18th Installment of Farm Bill Impact Series

Floor Speech

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Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to deliver the 18th installment of my farm bill impact series and recap the time I spent in Kansas with House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson.

Last week, Chairman Thompson and I hosted a food and agriculture listening session with more than 150 farmers, ranchers, agricultural producers, and stakeholders on a wheat farm near Gypsum, Kansas. People from a wide range of perspectives shared their thoughts about the reauthorization of the farm bill.

While everyone had different viewpoints, we united because we care about American agriculture; we care about getting ag policy right; and we want to see American farmers, ranchers, and producers thrive. There is a picture of that unity right behind us in three combines, referenced right here, hoisting American flags.

John Deere, Case, and Gleaner--green, red, and gray. When you grow up on a farm, you are born into a loyalty to one of these trusted American brands. They are different. They have different styles and different features, but they are all designed to do the same thing: harvest. They are designed to produce, to take months and months of hard work and effectively churn out a product.

Our food and agriculture listening session was no different. Everyone present brought different styles, priorities, background, and tools to the table, but we were there to do the same thing: harvest, produce, and take hard work and effectively churn out a product. That is the farm bill.

Without the advocacy and input of producers and stakeholders, my colleagues and I wouldn't have a complete picture of what needs to be done on ag legislation. We would just be one combine.

At our event, we hosted people who care about title I and people who care about title XII. There were people who care about row crops and people who care about livestock. There were representatives from commodity groups and representatives from trade associations. It was a rich, multifaceted picture of American agriculture, and I am grateful to everyone who joined us and for the Kansas agriculture heritage that inspired us to spend time together on that wheat farm.

The brave men and women who ventured west in search of new opportunities settled Kansas and took on the burden of feeding, fueling, and clothing the world. They struggled through the Dust Bowl, raised their kids in sod houses, and broke the prairie for the first time. In doing so, they laid the foundation for what we experienced last week: a shared history of feeding the world on the soil beneath our feet.

I remember in February 2021, when I just started this job in Congress, Kansas had 13 consecutive days of below-freezing temperatures, which was a 40-year record. While I was flying back and forth between Kansas and D.C., I couldn't stop thinking about the Kansas producers and all they were facing. They were out busting ice by hand at all hours so their cattle could have access to water. They were delivering baby calves and hauling them on the floorboards of trucks to someplace warmer, bottle-feeding them so they could grow and survive in the wind chills. They were out in the barn at all hours of the night, only to start over at 5 a.m. All this was so that Americans have a safe and secure food supply.

Whether it is trudging through knee-high snow in the dead of winter, working the fields in the heat of summer, or hauling water in a drought, American ag producers don't take days off. Agriculture inspires us to look back at our shared heritage, engage in the present, and plan for the future. That is what last week was about--planning for the future.

Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Thompson for spending his invaluable time with me in Kansas, and I thank all of our hosts and those who came out to our event to share their perspectives.

As we work to reauthorize the farm bill, the American men and women who work tirelessly to feed, fuel, and clothe all of us are at the forefront of my mind.

Madam Speaker, I will be back on the floor soon to host another installment of my farm bill impact series.

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