Farmers and Ranchers in Senate Hearing

Speaker 1 (04:06):

Good morning and welcome. It's my privilege to call this hearing to order. I would like to thank our witnesses for taking time away from your families and your farms to share your expertise with our committee today. Before we get started, I want to take a moment to thank Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins for her announcement today on a bold strategy to address avian influenza. The virus continues to threaten our poultry and dairy farmers with ripple effects throughout the food supply chain. I applaud the Trump administration for prioritizing response from day one. This hearing is the second of a series to examine the state of the agriculture economy by getting the perspective of leading producers across our country. These hearings are meant to help the committee understand the challenges our farmers and rural communities currently face as we work to pass a five-year farm bill. In our first hearing, we heard that from some of our major farm groups and row crop producers about their unique experiences.

(05:14)
Today I'm delighted to welcome two additional, very important constituencies to the discussion. First, we'll hear from several specialty crop growers and stakeholders from various parts of the country. The specialty crop industry continues to face unique pressures, the high cost of labor, competition with cheap imports, pest and disease, limited access to risk management tools, and the list goes on and on. Our second panel will feature livestock, poultry, and dairy producers. While they have seen some improvement in economic conditions in recent years, significant headwinds remain. Livestock production remains highly capital intensive, and high interest rates and elevated production costs have trimmed margins. Animal disease threats like avian influenza and new world screwworm have added tremendous uncertainty across all aspects. Burdensome government regulation of both the federal and state level have also threatened the viability of livestock operations.

(06:27)
For example, California's Prop 12 has required many of our pork producers to spend millions of dollars retrofitting their barns, while costing the California consumers nearly $300 million annually. In the next farm Bill, it's critical we improve risk management tools to support both our specialty crops and livestock producers. It's important to continue investing in our research and marketing programs. We must invest in our animal health programs to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks, and we must address regulatory overreach, burdening all producers. I'm confident the members on this committee stand willing and ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work in passing a new farm bill. I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses, and I now turn to ranking member Klobuchar for opening comments.

Speaker 2 (07:29):

All right. Well thank you very much, chair Boozman and thank you to all our witnesses, including Lori Stebumer, who's here from Minnesota, with our pork producers as well as John Zimmerman from our state with the Turkey producer, so we're excited to have them here. There was bipartisan agreement during our last hearing that our committee should continue to work together to ensure that farmers and consumers have the certainty that they need in a difficult economy. This means passing a bipartisan farm bill that is reflective of the needs of the people of this nation. It also means tackling today's challenges head on. Whether they are avian flu, whether they're input costs, whether they're these potential tariffs that I do not agree with, just want to put a footnote on that, or whether they are ensuring that our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to thrive. Our witnesses today are going to shed light on the challenges facing our farmers, including those who grow fruits and vegetables. And I really appreciated the words of chair Boozman about the headwinds that these farmers face.

(08:42)
We also are going to focus on those who milk cows, day in and day out, those who raise the high quality beef and pork and poultry that fuels us. Today's first panel, as noted, is going to focus on specialty crops. And I think instead of calling them specialty crops, given that they're everything from potato, to asparagus, to apples, to the chilies from New Mexico, which is way too hot for Minnesota, but I can't wait to try them, we should call them omnipresent crops. They're crops that really matter to the people of this country. According to the most recent census of agriculture, there are over 5,000 farms in center Smith's and my state growing these crops, representing over $3 billion in market value. And that's why the specialty crop black grant program is so important. Other things we can do as we look at the challenges ahead, is we can improve crop insurance options for these growers, and give them the tools they need to prevent devastating pests and disease outbreaks. And we can protect our investments in critical nutrition programs, allowing Americans to afford more fruits and vegetables.

(09:53)
We must stand with these farmers as they face the workforce shortages, emerging diseases, import pressures that threaten their economic viability, and the one thing we don't want to do is to make things worse. Our second panel will focus on our poultry, livestock, and dairy farmers. Now more than ever we must support our poultry and livestock producers as their farms are hit by avian flu. This outbreak has impacted more than 160 million birds and nearly 1,000 dairy herds across the country, causing economic hardship for producers and driving up food costs for their families. I look forward to reading and learning about the proposal set forward by the Secretary of Agriculture today. It was the number one thing I raised with her and we look forward to reviewing it, and I'm sure we'll always have suggestions. We must follow the science to build on the existing national testing strategies and support for farmers, engaging with experts to develop new prevention and response methods, and a thoughtful vaccine strategy.

(10:57)
Any vaccine strategy must be supported by of course, field trials, clear plan for outreach and deployment, and proactive engagement with our trading partners to mitigate market disruptions. This also means keeping nonpartisan experts in the federal government, including veterinarians, animal disease researchers, frontline animal disease responders. My colleagues and I of course have pressed when some of these people were laid off, I understand some of them are being rehired, but we just can't mess around with this right now. We must make sure that the USDA has the resources available to respond to this outbreak. This outbreak also underscores the need to invest in the National Animal Health Lab Network, national Animal Vaccine Bank, and the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program. Senator Cornyn and I established these programs in the 2018 Farm Bill, and where they were of help during these last outbreaks, but we have to do more.

(11:57)
In addition to giving livestock producers the support they need on their farms, we need to make it easier, not harder to reach new markets. The recent proposal to implement sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico, even if delayed 30 days, has already caused chaos in the marketplace and threatens farmers' livelihoods. Our farmers in our state in particular stand to suffer from these tariffs. Around a million pigs cross our border with Canada every single year. On top of that, almost two weeks ago, the president announced new plans to develop reciprocal tariffs on all countries that would go into effect as soon as April.

(12:36)
While we don't know the details of where and how high these new tariffs would be, we do know that agriculture often bears the brunt of retaliatory tariffs, and this puts more markets in jeopardy as farmers try to plan this year. The bottom line is that our farmers need certainty. The certainty of a fair playing field and transparent practices for all, the certainty that we are investing in the research and response programs that protect their crops and their flocks, and their certainty in trade policy to continue doing what they do best. Feeding and fueling the world.

(13:12)
All of this will be important to keep in mind as we continue the committee's task of passing a bipartisan farm bill. As I've said often, I am so excited to work with Senator Boozman and our team excited about our new members, there's Senator Slotkin at the end of the row, that are on this committee, and Senator Justice, and work together to get a farm bill done. It couldn't be more important, so thank you very much, chair Boozman.

Speaker 1 (13:41):

No, thank you. And I also, so I'm really excited about our committee this year. We just simply have a great committee of a lot of outstanding individuals. Before we begin introducing our first panel of witnesses, I request unanimous consent to submit for the record a number of written testimonies and materials the committee has received for today's hearing, without objection, so ordered. We'll now introduce the first panel of witnesses, Mr. Bret Erickson. I'm happy to introduce Bret who serves as chair of the US Government Relations Council for the International Fresh Produce Association. Bret lives in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and is a senior executive for J&D Produce, which is a family-owned and operated grower, packer, shipper, of more than 40 products. I had the pleasure of meeting Bret last year during a farm bill listening session in Texas with Senator Cornyn. Bret, thank you so much for being here today.

(14:45)
Mr. Jeremy Hinton, Senator McConnell was unable to be with us this morning, but he is very proud to have Jeremy Hinton here before the committee today. I'm submitting Senator McConnell's remarks regarding Jeremy into the record. Without objection, so ordered. Jeremy Hinton is an 8th grade generation… I got to slow down. Jeremy Hinton is an 8th generation farmer from Kentucky. He and his wife Joanna own and operate a diversified farming operation that in addition to soybeans and burly tobacco, includes two direct to consumer farm markets, selling a variety of greenhouse flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Jeremy, again, thank you for being here. Dr. Tim Boring Dr. Tim Boring serves as the director of the… Are you going to introduce? I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (15:46):

Yeah, yes.

Speaker 1 (15:48):

Yes. Senator Slotkin.

Speaker 3 (15:50):

Thank you. Thank you for not stealing my thunder, Mr. Chairman.

Speaker 1 (15:53):

Yes.

Speaker 3 (15:54):

It's an honor to introduce Tim Boring, the director of Michigan's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, or MDART, as we call it. Director Boring supports the department's commitment to investing in our state's urban and rural farming communities, providing opportunities for food and ag businesses, protecting consumers from the pump to the plate, and preserving Michigan's amazing natural resources, particularly our Great Lakes. He approaches those issues with a focus on economic prosperity, regenerative ag, and diversifying agricultural production across the state. We like to say in Michigan that… We used to say that we are the second most diverse agricultural state in the country, after California. We have changed the tagline, we are the most diverse agricultural state in the country, with regular access to water. So we are-

Speaker 2 (16:43):

And you are doing that when Senator Schiff is out of the room?

Speaker 3 (16:45):

He's out of the room. I managed it, I told him to get out before I started picking on California. He is a 6th generation farmer in Stockbridge, Michigan. I have visited his his family farm, so this is personal to him. He's got his PhD from Michigan State University Go Green, and I've had the pleasure of working with him for many, many years. I just want to take a particular moment in saying what Mr. Boring has done in preventing avian flu in the state of Michigan. Michigan was hit early with avian flu, and I think watching the state of Michigan, again without regard to party, without regard to politics, just doing what we needed to do to control the outbreak and spread of avian flu has been really an example for the rest of the country. So for all he does every day for our specialty crops, I know we have our potato farmers in the room and others. Thank you to Tim Boring, and I'm glad to share his wisdom with the greater panel here.

Speaker 1 (17:49):

Thank you. Senator Hyde-Smith, want to introduce Ms. Rhinewalt?

Speaker 5 (17:55):

Thank you Mr. Chairman very much, and it is my pleasure to introduce one of our witnesses today from Mississippi, and I had the pleasure of meeting with her earlier. And such a delightful meeting and I so appreciate your efforts and you being here today. We have Ms. Anna Rhineswalt. She and her brother and her husband operate Sandy Ridge Farms in Senatobia, Mississippi. And she has just completed a three-year term serving on the Mississippi Farm Bureau of Federation, State Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee, which is so viable in our state and such a good, good organization.

(18:34)
She currently serves on the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council Board as well as on the Mississippi Farm Bureau Labor Committee, which we all know the issues with labor. Thank you for your efforts there. And just last year, Anna was named the 2024 Mississippi Farm Woman of the Year. So we just want to welcome you today, and I'm sure there's several people watching you, and I bet Evelyn Ruth and Eleanor Grace are watching you today as well. She's the mother of two, but you sure do a great job where you are and I thank you for representing Mississippi as well as you do.

Speaker 1 (19:09):

Very good. Senator Luján will introduce Mr. Echeverri.

Speaker 6 (19:14):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's an honor to introduce Mr. Ben Echeverri, a dedicated community leader, agricultural expert, and chili advocate from Deming, New Mexico. Mr. Echeverri is a leader of New Mexico's farming community and works tirelessly to represent the priorities of our local farmers. As the president of the New Mexico chili Association, he plays a crucial role in promoting and protecting New Mexico's pride and joy, our Chile. And that's with an E, not with an I. Mr. Echeverri was raised on an alfalfa farm in Carlsbad, New Mexico where his life in agriculture begin. He's also the proud husband of Jessica and the proud father of Samuel. Currently, Mr. Echeverri is the agricultural operations crop manager of Olam Food Ingredients Chili Pepper Division in Deming, where he oversees a plant breeding program, specializing in chili pepper genetic innovation. He has dedicated his career to ensuring the chili industry thrives in our state, and preserving this important agriculture tradition for future farmers and chili lovers.

(20:21)
Now, as was pointed out, there's sometimes some heat involved with our chili products, but I'm telling you, it's always flavorful. So for those of you that have not fallen in love with it yet, you let me know and I'll serve it for you, I'll prepare it myself. Mr. Echeverri holds both an undergraduate and a master's degree in agribusiness from New Mexico State University. Now while attending NMSU, he was employed by the Chili Pepper Institute. His time at NMSU fostered his love of chili production in New Mexico agriculture. With a lifetime of experience in the field, he has built a deep understanding of the industry and its impact on New Mexico's economy and culture. Ben, I want to recognize your extensive knowledge and experience. We appreciate you being here today, and especially the sacrifice of all of our panelists. Taking time away from your families, from your responsibilities at home to be here as well. This matters and these conversations matter as well, so thanks for having us, I yield back.

Speaker 1 (21:16):

We look forward to some Luján chili.

Speaker 6 (21:19):

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (21:22):

Again, thank all of you so much for being here. Mr. Erickson, you're recognized.

Speaker 4 (21:28):

Thank you Chairman Boozman, ranking member Klobuchar, members of the committee. Little Bear Produce is a family-owned grower, packer, shipper, and fresh-cut processor headquartered in Edinburg, Texas. Jimmy and Diane Bassetti came to Texas from Vineland, New Jersey in 1984 and started a small mom-and-pop brokerage, which has grown into a multinational agribusiness, employing nearly 200 full-time employees with comprehensive benefits including health and life insurance and 401Ks. We also hire an additional five to 600 seasonal workers, primarily through H-to-A to harvest and pack our products. Labor costs remain the biggest threat to the future of the US fresh produce growers. In Texas, our labor costs have essentially doubled in just five years. We're currently at $23 an hour for our cost. The federally mandated adverse effect wage rate, inflates labor costs beyond market realities, making it difficult to compete with foreign producers. We urge USDA to revise the farm labor survey to reflect base wages only.

(22:24)
Additionally, we would request USDA to appoint an ag liaison to the Department of Labor to help guide policy that impacts food and farm production. Texas farmers are facing severe water shortages, in part due to Mexico's failure to meet its obligation under the 1944 water treaty. Mexico is required to deliver 200,000 acre feet of water per year. They are now in debt 1.3 million acre feet, which is over six years behind schedule. While other regions pray for recovery from hurricane disasters, we are literally praying for hurricanes to refill our reservoirs. Less than 10 years ago, we were paying about $30 per acre-foot of water. Today it's as high as $225 per acre-foot, and climbing, that's if we can find it. Meanwhile, Mexico is withholding six years worth of water and using it to grow competing crops like onions and pecans.

(23:18)
On farm bill priorities, specialty crops represent nearly half the total US farm gate crop value, yet they receive less than 1% of farm bill funding. We would urge investments in research and development for increased yield, sustainability, mechanization, and automation, expanded crop insurance. Texas produces nearly 65 specialty crops. We have insurance programs for three. Market development support to stabilize pricing and competitiveness, and federal procurement reform to increase specialty purchases. On crop protection and regulatory challenges, fresh produce growers are rapidly losing access to essential pest management tools. As key pesticides and herbicides are phased out, there are a few viable alternatives and even fewer in the EPA's approval pipeline. A recent example is Dacthal. An herbicide we relied on for onion production. After 50 years of safe use, the EPA abruptly counseled it last year with no comparable replacement. EPA has yet to provide guidance on viable alternatives. This creates instability for growers, which in turn creates opportunity for foreign producers.

(24:17)
We urge Congress to restrain regulatory overreach and bureaucratic red tape. On trade and economic competitiveness, fair trade is critical for fresh produce growers. A recent Texas A&M study highlighted USDA ERS data showing an eye-popping decline in the US fresh produce trade balance. You all should have that chart in your papers. It began in the early '90s and it has accelerated through 2022. Like many in our industry, our company imports from Mexico to supplement our US production, in order to provide our customers a consistent year-round supply, but only when we are out of season. At the end of the day, pricing is king, but how can a US grower compete on cilantro, onions, parsley, or watermelons, when my labor cost is $23 per man-hour, and a foreign producer pays their worker $18 per day and operates under less regulation? That is not a fair playing field.

(25:10)
On the flip side, we sell a lot of product to our Canadian friends, they're incredible customers who value good quality. They love fresh produce, they also buy Canadian-grown whenever available. They will not bring in our product when they're in season. I admire that and believe we could learn a lesson from our friends to the north. Protect your growers, they keep you fed. In closing, over the last three decades, US fruit and vegetable production has declined while imports have surged, and the reason is clear. Misguided US policies and excessive regulation have created a tilted market, pushing production out of the US and into the arms of cheaper, less regulated foreign producers. Once our production is lost, it is not likely to return. The barriers to entry are too high and the cost of land, equipment, and labor, make it nearly impossible for new farmers to enter the business. We should protect and preserve what remains of our specialty crop production in the interest of our national security and the future wellness of our country.

Bret Erickson (26:00):

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. God bless our farmers. I'm happy to answer your questions.

Chairman Boozman (26:05):

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Hinton?

Jeremy Hinton (26:09):

Good morning, Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Klobuchar, and members of the committee. I would like to begin today with a quote. No other human occupation, open so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought as agriculture. These are words of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, who was born only a few miles from our family's farm near Hodginville, Kentucky. As an eighth-generation farmer in LaRue County, my connection to agriculture traces back to the time that Lincoln wandered the fields around his home. First with a farming operation that looks different from my grandfather's Hereford cattle farm, and second as a crop insurance agent, helping other farmers manage their risks.

(26:47)
While our operation includes soybeans and burley tobacco, our main focus is nearly 30 edible crops, from apples to zucchini, and our greenhouse flowers and vegetable plants. Most of our sales are direct to consumers through our two retail markets and local farmer's markets. My wife Joanna and I began the business in 2002 and are both involved daily with production and marketing of our crops along with our three children, ages 20, 17, and 11.

(27:11)
As this committee develops the next farm bill, you must plan for both the present and the future. My work on the farm and in crop insurance requires a similar focus. While most traditional row crops acres are covered under the federal crop insurance programs, participation for specialty crop growers is often more complicated. Because sporadic geographic distribution limits policy availability, agents and growers must often work to ensure specialty crops under RMA approved written agreements. Whole farm and its companion micro farm policies are good options but can be complicated for both farmers and agents and have not been widely adapted. In 2024, for example, there were only six whole farm policies and four micro farms policies written in Kentucky, compared to nearly 7,000 policies for soybeans.

(27:54)
Efforts are being made by RMA and organizations like Kentucky Horticulture Council, which I chair, to increase awareness and understanding of options for specialty crops, but many growers still do not understand how they work for their operation, so we look for solutions to better manage risks and specialty crops. Possible solutions may include improvement to whole farm, a rainfall and temperature index product, similar to PRF, that could have consideration for both excess and below normal conditions, or expanded revenue products for specialty crops, but based on farm records rather than tax returns. While each of these have challenges, I encourage you to engage with RMA, the crop insurance industry, and specialty crop growers to help find solutions.

(28:35)
Labor is another area that requires specialty crop growers to work in the moment while keeping an eye on the future. I think other members are going to address that, so I'm going to move on. As we work for a better future, specialty crop growers are especially dependent on the resources of extension in our land grant universities. Extension recommendations for disease and pest control and fertility in our crops is invaluable to our success. Your support is vital to research and direct technical assistance delivered by our colleges of agriculture.

(29:05)
A true focus on the future must also recognize the loss of farmland to development in Kentucky and across the nation. According to the Census of Agriculture, Kentucky lost more than 546,000 acres of farmland from 2017 to 2022, or more than 290 acres per day. For context, the average farm size in Kentucky is 179 acres. Kentucky Farm Bureau, through creation of the Kentucky Farmland Transition Initiative, is working with stakeholders at both the state and federal levels to provide resources and education, network opportunities, and develop policy recommendations. I urge your involvement in developing solutions to this important issue.

(29:43)
While on one hand, new neighbors mean new customers for retail markets like ours, we must find a balance between well-planned development and farmland preservation to ensure the future of our farms and our rural communities. Despite many challenges, there are many positives in the specialty crop segment of agriculture. In direct to consumer sales, we see increased demand for locally grown products and for building relationships with those who want to know the farmer feeding their families.

(30:07)
A new farm bill is an opportunity to increase purchases of locally grown foods for schools, hospitals, and other state and federal institutions, and to open additional markets for our products and improve the health of our communities. By focusing on the issues of today and the future, I look forward to my children becoming the ninth generation of my family to farm the lands where Lincoln walked. I want to thank each of you for your willingness to serve and for your work to ensure a healthy agriculture industry and a safe, stable food supply. It's been an honor for me to address this group, and I look forward to answering any questions.

Chairman Boozman (30:39):

Thank you. Dr. Boring?

Tim Boring (30:42):

Good morning Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Klobuchar, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to participate today. My focus will be on specialty crops, their importance, the challenges and opportunities the growers and consumers face as you continue to work on a farm bill. Members of this committee can foster the success of specialty crops today and for years to come, and I'm looking forward to the constructive solutions and policy decisions that will come out of this hearing.

(31:04)
As a junior senator from Michigan, Senator Alyssa Slotkin likes to point out food security is national security, and I believe the next farm bill serves as the crossroads for whether or not we take that fact seriously. There's a perspective I bring to the hearing today as the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. I'm proud to lead a state agency of dedicated public servants who are committed to providing opportunities for our food and agricultural businesses, lifting up our rural communities, and preserving Michigan's natural resources.

(31:31)
Agriculture is a $105 billion industry from Michigan, and I consider our specialty crop farmers the backbone of our success with more than 300 specialty crops produced in our state. Since your invitation was extended for my testimony, I've been asked by producers to share just how vital specialty crop support programs are for their existence. Unfortunately for many specialty crops, times have never been more tenuous. What once provided an avenue for farmers to diversify their products has forced many to choose whether or not their farm will welcome back the next generation. Whether it's due to trade pressures, rising input costs, climate variability, labor constraints, the threats of pests and disease, many specialty crops in this country are either harder to grow, more difficult to get to market, or challenging as ever to reach the consumer. In the interest of time this morning, I want to highlight some key areas that are either currently supported in the farm bill and need to become a priority, as well as share some of what we're doing in Michigan that is seeing success and deserves more attention at a federal level.

(32:26)
First, public sector research has been critical for specialty crops, specifically specialty crop block grants that are currently supported by a Specialty Crop Research Initiative. These investments have been instrumental in keeping farmers one step ahead of the next disease or pest threat. For instance, last year in Michigan, cherry farmers lost between 30 and 75% of their crops because of abnormal weather events that drove unprecedented insect and pest pressure. Losses such as these are becoming far more common.

(32:54)
A farm bill that provides growers support, such as through new research, helps ensure the continuation of family farms in the face of these unprecedented challenges and is critical for the long-term viability of specialty crops in Michigan and across the country. Another area that growers have made clear and needs continued support is the marketing assistance for specialty crop program, which helps growers expand domestic markets and develop new markets for their crops. At a time when there's so many unknowns with our trade partnerships, fostering stronger domestic markets will be critical for the success of our growers.

(33:24)
Finally, I want to share two areas where we're seeing success in Michigan thanks to Governor Gretchen Whitmer investing state dollars in new flagship programs, our Regenerative Agriculture Unit and the new Farm to Family Program. Regenerative agriculture is an active approach to land management driven by improving soil health. Our Regenerative Agriculture Unit, the first of its kind, embedded in the State Department, supports producers engaging in this approach to production agriculture. By adopting regen ag practices, farmers and landowners can improve profitability, restore healthy soils, and safeguard natural resources for future generations. Commodity row crop operators have been on the front lines of integrating many of these practices, but they're equally important for specialty crop growers.

(34:07)
Our Farm to Family Program is also a first of its kind effort, working to strengthening Agri-Food systems, bolstering market demand for products, and increasing food access and availability. Our first investment through this initiative is a middle of the supply chain program supporting food hubs and farm stops, which are innovative models of market outlets, aggregation, and distribution that are important value chain nodes for a variety of specialty crops in our state.

(34:31)
Together, these programs are working to add value to the crops grown on Michigan Farms and get those crops to the people of Michigan. I share all this today because the support of our specialty crops directly translates to the tools that keeps farmers farming, keeps rural communities vibrant, and keeps fruit and vegetables on the dinner plates across America. Thank you again for the opportunity this morning, and I look forward to questions from the committee.

Chairman Boozman (34:53):

Thank you. Ms. Rhinewalt.

Anna Rhinewalt (34:57):

Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Klobuchar, and other distinguished members of this committee, thank you for inviting me today to testify about the current state of our farm economy. Our nation has experienced many years blessed with a robust and successful farm economy, but current conversations around farm office tables and mailboxes full of farm dispersal sales tell a vastly different story of what has happened in the last five years. New equipment is 30 to 40% higher. Many parts and repairs have doubled or tripled. Pack house supplies for specialty crop producers have increased by at least 50%. Wage rates have increased in our state by 30%.

(35:35)
Farmers who were once profitable enough to finance themselves are now paying eight to 10% interest rates on multi-million dollar operating loans just to try to stay afloat. These increases are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars off of farmers' bottom lines every year. Some of these same farmers have experienced unprecedented weather events that have diminished and destroyed their crops. And finally, market pricing for crops like soybeans and sweet potatoes has been stagnant, if not in decline. Farmers are trying to claw their way out but they cannot pay their debts with losses.

(36:09)
Specialty crop producers like me are faced with another variable that if not addressed soon is going to be the catalyst for our closure. The number of messages I've received in the last 24 hours regarding this testimony has made an impression on me. There are so many constituents watching today. I sense they are encouraged that this hearing was called and they're hopeful that you're listening and will help us. While I understand this committee doesn't have direct jurisdiction over the H-2A program reform, I urge you to share my testimony with your colleagues to make them aware that we are desperate for relief.

(36:42)
The adverse effect wage rate was initially established to protect a domestic farm workers from foreign worker wage depression. But decades later, the domestic workforce has almost entirely moved away from owned farm jobs. In 2023 of the 380,000 H-2A eligible positions, only 10,000 domestic applications were received. 97% went unanswered. Since 2019, the AWAR in our state has risen almost 31%, resulting in an additional $12 million impact to Mississippi sweet potato growers annually. We don't understand why the rate continues to rise so dramatically using the rationale that it is to protect a domestic workforce that no longer exists.

(37:28)
Seasonality restrictions are also affecting our farmers. We increasingly need a year-round solution. Our long-term domestic crews are dwindling, and there don't seem to be any new workers willing to fill the gap. Some farms are closing for two months, missing critical sales until their H-2A workers return. Finally, in the last 24 months, the Department of Labor has issued over 3,000 pages of H-2A rulings. Please understand, H-2A workers live on our farms with our families for months at a time. We have very positive relationships with our workers. To suggest that it requires thousands of regulations to establish a fair, safe, and mutually beneficial employer-employee arrangement is offensive to farmers.

(38:12)
Our livelihoods are inextricably linked to the presence and quality of our workforce. We appreciate the willingness of our H-2A workers and we understand the sacrifices they make to provide a better life for their families, much like we do. We support a straightforward, common-sense program that protects our workers without burying us under a mountain of policy. I hope my testimony today has provoked a sense of urgency. This situation is playing out in families all across our country.

(38:40)
I ask that you assess the ramifications of the loss of food production from within our borders. Food grown and raised domestically is safer, of a higher quality, and it is most importantly a matter of national security. We are so close to losing the American farm. Please help us pave a way forward, remove our obstacles, and lead our country into a renewed awareness that without food, nothing else matters. Thank you for holding today's hearing and I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.

Chairman Boozman (39:12):

Thank you. Mr. Etcheverry?

Ben Etcheverry (39:16):

I'm incredibly proud to represent the Chile Capital of the World as the president of the New Mexico Chile Association and share my perspective on the agricultural economy. Thank you Chairman Boozman, and Ranking Member Klobuchar, and members of this committee. Immigration is a hot debate in America right now, and agriculture labor is closely tied to it. It's nice to be noticed, but these circumstances are less than favorable.

(39:41)
As you know, most produce in this country is hand harvested. As such, we have a tremendous need for the human touch and the hard work that comes with it to plant, grow, and harvest our products. As our economy has developed, far less people pursue work on the farm. With this challenge, we have become more reliant upon the H-2A program to shore up the gap in agricultural employment.

(40:03)
Unlike large acreage crops like corn or cotton, we do not have reliable automation and mechanization options for produce. Consumers demand perfect peppers at the grocery store with no blemishes and any slights thereof. The New Mexico Chile Association has spent a lot of time trying to develop automation solutions for our industry with the help of USDA. This work needs to continue and expand until we solve the riddle for chilies as well as other vegetable crops.

(40:33)
While this committee does not have jurisdiction over immigration, I do want to share a few words on this topic. First, the H-2A program, as we know, is broken and it needs to be fixed. The program is expensive, loaded with numerous costs and paperwork involved, and is at times torsious as best. Second, we need to have a functioning and fair immigration system. I have seen many leaders in my rural community who came to this country long ago and enriched it. There is a middle ground, and it's my hope this committee can use its influence to elevate the need for ag labor reform.

(41:07)
Trade and tariffs are also a burning issue, and our growers have seen this issue close up for years. Currently, the domestic red chili production in the Southwest is down by 50% across the board since 2018. This is largely due to foreign paprika being shipped to intermediaries, repackaged as intermediary paprika, then shipped to the US with a landed cost 10 to 15% below the cost of a domestic grower's on-farm price, let alone the cost of dehydration and packaging.

(41:40)
I already talked about the need to have federal funding that helps fuel innovation and automation, but I want to highlight three additional areas of necessity improvement in the farm bill. First, the specialty crop block grant is incredibly valuable and has helped our growers gain access to marketing materials for increased consumer education. As Senator Lujan knows, we have a wonderful certified program that protects our products so they aren't confused with imports, often gaining our growers a premium.

(42:09)
Second, the availability of water, especially in desert producing regions, is becoming less consistent and reliable, and it's critically important that conversation programs like EQIP be bolstered to help growers use federal matching money to switch to more efficient irrigation systems. Finally, specialty crops have less support, higher risk, and unfortunately a weaker risk mitigation system to rely on than our friends in row crops. Right now, our industry relies on an outdated crop insurance program that USDA helped set up in the 1980s. We need to correct this immediately to help ensure our farm survival.

(42:54)
In closing, due to the efforts of the farm bill and the legislative history of this body, we have created a food policy program that has helped us shrug off wars, would-be famines, economically trying times, and set the standard on which the modern agricultural model in the world was created. I implore this congress to set aside partisan differences to make sure that farmers have the support to continue provisions for enough food to eat and enough food to make sure our next-door neighbors do not go without. Thank you again for this opportunity, and I will look forward to your questions.

Chairman Boozman (43:31):

Thank you. Mr. Erickson, the trade imbalance on fresh produce is disappointing and is the primary contributor to the growing trade deficit across all of agriculture. What should this committee be thinking about as we work together to evaluate this concern?

Bret Erickson (43:55):

Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. This should be in your information that was submitted to you. This is the fresh produce trade balance from 1980 to 2022. You don't have to be up close to see this is a pretty vicious picture. This is not fair trade for the specialty crop produce industry. We need controls on the cost of our labor. When I'm paying $23 per man-hour and Mexico can grow the same crop, and they're paying $18 per day per person, that gap is insurmountable. So we need common-sense solutions to help control the cost of our labor.

(44:49)
Secondly, water. In the case of Texas, our water situation is threatening our very existence, that we farm about 6,000 acres of Fruits and vegetables. We grow over 40 different commodities. This year, we left fallow 2,000 acres that we could not farm because we did not have water for it. Because of that, we had to relocate some of our production to outside growers and to other regions. For those of you folks here that use the H-2A program, shifting your H-2A people around when you haven't put a location on a petition and we're making adjustments on the fly is very difficult.

(45:32)
Additionally, at $23 per hour, our cost per person, moving people around from farm to farm is impossible. We need to have them sentry located. So controls on costs in the H-2A program, support in pressing Mexico to make regular water payments for us, support through getting the farm bill completed and finding ways to invest in the mechanization and automation.

(45:59)
Finding ways to stop regulatory overreach, such as when I talked about the EPA basically from one day to the next, pulling a very important herbicide that we use in onion production that has been in use for 50 years. And essentially from one day to the next, it was pulled away with no options, no input, no alternatives. And our foreign competitors are not under that kind of regulatory pressure. So those would be some areas that I would point to that this committee could focus on.

Chairman Boozman (46:31):

Very good, thank you. Mrs. Rhinewalt, can you talk more about how the changes to the H-2A program over the past several years have affected your day-to-day, and what having a voice for agriculture leading the Department of Labor would mean for the specialty crop industry?

Anna Rhinewalt (46:53):

Thank you for the question, Senator. Day-to-day, we're trying to keep our heads above water in response to a wage rate that's taking, for our farm, an additional $70,000 annually off our bottom line. We've cut where we can to compensate, but we recognize that another increase would be devastating. And to your point about having a voice for agriculture as leader of the DOL, we're very optimistic about President Trump's nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer. She seems to be a friend of farmers and an advocate for H-2A reform. Recently, she was a member of the House Ag Labor Working Group, who drafted a very articulate recommendation for H-2A reform that largely has bipartisan support. So we hope if she's confirmed that she'll help us push reform in this new policy over the finish line.

Chairman Boozman (47:43):

Very good. Mr. Hinton, in your testimony you noted the challenges faced by many specialty crop producers in finding adequate tools to manage their risk. What are some ways that we can strengthen insurance options for specialty crop growers?

Jeremy Hinton (48:02):

Thank you for the question, Mr. Chairman. As I mentioned, one of the most difficult challenges is the geographic distribution of crops and the lack of concentration. I know for Ms. Rhinewalt, there are a lot of sweet potatoes grown in her area, and so that's an insurable crop. But for us, for example, with our operation, peaches are one of the crops that we grow, and Peach Insurance is available in three of the 120 counties in Kentucky, just because of the lack of historic production.

(48:34)
So as we look at that, one option that we have is to insure crops with written agreements. Unfortunately, there's a relatively high standard of proof in terms of the disposition of those crops, the way that they're sold. For markets like ours that sell directly to consumer, it's very difficult to be able to produce the records, even with a point of sale system to back up and document where those fruits went when they were sold. Unlike if we have sale tickets for a wholesale purchase, when you're dealing with a direct to consumer transactions, it's much more difficult to back up and prove those.

(49:18)
So I think there's potential in whole farm and micro farm. It certainly has its places where it fits. I don't think it's the answer for everything. One of my biggest challenges with whole farm is the timing of it. Obviously, when the losses are paid based on tax returns, that means that any losses are not paid until taxes are filed. And so, for example, for me, if I had a loss in strawberry production, that happens in May. It might be a full year from now before I'd be able to collect an indemnity payment for that. So that's one of the challenges.

(49:56)
I would encourage further looks at revenue-based products that could be based on farm records instead of those tax returns that could reduce the burden of record keeping for producers. I think that's one of the most intimidating things about whole farm, is the record keeping burden that comes along with it. I've had a couple of really good conversations, one last night with Ms. Rhinewalt about their operation and how they're hoping that whole farm will work for them. Had a conversation with an Apple grower in Michigan a couple of weeks ago who has been using whole farm and is very pleased with how it works for his operation. He's primarily a wholesale seller of his crop, and so that's a little different situation.

(50:39)
I think anytime we talk about crop insurance, we have to talk about all of the pieces. And with the industry, we talk about the three-legged stool with RMA, and the AIPs, and with agents, and we have to remember all of the different layers that are involved there and make sure it's a good fit for everyone. We've not had an inflation adjustment for the A&O payments that are made to the AIPs for nearly 10 years, and that's something that I think would help our industry as a whole.

(51:09)
Something else that I think would bear consideration is specialty crops fall in the same category with corn, soybeans, wheat, the main commodity crops, and so they're subject to the pro rata reduction in payments. And so, we've seen that firsthand in our agency being heavily in burly tobacco. And our revenue from our tobacco policies have been reduced by 40% because of the pro rata factor on corn and soybeans. It works perfectly for those crops. But when we're not aligned with the same increase in market value, increase in insured value in premiums, then it makes it difficult for agencies that focus on those extra crops.

Chairman Boozman (51:50):

Very good. Senator Klobuchar?

Senator Klobuchar (51:53):

Very good. Thank you. I appreciate a number of you raising the workforce issue. And I noted you, Mr.

Senator Klobuchar (52:00):

… that's very talking about how important that's going to be. Senator Bennet is an expert on this and actually has a really good bill that I've co-sponsored on immigration reform for ag workers. So he'll ask those questions, but I wanted to lead with the funding for the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crop Program. The program, as you know, recognizes the struggles that specialty crop growers have with import pressures, rising costs, inadequate safety net. And I know USDA has made the initial payments, but eligible growers are still waiting for the rest of the assistance. This is for you Director Boring. And they have received a partial payment and this includes crop growers in Minnesota. We are pushing for the department to make good on the promise that was made. What response have you gotten from specialty crop growers in your state regarding this program from the USDA?

Director Boring (52:52):

Well, thank you for the question. We've seen tremendous interest for the program, especially crop growers in Michigan. I know FSA office has seen quite a bit of interest. I believe there's been over 1,000 applications that have gone in for that program. My understanding is around half the money perhaps has gone out to specialty crop producers. It's a really important lifeline for producers of diversifying market access and the ability to move products into different areas. And you mentioned some of these challenges around international pressures coming in. We certainly see that through a variety of different specialty crops in Michigan, similar to what we see across the country here. Expanding out the domestic markets is going to be really critical and strengthening some of these linkages between Michigan farmers grow food and it needs to be on tables.

Senator Klobuchar (53:42):

I know. I would figure research is also really important. That's something we do big time at the University of Minnesota Soil Health, those kinds of things. It's also important. Is that right?

Director Boring (53:50):

Absolutely, yes.

Senator Klobuchar (53:51):

Okay. And then risk management tools. Again, Mr. Etcheverry was noticing that the crop insurance provisions haven't been updated since the 1980s. That was when Cabbage Patch dolls were popular, Walkmans were the rage and the women, I think Senator Smith and I may remember this, were wearing little bow ties with their suits. So are you saying it might be time to update things since then?

Director Boring (54:18):

Certainly timely.

Senator Klobuchar (54:19):

Okay, good. Mr. Erickson, could you talk about how specialty crops growers can benefit when more families are able to afford fruits and vegetables?

Mr. Erickson (54:33):

Thank you for the question, Senator. We grow medicine. Fruits and vegetables, they are mother nature's medicine. So anything and everything we can be doing to encourage increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, I think, is critical. Our nation is facing a health crisis and we should be investing in and supporting programs that encourage the consumption of fruits and vegetables.

(55:10)
On the other side, there's a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that those of us who are sitting here and who are producers can remain in business and stay in business. It requires the need to be profitable to run our farms and operations. But investing in school nutrition programs and WIC programs and encouraging and requiring the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, I think, is critical.

Senator Klobuchar (55:43):

Thank you.

Mr. Erickson (55:44):

Thank you.

Senator Klobuchar (55:45):

Mr. Etcheverry, I can't help but just keep being drawn to your chili peppers and what's going on there in New Mexico. Could you just talk about what the specialty crop block grant, how important it is and how it has helped that industry and what it means beyond even the growers. Right? The restaurants and just the tourism and things like that for your state.

Mr. Etcheverry (56:07):

It is critical for us as we are a super specialty crop that we have a very local following on.

Senator Klobuchar (56:16):

Is that a term of law?

Mr. Etcheverry (56:18):

Fanatic. It's allowed us to penetrate other markets in other states and educate our consumers on how to prepare our peppers and enjoy them as well.

Senator Klobuchar (56:32):

Thank you. And I'll yield the rest of my time back. Thanks.

Speaker 7 (56:38):

Senator Hyde-Smith.

Senator Hyde-Smith (56:40):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I certainly appreciate the opportunity that you've called this meeting and I want to thank all of our witnesses today. This is incredibly important for our country and your part today is very, very helpful.

(56:53)
My question is for Ms. Rhinewalt of Mississippi. A few weeks ago, we heard from the row crop folks and the producers in our state and the outlook is very, very glim and it goes without saying that farming is heading in a very dark direction. And I know that you guys have the specialty crop side of things, but your family happens to be involved in both, with the row crops and the 2000 acre operation that includes sweet potatoes as well.

(57:26)
Would you just generally describe for the committee what your challenges are in your various hardships from your family operations facing from the high cost of input, the depressed prices, the red tape, the regulations? Can you just share with us your greatest challenges?

Speaker 8 (57:45):

Sure. Thank you Senator. We utilize row crops primarily on our farm for crop rotation with sweet potatoes, but unfortunately, the higher margins that we do experience on the specialty crop side are pretty much diminished on the row crop side due to high equipment costs primarily and then also historically low crop prices that we're experiencing right now.

(58:09)
But of particular note would be critically outdated reference prices. So the Farm Safety Net is not triggering as quickly as it should to really provide the relief we need for people who use row crop farming as a supplement, but most especially those who their whole livelihood is dependent on that.

Senator Hyde-Smith (58:30):

So the update, again, is so critically important. And in your testimony, you also refer to the H-2A temporary agriculture workers that are so important and my takeaway is that this program is critical in helping American farmers fill employment gaps that other people just do not. They're unwilling to do that type of work and it is terribly expensive in recent years and riddled with red tape as we well know. Could you again shed some light on the challenges you faced with the H-2A workers, the programs, but most of all how we need to improve it?

Speaker 8 (59:10):

Yes, Senator. Thank you for that opportunity. Outside of the 3000 pages of regulation that we're struggling to keep up with, we really need reform in the areas of AEWR, as I stated before. The AEWR rate in our state is currently $14.83, which is 31% higher than it was five years ago. But in particular, that rate does not consider the housing cost that we have to pay, transportation and administrative expense. So typically, that can bring the rate that we're actually paying, I would say a conservative estimate would be four to five additional more dollars per hour that we're paying. So that 14.83 now is leaning into 20, which for the cost of living in our state is quite expensive.

(59:55)
We also need a path to year-round labor so that we don't experience gaps in production. A lot of farms like us, we're a grower and a packer. So the planting and harvest seasons have been critical for H-2A, but since our long-term domestic workforce that's worked in the pack house has kind of dwindled and there's not a new generation coming on, a lot of people in our shoes… We're able to kind of patch it together. Our whole family's on the pack line working, just trying to get through that eight weeks until H-2A workers return.

(01:00:28)
But I have friends who have to shut down their pack lines completely because they just don't have enough help to keep it going. And that really exposes them with their customer base. Their customers could move on to somebody else. They really just need to kind of fill in that gap there. So that's probably about it.

Senator Hyde-Smith (01:00:46):

If we do not have these changes and the suggestions that this entire panel's making, can you just look five years out and tell me how you foresee your operation if this committee and this Congress does not do something immediately?

Speaker 8 (01:01:02):

If we don't make changes within… I don't think it will take five years for us to get the answer to that question. It'll be far less. Certainly, if we continue on the trajectory that we're currently on, it'll take far less than five years to put a vast majority of specialty crop producers out of business. That increase in labor wage rates in particular, we're having to eat all of that because for many of us, depending on what your specialty crop is, our markets will not bear us passing along that cost to our customers.

Senator Hyde-Smith (01:01:35):

And I'm out of time. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Speaker 7 (01:01:39):

Senator Bennet.

Senator Bennett (01:01:40):

Thank you Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding the hearing. I want to thank the ranking member for her mention of the workforce issues here and I'm glad they're coming up everywhere.

(01:01:50)
Mr. Etcheverry, I'm going to come to question with you, but I will say since you strike me as an honest man and I know there are a lot of people from New Mexico and your family watching you today, I'm not going to ask you about the virtues of Pueblo chiles today.

Mr. Etcheverry (01:02:07):

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Speaker 7 (01:02:08):

You're most welcome, but we can talk about it later. Every single one of these, in fact, Anna said that the future of the American farm is at stake. I agree with that. And I think when I transport myself back to another time, not that long ago in American history, just about 10 years ago, we had an agreement. The Gang of Eight Bill on immigration that had tens and tens and tens of billions of dollars of border security. I think it was like 70 billion in current dollars. It had a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people that are here that are undocumented. It had agriculture provisions that I negotiated with Senator Rubio and Senator Hatch and with Senator Feinstein. Two of those people have passed from this earth, but it was supported. The agricultural provisions of that bill were supported by the growers all over America and were supported by the farm workers, which is how it should be because of what Mr. Erickson said, the importance of the food that they're growing to the lifeblood of this nation.

(01:03:19)
The growers and the farm workers are doing something that most of us would never be able to do, most of us could never do. And they are an essential part of not just our economy but our culture, who we are as the American people. And it's a reminder, in my opinion, how impoverished our discussion on immigration has become in this country. Not because we shouldn't secure the border. I'm for that. I was for that long before Donald Trump rode his escalator down at Trump Tower. And we're never going to get a plan together that doesn't do all of the things that we tried to do in the Gang of Eight Bill.

(01:03:59)
In 2022, we had a bipartisan proposal. It's similar to the one that's in the House that was described that actually had a wage freeze and dealt with the adverse wage issues, that was agreed to by the farm workers and also by almost all the growers in America, but not by all the growers in America. So what I would say is we need your help before we lose American agriculture, before we lose farms and ranches that are just going to move to places where they can find the labor they need to be able to do what we used to do here and are in danger of not being able to do anymore.

(01:04:36)
And I wonder, Mr. Etcheverry, in all of that context, and I apologize for the long wind-up. But I do think it is important to recognize that there was a time when our politics was not as broken as it is around this issue. And I guess also a reminder that this economy, especially our rural farm economy, depends on immigration and our having a functional immigration system in this country. Mr. Etcheverry, could you talk a little bit about how things have gotten more dire in the last few years on this subject? And then if there's anybody else who'd like to comment, I'm happy to take that too.

Mr. Etcheverry (01:05:15):

It's become more dire with all the comments from this board. We're seeing higher interest rates, lower farmer wages. One of my growers did the math on his take home and he makes $3 an hour. And it's just hard. It's just really hard.

Speaker 7 (01:05:37):

Anna, do you want to talk? I'm sorry, Ben, are you done? I'm sorry.

Mr. Etcheverry (01:05:41):

We have a lot of on-farm workers close to the border who want to be good Americans. They want to come over, they want to work, they pay their taxes and they go home and they raise their families.

Speaker 7 (01:05:54):

I remember Jeff Flake was part of that negotiation as well, and he learned this on his family's farm and ranch in Arizona.

(01:06:05)
Anna, do you want to say anything else?

Speaker 8 (01:06:07):

We're a little bit farther north than Mr. Etcheverry. So I don't have a whole lot of experience. We transitioned directly from domestic workforce into the H-2A program.

Speaker 7 (01:06:20):

Well, you talked about the need for year-round folks. Didn't you?

Speaker 8 (01:06:23):

Yes.

Speaker 7 (01:06:23):

Could you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker 8 (01:06:25):

There are a tremendous number of constituents right now who have never even had access to the H- 2A program because their operations… We have different segments of our operations. Some are seasonal and they're easy to enter into the H-2A program quickly, but their operations are specifically year-round. And so they have not even been able… They're suffering without a reliable workforce and they've not been able to take advantage of the H-2A program at all due to the seasonality.

Speaker 7 (01:06:49):

Thank you for that. And with my last two seconds, I'd say to the chairman and the ranking member, as somebody on this panel said already, this isn't in the jurisdiction of this committee and that's true. But I think that Republicans and Democrats here could provide some leadership to the rest of the Senate in terms of bringing these proposals forward and I just want to volunteer my services in your efforts to do that.

Senator Smith (01:07:15):

Very good.

Speaker 7 (01:07:18):

Senator Tuberville.

Senator Tuberville (01:07:20):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for you being here today, all of you. Our ag economy is a disaster. Complete disaster. If we don't do something, and I don't know how it's going to work, we're not going to have an ag committee here in a few years. We lost 150,000 farms in the last few years. 150,000 farms. And if that's not a disaster, I don't know what is.

(01:07:44)
But we don't help you at all. Regulations are overboard. Labor is out of sight. You have no water. I don't know what we've done right up here. Doesn't sound like a whole lot. But Ms. Rhinewalt, what's the ideal rate? If we were to revert back to labor cost, what would be the ideal rate that we would pay to make a profit?

Speaker 8 (01:08:12):

Senator, thank you. We actually had that discussion yesterday. We chuckled talking about wages that were based on maybe 115% of the federal wage rate or state minimum wage rates. But we know that's at 7.25 and farmers are not suggesting that we pay that low. But we do want to have some consideration, a formulation for the wage rate that takes into account that 14.83 may be the wage rate, but we need to consider the transportation cost, the administrative cost, the housing cost and maybe [inaudible 01:08:48] rate that in consideration of those factors. Because it's a fallacy to say that because we're paying 14.83, that's not really the wage rate we're paying. It's really more like 20 or $21 an hour.

Senator Tuberville (01:08:59):

Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Erickson. $23 an hour, you got to be kidding me. How do you make it? I mean, what would be your cost to make a profit?

Mr. Erickson (01:09:09):

Well, I wish it wasn't. It is, and to Ms. Rhinewalt's comments, the costs that are involved with applying for the program, transporting the laborers from their home country to the United States where they're going to work. We transport them, we put them in housing, hotels, we transport them from the hotel to the job site. They have catering services. We provide food. You need to take them to doctor's appointments and to get sundries and such.

(01:09:43)
I don't know how you roll back. And in Texas, the AEWR, I believe it's $15.87 an hour. Our actual cost is about $23 per hour when you add all that in. I don't know what the number is. We definitely need to put a cap on the increases that have occurred. How do we deal with it?

(01:10:09)
Unfortunately, in the case of Little Bear Produce, I wish Senator Luján was still here. We recently shut down. We had a onion packing facility in Deming, New Mexico. It was an important part of our operation that had about 15 full-time people and we brought in 20 to 30 seasonal people. We brought onions, hatch chilies, pumpkins, watermelons up there. And we had to recently shutter that facility in part because of the water that's being withheld in Mexico and they're using that water to grow our crops and then we're having to purchase those products. It is a crazy situation for us to be in. And as a business, we had to make the decision, and you have to sit down with each one of these…

(01:10:54)
These people have been working for us for 12 or 15 years and to sit down and tell them, " We have to let you go, unfortunately. We're going to work with you to try to transition into another job." And you know what the craziest thing was? Those folks, in talking to them, they were so thankful for the opportunity that they had during the 12 or 15 years that they were working for us and they were so thankful for that. But if we don't get these costs under control for US producers, we are going to continue to hand over the production of specialty crops and fruit and vegetables.

Senator Tuberville (01:11:34):

Yeah. We're not going to have it. It's going to be over. Ms. Rhinewalt, could we do without a H-2A program?

Speaker 8 (01:11:41):

No sir. We would be completely out of business.

Senator Tuberville (01:11:43):

What about how are domestic workers being affected by H-2A program?

Speaker 8 (01:11:51):

Well, a domestic workforce is never again going to be the remedy for ag production in the United States per their response to the job. So 97% of jobs remain open when we're required to advertise them to domestic workers first before we can receive any assurance that we're allowed to bring H-2A onto our farms. We would be happy to pay our own citizens a very reasonable wage and save all those auxiliary costs that I mentioned, but they simply do not want the jobs.

Senator Tuberville (01:12:20):

Thank you. Good luck. Hope we get out of your way.

Speaker 8 (01:12:23):

Thank you.

Senator Tuberville (01:12:23):

Because that's what we're going to have to do. Thank you.

Speaker 7 (01:12:24):

Senator Smith.

Senator Smith (01:12:29):

Well, thank you Chair Bozeman. Thank you very much for this hearing and welcome to all of our panelists. I want to particularly give a welcome to Lori and to John from Minnesota for your work. We're blessed, Mr. Chair, to have Minnesotans lead both National Pork and National Turkey, and I think it's a tribute to the diverse farm economy that we have in Minnesota. So I want to welcome you both here.

(01:12:57)
I also just want to associate myself with the comments that Senator Bennet made and the great insights from our panel on the issues around farm labor reforms, which I think it's just so important for us all to hear. Doesn't work for us sitting up here to say somebody should do something about all the problems when we really are the ones that need to put aside our partisan differences and figure it out.

(01:13:20)
Mr. Etcheverry, I'm a proud Senator of Minnesota, but I was born in New Mexico, and so for me, chile is not a specialty crop. It's a necessary crop. And I really appreciate also the comments that we've had around the importance for bipartisan risk management tools that work for specialty farmers. I appreciated your question on this, Senator Bozeman and others, and we keep hearing that… I think we don't pay enough attention to how crop insurance just doesn't work like it should for many farmers, especially small farmers and specialty farmers. And the whole farm revenue protection option was designed to fill some of those gaps, but it's got shortcomings.

(01:14:05)
So I've been working on some legislation to address these shortcomings. Many of the challenges that you've raised, our bill goes at trying to work on. And so I'd like to continue this conversation and get feedback from all of you on that legislation. I'd love to see that be a part of the work that we do in the upcoming farm bill.

(01:14:24)
Mr. Chair, I'd like to enter into the record a letter from the Minnesota Farmers Union opposing staffing cuts at local and regional USDA offices.

Speaker 7 (01:14:36):

Without objection.

Senator Smith (01:14:37):

This letter says, and I quote, "We want a USDA that is effective, responsive and accountable to the farmers and communities that they serve. This requires adequate staffing and stable funding. I bet you all are seeing this in your states. We're seeing it in Minnesota, USDA county and local offices. They help farmers in so many different ways, managing disease outbreaks, safety net programs or partners with farmers, dealing with all of the challenges that you've been describing. And yet, despite the critical work that they're doing, many of these positions in local offices have been eliminated over the last few weeks."

(01:15:09)
Just yesterday, I was hearing from a Minnesotan about local USDA employees who were almost through their probationary period to replace soon-to-be-retiring FSA staff, only to get fired after all that training. And they're worried, of course, that those folks are going to retire anyway that those new probationary employees were going to be filling the spots of. And you have to remember that these FSA employees or NRCS employees are often farmers themselves who are trying to find extra farm income because of all the challenges that you all have laid out. So I want to just talk for a minute about the importance of this regional local staff, USDA staff. Mr. Boring, I'm going to ask you about this. Can you just talk about the impacts of firing these USDA employees and how these local FSA offices are helping farmers and what it means if they're just not there?

Director Boring (01:16:06):

Well, I think it's a great question. Great point to bring up. As a former state executive director in Michigan of FSA, I know firsthand of how dedicated, certainly Midwest and Michigan FSA employees are to farmer partnerships and working closely providing that assistance. We talked a little bit about today of some of the challenges of these programs. A lot of the services that are available to growers are complicated, and there's a lot of nuance to these programs. FSA staff help growers navigate these issues.

Senator Smith (01:16:38):

Right. They're partners really.

Director Boring (01:16:39):

Partners, and I think that's true in so much of the work that we're working to foster in agriculture. It's true of the crop insurance agents that are partners with farmers out there. It's true of how we're advancing conservation practices, implementing different land management approaches. It requires technical expertise. The partnerships broadly here is really essential to working with farmers and to building stronger, more resilient farming systems.

Senator Smith (01:17:06):

I think that's absolutely right, and I hear so often from Minnesota farmers about how they rely on FSA advice and develop long-term relationships with folks. And that's all going out the window with these firings. Mr. Chair, I know that we've worked in a bipartisan way to try to address some of the staffing shortages that we've seen in FSA, and yet, what the administration is doing right now goes absolutely counter to I think what is a shared bipartisan goal here. So I hope that we can find a solution that will make sure that our farmers across the country have the support that they need from FSA and other regional offices. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Speaker 7 (01:17:44):

Thank you, Senator Smith. Senator Justice.

Senator Justice (01:17:48):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me just tell you just this. I don't have a script to go by. I'm a new kid on the block in a lot of ways,

Senator Justice (01:18:01):

But I promise you that I really think you should listen to what I have to say today. In many ways I would say what should we do? What should we do? And there is a solution to all this. My dad would've said a long time ago, and if I can use the slang that he would use, he would say, "Son, I don't know exactly what we should do but this," and he would not say dagum, he would say, "This whatever surely ain't it." And I would tell you all just exactly just this. I really appreciate those coming today and their testimony. I really appreciate our chairman and our ranking member, but we have the real deal chairman right now. And we can really make a difference. Let me just take you through some level of math. The small family farm in America today, the average size is 430 plus acres. Now just think about this just for a second. They're hurting in every way imaginable, and we better awaken real quickly to just a couple things. We go into grocery stores, and as far as you can see a mile long, there's every choice imaginable. We pay almost nothing of our annual incomes compared to countries all across this globe to have a luxury like you can't imagine that we have in America. That's all there is to it. We have that luxury because of these people, because of many of you that are sitting right out here right now. Absolutely, when it comes right down to it, our family farms in this country do something that defies all financial reasonableness. That's all there is to it. Just let me walk you through just a little bit of math. If you had 500 acres today in Champaign, Illinois, it's probably worth greater than $15,000 an acre.

(01:20:13)
With all that being said, if you just do the math real quick and everything, that's seven and a half million dollars. If that farmer had a half a million dollars in the bank, he had $8 million worth of worth. And really and truly what he does is he goes out and pushes it all out on the table every year and says, "I'm all in, I'm waiting on it to rain." And absolutely that farmer probably is living off of 28,000 or $42,000 a year, when if he sold his land tomorrow, he could absolutely go to Goldman Sachs and Goldman Sachs would bring him a return of probably 350,000 a year. But he doesn't do it. He doesn't do it for all of us, for every last one of us, he doesn't do it. And the reason he doesn't do it is because he loves what he's doing, and we better love him. That's all there is to it.

(01:21:12)
At the end of the day, if we don't love him enough, we're going to be in real trouble. Now what happens? What happens tomorrow if big giant corporations, Exxon, whatever it may be, all get together and decide, "I'll tell you what we're going to do, this guy's not going to continue to farm. He's not going to continue to do what he does." And so he decides he wants to go to The Bahamas and hang out, and absolutely have somebody send him an annual income of $350,000 instead of his 28,000 and driving a twelve-year-old pickup truck. What do we do if we lose him, and absolutely, whatever it may be, a foreign interest, Exxon, whatever, decides just out of the clear blue sky that what they're going to do is they're going to plant one crop and then they're going to say, "The price of corn is $150 a bushel, and if you don't want it, we're not going to plant anymore."

(01:22:09)
What happens to us? We have a meltdown in our food industry. We have a meltdown and a crisis in this country like you can't imagine. We owe so much to those people it's off the chart. Coach Tuberville is a great friend. We're both coaches in our own way. With all that being said, I absolutely promise you, promise you to God above, we've got to fix this. We've got to fix this right now. We've got to fix crop insurance. We have got to have a farm bill that is a true bill that basically probably is regionalized, instead of a one-size-fits-all, it doesn't fit all. That's all there is to it.

(01:22:55)
I've grown many specialty crops, and I salute you for what you do. It's a high- risk business. You're fighting everything from regulations to labor and on and on and on. We all are, but we got to wake up. Absolutely, if we don't wake up right now, and we awaken to those farmers leaving the farm for whatever reason it may be, it's going to be a bad day in America. Mr. Chairman, I salute you in every way, and absolutely I thank all of you all that are involved in agriculture and especially this committee. Thank you so much for your testimony and everything, and so God bless America in every way and we got to fix it. And we better fix it now or we're going to be in a heck of a mess. Thank you all so much.

Mr. Chairman (01:23:40):

Thank you, Senator Justice, and again, very well said. Senator Booker.

Senator Booker (01:23:45):

Mr. Chairman, just a point of privilege, forgive me for my language, but I just want to say, damn, I was not a coach. I was a player in the once great Pack 10 that is no more, but if you're the coach and you talk like that, put me in coach because I'm ready to play in a bipartisan way to deal with this. Because this panel, I was sitting there listening, and the nobility of what you all stand for and what you all do, and the unnecessary crap that you have to deal with that undermines your ability to do what is the greatest profession that helped found this nation, which is to farm, to feed communities, it's evident. And we have to fix this stuff, and there are common sense ways that I've been talking about for a long time. Agriculture is the fourth biggest industry in my state and we are a so-called specialty crop state, and this one-size-fits-all doesn't work, it really doesn't work.

(01:24:43)
We are a nation that spends 93% of our ag subsidies on the big commodity crops and does not support so-called specialty crops in the way we do, nor do we do common sense things, limiting regulations, supporting labor to help them out. So this was really, to me, exciting to hear. Brother justice, I'm coming for you. That's not a threat, that is a compliment for us to work together. But I just want to take my few moments if you all don't mind, we're going to work on these issues, and I will champion them. But I just want to say a lot of my farmers in New Jersey and across the country are just struggling right now with an immediate crisis, which is the illegal funding freeze that has been imposed on thousands of USDA contracts. I'm getting calls and emails from farmers all across my state from all different political perspectives that are just saying, "Why are we investing money on farms for things like planting cover crops or installing irrigation systems?" But now those farmers are not receiving their reimbursements.

(01:25:46)
They outlaid cash and they're now in a crisis. For many farmers, this is tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars that the USDA is now stiffing them on. And for some of these farmers, they're saying that if they're not able to move forward with their spring planting and are ultimately at risk for losing their farms and foreclosure because of what the USDA is doing to them, it will be catastrophic. These reimbursement payments and signed contracts with farmers that have been frozen, this is wrong. The USDA has also frozen their reimbursements to nonprofits and small businesses who provide critical assistance to farmers.

(01:26:24)
In Jersey, we have nonprofits and small businesses who give this kind of technical assistance, they too are in crisis. There are also groups who help farmers implement conservation practices that we supported in a bipartisan way and there are groups helping those farmers that are now facing this crisis, all of these nonprofits and small businesses have signed contracts with the USDA to provide these services. They've laid out money in reliance upon them and now they're being, excuse my language, Mr. Chairman, they're being screwed. This is wrong and it's hurting people, and it's a self-inflicted wound that's got to stop.

(01:27:05)
It is killing me that we're now seeing people in my state, farmers that are laying off staff, that they're not getting the help they deserve. And they're not doing their innovations that are going to help them be better stored to the land because they know how to supply the land, that's why a lot of these conservation programs have been so oversubscribed. It's outrageous and it's illegal. Multiple federal courts have instructed the administration to lift these bans across, lift these broad freezes, but the USDA is ignoring the court orders and intentionally causing serious harm to farmers across our country. On top of all that, the USDA has fired many of the local level staff who farmers rely upon and who would be helping the farmers to navigate this crisis. I know Secretary Rollins, I voted for Secretary Rollins. We need help. If the USDA does not immediately release the funding to our farmers, I hope this committee will quickly bring her back here to explain to us why.

(01:28:02)
Every day that we wait, we're already in a farming crisis in this country, we're already losing thousands of independent family farmers. And this is outrageous. At a time that we have other issues we should be dealing with, we're right now dealing with this crisis. And I just want to say one more thing on another subject because I know I'm not going to be here for the next panel, but I know Prop 12 is going to be brought up and I just want to say my piece for 10, 20 seconds. I'm concerned that there is no witness here today to speak for the independent family farmers who support Prop 12.

(01:28:34)
The National Pork Producer Council does not represent all of the hog farmers in the country. They may speak for the big producers, they may align with the biggest multinational corporations, but they do not represent our smaller independent hog farmers. In fact, a large group of those independent farmers filed a brief with the Supreme Court for Prop 12, arguing that Prop 12 helped them by creating new markets for their products and allowing them to better compete with the big vertically integrated meat packers like Smithfield. I didn't vote for Justice Gorsuch, but here's his brief. In his Supreme Court decision upholding Prop 12, Justice Gorsuch cited directly these independent hog farmers and cattle farmers in our country. I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter the brief for these independent family farmers.

Mr. Chairman (01:29:24):

Without objection.

Senator Booker (01:29:25):

Mr. Chairman and Mr. Justice, if you want to know where I'm going to stand, it is for small, midsize independent family farmers. You started your statement by talking about the average farm in our country, but these entrepreneurs, these folks have been devastated in the last decade. We're losing thousands of farmers. I've sat with them from the Midwest to around my state. This is a crisis being made worse right now by the USDA, but I'm hoping that we can work together to solve some of these problems. Thank you. Mr. Chairman,

Mr. Chairman (01:29:55):

Senator Welch.

Senator Welch (01:29:57):

Thank you very much. Before I start, I do hope the committee, Senator Justice, I really appreciated your remarks, and I think all of us feel pretty much the same way. The farmers are the lifeblood of our local rural communities and nobody works harder. Maybe the coal miners in West Virginia, but they're right up there, the farmers and the coal miners. And I'm just shocked that where there have been agreements made, and we have farmers in Vermont who under the IRA made an agreement, and in response to that agreement borrowed money and then did the work that they promised to do. It might be solar, it might be streambed protection, and now got an email saying the federal government's going to stiff them. What I so admire about farmers is like a promise made is a promise kept. This is impossible for the folks who do this farming to imagine that you have an agreement and then it's violated.

(01:31:01)
So my hope, Mr. Chairman is that the committee would weigh in here and insist that these deals that have been signed, and where our farmers now have put the money out, done the work and are getting stiffed, that we really strongly object and call on the administration to reverse that. I just want to ask some questions about specialty crops. We have so much of our farm program is on commodities, dairy included, but the specialty crops, it's a funny name for me. Because it's like everything local, everything fresh, and everything nutritious, and my view is we need more, not less of the specialty crops. A lot of our specialty crop farmers got really hurt by the floods we had in July of '23 and July of '24, and our crop insurance program really needs to be improved.

(01:31:54)
Maple syrup is one which I like to talk about, and with Senator Collins from Maine, we've sponsored and introduced the Supporting All Producers, the SAP Act. What that does is it helps the sustainability of that program, another bill that we've introduced together, Making Agricultural Products Locally Essential, the MAPLE Act. I want to ask Mr. Boring. We've talked a lot about maple syrup, but the climate-related disturbances are not unique to maple, it's affecting all kinds of crops. And my question is what can we do to provide specialty crop growers the support they need to ensure the continuation of their family farms with all the changes in weather?

Director Boring (01:32:51):

Well, I think that's an excellent question. Certainly we enjoy maple syrup in Michigan as well. We're coming into the season for that, looking forward to that. I think we need more certainty for specialty crop growers. I think so much of the questions, the issues we're talking about today come down to providing more certainty for producers, and in some ways better valuing the impacts of what these crops are, not only for farms but for the rural economies. The process so many of them, the communities that they feed. We've touched on some points around revisions to crop insurance, certainly. We need better management tools so that we can deal with increasingly extreme and erratic weather. I think there's promise about looking at how we broaden out conservation practices-

Senator Welch (01:33:41):

Let me go on to another question. I think we have to have more emphasis on them, because the real opportunity is it's local, it's nutritious. The people in the communities really support it, and it's an entry point for some younger farmers that doesn't have as many financial barriers. Just as an example, Mr. German, the USDA has a specialty crop block grant program, and Vermont received $334,000. That's not a lot of money in the scheme of things, but it did a lot in Vermont. With a $56,000 grant, one USDA recipient in Vermont was able to expand the market opportunities for 60 local farmers, and a lot of this is like the farm stand type of situation. This is tiny compared to the 6.3 billion that we spend on the commodity crop program. And it's important, I know to you, but the specialty is really important as well. So tell me how has the federal funding, Mr. Boring, freeze affected our specialty crop growers?

Director Boring (01:34:53):

It creates uncertainty, and I think that's the biggest question of what those risk mitigation tools are going to be into the future of the reliability and access to markets when crops might be harvested later this fall. There's uncertainty on the research front as researchers are working on this, so in essence, uncertainty.

Senator Welch (01:35:10):

Thank you. I yield back.

Mr. Chairman (01:35:14):

Thank you. Senator Lujan.

Senator Lujan (01:35:16):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Mr. Chairman, as I begin, I'd like to ask that written testimony from Gene Baca of Bueno Foods, that his remarks be submitted into the record.

Mr. Chairman (01:35:27):

Without objection.

Senator Lujan (01:35:28):

Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Baca is a 14th generation New Mexican, founder and former president of the New Mexico Chile Association, and a leader in New Mexico's food and agriculture industry. Now, the strength of our country and our agricultural industry I believe is its diversity. That's a word that I use a lot, it's a good word. It talks about our crops, diversity in crops is good. The success, Mr. Hinn, that you described with the varieties and the diversity you have of crops help you prosper and connect with more folks, whether it's domestically or internationally, and I applaud you for that as well.

(01:36:08)
The diversity of our growers and the products they raise and grow help make us stronger as a nation. We need more producers in America, not fewer producers. We need more generations. Well, I can't brag that I'm eighth generation farming, sir, I'm fourth generation in the family house that I live in today and the little farm that I still call home. And God willing, it will be in the family for generations after us, but the power of finding more farmers, encouraging younger generations to get involved and stay involved is so critically important.

(01:36:37)
I've spoken many times in this committee about how the farm bill can and should do more to support the diverse farms and ranchers across our great country. I look forward to working on some bipartisan initiatives where we provide support, farmer to farmer. There's a lot of programs out there that provide support to farmers, but if you're a farmer and you're giving your time to another farmer to teach them how to farm and qualify for these USDA programs, you don't get compensated a penny. Out of the generosity of your heart because you care about the industry. Well, there should be a support program for that so we can tap into the genius of existing farmers and producers across the country, and learn from them how best to do what you do.

(01:37:16)
I look forward to continuing this work, and as I said, it's bipartisan. Now, Mr. Etcheverry, in your testimony, you mentioned the frustrations that New Mexico growers have with crop insurance and your desire to see it expand. What challenges do you see specialty crop growers facing when looking at the risk management tools currently available to them?

Mr. Etcheverry (01:37:35):

Sir, bureaucracy. We want the insurance and there is minimal insurance, and we asked USDA to be able to get more insurance. And we were basically told, "Okay, go collect the data yourself and then we'll take a look at the data you collect." We're all working full-time jobs. The average on-farm time for a grower is 18 hours a day. For him to stop and do the job that the USDA should do is hard enough.

Senator Lujan (01:38:04):

I appreciate that, Mr. Etcheverry. And Mr. Chairman, as I've learned from smaller producers across the country, there are offerings on paper, but they don't work once folks try to get them to use them. I often compare it to when we talk about water rights in the west, we like wet water, we don't just like water on paper. And everyone's chuckling here because you know what I'm talking about. It's the same vein in this space. You shouldn't just get a piece of paper that says you bought the policy, it's got to work for these folks. And I look forward to working with you on that and the ranking member.

(01:38:35)
Now, Ben, I want to maybe get something from you for the official record so that you have some thought to put into this, but specifically what should Congress do to expand access to risk management programs for specialty crop growers? And I'd invite all of you to help us understand how to cut through that bureaucracy as well, and then make sure that that policy is actually applicable to what you're doing on the ground and helping folks.

(01:38:59)
There's a farmer from New Mexico that testified to this committee not long ago, and he taught me that he had to learn how to farm USDA. I said, "What do you mean by that, Mr. [inaudible 01:39:10]?" He said, "If I don't farm USDA, I don't get access to any of these programs. So I had to change the way that I was planting, change the way that I was going after programs," and that thought has stuck with me for years at a time. Because it shouldn't be that case, you're there to produce food, to nurture that land, to make sure that you're selling those crops. You don't need to be going through all these other steps. So I hope that we can get that better as well.

(01:39:36)
Mr. Chairman, I have a slew of other questions, but I've gone on and on on my own, so I'm just going to submit them into the record to each and every one of you. Mr. Etcheverry, I can't thank you enough for taking time to travel from home to come out here. I mean this truly, because you're in the midst of a lot of important decisions that are taking place as we speak, but it means a lot to the people back home that you're here, and I hope that the rest of the country just falls in love with Chile as much as we love it as well. So thanks again.

Mr. Chairman (01:40:07):

Thank you all very much for being here, we appreciate it. Let's swap panels real quick. And again, thank you all so much, your testimony was great.

Speaker 9 (01:40:18):

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman (01:40:18):

Very, very helpful.

Speaker 9 (01:40:19):

Really good.

Mr. Chairman (01:40:21):

Really.

Speaker 9 (01:40:21):

And I am going to go to New Mexico and have these chilies, that's my plan.

Mr. Chairman (01:40:26):

We want the Lujan chili.