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VIDEO CLIP: Senator Hyde-Smith Argues for Emergency Assistance for Agriculture.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today strongly argued that American farmers and ranchers need Congress to provide emergency market loss assistance before the end of the year to save producers in Mississippi and across the nation from being forced out of business.
Hyde-Smith presented her case at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing titled, A Review of Disaster Funding, where she encouraged her colleagues to broaden the scope of disaster emergency funding to replenish federal emergency response accounts to include market loss assistance for the nation’s agricultural sector.
“Many farmers across the country are on the verge of going out of business because a hurricane, wildfire, drought, or other weather-related event wiped out entire crops. And they need help,” Hyde-Smith said. “But there are also many farmers across the country on the verge of going out of business due to sky-high input costs and below break-even commodity prices. And they need help too.”
“This year, producers in Mississippi and across the country are reporting some of the best yields ever. That’s what’s so hard about this. They did everything right, yet, they will go out of business if they’re able to unsecure financing to farm next year,” the Senator added. “The high cost, the high interest rates and the low prices is definitely the perfect storm. You may be hard pressed to find a lender able to finance a farmer who is that deep in the hole and we understand that. Just like the weather-related disasters, adverse market conditions are completely out of the farmer’s control.”
While President Biden has submitted a nearly $100 billion emergency supplemental request to Congress for various federal agencies, including $24 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the proposal does not mention or include market loss assistance for agricultural producers.
Hyde-Smith, who supports natural disaster recovery funding for farm country, pointed out that Congress has also historically provided ad hoc assistance for farmers based on damaging economic events beyond their control. Most recently, Congress provided economic assistance to farmers in the CARES Act to offset economic disruptions caused by COVID-19.
The former Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce pointed out that USDA estimates that in the past two years, net farm income has dropped by nearly $50 billion nationally, the largest year-on-year dollar value loss in U.S. agricultural history. In 2024, total crop receipts are forecast to decrease by roughly $28 billion. In addition, the total number of family farms in the U.S. has dropped below 2 million for the first time in history.
“It is absolutely essential that Congress provide emergency assistance for agricultural producers before the end of this year. Even if we passed a Farm bill today, under the traditional Farm bill, structure, assistance would not reach the farmers in time. The assistance needs to be robust and it needs to be implemented swiftly. And then the third thing is we must address all types of disasters. When I say that, I’m referring to natural disasters, as well as market related disasters,” Hyde-Smith said.
“I’m the former AG commissioner of my state. I’m the former chairman of the Senate Ag Committee in my state and serve on Ag now. I’ve never had lenders and farm credit lenders and bankers to look at me and say, we are not going to be able to finance these farmers. I’ve never had that happen until now,” the Senator added.
Responding to Hyde-Smith’s question regarding getting market loss assistance to farmers quickly, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small said, “whatever Congress establishes, it is our responsibility to deliver.”
