Tracey Mann: Farming Innovations Must Keep Costs Low, Or 'It Will Not Be Sustainable' For Farmers

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During a House Agricultural Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Rep. Tracey Mann (R-KS) asked CEO of Agragene, Inc. Bryan Witherbee about the development of new, sustainable, and cheap farming practices.

Transcript

00:00I now recognize the gentleman from Kansas, Mr. Mann, for five minutes.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:05Thank you for having this hearing, and thank you all for being here today.

00:09I represent the big first district of Kansas, approximately 60 rural counties in the mostly western and central part of Kansas.

00:18Farmers, ranchers, and ag producers are the original conservationists.

00:22Their livelihoods always depend on the health and sustainability of the land that they work,

00:26knowing that stewardship today ensures productivity tomorrow.

00:31Technological advances have been helping farmers improve crop yields in Kansas for decades,

00:36and they continue to rely on evolving tools and techniques to secure the food supply

00:40and reduce losses caused by pest disease and extreme weather.

00:44As these challenges continue to evolve, it's essential that our farmers, ranchers, and producers have access to the tools

00:51and innovations necessary to ensure a successful crop today and for many seasons to come.

00:56So they can do what they do best, which we all know is to feed fuel and clothe the world.

01:01Farming practices such as no-till in Kansas have been used for many, many years as our farmers, you know,

01:09work to sustain good soil health, but they've got to have the tools to be able to do that.

01:14So just a handful of questions.

01:17First for you, Mr. Abbott, in your testimony, you mentioned that the U.S. has the most scientifically rigorous

01:22and transparent pesticide regulatory system in the world.

01:28Could you further explain what specific features or processes that make the U.S. system stand out compared to other countries?

01:34Well, first, the rigorous testing that goes through and the submission and the review process,

01:42you go to different countries, and I can't speak for every country.

01:45I know PREA, it seems like it takes, excuse me, not PREA, but PMRA up in Canada, it will take years

01:54and several millions and millions of dollars to get things registered there.

02:00You've heard our frustration on the backlog, right?

02:03That is real, but it's not the first time we've seen backlog.

02:06It's just never been to this degree.

02:07So I would say we really have one of the gold standards, if you will.

02:12It's just a matter of adequately funding the staffing there to get things through.

02:16Yeah, that makes sense.

02:17You know, in an area of growing concern amongst producers, all over Kansas is growing resistance to current crop protection tools,

02:24which can reduce their efficacy and create vulnerabilities to damage.

02:28Again, for you, Mr. Abbott, can you speak to the role that adjuvenants and inert ingredients play

02:33in reducing the risk of weed resistance to provide growers with long-term success in managing?

02:40By the addition, and I'll speak for the inerts first, right?

02:45The inerts are part of the pesticide package, right?

02:48That's what helps them work together, co-mingle together.

02:54If you're putting different chemistries together, they don't always like to play nice together.

02:58It's how do you get those to where they're actually going to stay in stable form and where you can actually use them on the crop.

03:06The adjuvants are going to help influence the tank mix to a degree that you're going to see an improvement

03:12between 15, even as high as 30 percent increase in efficacy versus the pesticide by itself.

03:19So it's about getting it into the leaf penetration, spreading across the leaf,

03:24and actually keeping the spray on the crop itself that you're spraying.

03:28All of which, you know, we need to be approved, quickly approved as new technologers coming out

03:33to give our producers the tools they need to sustainably farm.

03:38And we also have to remember that at the core of sustainability is profitability.

03:41And if our ag producers, you know, if it's not profitable, it will not be sustainable.

03:46Last question for you, Mr. Weatherby.

03:50AgroGene's technology represents an exciting development and pest control

03:53that can grow a producer's toolbox of options as we look toward resilient farming systems.

03:59Can you discuss how your technology can be integrated with other proven crop protection tools

04:04to enhance integrated pest management strategies?

04:07Yeah, I think we all know by now that there's no real silver bullet.

04:11So the more tools that you can have so that you can do rotations,

04:13so that you can apply different chemistries or different products, et cetera,

04:19gives the growers different opportunities to do this.

04:23And particularly with changes in climate, changes in the way pests are active,

04:27they need these other tools and other options, mechanism of actions,

04:30in order to really fight and protect their crop and protect their current season.

04:36So just having more tools in the toolbox and then having, you know, as we've all learned,

04:42you know, the growers are smartest people out there.

04:44They know how to take care of their crops and to bring it to market.

04:47They will find ways at the right times to apply them and to get them in order to maximize yield

04:52and to hopefully maximize their profits as well.

04:55That's right.

04:56Well, thank you all again for being here.

04:57And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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