High prices are impacting farmers and ranchers across the board. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says she understands that just because prices are high does not mean farmers are raking in the dough, and that is a message she hopes to get out to consumers.
“In the last Administration where I played a key role over at the White House, not out in USDA, what I learned was that with a vision of a President that is relentless in his quest to serve the American people, that will fight to bring down energy costs, to bring down input costs, to open up markets, that the founding father’s vision, those farmers’ vision of 250 years ago, that a country that is self-governed, that you don’t have the little elitists in a faraway place called Washington, D.C., deciding what is best for you, that governing structure has allowed the most prosperity and the most success of any country in the history of the world, but we find ourselves in a place right now, especially our agricultural communities, especially on this National Ag Day, that we understand that our farmers are really, really struggling.
“And with a few exceptions, one in ten of our farming communities have gone out of business just in the last number of years, that many are living at the margins, that some of our farmers in the pork industry, and the corn industry, the wheat industry, have literally gone year after year of being in the red, and not making the money they need to support their family. When consumers ask, ‘well, someone is getting rich off of this,’ I can promise you this: it is not our producers. For the future of America, not just for our agriculture producers, but if we want in 250 years, when we have our next big birthday, if we want our future great times ten grandchildren to be and grow up and have a chance at the American dream, that we’ve all had, that we have to preserve and fight for our farmers and ranchers. That is the backbone of this country, that is my calling, that is the greatest honor of my life, to fight for all of you that are out there, and there a no better way to celebrate it than today on National Ag Day.”
