agriculture secretary sonny perdue delivers remarks on u.s. agriculture outlooks. we will also hear from the usda chief economist at this forum. it is about 90 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everybody. if you could please find your seat. i would like to welcome everyone to usda 96 annual outlook forum. usda oldest annual meeting. i am stephen, deputy secretary of agriculture. it is great to see everyone here this morning. this year's theme is that innovation imperative. shaping the future of agriculture. this is a fitting theme for the secretary to announce something we have been working on at usda called the agriculture innovation agenda. we are excited to share more with you this morning. i am joined in this room by many of you that are working to shape the future of our agriculture economy. it is important that we take stock, not only where we are today, but also where we need to go to meet a growing global demand with rising standards of living at a time when producers are dealing with uncertainties in the farm economy and the conditions ne

of agriculture training. the objective is to inspire and train the next generation of agricultural lists interested in policy, commodity market analysis, agriculture finance and other applied fields of economics. can we have all of our 2020 future leaders in agriculture programs attendees stand and let's give them a round of applause? be sure to seek them out during the break because these are some of the sharp young minds that we wanted agriculture and i know you want as well. with that, i would like to say, here is our chief economist doctor robert johansson, who unveiled the departments outlook for u.s. commodity markets and trade in 2020 and discussed the u.s. farm income situation. doctor johansson. (applause) >> thanks so much. thank you everyone for joining us today. thank you for those comments, mr. deputy secretary, and of course welcome to the 96th annual agriculture forum. as the deputy just mentioned, we have a great program for you. our theme this year as he just talked about, the innovation impe

my early years were in agriculture. that's where i got my big values. >> right. >> in silicon valley, look, i had an opportunity to be there for basically a revolution of the smartphone. i think everybody in the room here today has a smartphone in their hand. it's changed our lives. but, you know, in the '90s that didn't exist, and we had to kind of project forward to say okay, will this -- how will this happen? we looked at some of the key trends in terms of connectivity and how that was going to project forward, driving costs down and kind of getting the size of computing to fit in your palm and that was how they called the company. we invented the smartphone and created about a $5 billion business from that, over about nine years. that's kind of my -- a big part of my background. about ten years ago, i set up sbg ventures and we set up an accelerator to be able to accelerate companies. having been a ceo, having been a coo who has set up companies, companies don't happen easily. it's hard work, having a great team, bu

and innovation and agriculture is huge for us. and doing it right and making sure that our folks in iowa have access to innovation is one of our top priorities but also something that we struggle with because of our lack of access to broadband which i know you guys have touched on quite a bit today. but i think it's just important to keep hammering this home why this is so important. and you see in my district there's about three months or so ago i had fcc commissioner jessica rosen out to iowa one. we went to a farm in diersville, showed her some of the new equipment that was out there. but then also as we were sitting there and she was talking so some of the young farmers in the area as well. one of the guys came with his dad who i think just got out of isu. he's trying to show on his ipad the information they had for the feeding operation. as he's pulling out the ipad, the thing won't load. and it's just a perfect example about why we have an issue when it comes to folks having access to the innovation that's already here. but

agriculture generates $1 trillion. in 2017, texas farms sold $24.9 billion in agricultural products, a significant contribution to this state's economy. however, with increasing levels of trade, threats to the united states agricultural sect oy are growing. foreign pests and diseases costs ens of billions losses a year. they intercept pervasive pests such as the african swine fever into the united states, protecting our natural resources and our economy. a shortage of agricultural specialists exists. this bill would ensure that we have enough agricultural technicians to adequately perform agricultural quarantine inspections at our international ports of entry. i ask my colleagues to protect america's food and thank my colleagues, senator peters, for his collaboration on this crucial bill and texas colleagues, senator cornyn and cruz and representative crenshaw and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. the gentlelady from new mexico reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized.

another part of agriculture really is there a promote american agriculture it's not an impartial sort of entity that is neutral you overseeing the laws and for years u.s.d.a. was allied with the very interests that it was supposed to regulate including these folks within the agriculture sector who you know started raising puppies and started operating puppy mills never in the state of ohio has any breeder been forced out of this. long. standing violations of the animal welfare act if they choose to no longer pay u.s.d.a. license it's because they chose not to renew their license not because inspectors came out to actually revoke that license i never heard of a regulator coming to pennsylvania no one was getting shut down the feeling of the industry was very we don't have to worry about it so frankly their doors were pretty open the so often if a breeder some violation of the animal welfare act they get a slap on the hands and when they get the slap on the hands. off and it is months following the violation and they're given an opportunity to correct the violation and sometimes it may

of lawmakers in the state of missouri that we know received huge financial contributions from agricultural industry groups those are the groups that oppose proposition b. and there is no doubt in our minds that those same groups pressured lawmakers to overturn proposition b. and before the session even started there were bills that were pretty filed to do just that you feel bad because it was repealed but you know all of your work paid off just made a dramatic difference for this i mean just the fact that almost half these facilities are out of business who could have a vision that things are definitely much improved with many of the worst operations but you still have chronic while leaders who are operating you still have any humane treatment of animals and you still have this defiant attitude that some folks believe they can do whatever they want there are so many issues out here so many porton issues and everybody is struggling in their own way that we don't necessarily want to pick up the other guy struggle eventually i have to go back into my town and face this neighbor and face the o

in 2018 we exported more than $3 billion in agriculture products to more than 140 countries. all in all, agriculture contributes nearly $105 billion to our state's economy. >> at the end of the day, these numbers tell a story of the folks whose sweat, work and pride have been the pillar of our state for generations. america's dairy land is more than bales but people. wisconsin was raised on the native americans who came before us and backs of the farmers who came before us and survived by the kids and grandkids the kefrp this legacy. despite our history this tradition has been challenged. 2011 and 2018, wisconsin lost about a third of our dairy farms. we lead the nation in farm bankruptcies and endure the consequences of unnecessary and unproductive tariffs and trade wars. we have heard people say there is no place for small farms anymore, they ought to go big or bust. they are wrong, they don't know wisconsin. (applause) >> in this state, no one carries the burden alone. we have leaned on farmers and their families and depended on their dedication and relied on their resilie

and farms are transforming agriculture by using a mix of innovative technologies to power it's hydroponic greenhouses on former pineapple lands, this mix of traditional farming and new technology is the way of the future for agriculture throughout the state, cents a farm since here with us today, will you please stand to be recognized (applause). farmers have it more than any other time in our history local farmers have it with the ability to increase i would also like to recognize straight senators and representatives who have long been advocates for agriculture here in the islands. (applause) you know, we can initiate a host of activities to encourage local food production, stimulate our economy, and protect our environment. but the key has always been whether we are able to keep those initiatives going. and so sustainability has been an integral part of our efforts. how do we sustain our economy, our lifestyle, and our natural environment? we do it first by developing clean energy sources. with a flurry of commercial solar projects in the pipeline and local homeowners enthusiasm for re

all in all, agriculture contributes nearly $105 billion to our state's economy. but at the end of the day, these numbers tell a story of the folks whose sweat, work, and pride have been the pillar of our state for generations. america's dairy land is more than bushels and bails and weights. it's people. wisconsin was raised on the land of the native americans who came before us and built on the backs of the farmers who came after them and survives by the hans of the kids and grand kids who are the keepers of this legacy. yet despite our history, this tradition has been challenged. between 2011 and 2018, wisconsin lost about 1/3 of our dairy farms. we lead the nation in farm bankruptcies. we've endured the consequences of unnecessary and unproductive tariffs and trade wars. and we've heard people who have said there's no place for small farms anymore. they ought to go big or bust. well, they are wrong. they don't know wisconsin. [ applause ] and in this state, no one carries a burden alone. we have leaned on farmers and their families. we have depended on their de

began immediately after it was approved for the ballot at a gathering of the most powerful agriculturalforces in missouri at the stinson morrison and hecker law firm in addition to members of the dog breeding industry the meeting included the leadership of the missouri farm bureau the missouri pork producers association and the missouri soybean association at this meeting these groups agreed to fight prop be in a coordinated effort with the dog breeding industry. 2 front groups emerge from the meeting one which would eventually be called missouri farmers care and the alliance for truth while these front groups seem to have sprung out of thin air it was actually a highly coordinated effort financed largely by corporate agriculture nearly 82 percent of total contributions to missouri farmers care originated from 3 corporate agriculture trade groups and their respective pullet. election committees. the missouri farm bureau the missouri pork producers and the missouri soybean association while the missouri farmers care campaign highlighted the positive role of missouri farmers in society th

our agriculture dwiversity is oe of the strengths of our state. we're one of the leading growers and processers of vegetables from potatoes to grebeans and s peas and carrots. we produce 62% of the nation's cranberry crop. in 2018, we exported $3 billion in agriculture products to more than 140 countries. all in all, agriculture contributes nearly $105 billion to our state's economy. [ applause ] but at the end of the day, these numbers tell a story of the folks whose sweat, work, and pride have been the pillar of our state for generations. america's dairy land is more than bushels and bales and weights. it's about people. wisconsin was raised on the land of native americans who came before us and built on the backs of those farmers who came after them and survives by the hands of the kids and grandkids who are the keepers of this legacy. yet, despite our history, this tradition has been challenged. between 2011 and 2018, wisconsin lost about a third of our dairy farms. we lead the nation in farm bankruptcies. we've endured the consequences of unn

agriculture secretary sonny perdue delivers remarks on u.s. agriculture outlooks.we will also hear from the usda chief economist at this forum. it is about 90 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everybody. if you could please find your seat. i would like to welcome everyone to usda 96 annual outlook forum. usda oldest annual meeting. i am stephen, deputy secretary of agriculture. it is great to see everyone here this morning. this year's theme is that innovation imperative. shaping the future of agriculture. this is a fitting theme for the secretary to announce something we have been working on at usda called the agriculture innovation agenda. we are excited to share more with you this morning. i am joined in this room by many of you that are working to shape the future of our agriculture economy. it is important that we take stock, not only where we are today, but also where we need to go to meet a growing global demand with rising standards of living at a time when producers are dealing with uncertainties in the farm economy and the conditions nee

the chicago mercantile exchange is one of the biggest in the world agricultural commodities are also traded here. down here this is this is now the financial room here we're standing in sort of over here we have a bond option trading we have t. bonds here or a cultural sector has been diminished over here which we still do the options on soybeans we didn't corn we also do livestock china for years and years has been trying to eat like a westerner which we consume about $3400.00 calories per day china is now approaching 2900 calories so they've really caught up with where we are in chlorate intake china has the largest hog heard in a in the world accounting for about 47 percent of all pork productions but again when we look at meat consumption or caloric consumption going forward it's got to happen countries like bangladesh nigeria pakistan india these are the going to be the big drivers of calories over the next 10 to 20 years heretofore they don't have the g.d.p. rates to expand their meat consumption much like china didn't become a big meat consumer until the 20012002 period when i

in agriculture, it too has been a game-changer. it has enabled farmers to produce higher yields in the fields with more precise targeting strategies in the marketplace. co consequently we are seeing a greater willingness to invest in local agriculture endeavors. over the last several weeks, we have seen a number of news articles about agricultural start-ups here in the islands. maphono, which bought 41,000 acres of sugar cane land is raising potatoes and they want to plant another 120 acres of citrus trees and 20 acres of non-gmo papayas. their plans also include growing avocados, bell peppers, guava, oranges, lemons and limes. and sensei farms is transforming agriculture by using a proven mix of innovative technology to power its hydroponic greenhouses on former pineapple lands. this mix of traditional farming this mix of traditional farming and new technology is the wave of the future for agriculture throughout the state. mr. in young is with us today. would you please stand to be recognized. [ applause ] more than at any other t

for the campaign remained silent simply put without the financial support of corporate agriculture the puppy mills of missouri would not have had the ability to mount the alliance for truth or missouri farmers care which were largely responsible for the opposition to proposition b. alliance for truth that could be for anything you know but they can't call themselves you know friend group in favor of herding dogs so they have to come up with them other word to just totally distract you from the issue at hand it's not about the dogs it's about liberalism growth of government in rouge and into your life during has a proud tradition of dog breeding for hunting home companionship and just best friends to enforce existing law against animal abuse but vote no to the big government liberalism or proposition paid for by a life for true mark patterson treasury i mean they would be fending of goes with the thing i mean alliance for truth is literally just a front so there has been a tremendous amount a shocking amount of organized opposition to efforts to increase the standards of care for dogs b

we pay a visit to an agricultural trade for the real betty in the state of much of. soybeans have made a number of farmers rich here including yano piece that. i had a small farm in rio grande. i had 15 hector's. drove here with a small truck to help my uncle who was moving here. i was young and very enthusiastic . and i thought i could make a good future for myself here. i was lucky and many different things came together i was in the right place in the right time exactly when the world began asking for more protein and food i had a dream an unusual dream almost a fantasy. fortunately reality has proved even better than my dreams. my company has 270000 hectares under cultivation. i've publicly listed the company and sold 70 percent of its stock and now i'm a shareholder and advisor. am going to seal it building he said. in brazil and in the entire southern hemisphere solly is to spearhead of a new model of capital production called agribusiness soyuz a standardized green which has become a commodity it's the same all over the world it's easy to grow i want to very l

by a farm workers who said that this is not the way to promote agricultural development.they showed that it is possible to resist to protest and to say no. no. you are the ones who are sustaining this country. 90 percent of the food that we needed mozambique is produced by small farmers not by big companies or by projects from brazil or who knows where. we have to be very careful with these big projects they come here and promise all kinds of things but when these projects end what do they do they leave they move somewhere else to pursue other goals whatever the market demands. despite some small successes in places like mozambique around the world meat consumption continues to soar and with it the saudi industry . in brazil new plantations are concentrated in the amazon region. president bill sinatra's policies are posing an additional threat to this fragile ecosystem. that was this is a map of the amazon region where the side of everything in red is land that's been deforested it makes up 19 percent of the rainforest. this area which begins and road. is known as the ark

is the department of agriculture and it has a special page set up for minority and women farmers and ranchers looks like these are special programs form is the u.s.d.a. ringback doing enough to correct the situation. i don't know that there can ever be enough to rectify it because so much damage has already been done as gently as said you've had people who are i miss scott like people who've lost their land people who are out of the business who could never be made whole and even now if you look at the recent tariff payments that have been made because of the of the of the trade with china a lot of that is going to corporate agriculture it's not reaching down to main street to the average farmers up is not reaching white farmers and they're going bankrupt out of that and if they can't pace then it's certainly not going to be reaching african-american farmers at this moment when you talk about. we've got a damage that can be done it reminds me i came across this story i think originally by reading in the atlantic an article called the great land robbery the shameful story of how a 100

billion of american agriculture products were world.d around the 98% of u.s. farms are operated by hardworking families. 11% of u.s. farmers are serving or have served in military. compared to only 2% of the general public. showing that american farmers very patriotic. these facts speak for themselves. american farmers goes far beyond michael bloomberg's claim of simply holes, planting seeds, and adding water. represent over 7,000 farms and over 11,000 producers in the ifth district of north carolina. collectively they generate over $1 billion every year and north nt almost 10% of sales.a's agriculture recently, allegany county honored some of its farmers, young and old, and to hear of their efforts and dedication inspire anyone. i commend and thank our farmers our future agriculture leaders for their unwavering families, to our communities, and to our country. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for five minutes. mr. thompson: i rise to thank penn state students who have pent the l

for agriculture. this obligates the worker and they've agreed to work only in the agriculture sector so when the agriculture producer enters the individual's number into a quick reading machine, into the e-verify system, it promptly -- it's promptly verified by d.h.s., the department of homeland security, as an approved worker in the agriculture sector. this would also apply for the construction industry and also for the hospitality industry. the producer and the worker have both been -- have the assurance that they are in compliance with the law. if a producer or worker hires or works outside of the permitted sector, according to the gwic designation, they are doing so fraudulently and subject to fines and blocked from the e-verify system in the future for a period of time. this will limit the producer's availability for labor and it also will prevent that worker from employment opportunities in the united states. this proposed solution has already been created in legislation for the agriculture sect

israel and the palestinian authority has entered a new phase israel is now bad and palestinian agricultural exports coming through jordan israel's defense minister says the new measures are in response to a palestinian boy called on israeli coward traders mohamad reports. palestinian farmers working on this state farm in jericho have been preparing their harvest to export to 26 countries ahead of the holy month of ramadan in 2 months time but production has been hit by an israeli decision to stop international exports via jordan the syncrude states and on of oil dates farming is one of the most important sectors of palestinian agriculture in the occupied west bank and the ban is raising concerns for farmers here. we expect these companies to make a loss an estimated $11.00 to $14000000.00 are in the merchant storage they won't be able to export them if the crisis stays as it is last week israel's defense minister imposed a ban on all palestinian agricultural produce from entering its markets this prompted palestinian authorities to cut down on some israeli imports but the crisis started las

a slice of the pie what you see there are severe cuts within the agricultural- the budget yeah. cuts in the sector which is already suffering today and- have you to be in farmers who are in an average of 40% of the income of the of the of which you're being a citizen. so farmers who are already. stretching back nearly sixty years europe's common agricultural policy has seen often badly needed subsidies go to farmers across the block. however funding set aside could now taken major accounts of tens of billions o of euros. the results not just of thee seventy five billion euro harm left by the united kingdom's departure. but changing priorities within a europe that seeking to make up on shore f for. combating the climate crisis modernizing the economy. border protection and common defense. all areas this is being pulled into the foreground in recent years and the funding. from somewhere yes it's left already for justice. right off the farm streressing. chris young. i policy grereener but that it'ss when n and of an efficient you r rch let forming is in necesessarily environmentall

they arrived by rail right here, and so our city has grown, and we started as a farming, agricultural town. but now we are an urban center for the texas panhandle of 500,000 people. so none of that could have happened without this location being right here by the rail and so much of our industry and even just our materials to live day-to-day lives came right here. of course, the depot say -- vacant. we're not using it for a train station. we don't have passenger service in our city anymore, but we are still a significant hub for bnss, and it's important in the coast to coast travel of marketing goods by rail, we're still an important part of that. and the reason amarillo was such a key point in the railroad was, yes with, the cattle industry. we traded cattle back and forth through kansas city from the panhandle region, but also just our agricultural commodities, wheat, cotton, corn. we took those all over the nation. and it's such a rural area, it was so difficult to get to, it really expanded the food supply for the nation, and it really was a huge economic boost to our local rural

the caucuses are often criticized as not particularly representative in a largely white agricultural state nor democratic with low turnout dominated by political activists i do feel that it's unfair to a lot of people who are able to take away from take time off from work to participate in this but because it 1st iowa sways the nation give people with fewer resources the opportunity to present themselves and eventually get the resources that they need to run in the bigger places from these frozen fields someone will carry the momentum to the next states and just possibly the white house john hendren own jersey or des moines iowa and all 11 presidential hopefuls are in iowa making their last minute pitches without a clear front runner that this is a set 11 candidates but they do suggest the polls that senator bernie sanders has a narrow lead over the former vice president joe biden sanders and biden have used their rallies to take a swipe at president donald trump i could be full of course all the same that we cannot continue to have the person we take to the logic of what i was told

agricultural engineering, environmental earth and soil sciences, geographic information systems for agriculture and that's just one small sample from one university. universities from coast to coast teaching us, but mike says -- farmer mike, teacher and went to farm, i teach and went to farm. i wonder if he holds one of these degrees. can you be that breathtakingly ignorant? under the sweeping generalization? you know how hard farming is? you know how hard the hybrids they make to make irrigation, to deal with the engineering associated with it? if you want one corn row to pop up, find, plant your five seats. what do you do when you have thousands of acres, mike? i wonder if you even know that there are extensive academic studies dedicated to the science of perfecting soil, irrigation alone, or is that too much gray matter for the entitled former mayor? of course, bloomberg, if he wasn't such an elusive elitist snob, he wouldn't know that farmers are forced to deal with, let's see, market variations, changes in weather patterns, crop diseases. maybe there's factors in here that you need to lear

in the minutes are more likely to view these animals as cash crops as agricultural products we've heardthat over and over again and i believe that to be true. not all amish families or not all minimally families breed dogs but the large majority the overwhelming majority of the people that we deal with the breeders are from illinois it was something that farm families could do between when you harvest in the fall and when you plant the spring. as commercial kennels cropped up across pennsylvania in the late 1960 s. the welfare of the dogs trapped in puppy mills was not viewed as a priority of the pennsylvania department of agriculture inspections were few and far between the regulations were ill defined and the program was clearly underfunded so the regulators were completely tied by the laws and just the the van ness of all of them so what we really needed was in forcible measurable standards you would see inspection reports time and time again where a warden is a morning operator to do something. and this didn't go on for like one or 2 inspections in a year's time you're talking about