00:00Yeah, absolutely.
00:01Obviously, this president has been unequivocal in his support of our farmers.
00:05I don't know that we've ever had a more farmers first president than President Trump.
00:08Maybe Abraham Lincoln when he started the USDA.
00:11But he understands the concerns of our farm workers and our farmers that if they don't
00:15have the labor, we can't feed or fuel or provide fiber to the world.
00:19So he just intuitively, innately understands that.
00:24But he also has a promise to the American people that he has for 10 years talked about
00:29ensuring that every person that is in America is here legally.
00:33So he has tasked our Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez de Rimmer, who runs the H-2A program,
00:38our labor program, out of labor, to ensure that we are adjusting that to make sure that
00:43that program is affordable, it's efficient, and it's effective.
00:47Right now, for any of our farmers to use the H-2A program, they've got to go through three
00:51different agencies.
00:53Then the cost of it, under Joe Biden, the cost of the H-2A program increased almost 40 percent.
00:58So you have basically a program that many of the farmers, they can't access this.
01:02They don't have the armies of lawyers to do it.
01:04So she is making significant changes.
01:07She's already made a couple of announcements, and I don't know there are more to come.
01:10You just recently announced that USDA's have purchased about 230 million of local fish produce
01:16to distribute around the country to communities in need.
01:19Can you expand on that?
01:20Yeah, I think that as we continue to focus on how we support and even open up the market
01:27to more small family farms, more locally produced produce, the farmers market, the great American
01:33farmers market is going on right now.
01:35We're in day three, biggest farmers market, I think in the history of America, we're so proud
01:40of it celebrating America at 250.
01:42But part of that is the effort to ensure that yesterday, Make America Healthy Again Day with
01:47Bobby Kennedy, but to ensure that we're able to provide healthy, in many respects, locally
01:53grown produce and products.
01:55So that particular program, Brian, the couple hundred million we just announced is part of
01:59a larger billion dollar project to not only use this opportunity to move forward more locally
02:06produce, supporting more of our smaller farmers, creating more opportunity and market access
02:11for those farmers.
02:13But really, this is from my perspective, I've been saying this, this is almost a national
02:16security issue.
02:17We've got to figure out how to feed and fuel and clothe ourselves and not be reliant on foreign
02:23adversaries, especially, but even foreign, other foreign governments.
02:26This is a piece of that.
02:27Very soon, we'll be announcing, I think, a really exciting program.
02:31USDA spends $405 million every single day.
02:37Just even taking a moment in Washington, where I'll sort of think about all these big numbers,
02:41we get a little bit numb to them.
02:42But when you think that USDA, not across the government, but USDA alone, spends $405 million
02:48a day on nutrition programs, food stamps, et cetera, that number is stunning.
02:54So what can we do, A, to reform the program, which I know we've all talked about we're doing,
02:59but B, to begin to shift some of that money into buying more locally sourced healthy food,
03:05which again supports the smaller farmers.
03:07So I'm really excited about that.
03:10We're building the plan right now.
03:11Only 5% of food that is purchased in bulk for schools, for prisons, et cetera, only 5%
03:18of it is locally sourced.
03:19So there's a huge opportunity there and more to come on that.
03:22We'll do one more question, y'all.
03:23Anybody else?
03:24All right.
03:25Thank you guys so much.
03:26Look at y'all.
03:27Have a great day.
03:30Bye.
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