[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6122-S6123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Farm Bill

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I come from a State not exactly like yours, 
but we share the fact that we provide the energy, the fiber, and the 
food for this country and much of the world.
  There is a crisis that is with us, and that crisis is growing, and 
the consequences are dire.
  I was in my State of Kansas, as many of my colleagues were at home 
during the month of August. I traveled the State from corner to corner, 
putting 5,600 miles on my truck. I talked to lots of people, and I 
listened to even more.
  In addition to those conversations, last week, farm groups, commodity 
groups, and farm organizations made a call on Washington, DC, to 
highlight what I am highlighting today. Included in those visits were 
those who sell farm equipment in Kansas and across the country.
  Yesterday morning, before coming to Washington, DC, I spoke to an 
agricultural outlook conference in Kansas City. Today, I just walked 
across the street from visiting with bankers from the Kansas Bankers 
Association who are in the Nation's Capital as well today.
  The message I bring to my colleagues is that agriculture is in 
serious condition. Input costs have risen dramatically. The things that 
farmers buy in order to put a crop in the ground and to harvest that 
crop have escalated amazingly in a way that is so damaging, while the 
price they receive for what they grow has diminished. So the cost of 
seed, fertilizer, diesel fuel, natural gas, interest costs--all of 
which are significant components of the farmers in Kansas and the 
country--they are at a point in which there is no profitability in most 
circumstances for agriculture today.
  I would add that my couple of visits in Kansas with farm equipment 
manufacturers--we manufacture lots of farm equipment--and in places 
like Salina and Abilene, the circumstances of those businesses are in 
dire shape because farmers no longer can afford to buy the equipment 
they manufacture.
  The issue here is the farm bill. We neared expiration of the 2018 
farm bill. It was clear we needed to write a new farm bill and get it 
completed. It hasn't happened. It is past due. That is not unusual, but 
in this circumstance this year, it is significant.
  Decisions not to get a farm bill done have come home to roost, and 
the families of farmers and those farmers and ranchers and the 
communities in which they live, work, and provide the economic 
viability of the community and at the same time produce the food, fuel, 
and fiber that America and the world need--those days of the capability 
of doing that are waning because of input costs, and you add to that 
the drought that has been suffered by many parts of my State. Farm 
income has declined 43 percent over the past 5 years, and net farm 
income is expected to be 27 percent lower this year than it was in 
2022.
  Our agricultural trade deficit--something we always were proud about, 
as we exported more than we imported in agriculture--is a $42.5 billion 
deficit. We import more than we export. It puts our farmers even more 
at risk, and it threatens the stability and security of our national 
economy.
  So my plea to my colleagues is this: There aren't many weeks left 
between now and when Congress recesses for the month of October. We 
return in November and December, and we ought to use this opportunity 
to pass at least an extension of the current farm bill and at the same 
time, make certain that assistance is provided to the farmers to get 
them through the circumstance they are in. By the time we get a farm 
bill passed and by the time we get that assistance--that safety net 
that comes in title I of the farm bill--actually to farmers, it will be 
too late to address the challenges Kansas and American farmers face 
today.
  The goal in my remarks today is to bring the awareness of this issue 
to my colleagues and indicate that the direction we need to go is two-
prong: pass an extension of the farm bill, which provides certainty and 
the ability for lenders and borrowers, bankers and farmers to come 
together and make long-term decisions. It is time for farmers to renew 
their credit line, and without the passage or extension of the current 
farm bill, the ability for a banker to make that decision to benefit 
the farmer begins to disappear.
  So we need a farm bill in place even if it is the current one, but 
the current one is insufficient to meet the needs of the disaster that 
is occurring in the incomes of farmers across the country.
  Last week--I think it was Thursday afternoon--Senator Stabenow and I 
visited here on the Senate floor--I point in that direction over 
there--and we had a conversation. Senator Stabenow indicated that she 
recognizes the challenge that farmers--the dire circumstances they are 
in today.
  Subsequent to that, I have met with and had conversations with 
Senator Boozman from Arkansas, my colleague who is the ranking 
Republican on the Agriculture Committee, and with John Hoeven, the 
ranking member of our Ag Approps Subcommittee. I want all of us to work 
together to accomplish what I just described: long-term extension and a 
shorter term disaster assistance plan. Those conversations have begun, 
and I

[[Page S6123]]

am hopeful that before year's end, we will be able to do our work.
  Sometimes I get complimented--not very often, but sometimes I get 
complimented, and when I do, it is often for my efforts. While I am 
willing to do all the efforts that are necessary, in this case, efforts 
are woefully inadequate, and results are critically important.
  Mr. President, I look forward to my colleagues and I moving forward 
on farm bill legislation and disaster assistance short-term needs being 
met. I offer myself to work with Republicans and Democrats, rural and 
urban, to see that we get those goals accomplished.
  In closing, the current farm bill is not adequate to provide the 
relief or safety net of our Nation's farmers, nor is it reflective of 
the current state of the farm economy. With financial pressures 
building across the agriculture industry due to increased production 
costs and weakened market prices, the overall financial situation of 
the farm economy is bleak. The status quo is unacceptable. We must pass 
a long-term farm bill this year, and we must also consider immediate 
relief for farmers with a supplement.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Appropriations 
Committee and the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, of which I 
am a member and have been its chairman, as we continue the 
appropriations process and find a solution so that it can be included 
in our work before year's end.
  Our farmers deserve and need better, and in the absence of successful 
farmers, the places that many of us call home--the future is bleak.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fetterman). The Senator from Oregon.