Harvesting Greater Opportunity

It is harvest, and Nebraska farmers are logging long hours. As I travel the Third District and meet with producers, I often hear concerns about low commodity prices and what this means for their livelihoods.

The 2014 farm bill had bipartisan agreement on strengthening crop insurance, encouraging producers to invest in efficiency enhancements while reducing the likelihood emergency disaster spending will be needed. Despite the success of this public-private partnership, there are efforts to reopen and weaken the farm safety net.

For example, last year’s budget agreement included a $3 billion cut to crop insurance. Thankfully, we were able to later repeal this cut through many efforts, including the letter I wrote to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee.

The next farm bill is scheduled for 2019, and although it may seem far off, I look forward to more conversations with Third District producers on ways to further improve agriculture policy.

To help ease the financial strains facing producers, we must continue working to roll back burdensome regulations. Earlier this year, I introduced the Fertilizer Access and Responsible Management (FARM) Act to help producers maintain access to anhydrous ammonia after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued new requirements for its storage.

OSHA’s rule change would have impacted approximately 3,800 agriculture retailers and cost the industry more than $100 million to comply. Many small retailers would have been forced to stop selling anhydrous ammonia altogether, limiting the supply of the most common source of nitrogen fertilizer and driving up costs for producers. At the end of September, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled OSHA acted illegally by not giving retailers and producers a chance to submit comments, requiring the agency to forego its interpretive memorandum.

I have also introduced legislation to roll back Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations which currently inhibit E15 fuel sales during the summer months. E10 received a waiver from this red tape nearly two decades ago. Ending this arbitrary regulation on E15 would allow retailers to provide a greater variety of affordable fuels to consumers and likely increase demand for corn through additional ethanol production.

While we tackle these regulatory challenges, we must also look to the future and ensure our producers can continue to lead. This is why we need sound trade policies to open new markets for Nebraska agriculture.

Through trade agreements, we can work to end unscientific, arbitrary restrictions on U.S. biotech products in large economies such as China and the European Union. We can also take action through our membership in the World Trade Organization if our trading partners break the rules. Although we must continue working to improve the proposal before it can be considered by Congress, the Trans-Pacific Partnership promises to open new export opportunities around the Pacific Rim for Nebraska producers.

The global economy will move forward with or without us – to keep and expand our market share for agriculture products, we must engage.

The efficiency of our producers has made the Third District the top-producing agriculture district in the country. By getting the government out of the way and providing access to more markets, we can harvest greater opportunity at home and abroad.