ICYMI: Farm Bureau President Offers Solutions to Increase Demand of Homegrown Food, Fiber and Renewable Fuel

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall yesterday offered a variety of solutions for increasing demand of U.S.-grown agricultural goods during testimony before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry. He joined several other agriculture leaders to share priorities to address a structural imbalance that threatens both farmers' livelihoods and food security in the U.S.

"We must strengthen domestic demand for American agricultural products. We must reinforce our production capacity of critical ag supplies and restore domestic processing capacity. We must ensure our safety nets are strong and expand fair and enforceable market access abroad," Duvall noted in his opening comments. Watch the clip here.

The solutions offered include authorizing year-round E15, modernizing farm labor programs and establishing improved programs to enable schools and our military to purchase directly from local farms.

After his opening statement, President Duvall took questions from lawmakers, including Committee Chairman Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) who asked how Congress can help modernize farm labor programs. President Duvall responded that Congress needs to work together to deliver a bill to President Trump's desk: "When I go across America and talk to farmers, it's the number one issue they're facing, long-term issue. Of course, the economy right now is the biggest issue that's facing them, but labor is the biggest limiting factor that we have in agriculture today." Watch the clip here.

In response to a question from Ranking Member Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) about agricultural research, President Duvall emphasized the importance of the United States keeping pace with other countries in terms of research funding: "All of the research that goes into agriculture helps us stay on the cutting edge. We see other countries where their agricultural communities are growing and adapting to the things that we adapted to many years ago. And, that research keeps us on the cutting edge and gives the consumer out there what they really want. So, it is vitally important for us to have additional monies for research. It helps us do the things that people in this country want us to do, from conserving our natural resources to creating new products and new crop protection tools that we can use in the future." Watch the clip here.

When asked by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) about authorizing year-round E15, President Duvall called it "vitally important" for Congress to act: "It's a no-brainer. It's a win-win-win. It's a win for consumers, win for the farmer and it's a win for you [Congress] to make sure that you can do that for the consumer and for the farmer at the same time. And there's no better time to do that, especially with some of the threatening of some of the fuel and oil going up because of the war." Watch the clip here.

Commenting on potential fertilizer shortages or extreme price spikes due to rising tensions in the Middle East after a question from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), President Duvall highlighted Farm Bureau's recent urging for U.S. government action: "We need our government to use the Navy to make sure those ships can freely come through, and work with our partner countries to make sure they can come through. Also, the financial and insurance direction - when the strait was shut down, the insurance company Lloyd's of London cut off insurance. They parked the boats. So, we need to use every opportunity that we have in our country to make sure that we solve that problem." Watch the clip here. President Duvall sent a letter to President Trump earlier this week, urging him to intervene to address the disruption of fertilizer shipments from the Middle East.

The entire hearing is available via recording here.

AFBF's written testimony is available here.

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