Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to join the debate this morning on the farm bill and to make sure we get the farm bill passed. It is so important to the State of Washington and to our country.

I know many of my colleagues have been down here talking about agriculture, but in the State of Washington, it is responsible for about 164,000 jobs. And while we produce about $10-plus billion of economic activity, about $180 billion of economic activity goes through our ports every year. So if you are growing an agricultural product in the United States, there is a good chance you are shipping that product through Washington ports, going to Asia and a variety of places.

The agriculture and food industry is a huge part of our U.S. economy as well, and provides 11 percent of total U.S. employment. So to say this bill is an important economic tool is an understatement.

We know that in the United States of America, a trade surplus in agriculture has existed for 50 years. So when we are talking about making investments and opening new markets and protecting agriculture from the trade war that we are seeing, it is very important that this bill helps recognize the hard work that the farmers in the United States of America have done in growing our economy. We must make sure they continue to have those economic opportunities in the future.

Since U.S. exports gained access to markets like South Korea more than a decade ago, Washington farmers in my State have seen increases in exports of up to 80 percent for potatoes and 200 percent for cherries. Agriculture exports support more than a million jobs around the United States, so it's important to maintain our agriculture trade surplus.

I am proud to say that, working with our colleagues, the chairman of the committee, Senator Roberts, and the ranking member, Senator Stabenow, we have worked to make sure that we are making improvements and increasing MAP, the Market Access Program. This critical program provides technical assistance and more flexibility for the Secretary of Agriculture to help our farmers increase access to new markets. This is so important at a time when we are seeing so much chaos in the marketplace. We want to make sure we continue to have an aggressive attitude toward opening markets--not closing them.

From 1977 to 2014, it is estimated that our market access programs produced an average return on investment of $28 for every dollar that was invested--that is, when you are opening a market to sell U.S. products abroad. That is a huge investment for us to export our product into those countries.

I know that some of our colleagues have been working across the aisle to help make sure that MAP funding is more secure and that we invest more. I am working with my colleague, Senator Crapo from Idaho, to make sure that provisions are in this bill that give the Secretary more flexibility to help us on things like our fruit products and potato products from the Pacific Northwest. I appreciate his help making sure this bill represents at least some of us who want to increase those opportunities for the future.

Washington State is the third largest exporter of food and agricultural products in the United States. Our agricultural sector accounts for 13 percent of our economy annually, and we are proud to grow about 300 different types of products. There are nearly 40,000 farms, and, as I said, 164,000 Washingtonians are employed in that sector.

We continue to work to make sure that the type of research that is represented in this bill--the R&D that is done in great institutions in our State, such as Washington State University, provide good information for us. And our agricultural extension programs need to be funded to make sure that conservation continues to be an opportunity for our farmers. Our farmers must have resources to diversify their crops.

All of these things are important in moving a farm bill through the Senate and on to the President's desk eventually.

I am very concerned that my colleagues in the House of Representatives want to cut or limit the SNAP program. This has been an essential tool as part of ag for a long time and should continue. The notion that we are going to hold up an ag bill at a critical time, when concerns about tariffs are impacting our farmers, is wrong. What we need to do is move forward on giving the assurances to our farmers that we want them to have the research and development, we want them to have the tools of conservation, and that we certainly want them to have the Market Access Program so they can continue to reach markets all around the globe.

Our ag economy is so important to us in the Pacific Northwest. This bill is helping us make a downpayment on it and giving us a little flexibility.

I am going to take the Secretary of Agriculture at his word today. I heard him on television saying he is going to mitigate any kind of damage being done to farmers based on tariffs. I am going to hold him to his word.

Believe me, as we move this legislation through the process, I am going to make sure that every tool is available for the great products that we grow in Washington State. I want them to reach market destinations. I don't want them to be retaliated against in a trade war.

Thank you.

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