of the congressional directory for this compact spiral bound book for every member of congress including bios and committee assignments. also state governors of the biden administration cabinet preorder your cspanshop.org or scan the code with your smart code. every c-span shoppers it helps support nonprofit information. >> a tonight a hearing on tax filing season including the backlog of tax returns, the irs is attempting to process for hiring more employees. watch the house ways and means subcommittee hearing at 8:00 o'clock eastern on c-span2. let watch full coverage on arthel video app c-span now. >> our guests this morning's executive editor of agora pulse rate is here to talk about food prices and the impact of this conflict on them.

what is the ground in russia and in ukraine? >> a lot of people do not realize that there's been a lot of focus on oil. they are two of the most important producers of grain in the world. ukraine has become an incredible breadbasket -- mike always has been to some extent. but certainly has increased its production substantially in the last few years. it is the fourth largest exporter of corn it by the six largest exporter of wheat in the world. it is also the largest single producer of sunflower seed which is a major source of vegetable oil or cooking oil. >> and ingredient and dressings, and other products. >> critical. origin they export to and how much that come to the united states? >> it doesn't come to the united states but ista congressman you had on made the point the world

has become more interconnected. there is no place that is more ftrue than with food. these are globally traded commodities. and so a shock in one part of the world, in this case ukraine, has reverberations across the food supply can affect increase of the price of these grains and vegetable oils and so forth. you ask about ukraine. ukraine is a major supplier of wheat in north africa and into the middle east where that is a staple. many of us are never the arab spring was actually sparked in part byrt food riots. and so the fact that you've got a cut off in supplies, yes you can ask replace that for some extent somewhere else. but you have the impact of driving up the price. for people who pay a large, much

larger proportion than we do for food, that could have a really detrimental impact. >> what are the reverberations how is this playing out? >> it is still early. it's important to remember that food prices are already at very vehigh levels. tthe united states the price of food supermarket prices have riven a .6% over the last 12 months that just came out last week. the un food organization tracks global food costs, grains, vegetable oils, dairy products, meat, poultry, fish et cetera. they have an index that tracks that it is adjusted for inflation. those prices at an all-time high pin february. that was before we've seen the impact with the russian invasion in ukraine.

now what is going forward we have several problems potential problems. one is the first most immediate is ukraine plants most of its wheat. farmers in ukraine plant most of their wheat in the fall. they also could know it's another source of vegetable oil. they plant that in the fall it's harvested toward the summer. so that is growing. there's a question about whether farmers can get that out of the fields that they can export it at they can get it out. the question is whether they can get crops like corn and sunflowers planted this spring. >> could there be food shortages and where in the world? >> yes. the fao the food organization came out the study last week it's a preliminaryry assessmentf thent situation.

they project ukraine, farmers in ukraine will probably not get 2s harvested or planted this year. i've seen numbers significantly higher than that it depends where this goes from here. estimated because of the price increases the direct result from this several million more people in asia, africa and other areas could go hungry. >> how is agricultural land in the united states used? how has that changed over the years and relied on them to certain products. >> the largest amount of land area is used for corn and soybeans and after that wheat.

the largest area by far and much of that goes into directly into livestock feed we use some corn to fuel ethanol per the byproduct of that goes to feed as well. there are food products food ingredients come from soybean and corn. we have roughly 90 million acres of both of those crops depending on the year. we also have a lot of wheat with specific northwest as well. >> why is so much dedicated corn and soybean to feed livestock? >> because the livestock, the poultry converted that to protein. that's obviously a major suit food source they need to feed it takes a lot of feed for them. a lot of that corn and soybeans

and wheatet gets exported. it's different crops, traditionally for example about half of the wheat has been exported substantial portion of our corn and soybeans have been exported as well too. >> exported for consumption by people or livestock? >> some for people certainly wheat his foodstuff. a lot of the corn and soybeanspo goes to feed livestock, poultry and other parts of the world too. >> because that explain the price increase for meat products? we heard from a few who say bacon there's a quote in the "new york times" bacon cost as much as filet mignon. a lot has to supply chain

factors it has to do with supply and demand. over the last couple of years that has had a lot to do with it. the cost of feed is a major production cost but does not necessarily translate that directly to what you pay in the grocery store. >> here to take your questions, your comments about what you are seeing with the price of food in this country and around the world and also supply issues. richard in minneapolis good morning to you good morning richard. >> good morning. you know i saw a newscast here recently the farmers have got to drive these big trucks great big tractors combines they run out of oil this farmer said he has used 200 pounds of nitrogen and

100 pounds of what's the other one? phosphate. prices aren't exponent of the oil. we need the oil we need to drill right now we need to open up texas, alaska, north dakota week to get these wells in the ground and open up oklahoma and offshore alabama anda mississippi. >> the impact of oil and gas on agriculture and food prices for. >> very, very large very significant brings up a good point.y we have not talked about the issue of fertilizer the cost of fertilizer that's a big impact could be far-reaching impact of this war in ukraine. part of the reason for that is, to start with the food prices are already at a very high level. so our fertilizer prices.

they rose very sharply last year in large part because a lot of fertilizer is made from natural gas and natural gas prices have been soaring. we have an economist testifying for the house agriculture committee just yesterday who's been studying fertilizer prices they probably got up another 20 -- 30%. add to the fact that russia is one of the largest exporters of fertilizer the single exporter of nitrogen fertilizer i believe the third largest exporter of potassium and phosphate. european union depends on that. the impact of this war especially if it continues is to increase the cost of fertilizer further which puts more pressure on farmers and ultimately food

prices as well special farmers. >> going back to what crops are produced in this country the conservation reserve program is conducted by the agriculture department what role could it play? >> probably not a big one at this point. the biden administration has shown no interest in doing that. $22 million an acre of land. former cropland is fairly marginal cropland it's now cropland that's planted in grass and the land owners get paid by usda under a ten year contract.

>> they get paid not to farm? >> they get paid not to farm it. that is 22 million acres that potentially could be opened up to emergency cropping. there is a very short window for doing that because you have to open it up and start planting it had the seed and fertilizer to do it has other environmental implications it tends to be environmentally sensitive land. there is an environmental impact from doings it. and also the crp is one of the biden's administrationti significant initiatives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. >> akron ohio, good morning. >> caller: good morning i have a question in regards to animal agriculture which takes 80 times

vegetables and fruits do an animal agriculture causes cancer, heart disease, food poisoning is the least productive food bondage per acre so does it take a stand on it? >> human beings rely on -- heavily rely on meat, poultry, dairy fish and seafood. a lot of health benefits. they are major sources of our protein and minerals have mega three fatty acids in the case of seafood. tremendous numberca of benefits

that animals return from its turn grass which we can't eat into protein which we can. >> we will go to paul miles built south dakota. >> are right i was wondering how much of the increases we are seeing in the grocery stores how much is going back to the farmers and the producers? out also like to comment on the previous color also if you give me a chance ate some point. i have a lot of food allergies. i have problems eating and i eat basically meet, beat in particular is one of the few things i can eat or i don't get some immune response. and i tell you, i just had my six month checkup at the doctor, i am fine.

for my age constantly calling me about what great shape i am in. i don't believe there's any truth to that. >> paul what was your first question again? >> the producers are they seeing any inflation the high prices at the grocery store the getting some of that back? >> where's the money going? >> there are a couple of answers to that. one producers get a fairly small about roughly 10 cents on the dollar that you spend on food. there's a lot of other things that go into it. depends on the foodth too. depends how much all of those sorts of things that go into the price of the food. however, that said commodity prices are much higher historically high levels the last couple of years partly because of export demand or

because of retail food demand here at home. the price of wheat has really jumped up because of the war in ukraine. these are pretty good prices. now farmers will tell you on the cost of growing those crops is higher, fuel costs are higher. weweke talked about food costs e much higher. the production costs are up but also the price for the crops in most cases is significantly higher as well. >> what about the companies we have heard about foreign companies that own the slaughterhouses in this country? the money they are making and concern by the administration of a monopoly. >> that is sort of a separate issue. really came to life with the pandemic we had shut down of the number of plants packing plants

plants got backed up they could take fewer animals so the price was paid to the farmers went down because there was a higher consumer demand and smaller supply the prices to consumers went up there is a sharp difference with the farmers were getting and what consumers were paying. and the price of meat was a major factor. up until very recently and food inflation we have been seeing. so the biden administration has really taken after the meatpackers. they have always been a little bit of a pain punching bag. they really are now and really struggle to push back against that. but the administration certainly a bigma issue.

one of the four largest packers is a brazilian owned company brexit thomas, clay how's it going for it like make a comment that a question there is a brazilian, anyway, as farce texas is concerned we have a lot of capitol wells already. 40% of our energy for window, it's surprising isn't it. you can totally make the moneyhe out from the last two years. the point i would like to make about ten years ago they did a steady and said americans throw away $2 billion worth of food i meet in the trash i work for food banks. i watched him throw cans in i've seen grocery stores throw out

carrots, i've even seen them throw out chickens. it's bad when you have to put a chain on the dumpsters to keep from feeding people. a billion dollars of a waste? >> will take that point. >> that's it is a major problem that has been for aha number of years. it obviously has a ramifications how much food you need to produce. waste less you need to produce less you need less land, potential ways you can help with climate change the industry is really struggled with this one of the things we tried to do used by labels easier to -- for consumers to understand so they do not throw away food that still good.

the caller is right this is a major problem. if we could reduce our food waste even relatively small amount we would need to produce less by. >> management florida. >> you know, americans are the saddest country in the world. we weigh over eat too much at least 1000 calories and 15 calories a day. my wife and i went on a diet about a year end a half ago. the doctor told us. we lost 40 pounds apiece. we cut our food diet by 50% by just cutting down half of what we were eating. i think the average person could cut their food prices probably 20 -- 25% by just reducing their intake and eating potato chips and all of the junk food that is

out there. it seems like america seems to think that america first means being fat, happy and a cheap tent full of gas if i think it's smarter than a lot moreha than that. so here is the problem. we eat way too much stop complaining about high food prices and quit eating so much by. >> thank you.. >> obesity has been a problem. has a lot of health ramifications. let's be frank. people are obese. they've been at higher risk for complicationsca from covid. it has not gotten the attention it was the issue of major concern during the obama administrationth they struggledo try to address it. it is kind of fallen out off the

radar a bit. certainly a lot of us eat too much. you cannot argue with that by. >> good morning. >> good morning. i have one little concern regarding an that is the never ending development that seems to be taking place in the united states. that development is for the most part of what i can see, former farmland in the state of florida i would see alo miles and milesf sit juris groves for the same our development. some kind of a plan the united states are sufficient farmland for future generations to prevent never ending continuing development encroaching into farmland which we will need for the future, thank you so much.

>> we don't have a national plan per se there is a usda program which is aimed at keeping land in farming rather than selling it for development there is a conservation tax credit which could do something similar. and obviously putting land into conservation program like conservation program could potentially keep it from development. a lot of the development as the pressure is around the city. he's right a lot aren't former farmland. you get your large get out to the midwest that is less of the case. you get a greater expanse city

like des moines, chicago, minneapolis-st. paul or as he points out encroaching into farmland for. >> catherine in new jersey. >> good morning good to see you. i had watched a news piece some years back specifically on smithfield farms. it is my understanding they were purchased by and chinese company that is said tosa have a direct ties back to the communist government at which point i stopped buying thatt product. through covid and now with the war in ukraine, can you speak to any impact of that company now being chinese owned may have had on us here in that united states? thank you. >> your time but smithfield foods' when the largest producers of pork we talkedin

about bacon, smithfield one of the largest ones yes it is now chinese owned. cannot say it's still. the very large producerrg of hos and of pork. they were before and they continue to be. >> thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. ♪ c-span's washington journal every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discuss the policy issues that impact you. coming up friday morning connecticut democrat congressman joe courtney eight member of the armed services committee discusses u.s. and nato weapons and humanitarian assistance to ukraine. then louisiana republican congressman gary braves ranking member on the select climate crisis talks about energy prices and the conflict tweet russia and ukraine.

watch "washington journal" live at seven eastern friday morning on c-span or on c-span now our free mobile app. join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comment faced messages and tweets. >> republican tennessee senator marsha blackburn will be in concorde new hampshire had led in the annual gop lincoln reagan dinner parade live coverage at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span online@c-span.org full coverage on her video app c-span now. >> he spent as your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more. including cox. >> cox is committed to eligible families access affordable internet through the connected can be program. bridging the digital divide one connected and engaged at a time. cox bringing us closer