Contentious Exchanges, Issues at Latest Hearing with Vilsack

Odds are rising there will be no new farm bill this year unless some of the volatile remarks and issues that surfaced at a Thursday hearing can be resolved. House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.,) roundly criticized USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack during a hearing on President Biden’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget request. Vilsack again noted that despite record farm income, 50% of farmers in the country are not making money, 40% are making most of their profit from off-farm jobs and only the 10% of farmers who are selling more than $1 million in products each year are making substantial incomes. Vilsack said those statistics mean it is important to find ways for farmers to receive additional streams of income. Vilsack said one way to help them is by “creating more value-added propositions, creating a different market, a new commodity, and that’s essentially what USDA did. And it’s essentially what the charter of the Commodity Credit Corporation provides for.”

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