and frustrated with inefficient government. I have
never heard one of them say there are too many people in these
offices. What I have heard them say is that they are not
getting the people that they need, and in Colorado, at least,
we are not paying the salaries we need to be able to attract
people to these offices. I think we had massive challenges
before these layoffs, and those challenges have only grown.
Just stay in touch and we will have to continue to work on this
together.
Let me ask you one other question. In Colorado, farmers and
ranchers manage over 30 million acres of land. A lot of that
land is in areas that are facing threats of drought and
wildfire. Programs like EQIP and CRP are not just
conservation--you know, they are not just about conservation in
Colorado, they are about helping producers literally stay
afloat. These tools give farmers a way to manage risks in a
changing environment and climate while keeping their operations
running and providing financial stability. How can we
strengthen these conservation tools, make them more responsive
to our producers to ensure that they remain a reliable part of
the farm safety net?
Mr. Fordyce. Yes, I think--and we talked a little bit about
CRP earlier in the hearing, and I think that CRP has evolved
over the years and it is--you know, I think there are over 40
different CRP practices that are available that accomplish
different goals depending on what that landowner wants to
accomplish, but certainly would look forward to visiting with
you if confirmed, your staff, to understand more about issues
that may be specific to Colorado, but would commit to
continuing the conversation.
Senator Bennet. I appreciate that.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your indulgence and
thank you for having this hearing.
Chairman Boozman. You are always worth the wait.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Boozman. Thank you for being so active on the
Committee.
Before adjourning, I ask for unanimous consent to include
in the hearing record a statement by Senator Schmitt of
Missouri supporting the nomination of Mr. Fordyce to the
position of Under Secretary. Without objection, so ordered.
[The letter can be found on pages 39-40 in the appendix.]
Chairman Boozman. Thank you again for being here and
appearing before the Committee.
To our Committee Members, we appreciate their participation
and, as always, the hard work of our staff in getting these
things together.
The record will remain open for two business days. Today's
hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:23 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
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