Farm Bill Listening Tour Across New York

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I recently traveled across New York's beautiful and sprawling 24th District as part of my official 2023 farm bill listening tour. Our district is among the largest agricultural and dairy districts in the northeast and the largest apple growing district outside of Washington State.

I hosted several open-door roundtables in every part of the district to hear directly from farmers and producers about their concerns for our region's agricultural community. Ahead of our consideration of the farm bill later this year, feedback from farmers and producers is vitally important.

The farm bill reauthorization is always critical for communities like mine, but this year it is more important than ever. Our farmers are struggling, and they need advocates in Congress who will stand with them. In New York this is especially true, as a raft of new State laws and regulations from Albany are imposing unprecedented and costly burdens on rural communities.

Our farmers are counting on Congress to get this year's farm bill done and get it done right.

First of all, based on what I gleaned from my listening sessions, the following requests have been voiced:

Do not make any cuts to the farm bill programs that are pivotal to the vitality of the northeast agricultural community;

Next, reform the national crop insurance program to cover a wider range of items and better fit the needs of specialty crop farmers, including maple syrup, which is unique to the Northeast;

Support funding for the specialty crop block grant program as well as research and monitoring of invasive species that we have been experiencing in New York; and

Raise the 5-million-pound dairy margin tier 1 limit to reflect the consolidation that has occurred in the industry.

On a personal note, I plead and I beg of the farm bill appropriators and drafters, please don't ban chocolate milk in schools. It was a lifeline for me and my family. Even the one and only Elon Musk has recognized the value in chocolate milk.

Mr. Speaker, these were the requests that were echoed by farmers across the 24th District, and they are the priorities I am fighting for in Congress. I thank Chairman G.T. Thompson for his continued leadership as chair of the House Agriculture Committee and look forward to working with him in advancing these priorities.

I will continue to advocate for solutions that support our agricultural producers in New York and across the country. Members of this body must realize, without productive farmers, we have no food and we will not achieve prosperity. We must put aside partisan politics and come together to make this year's farm bill a path to growth in all of our agricultural economies.

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