The first House Ag Committee hearing of the year has kicked off and they are tackling how inflation and regulations are burdening farmers.
The Agriculture Transportation Coalition is among the witnesses and released this statement.
The group is grateful the committee is working to address transportation challenges and solutions. The Executive Director says, “We witnessed how any delay or disruption at any single point, by any single ship, railroad, truck, chassis, marine terminal, radiates throughout the supply chain, nationally and across the globe. We need to eliminate as many causes as we can,” says Peter Friedmann.
The coalition is asking Congress to make truck weights efficient and safe and for action to be taken on West Port gateways and to provide a labor contract to grant certainty for those workers. The group also wants expansion of inland rail depots to make up for the lack of space at marine terminals.
American Farm Bureau President, Zippy Duvall, is also testifying and he is encouraging the Committee to put their trust in American agriculture.
He says, “Farmers and ranchers have the highest public trust ranking of any profession in America. I ask Congress to trust farmers and ranchers, too, and respect our ability to innovate and solve problems.”
Duvall is also advocating for comprehensive risk management options for farmers as well as a Farm Bill that protects food security.
“I think we’ve got to continue the work that Secretary Vilsack has done through his Commodity Climate Smart projects and get that information and data back in from his pilot programs and see what leads us into the future,” Duvall said. “We also have to make sure that we continue to fund research and development dollars. You got to understand research and development dollars makes us more sustainable by keeping us more efficient and more competitive and without those dollars with other countries outspending us in that area, we could get behind.”
