Washington, D.C. - House Committee on Agriculture Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) issued the following statement on the European Commission’s proposal to allow EU countries to ignore science-based safety and environmental determinations made by the European Union and “opt out” of imports of products of biotechnology. “Today’s announcement by the European Union that it will allow individual memb... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research held a public hearing to review a presentation by National 4-H Conference participants concerning the future of agriculture in the United States. As the nation’s largest youth development organization, 4-H is a model for bridging the gap betwee... Read more »
Remarks as prepared for delivery: Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here with us today to discuss how the future of agriculture can be sustained through enhancing the rural/urban coalition. Here in the Agriculture Committee we have seen challenges in enacting the Agriculture Act of 2014. If we do not mend the divide between rural and urban areas and foster a widespread understanding of the f... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Committee on Agriculture held a public hearing to examine the costs and impacts of states implementing mandatory biotechnology labeling laws. In 2014, 125 bills mandating the labeling of biotechnology were introduced in 30 different states. According to a report by a Cornell Business School professor, shifting from the current voluntary system to a mandatory sys... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Committee on Agriculture approved H.R. 897, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2015. This legislation (H.R. 872 in the 112th Congress and H.R. 935 in the 113th) would clarify Congressional intent regarding pesticide regulation in or near waters of the United States. A 2009 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erroneously applied the pr... Read more »
Remarks as prepared for delivery: Today we will once again consider the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act. As many of you will remember, this Committee met four years ago to mark up this very same bill text. That bill, H.R. 872, was reported out of our committee by voice vote and passed the House floor on suspension with a vote of 292-130. The same bill passed the House in the last Congress as H.R. ... Read more »
Washington, D.C. - Today, Rep. K. Michael Conaway, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, held a hearing to review the state of the rural economy. The hearing comes just days after the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the 2014 Farm Bill. Implementation of the law was the main topic of discussion as members of the committee asked Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, about progres... Read more »
“Thank you Mr. Secretary for appearing before the Committee today. You are a very busy man, so we appreciate you taking the time to be here with us today. You have long enjoyed a good working relationship with this Committee, including with our previous Chairman, Mr. Lucas, and I look forward to continuing that tradition going forward. Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of the signing of the... Read more »
