Agriculture

Floor Speech

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Ms. ERNST. Thank you, Senator Hoeven and Senator Fischer, as well. We have so many of our great ag State friends here on the floor today to join in this colloquy.

I did grow up on a small family farm in Southwest Iowa and grew up around hogs. We have row crops, of course, coming out of Iowa--soybeans and corn, which are very, very important.

This is an important discussion today because our farmers need certainty--I hear it time and again from Iowa's ag community--whether it is trade, biofuels, or the supports that are coming from USDA.

Just yesterday, I heard the message loud and clear as I was on a phone call with our farmers from the Iowa Farm Bureau. They said we need to make sure the CCC is fully funded. This isn't just because of COVID-19 aid payments. That is something different. Those have been helpful to most of our farmers. This is because our farm bill programs depend on the CCC being funded. The important supports out there for dairy, for conservation, for young and beginning farmers--you name it; it is the CCC.

Just a couple of weeks ago, USDA Secretary Perdue was in Iowa, and we toured one of the many conservation sites across the State and saw firsthand the good work that is being done with our farmers through USDA's conservation programs. They are working to improve their operations while also cleaning Iowa's water, air, and keeping our soil healthy. Without these conservation programs funded through the CCC, this work simply would not be happening.

Folks, since 1987, Congress has replenished the CCC back to $30 billion every year. This is not the year to stop.

Iowa farmers in particular have been suffering through COVID-19; plus we had a derecho and a drought. The last thing we need is to take away something they have come to depend on.

Madam President, 2020 has been hard on everyone, and there is no time to play games with our farmers' futures. I hope our friends on the other side of the aisle join us in supporting the replenishment of the CCC in the upcoming funding bill.

I yield back to Senator Hoeven, the great Senator from North Dakota. Again, my thanks to the Senator and all of our farm State participants today for joining in the colloquy.

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