The significance of the agriculture industry to Nebraska’s Third District cannot be overstated. As the nation’s leading congressional district in market value of agriculture products sold, our farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our state’s economy. Ensuring federal agriculture policy reflects the needs of Nebraska’s outstanding producers places the Farm Bill among my top legislative priorities.
This week, as a component of my Farm Bill outreach, I joined my fellow members of the Nebraska congressional delegation to visit with agriculture industry leaders about important issues. These listening sessions provided a valuable opportunity to ensure the 2023 Farm Bill reflects the interests of the Third District, as I continue to meet and discuss the Farm Bill with Nebraskans.
The delegation started our day of listening sessions at Weber Feedyards in Dorchester, NE, joined by representatives from the Nebraska Cattlemen. There, we examined challenges faced by the beef industry – including the need to address our country’s workforce shortage. While Nebraska currently leads the nation with our low unemployment rate, the civilian workforce participation rate is a more accurate representation of the strength of our workforce. This shows we must incentivize and encourage opportunity for the workers currently on the sidelines of our economy to take advantage of good job openings across the state.
The listening sessions continued with a roundtable discussion with representatives from a wide range of sectors of the agriculture industry hosted at Doane University in cooperation with the Nebraska Farm Bureau. The roundtable addressed a number of topics, including the impacts of proposals to remove dairy products from school lunch menus and California’s Proposition 12.
Proposition 12 restricts the California sale of certain pork products raised in other states, seriously threatening the pork supply chain across the United States. Recently, the California state government delayed implementation of this sweeping measure, but we must take steps to ensure pork producers have the ability to sell their high-quality pork in California and beyond.
Our Nebraska delegation also met with University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and its College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources faculty and students working on cutting edge precision agriculture research in the Tractor Test Lab.
Doing more with less is not a new concept to Nebraskans, and precision agriculture holds promising advancements for even greater efficiencies.
The delegation concluded our day of listening sessions with Green Plains Inc., the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, and a group of ag lending banks and Farm Credit Services. As a leader in the ethanol industry, our time with Green Plains highlighted how biofuels are an essential part of an all-of-the-above strategy for American energy independence.
With the Pork Producers, I discussed my work to ensure we have the tools in place to identify and stop foreign pests and diseases at the border before they enter our food supply. I have introduced legislation, the Beagle Brigade Act, to bolster Customs and Border Protection efforts through a program training contaminant-detecting dogs, and I appreciate the pork producers’ support of this legislation.
From regulatory reform to innovation in precision ag to disaster relief, sound federal agriculture policy is vital for our state. I look forward to additional listening sessions and additional opportunities to support advancement and prosperity in Nebraska’s agriculture industry through the upcoming Farm Bill.