assistance. >> the farmers can access insurance and assistance that we keep the marketing programs a strong. we invest millions of research to satan billions in crops is a really good investment. i think you mr. chairman. >> those are excellent points. >> thank you all for being here. >> let's take a second and get

our second panel up. >> can we say thank you again. >> and all of you invited next week in anaheim see

. >> let's rock 'n' roll. or chairman would say the committee will now reconvene stop i'm going to start with an introduction that i'm going to call on senator turberville firm.introduction and then chairman bozeman will likely be back. we've got a quorum call going on right now. i think we established a quorum so hopefully that's covered but we do have another vote and we have the vice president coming up who's probably hereby now.

regarding ããthere's a lot going on right now it's a little bit chaotic. it doesn't take away from how much we really appreciate all of you being here your expertise is vitally important the commodity groups you represent are critically important, not just to our farmers and ranchers but ability to make good farm policy. thank you for taking the time and making the effort to be here. i'm going to start out with introducing josh gaggle the chairman of american soybean association. he actually farms near column which is fairly famous because it's the hometown of angie dickinson. although maybe now it's more famous for josh gaggle. i think you should live in the very nearby town or farm closer to the nearby town which is capital north dakota. buddies closer to column.

obviously the soybeans 2800 acres of soybeans but also farm beef barley for eight years he led the north dakota soybean growers association and did an outstanding job. i actually had him edit field hearing i had grant farm near fargo north dakota and a great chairman senator bozeman came out as well as ranking member. senator, bashar and senator king smith on this committee as well. and josh did a great job and appreciate so much you being here. and all your work on behalf of your fellow farmers. >> assistant chairman i guess you would call it. so what brings 㦠>> cass county is the number one county for soybeans in

terms of volume of soybeans gone. >> more than alabama. >> you are invited. >> today i'm proud to introduce mr. garrett moore from chancellor alabama. is also a proud veteran of this u.s. marine corps having served as an infantryman for four years overseas in japan. near the dmz of south korea. after completing his military service. you wanted to return to his roots and farm in la hello hello ma'am i'm working how

part of the southern peanut farmer i'm grateful for the hard work he's done with the food and for alabama and advocate for our young farmers and also in auburn tiger fan. thank you for being here today. senator moran what brings you to texas >> kansas. [laughter] >> both great states. one is better than the other. good morning and i think the chairman for allowing me the opportunity to introduce that captain who appears with all of you on the panel. amy france is the native of the old arkansas population 1775 made me think of all my

hometown, the county that leona is in his wichita county and the population 2100. my point is, amy lives in a very rural part of kansas, she found a limited partnership this industry called agriculture after meeting her husband. together they operate the french family farms near the city growing wheat and raising cattle with their children and grandchildren. farming alongside her family five children and two grandchildren stop her family has been a priority for any and she has been instilling and i met her children instilling kansas values and her children and understanding of what it means to be good stewards of their land. they share the programs that they grow on their form of the community amy has stated how she has focused on being "a

better farmer not just a bigger farmer" amy has long been a leader in agriculture with the roles of the local farm bureau board and the young farmers and ranchers committee of kansas farm bureau she's also the first woman elected on the national board of directors she's a leading voice for nations sorghum producers and culminated in her appointment as the chairwoman of the national sorghum producers just this last august she worked at the first national bank and scott city the area big town population 3931, she worked there for a decade giving her a background in kansas community banking and inside how those relate how that relates to agricultural lending and how we strengthen family farms. what this market uncertainty high production cost the drought we had in our state, amy is consistent advocacy for disaster relief and clout loss assistance has made her a key voice for a fight for better agriculture economy.'s thank

you for fighting for nations sorghum farmers. >> thank you senator moran from the great state of kansas. >> thank you mr. chairman of south dakota. [laughter] we go back and forth as to the number one we producing state kansas or north dakota on a regular basis. we work together a lot. let me acknowledge all of our witnesses here today. i do want to thank you for being here almost panel, we have mr. nathan read who is on the board of directors for the national council from marianne arkansas. mr. kenneth hartman junior, president of the national corn growers association. thank you for being here, mr.

keith felty, thank you for being here. president, national association growers from altus oklahoma. not north dakota arkansas. we been bragging about our wheat, are you close to the kansas border? >> i'm in southwest oklahoma. >> okay. mr. chris ingalls died president of the national barley growers association from fertile minnesota, i certainly know where that is. amy france chair of the national sorghum producer scott city kansas. josh y introduced a minute ago mr. garrett moore, member of the u.s. peanut federation from chancellor alabama, mr. ken beall's cousin american sugar beet hours association from dora minnesota and that leads us to mrs. jennifer james,

board of directors usa rice newport arkansas, and i know how excited are chairman is to introduce both you and mr. reid i see how he bookend at this deal which doesn't surprise me. >> thank you very much for your help. i did mention that inadvertently that i said when i introduced senator moran i said the great state of texas inadvertently i was thinking about my wife she's from texas. i think he is still a little upset about it. hopefully we can give them some special dispensation as a result. >> i understand he's from arkansas i understand why he would be upset. me at this again out a little

bit extra to our arkansas folks. nathan read great arkansan from marianna located in the heart of mississippi delta region. he currently serves on the board of directors for the national council. back in arkansas he serves as executive officer with arkansas ag council and serves on the arkansas plant board. which is a thankless job. over the years i had the pleasure of getting to know him and listen to its experience and challenges he faces he and his family will find him to be resourceful, resilient and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to farming. i look forward to hearing his testimony. as he represents farm families across the continent industry. thank you for making the trip. >> jennifer james.

>> we are very honored to have jennifer's fourth-generation farmer from mentioned arkansas where she and her husband father and son grow rice corn and soybean on their century farm. is an active member of the usa rice she serves farmers board of directors on the farmers board of directors farm policy task force and a number of other communities within the organization that jennifer's many accolades is a small testimony to her and so this is a farmer. she's been recognized 2017 field to market farmer of the year 2019 rice farmer of the year. first ever woman elected to serve in the rising board of directors and 2023 24 outstanding alumni of the university of arkansas college of agriculture and life

sciences. she also pa agencies farm ranching world federal advisory committee. also we look forward to your testimony, thank you all for being here. one of the things i thought was really important, some your clovers are and i thought was important. >> yes we did. trying to establish the fact that the situation in the farm community that's really why we wanted to get you here. we look forward to you telling us what's going on the farm challenges that you face, so we can continue to try to figure out quirky thing about agriculture not about democrats and republicans very bipartisan. ..

. thank you for your support of the american farmer. >> thank you, sir. >> as i enter my 40th year in

farming, agriculture economy is facing a severy downturn, the libraries we haven't seen since the early 1980s. greatly appreciate the hard work that leadership and committee members played in getting economic and disaster assistance signed into law this past december. that is much needed across all of agriculture. however, we high lyinged and urged congress to pass a robin lou bust farm bill that -- robust farm bill that strengthsenned the farm safety net. the talent facing agriculture differ from the 2018 farm bill enacted. while the farm safety net is iowa a sound network, it must be

enhanced to reflect today's realities. and there was a wheat decrease in 2023-20246789 that's the lowest level in the last 15 years. these underscore the need for strong, robust and meaningful farm bill that provides long term certainty as we proceed into the 119th congress. crop insurance is the cornerstone of the farm safety net. i use crop insurance on my operation to cover natural disasters and last year one week before harvest, our operations saw devastating hailstorm is that destroyed wheat that was

otherwise in excellent condition. it's the first line of defense and going to get natural disasters. going for crop insurance more portable and going to have to place a viral role for sustaining them. and additionally, the poc reference price for wheat remained unchanged and going for them falling far short of them and going to center the introduction and 2018 farm blaguing with them and president testified on this topic in 2023 and he stated wheat farmers across the country are currently experiencing high prices. but at an extreme risk. the forecast going to elevate it at $386 per achier and means

wheat growers are going to lose $96 per acre. going to be sustainable crop to consume here at home and export globally. thank you for the opportunity to testify today and i look forward to your questions and working with you on the next farm bill. >> thank you, chris.

>> barly in particular increased 23% and not come back to be cost effective and young farmer and addressing the challenges in various new farmers and ongoing concern for the ag community and policymaker haves been gap eling with. grappling with and they can't build equity going for them and

all the challenges, it's vital that farm safety net are maintained and strengthened and the top priorities are enhancement to the crop insurance and reflected in the farmer act and senator hobin in 2024 and title one programs for increasing in the programs. have american grown barly exclusively and u.s. farmers producing enough to meet demand and consumer benefits from top export market.

thank you for the opportunity to testify and providing support for american farmers and we want to hope you can join us this evening and we have a reception in the caucus room called barley, brews and boots reception with the industry partners and a wide selection of beer made with u.s. barley. thank you. >> very good, thank you. >> we raise angus cat and will grain and barley. i'm a chair of farm producers and honored to represent many family farms here today. my 12 years in rural banking industry and firsthand

experience with a very real financial challenges of farming in the current environment have allowed me to develop it's easy to sum up and high cost of production and stubborn weather pattern that's been brutal. this has made me even more appreciative of the work that this committee so carefully does. and we need to finally get a stronger farm safety net in police station. on top of that

since 2019 and cost of production for sore gum was going about 8% and going year over year. and in 20 this, they had a loss of $1.5 billion in net farm from a farmers perspective and 2025 appears to be just at grim if not more so.

i look forward to working with the committee for that critical goal. providing assistance to market return and when market returns are below the cost of production and going for the cornerstone of taylored in-season risk management farmers. jaire higher coverage and cost assistance and sco and support

senator hoevens bill and incentivizing coverage. quick two things for consideration. first, ratings must be reviewed to ensure we have not driving planting based on insurance. second, an election going for them. i thank you very much for this time and appreciate all of the work putting into this day in and day out.

>> u.s. soy bone industry

dealing with long term negative impacts in the last trade war in 2018 and retaliatory tariffs tas from addictional actions taken by the threatening access even further. tahin primed to meet demand resulting from new trade disruptions and going for them andenenhancing the role that

u.s. plays in america. going for the moment of expansion and lower than anticipated going for the obligations and stunted growth and triggered a decline in them and delaying on that and a calculation system that affords higher credit prices to nonagriculture feed stocks and added additional downward soil prices. and then high levels of imports displaced domestic soybean oil. >> environmental protection act seizure disorders uses and new approvals and epa pesticide program facing challenges

challenges >> newt rent levels in the soil and -- nutrient levels and going for the levels and high increase and fertilizer cost calls for tough management decisions.

the farm ring ands areas. i'm proud to be a american peanut grower and thankful to contribute to the nation's food supply. going to continue for the policy with >> early intervention

programmed to thank chris to much for his work with the national barly association and -- barley association and we're proud of our barley in minnesota and i'm looking forward to asking you a question. now coming up is kim deal, senator smith mentioned fourth generation farmer and he serves on the american trigger peak grower association board and vice president and going for them

contributing more than $23 billion annually and americans benefit from a safe, high quality and reliable supply of sugar for process and refining here at home. our industry has built a strong resilient supply chain in 90 strategic a fail seizure disorderses in the country. we take beat pride in what we've built and great pride in produce ago record group this year. but pride senators doesn't pay the bills.

many struggle to continue operating and getting financing. we strongly support the house agriculture committee bill and senate agriculture committee proposal going to reflect the goal.

along with thousands of farmers and processers and refiners, we urge them to act swiftly to pass a five year farm bill and strengthening the u.s. sugar policy and u.s. al curture and stand -- agriculture and stand ready and eager. i look forward to your questions. >> thank you, jennifer.

leading congress to provide much needed aid for 2024. and thank you r thank you for delaying what would have been a full fledged farm crisis. many appreciate there's farmers out there who even with this relief

this year i'm even more worried about what is to come. and last week we had one of the hardest decisions we've had: is farming really worth? we're only one farm family of thousands that are having these same conversations.

>> a lot being mentioned about the aid at the end of last congress and this committee working hard in a bipartisan way to get that done.

and

>> that five year contract looking to it is very importanttous and then as i stated within what should

congress be considering trying to make improvement? support higher levels of crop insurance and 70-08% and two higher level sos we can support because there's a lot more risk there now and

>> woe don't have income -- or rev jew guarantee in the policy for federal crop insurance. those were the main things and we are an importer of sugar and importing 25% of sugar americans use and we need to be viable and

don't get behind them and even have to import even more. we need to keep a viable sugar industry here in the united states. >> very good. agree.

>> for me as a farmer, it's not what is imposed by canada or mexico and 25% tariff on canada and if it comes from canada and there's a cost right there. >> actually i use those numbers on a national call the other day and going about the act and put that with the numbers going with an acre of corn and going for them and going r them and it's

on the lineup and going for this year and things are even tighter and margin is not there.

>> what will this disruption for food in shippers and mill processers going to peak spl

vent a food program. >> gastroenterologisting out cash and buying from foreign competitors to american farmers and however these are going for the problems and they're going for american commodity i dids for them going for them.

coming for time to plan. >> we're happy to have you here.

we get punished for harsh climate and that would be the number one concern and it's going to balance that and we're very proud of the resilience and what sorgum does for the re-ation and great things we can do and produce it regardless.

cotton producers feel like we're playing against a stacked debt and thrown to the world market and our competition doesn't and this is true across all commodities but a lot of times the academy tigers plays less perday day than per hour to employees and shipping the same equipment we're using in a -- able to use as a census -- substantial reduction in cost. come withs no emissions equipment and asked to compete on the world market and being held to standards 6789 we're proud of that.

>> adequately participating in the commoditities for programs and going for them to fight for that .

1 >> there's a lot of activity on the side interest in the committee and

>> presidential terms and nations and up to present day. this saturday, we'll look at andrew jackson elected 1828 in rematch with john quincy adams in 1824 election and came to office tariffs and treatment with nato alliance and the new series first 100 days and saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern.