Inflation is now at a 40 year high. Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member John Boozman says it is a national emergency.
“When costs go up on our farmers and ranchers, it’s a bad day for Rural America. And it’s a bad day for everyone who work so hard to purchase the food that they need to put it on their table, and in essence, everyone loses.”
The Ag Committee highlighted increasing costs for farmers, including a 48% increase in natural gas and 54% increase in diesel fuel.
Nebraska senator Deb Fischer pointed to the administration’s policies and the situation in Ukraine for causing the current conditions in farm country.
“Right now, our farmers are trying to make planning decisions, and they need to make those decisions soon for this season. But they also have to take into account the fact that the cost of fertilizer is up to 200%. Gas prices are at an all-time high and they have been rising for months.”
North Dakota Senator John Hoeven says the administration should unleash American oil and natural gas production. His state produces 1.1 million barrels of oil a day and has potential for more.
“Because we can’t get the approvals in the permits, we can’t get gathering systems and get that natural gas to market. So, some cases were flaring it makes no sense whatsoever and then even in the case of coal, we have gasification coming huge plant that actually takes coal converts it to synthetic natural gas, and then uses that to make fertilizer, urea and hybrids. So, we’re not buying it from Indonesia, or anywhere else. We’re producing it right here at home.”
South Dakota Senator John Thune pointed to biofuels as another way to improve energy independence, saying ethanol prices this week were $1.20 a gallon less than traditional gasoline.
“We’ve been trying to get the administration’s attention on this issue for a long time. Without any success. Their obsession with electric vehicles, eclipses everything else, including solutions that not only would help midwestern farmers, lower costs for consumers but also reduce emissions. They have huge environmental benefits to using more biofuels with the administration right now. Like all the other NRC energy solutions that we’re talking about, doesn’t seem interested.”
Senator Thune and Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin are leading a bipartisan call to the president to allow year-round e-15 sales to help bring down costs at the pump.
Related:
Is the U.S. entering a period of sustained inflation?
A first-hand look at how inflation is impacting family ranches in Texas
USDA: increase in net cash farm income is not keeping up with inflation