Don Davis Asks Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins About Timeline For Dispersing Disaster Relief Funding To Farmers

7 months ago

During a House Agriculture Committee hearing last week, Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) asked Agriculture Secretary Rollins about the administration's plan to disperse disaster relief aid to small farmers.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman yields back, now recognized gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Davis,

00:04five minutes. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. To our secretary, Secretary Rollins, thank you so

00:10much for being with us today. Good to see you. I was looking forward to the committee, I'm sure,

00:15as we've been excited about you coming. I want to share a picture, the best that I can reflect,

00:22from so many conversations on what's taking place in eastern North Carolina back home.

00:27Farmers are absolutely getting pounded. These are, without any doubt, tough times,

00:34and they're facing many challenges between increase labor costs, low reference prices,

00:40increase input costs, so much uncertainty, double duty drawback for tobacco growers, trade, just

00:47uncertainty. And in the midst of it all, we still, regardless of how we got here, have no farm bill.

00:54And let's be clear, reconciliation is no substitute for a farm bill.

00:59I agree.

01:01In North Carolina, in North Carolina, we have out west, which I traveled a little over a week ago

01:11to the western part of the state. And it's a dire situation that's still on the ground there,

01:16as people are trying to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

01:21But then out east, which I'm honored to represent, we've had our fair share of challenges as we've

01:28been crushed with drought. There's so much going on. And by the way, I would like to personally

01:36welcome you to eastern North Carolina. I would love that.

01:38But what we're leaving farmers now, we're leaving farmers these options. Option A, more debt,

01:49take on more debt. Or option B, I'm going to throw my hands up in the air and call it quits.

01:56Here's the reality. I grew up cropping tobacco and doing a lot of hard work that we enjoyed doing as

02:07kids. And this is part of our heritage. And when you talk in particular family farmers,

02:13they want to continue and pass it on to the children, the next generation. But how many children

02:19want to take on all of this right now? So my first question is, what's the timeline for getting the

02:27disaster and economic agriculture assistance out the door that's going to help us in North Carolina?

02:33Yeah, I appreciate the question. God bless you. You're welcome.

02:41You took up five seconds of my time.

02:43I know. I know.

02:45That was a big one.

02:47That was an amazing sneeze. The first thing I'll say is with ECAP in North Carolina,

02:526,389 of your producers received $118 million over the last month or two. So hopefully that is at

02:59least a step in the right direction. On the emergency livestock relief, which we just released in the

03:04last week or two, there's significant numbers going that way. 599 producers for 23, another 423

03:12producers for 24, a total of $1.4 billion, I believe on that.

03:17And Madam Secretary, let me acknowledge the work that is taking place. I just want to really paint

03:22the picture. There's still a lot more work to be done. And if I can shift, can you speak on whether

03:29you're working with our RMA, the Risk Management Agency Administrator, Swanson to defer interest

03:35charges on crop insurance premiums for the current year?

03:38I don't have that answer, but by the end of the next question, we'll have that for you.

03:44I am not 100 percent sure, so I don't want to answer wrongly, but we'll get that to you right away.

03:48Okay, super. Thank you. And I want to really thank the chair, because we've really been knee deep in

03:55the H-2A program. This is so far an antiquated policy that's still out there. And we just got

04:03to come together and get this done. And thank you, Mr. Chair, for, you know, the task force,

04:08the working group that we advance. But I want to come in particular with AWAR,

04:14because I hear so much about AWAR, and this is a real legitimate concern. My question is,

04:20what's been the communication from USDA with DOL as well as DHS in relation to ensuring there's enough

04:29workers available to continue to feed, fuel, clothe the American people so they can continue to keep

04:38the operations going with it? Well, as we discussed this morning, although, sir, I don't think you were in

04:44the room. There's obviously a very understandable concern in the agriculture market on labor.

04:54I spoke with the president about it this morning. I had a meeting with both Secretary Noem and Secretary

05:00Chavez de Rimmer on Monday night. The president, in an April 10th cabinet meeting on his own, talked

05:05about it. There is no doubt that, first of all, significant reform needs to happen to the H-2A,

05:10H-2B, et cetera, which I know you all are leading on in a bipartisan effort, but also the importance

05:16of our administration and this president, which he does, recognizing that we have a major gap in

05:21the labor market for our dairy farmers, a lot of our row croppers, and how you balance that,

05:26obviously, with his commitment to America and to the American voters, which we don't all agree on,

05:31but to address illegal immigration. So please know I'm committed to working around the clock to

05:36solve for that. Thank you so much. The gentleman's time has expired. Yes.

Don Davis Asks Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins About Timeline For Dispersing Disaster Relief Funding To Farmers

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