Aid for Farmers
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer assured lawmakers the administration is both aware of and working to help struggling farmers.
Trade Ambassador Greer told House Ways and Means the administration is picking up on a fertilizer program started by the Biden USDA that never took off …
GREER … “USDA is now actively going through applicants for that program to see if there are opportunities for more fertilizer producers to get into the game. We know that there’s some concentration in the fertilizer industry, so bringing in more and smaller producers can be helpful.”
While also pursuing permitting reform …
GREER … “We have fertilizer producers in the United States who want to open new mines or new processes, but they’re slowed down by (a) regulatory process that we’re speeding up.”
Ag Secretary Rollins, before Senate appropriators, meantime, reaffirmed her and the president’s commitment to permanent year-round E15 sales …
ROLLINS … “I have been unequivocal and, in fact, when the president visited Iowa, he mentioned it in his remarks in Iowa, and he has, in fact, tweeted about it, or ‘Truth Socialed’ about it. So, I think you have an administration that perhaps is more in line and supportive than ever before, and we will continue to be so.”
Complimented now by an E15 farm bill amendment, despite failing to reach a deal on small refinery exemptions.
Rollins says she’s planning to announce new efforts to help producers in the coming weeks.
