21st Century Bean

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, if I could today, I would like to share a story about one of my favorite communities in Kansas.

At 3,681 feet of elevation, Goodland, Kansas, sits on the border of the Kansas-Colorado line. You can look to the west and see the Rocky Mountains literally rising out of the Earth. Partially because of that elevation and the many hot, dry days there, the farmers have struggled for decades for a great crop.

But about 20 years ago, one of my good friends, Alan Townsend, and the farmers who make up 21st Century Bean, started growing pinto beans. They had some success, and then they started growing black-eyed peas and garbanzos as well.

Today, 21st Century Bean grows 40 million pounds of beans every day. They had success at that, and they said: You know what else we can do? We can process and package these here. So they formed a processing plant and hired more employees. That was a success. Eventually, they hired a trucking company. They now have their own trucking company to ship their products. Today, and every day, 21st Century Bean ships out enough beans to feed a million people across this country. The great thing is, their main customer is food banks across this great country as well.

I am so proud that we have made food banks such a priority in this year's nutrition bill, the farm bill. This year, we are going to increase spending from $15 million to $60 million for food banks. Some other significant products coming out of this nutrition bill is that we are going to make access to nutrition easier for the elderly, for those in the military, and, what I am especially proud of, we are rewarding children for making healthy choices like fresh vegetables and fresh fruit, as well as the greatest drink known to mankind, wholesome milk.

Mr. Speaker, as an OB/GYN for the past 30 years, I certainly know how important nutrition is, from preconception, during pregnancy, breastfeeding moms, and all the way to the last decades of life. I am so proud that this bill has made a priority helping protect those on the edges of life: the newborn and the elderly.

I am proud that our country spends $115 billion every year to help those who need food assistance and spends another $3 billion of nutrition assistance across the world. But what I am really proud of, though, is this gives everybody on food stamps and nutrition assistance a chance, an opportunity for some type of work training.

I think there is no greater gift we can give to people than teaching them how to fish, as well as giving them fish when they are in need. I think that this is a great thing to do. I think it is a great opportunity for people. Over 80 percent of Americans believe in this policy. I believe that this is not a punishment, but rather an opportunity we give to people.

I stand so proudly behind the nutrition component of this farm bill, which we have strived so hard to improve.

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