Washington, D.C. - Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX), along with Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN), Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) and Rep. David Scott (D-GA) sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Tim Massad expressing concern with the CFTC’s proposed exemptive order for the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. and the proposed amend... Read more »
Remarks as prepared: Thank you all for being here for this hearing exploring Big Data and Agriculture: Innovation in the Air. This is our second hearing in a series to educate Members about the different facets of this new frontier in agriculture. Production agriculture from one hundred years ago is markedly different than it is today. While our farmers are still producing many of the same crops, ... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Agriculture Committee completed its two-day examination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) organization and program administration. Over the past two days, members of the committee heard from 25 undersecretaries, administrators, and other department officials across USDA’s seven mission areas, on a variety of topics, which included an accounting for ... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, the Committee on Agriculture began Part I of a two-day hearing series examining U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organization and program administration. USDA officials from the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNCS), Food Safety (FS), and Rural Development (RD) mission areas served as witnesses. This hearing series follows a similar series the committee held w... Read more »
Remarks as prepared: Today and tomorrow, we have before us most of the undersecretaries of the Department of Agriculture. Each of these witnesses is responsible for an important mission area within USDA. Accompanying our witnesses are administrators who manage agencies and programs within these larger mission areas. These folks lead the network of nearly 100,000 USDA employees who carry out the la... Read more »
Remarks as prepared for delivery: I am pleased that Secretary Vilsack could join us for this annual hearing to assess the economic conditions in farm country. Thank you for joining us, Mr. Secretary. In assessing the situation, I think it is fair to say that America’s farmers and ranchers are falling on some very hard times right now. Worse yet, I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. To q... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) issued the following statement upon the unveiling of the fiscal year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill. “This responsible funding bill is a win for rural America, and I commend Chairman Hal Rogers and House leadership for including many top priorities of farmers and ranchers. I encourage all of my colleagues, e... Read more »
Remarks as prepared: Today the subcommittee will begin a public dialogue with USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) regarding concerns raised by producers pertaining to a perceived abuse of discretion in conducting the Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture is conducted every 5 years by NASS, the most recent census being taken in 2012. Data collected from the Census of A... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, members of the House Agriculture Committee released a video to celebrate FFA members attending the 88th annual National FFA Convention in Louisville, KY, and recognize them for their dedication to the agriculture industry. Every year more than 60,000 FFA members and guests gather at the National FFA Convention to attend meetings, compete in contests, and demonstrate their... Read more »
Remarks as prepared: Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone here today to the third in a series of hearings highlighting agricultural research, extension and education programs. On April 14th, this subcommittee had the honor of hosting Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Hardin along with 17 bright and gifted young people involved in the 4H program. These young men and woman spoke to us about ... Read more »
