[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 19, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2430-S2431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Farm Bill

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, first day of spring, National Ag Day, a 
perfect time--a fitting time--to address the Senate on something that I 
think is really important and something that is frustrating to me and 
to the people I represent. American agriculture is at a crossroads, a 
pressure point. Things are really challenging for those who provide our 
food, fuel, and fiber. There is record-level volatility in the farm 
economy, and farm income is falling by the most significant amount of 
all time.
  We ought to be providing certainty to those who provide our food. I 
was troubled to read a report that the Senate Committee on 
Agriculture--its chair--indicated that there is a level of comfort with 
scrapping negotiations for a new farm bill and continuing with the 
outdated, now at least 5-years-old, policies from the past. In that 
same article, surprisingly, disappointingly, Secretary Vilsack 
expressed his support for that decision.
  Our farmers deserve and, even more importantly, they need better. 
Agriculture is an incredibly difficult industry, as farmers and 
ranchers face challenges from weather events, economic shocks, and 
supply chain shortages. Added to these challenges are the inflationary 
policies that have raised the prices on farmland and, ultimately, at 
the grocery store. This includes soaring input costs, which are up 
nearly

[[Page S2431]]

$100 billion since the last farm bill, which covers interest on loans, 
livestock feed, fertilizer, labor, fuel--to name just a few of the 
things that farmers need to produce that food.
  Looking back at 2023, USDA, or the Department of Agriculture, 
forecasted that America's farmers and ranchers would see farm 
profitability fall by $42 billion nationwide, nearly a 25-percent drop 
compared to 2022.
  So during the life of the farm bill, USDA is estimating that 
profitability will decline by $42 billion. This is just unsustainable. 
Farmers can't manage these circumstances. These challenges don't just 
impact farmers, but, ultimately, they impact American consumers trying 
to feed their families.
  For Kansas, agriculture is our State's largest economic driver, with 
a total output contribution of $81 billion into the State's economy and 
supporting more than 250,000 jobs, which is about 13 percent of our 
entire State's workforce.
  Beyond crops and animal husbandry, Kansas agriculture is at the 
forefront--forefront--of producing renewable energy, critical research 
and education, and furthering sustainability and conservation practices 
throughout Kansas and worldwide.
  Kansas is also a leader in animal health science. As part of the 
animal health corridor, Kansas has the largest concentration of animal 
health interests in the world. Last year, Manhattan, KS, welcomed the 
National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF. This is a state-of-
the-art facility that protects and will defend our Nation's farmers and 
citizens from potentially severe zoonotic and biological diseases.
  In addition, Kansas and many places of the country continue to 
experience weather challenges. In Kansas, there is a wide array of 
those challenges, but most oppressing is the drought. We need to 
address drought through mitigation and resiliency.
  On Monday of this week, yesterday, I was in Liberal, KS, for the 2024 
Ogallala Summit. Ogallala is an aquifer that, in about the western 
third or western fourth of our State--along with five other States, six 
other States--is a huge component of the agricultural economy. This 
event, this conference I attended in Kansas, brought stakeholders from 
across the High Plains region and beyond to discuss and learn about 
water management practices. How do we do better in preserving our 
assets? And how do we conserve and utilize more efficiently that great 
asset?
  Key conservation research and education programs are authorized in 
the farm bill, including USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, 
which provides technical assistance and conservation programs, like the 
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.
  In previous farm bill years, I have led the effort to maximize that 
program, called CREP, on the Upper Arkansas River Basin to reduce the 
amount of groundwater used for irrigation, improve groundwater levels, 
increase stream flows in the Arkansas River, and protect water quality 
in our region. The program is working, but we need additional tweaks, 
changes in the law, which is why I introduced the CREP Improvement Act, 
which would provide additional flexibility for family farms to better 
utilize the program.
  In Kansas, landowners view access to the Ogallala as their lifeblood 
and the core of their rural communities and are committed to conserving 
and replenishing the Ogallala.
  These are just a few sections. In fact, throughout the last year or 
more, we have been working with both Republican and Democrat Members of 
the Senate, particularly Senator Bennet of Colorado, to figure out what 
more we do. And we have introduced several pieces of legislation, all 
with the anticipation that that legislation would be considered at the 
same time the farm bill was considered and potentially be included in 
the farm bill.
  But the recent announcement by the chair of the committee indicates 
that we are going to abide by the status quo--no conversations, no 
additional efforts.
  I have been an aggie since I came to Congress, including my days in 
the House, where I chaired the subcommittee on farm commodity programs, 
and I have been through numerous farm bills. And they are always hard, 
and they are always late, and we never get them done easily. But this 
seems different to me, for the first time saying: What we have is what 
we get.
  There are many provisions that affect agriculture that need to be 
addressed in a new farm bill, and it is important. I underscore how 
valuable, how important it is to pass a farm bill in the House and 
Senate and send it to the President.
  We must deliver a farm bill that provides certainty of risk 
management programs to help farmers and ranchers weather the storm, and 
we must rework revenue protection programs to provide a critical safety 
net that works with market challenges and allows farmers, particularly 
young farmers, to borrow the money to stay in business.
  If we fail to pass a farm bill, we are passing up opportunities to 
grow alternative fuel production through policies that encourage 
investments in biofuels for aviation, for example. Our global 
competitors are outspending the United States year after year by 
billions in agriculture research.
  The Senator from Illinois and I have legislation designed to increase 
the support for agricultural research, which we hope--at least I 
hoped--would be a part of the farm bill. And we will be left behind in 
your investments for research if we don't meet the needs of the day.
  A farm bill would include investments in education for our land 
grants and our Agricultural Research Service, which provides cutting-
edge science and tools to allow farmers and ranchers to do more with 
less and contribute to our national and food security.
  A good point, the farm bill is a component of our national security. 
The farm bill maintains critical authorizations, as well, for 
reauthorization of global food aid programs. Through these programs, 
America's farmers and ranchers proudly provide U.S. grown commodities 
throughout the world as a lifeline to many who are in war-torn regions 
or recovering from economic or natural disasters. Global hunger, 
unfortunately, is real and threatens the future of millions of people 
every day.
  I join three others of my Senate colleagues, another Republican and 
two Democrats, in cochairing the Senate Hunger Caucus. And you just 
look around the world at Russia's invasion of Ukraine, around the 
Middle East, Africa, and Haiti, and we see starving people. From a 
young age, most of us--each of us--were taught that it is our duty to 
help those in need. So many in Kansas have answered that call time and 
time again.
  A Kansan, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, created Food for Peace. 
Senator Bob Dole worked to expand our Nation's efforts to provide food 
for the most vulnerable populations through the Dole-McGovern--or 
McGovern-Dole--Food for Education Program, and Senator Pat Roberts 
prioritized these programs in previous farm bills.
  Kansans have taken this moral responsibility to heart, and we must do 
our part by reauthorizing these programs in a farm bill considered this 
year. The time is now to show leadership--to show leadership for 
America's farmers and ranchers. Tough decisions are ahead of us. The 
farm bill is always difficult, but we have always been able to come 
together and accomplish our goals. We should not walk away from the 
process. It is a dereliction of duty to the farmers and ranchers of 
America. I hope that we, as leaders, can get back to the table and 
produce a farm bill that provides meaningful and real relief for Kansas 
producers and protects our country from the challenges that we face 
around the globe.
  I yield the floor.