Sec. Vilsack appears before Senate Ag Committee

This week, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee about a variety of issues, including the Waters of the United States and safety net programs that support farmer profitability.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R - AL: “As we look to the next farm bill, what assurances can you give us that USDA will act according to the intent of Congress when administering farm safety net programs?”

Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA: “When we talk about the 90% of the farms that didn't make money or a majority of their money came from off farm income, we're talking about farms that sold less than $1,000,000. The farms you're talking about are large, commercial sized farms. So more than $1,000,000. I don't think it's an either or circumstance. But if you're also genuinely concerned, as I am, about the erosion of rural America, you're going to want to keep people on the farm.

Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA: “And every 100 acres or a thousand acres, I want to keep people on the farm.”

Sen Charles Grassley, R - IA: “Is it philosophically possible for you and or the administration to work with us to try to find some payment limitation so that we're helping the medium and small sized farmers?”

Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA: “The key here, I think, Senator, is to figure out ways in which we can help those small and mid-sized producers in a meaningful way. I think not only is it safety net, but it's also market development. I think we have to create more income opportunities for those producers.”

Sen Mike Braun, R - IN: “WOTUS is this is the thing I hear the most in bailiwick of agriculture. Are you actually tracking comments from farmers? Do we do that to see how much complaints you're getting compared to what I'm hearing back in Indiana?”

Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA: “Certainly sensitive to this. But let's remember two things about WOTUS. One, Congress has established the Clean Water Act, which is what gives rise to WOTUS and courts have directed the EPA to actually implement the law. All right. So it's not like they have a choice. They have to implement the law. The question is, how do they implement it?”

Sen Mike Braun, R - IN: “But do you track comments coming back?”

Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA: “We totally understand.”

Sen Mike Braun, R - IN: “Is that something you'd share with the committee here in terms of what you're hearing from farmers about WOTUS?”

Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA: “What you're hearing is uncertainty. What you're hearing is uncertainty. Is this in or is this out? And I think basically what we need to have is certainty in in the program. We we need at some point in time to get get it out of the courts and have certainty.”

For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs