00:00Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much, Senator Bozeman. I'm going to have to leave after my
00:05questions to see one of our colleagues' first floor speeches, but thank you again, Mr. Fordyce.
00:12FPAC is the most customer-facing missionary, as I noted in my opening, and I ask that you be
00:20responsive to both Republican and Democratic sides of this committee. I have every reason to
00:24believe you will be, based on your past work. Will you commit to providing answers to oversight
00:30questions throughout the implementation of the bill that was just passed, the budget bill, and other
00:36areas? Yes, ranking member. Thank you for that question, and yes, the answer is absolutely yes.
00:44I think when I was here in the first Trump administration as administrator, I came to the
00:50Hill and visited with folks on both sides of the aisle, answered questions, solicited input,
00:57and would certainly commit to doing that this time, if confirmed. You also have a good
01:02recommendation from Senator Blunt, which means a lot to many of us. So CRP is a critical tool for
01:10improving wildlife habitat, water quality, soil health. Leader Thune and I have long partnered
01:15to improve CRP. Will you commit to working with me and others on improvements to CRP, including
01:21improvements to the USDA that the USDA currently has the authority to make?
01:30Yes, absolutely, and I would say that, you know, CRP now is, what is it, 30, 30 years, 30 years old, 40,
01:4040 years old, and you know, I think that is truly a success story, and the evolution of CRP, the different
01:47practices that have come about. So yes, yes, ranking member, I definitely would commit to working with
01:52you as we improve CRP. Okay, so when confirmed, you're going to go walk into a lot. FPAC has lost nearly
02:004,100 employees in the deferred resignation program. FSA alone has lost over 1,000 employees,
02:08and there are offices who have understaffed or unstaffed. This is particularly troubling,
02:15as Congress has tasked USDA with implementing economic and disaster relief this year, and the
02:22recently enacted reconciliation bill will require FSA to sign up 30 million new base acres over the
02:30next year. As a former administrator of FSA, do you think having offices open, available, and fully
02:36staffed is important? How do you believe FPAC can meet its mission of serving farmers with these kinds
02:42of reductions of 4,100 employees? Well, thank you for the question, ranking member, and I, you know,
02:52I haven't had an opportunity, but will, once confirmed, to dig into the data, understand where those
03:00folks, where those retirements came from, where they're located, and certainly, you know, I cannot
03:08say enough about the folks that work, and it's across all three agencies within the mission area,
03:14but I'm most familiar with the Farm Service Agency, and they are, again, some of the greatest folks
03:19that you'll ever meet and ever work with. And so, again, understanding what that is, looking at the
03:25data, but I'm confident, Senator, that we can deliver our mission-critical responsibilities
03:31in a very positive way. Very good. Last question. I look forward to building on the work that was
03:39begun in the 2018 Farm Bill to improve USDA efficiency and provide farmers with a better understanding
03:47of the potential economic farming benefits, not only of the commodities programs and the like,
03:54but also conservation practices. Advances in data paired with widespread adoption of precision ag
04:00technology present exciting opportunities to empower farmers with the best tools available.
04:07Senator Thune and I, again, have an Agriculture Innovation Act, and then Senator Fish and I have
04:13partnered on another bill. How do you think the USDA can partner with academic institutions and other
04:19researchers to better inform the conservation practices, and what barriers does USDA face in
04:27using data and working more closely in conservation?
04:31Well, I do appreciate that question a great deal, because that's an area that I'm very interested in,
04:39very passionate about. I think that there's an opportunity for USDA and the FPAC mission area,
04:45more specifically, and maybe it's understand the technologies better and how can those work to
04:55create better opportunities for the farmers and ranchers that we serve. I would just say that
05:00that is, there's a lot there, and we would be, I would commit that we will do what we can to learn
05:09more about it, understand it, and see what kind of a partnership could exist.
05:12Very good. Thank you.
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