America's Future Depends on Agriculture

Floor Speech

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Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about my heroes-- America's farmers, ranchers, and agriculture producers. These people are my family, my friends, my neighbors, and my ancestors.

I came to this Congress to defend agriculture because the time I spent on the farm with my father, brother, and grandfather growing up taught me the most important lessons I have ever learned. Agriculture's core values are the same as America's--hard work, self-determination, responsibility, creativity, others before self, and prayer.

Therefore, if America is going to thrive, agriculture must thrive. Of all the hardworking, resilient people in our country, agriculture producers face more challenges and uncertainty than most of us can imagine as they strive to feed, fuel, and clothe our Nation every day.

A late winter snow in Washington, D.C., means a frustrating commute to work. In Kansas--where it is snowing right now--it means essential moisture for the soil, better hopes for the spring, profits that might let you buy the tractor you have been needing for 2 years now, and if there is some money left over, an extra birthday present for your daughter in July.

Kansas' own President Eisenhower said, ``Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from the corn field.'' In Congress, we deal with the laws of our land, and that is important, but the farmers are the caretakers of the land itself. American farmers built our history, sustain our present, and secure our future.

In the early 1930s, America was suffering from food insecurity. That is when Congress woke up, realized that above all other concerns, we need to eat to survive, and drafted the first ever farm bill.

Now, nearly 100 years later, America is the most food-secure country in the world because of the strength of our ag producers. So when Congress gets the opportunity to reauthorize the farm bill every 5 years, we need to think carefully and critically about the extent and nature of our investment in agriculture because it is an investment in both the immediate and the long-term health of our Nation.

Agriculture is also about freedom. It is extremely difficult for a Nation to be free if it relies on another for its food. Therefore, it is essential to America's future that we get ag policy right, so we never ever have to depend on another for our food or our freedom.

Over the next several months, as we gear up for the 2023 reauthorization of the farm bill, I will be standing to share some of my thoughts, ideas, and amendments on that legislation.

On behalf of my constituents and every American farmer, rancher, and ag producer, I want to say unequivocally that I will do everything within my power to ensure that the 2023 farm bill invests powerfully in agriculture. America's future depends on it.

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