Those investments are being awarded through the , with additional funds coming from the Inflation Reduction Act. Vilsack says the investments will help producers and businesses lower their energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen the resilience of their operation.

“They help farmers lower their costs in terms of their own power needs, and also potentially create more revenue on the farm,” he says.

Creating new farm revenue is a theme the Secretary continues to tout. He believes it may be the biggest issue facing agriculture today.

American farms posted record revenue in 2021 and 2022. However, due to agriculture consolidation, 7.5% of the nation’s farms accounted for 89% of American farm revenue. That left nearly 2 million farmers earning only 11% of the nation’s total farm income.

He says that many farmers face the tough choice of either getting bigger or getting out of agriculture. Unfortunately, huge expansion is usually not an option for the nation’s small and mid-sized farmers. Instead, many people are forced to sell their farms and move to bigger cities for jobs. This slowly erodes rural communities, forcing business to close and schools to consolidate. Hospitals close, weakening medical care in small towns.

“Are we satisfied with that?” Vilsack rhetorically asked the crowd. “I don’t think we are, and I don’t think we should be.”

By promoting new revenue streams like climate smart agriculture, carbon sequestration, and sustainable aviation fuels, Vilsack believes farmers can tap into new markets and generate additional revenue. He says the Biden administration is committed to establishing programs that make it profitable for farmers to pursue these options. He noted that the Biden administration has now invested $9.7 billion to help rural electric cooperatives transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

“They’re going to need farmers to provide the renewable energy source,” Vilsack said.

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USDA’s priorities under Vilsack will include establishing a “new era for equity and fairness” as well as helping end the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing climate change, the department’s new chief of staff, Katharine Ferguson, said.

“The United States is on the precipice of transforming our food system, and that transformation will be led by our farmers, our ranchers, producers, and all of us living and working in rural America,” she said.

Biden’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, Katharine Tai, will get her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

Tai, who advised the House Ways and Means Committee during the last Congress, “is eminently qualified and deeply familiar with the mission” of USTR “in opening foreign markets and reducing barriers for U.S. food and agriculture workers and exporters for the benefit of consumers in the U.S. and across the globe,” said a letter signed by more than 100 groups.

Source: Agri-Pulse

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced Vilsack, an indication of bipartisan support for the former Iowa governor.

“He’s well known to everybody on this committee. I have had a long relationship with Secretary Vilsack, and I can’t think of a single quarrel,” Grassley said. “He knows agriculture very well and understands the importance of maintaining the institution of the family farm, the foundation of success. He knows how to execute the laws.”

In his virtual nomination hearing, Vilsack discussed climate change, Vilsack, 70, leaned hardest on the need for the USDA and American farmers to lead the way in efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. He made clear that he shares President Joe Biden’s vision of net-zero agriculture, and that efforts already underway at farms, such as cover cropping and focusing on soil health—need to be incentivized with market opportunities.

Vilsack also spoke of the need to focus equally on security in our food system and food insecurity for millions of low-income Americans and to maximize the competitiveness of U.S. markets.

Source: Washington Post