FEMALE_1: Support for this special conversation comes from the Gertrude J. Sandt Endowment, the James H. Olay family Endowment, the Sydney and Helen S. Friedman Endowment, and from viewers like you.

Thank you.

Carolyn Donaldson: Hello, and thank you for joining us.

Coming to you from the Dr. Keiko, me Will Ross WPSU production studio for the 19th times since 1933 Congress is writing a multiyear farm bill that will shape what kind of food US farmers grow, how they raise it, and how it gets to consumers.

It will also cover aspects such as snap and disaster aid.

Now these measures are large and complex and expensive, projected to cost taxpayers $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

The current bill expires September 30th, and it is now getting increased attention as congress also deals with the debt ceiling debate.

Now, earlier this month, the four liters of the agriculture committees, including two who were joining us today, had a conversation with President Biden and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, on the importance of passing a bipartisan farm bill this year.

Let's meet our guests who will spend the next hour discussing this important piece of legislation.

Republican congressman Glenn GT Thompson, representing Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district, which includes all of the WPSU viewing area, is now in his eighth term.

He leaves the house agriculture committee as the first chairman from Pennsylvania in nearly 170 years and the first Penn State alumnus as the panel prepares to write this farm bill.

Joining us via Zoom is Democratic congressman David Scott.

He's currently serving his tenth term representing George's 13th district and is the panels former chairman, continuing now in his party's top slot as ranking member.

Rick Roush serves as the Dean of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Dr. Roush is responsible for the administration of the college's educational, research, government, alumni, industry relations, and Penn state extension programs.

His focus is on key issues facing agriculture and the rural communities right here in Pennsylvania, including water quality, workforce development, pest management, and climate smart agriculture.

And we'll talk about those and touch on those.

Welcome to all three and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules for the support and discussion.

We have a note to our viewers that we are actually taping this program on Friday, May 19th.

And with the changing dynamics around the debt ceiling debate, there may be some developments about the farm bill as it relates to that crisis a lot by the time this airs.

So take that into consideration and WPSU continue to bring you the latest on that.

So congressman, your committee issued a statement following that meeting at the White House.

And I'm quoting here, "The farm bill is a jobs bill.

It is a safety net for farmers and consumers and it is an investment in a rural communities and the health of the American people."

So let's start from that point of conversation.

If you each would briefly summarize your points on the farm bill and the importance from your own perspective lenses.

And let's begin with you, Congressman Thompson.

Glenn Thompson: Well, Carolyn, thank you so much to you to-to migrate Alma mater here, this great land grant university, and these, uh, two distinguished agriculture leaders that I have the pleasure and the privilege of being with today.

Yeah.

The farm bill- the farm bill is important to those who produce our food and fiber building materials, energy resources, building materials.

Um, but also those who process and those who consume.

That would be everyone.

Carolyn Donaldson: [LAUGHTER] Absolutely, right.

Carolyn Donaldson: Right.

Glenn Thompson: And there's nothing that's Glenn Thompson: In this country.

a greater return on investment in what we do in Washington than- than the farm bill.

When you think about it, for basically less than two percent of what has spent total out of by Washington, by the federal government, that's what we invest into the farm bill.

But as a result of that, we provide for food, we provide for fiber nutrition, er, the impact of jobs, the impact of, uh, economic development.

It's our number one industry here in Pennsylvania, right?

One out of every seven jobs.

It's the- the- the exports that are- that are done.

But it's also the impact on- on a better environment- environment and a cleaner climate.

And then you put on top of that what it does for really, for rural America, given the rural development title.

And basically, uh, what it does is so important not just for, as I like to say, 2023 through 2028, because he's a normally a five-year authorization.

It's- it's creating a platform for whatsover the horizon and really providing the tools for great land grants like we have in Georgia.

But also here at Penn State University and all across the country to be able to- to do the research to develop the next- next generation of innovations and technology.

Carolyn Donaldson: Okay, great.

Congressman Scott, from your perspective there a Georgia and you've been working on this farm bill in the chair position prior to this role.

Your perspective on the importance of this spill in its essence, especially representing Georgia.

David Scott: Very important.

And first, let me say a big shout out and a great word to my good friend, GT Thompson.

I mean, Chairman, you're doing a wonderful job, but a pleasure working with you.

And this great state of Pennsylvania, it's got to be very proud of you.

And I, when I speak of Pennsylvania, that's dear to my heart as well as I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, went to elementary school that I think it was Washington Street Elementary.

[LAUGHTER] And, uh, I was baptized at 10 years old, that Pine Street Baptist Church, formative years.

And then at the end of my career and getting my education, I was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Finance where I got my MBA.

So I say that with great pride and I'm so delighted to be with you-all at this time.

Now, going to your point about the importance of this bill.

I- I say all the time agriculture- agriculture is our single most important industry, of all of our industry.

It was for most of the first.

If you look at our founding fathers, 85 percent of them were farmers, agriculture.

You can do without a lot of things, but we definitely can't do without food, without water, clothing, and shelter.

And at GT pointed out it is our number one trade mechanism, the economy, the jobs.

And so I'm just thrilled I've served on the committee now.

I'm in my 21st year.

And many of those years with my good friend GT, we've traveled together around the world as a committee, and we're good friends and they call us the bipartisan partners.

So important.

This bill sets the tone for what this nation needs.

There's a great hunger in this nation.

For bipartisanship.

We gotta work together.

And this is precisely what we're doing.

I will mention one of the major concerns that we all have.

And I think moderator, they're mentioned it as well.

And that is nap.

It's so important.

Carolyn Donaldson: Yes.

David Scott: And so we'll be getting into it.

We move on.

Carolyn Donaldson: All right.

Thank you, congressman Scott for those opening remarks.

And yes, we will be touching on that very important part of the bill.

But let's first hear from Dean Rausch.

Dean Roush: Well, thank you.

Carolyn it's an honor to be with congressman Scott and congressman Thompson.

I'm really pleased for this opportunity.

And the farm bill is huge.

I mean, for constant Thompson mentioned only two percent of the federal funding goes into the farm bill.

Out of that, a fraction of one percent actually is directly spent on the land grant university system.

Yet, you don't think people realize those slimmed down.

Glenn Thompson: Yes 0.2 of one percent.

David Scott: Point two of one percent actually goes to land grants.

So, but that's it in terms of total federal expenditure, it's not very much, but in terms of the impact on land grant universities and the impacts they can have understates.

Carolyn Donaldson: Okay.

Dean Roush: Its tremendous.

So well I'm sure we'll get into some examples of that later.

But it also, it's important in terms of how it affects farming in general, don't overlook the importance of some of the minor, relatively minor expenditures compared to food and nutrition.

And I've singled out prop insurance is a key one that helps stabilize.

Re- really introduced to the 1930s a concept but to try to stabilize farm incomes against the vicissitudes of weather and climate and so forth.

And also conservation programs such as through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Even though the- the land grant universities interact a lot with the conservation services to help fine tune the way their expenditures are made and the kinds of projects are invested in.

So those are other areas of the farm bill that are much bigger than the direct expenditures on land grants.

But they're really critical to farm- to farms across the United States.

Carolyn Donaldson: Great, and we know that you're fine.

Researchers are looking at all those in terms of researching and helping form some of this.

So let's- let's take a look right now because we want to get right to the meat of it.

And let's look at the pie chart which shows the breakdown of this bill funding.

And you know it surprised me at first when I took a look at this and you see that red part.

So at 99 percent of the farm bill, I'm sorry, the year, but over 90 percent goes to the big four titles, nutrition, crop insurance, as mentioned, commodities and conservation.

So nutrition, now it is called a farm bill, but it's really more of a farm and food bill.

So I wanted to take a moment at this time as you look at that graph and let's go right to a short interview that we had recently with a man who's on the front lines of this ever-increasing problem right here in our region and really across the country.

It's the food insecurity issue.

And center counties YMCAs anti-hunger program is trying to address that issue right here and is led by this man, Mel Curtis.

Let's listen in.

Mel Curtis: The communities that we're serving, we're still seeing a growing number of people facing food insecurity is set a point right now where, you know, it's affecting not only the you know people that were receiving larger sums of money and snob, but it's the working families, you know, because of inflation, that the cost of food, the cost of gasoline, you know, heating fuel, and things like that row so much.

A lot of these people, you know, started to cut back on food and they started looking at places, you know, where they could get extra food.

Mel Curtis: Our numbers went up in January, our numbers went up in February.

And I think that our March numbers this should be the first full month since the SNAP benefits has fallen off.

I think once again, we're going to see a sizable increase.

If we go back to pre-COVID, when it started in March of 2020.

Feeding America came out, and said it would take 6-7 years till we would see pre-COVID numbers again, we're just past year three.

So we're now just starting year four, a lot of these people spent their savings during COVID.

So now they're basically rebuilding their lives all over.

We're also seeing an increase in senior citizens.

They have not gotten any type of increase.

The- this gonna be, you know, helpful to them.

So, you know, when inflation took over the price of gas, the price of heating fuel, that- that all has a major impact on our numbers, so what we're seeing.

Through the farm bill, they have the ability to reauthorize different feeding programs.

Which is very essential because you're looking at programs such as CACFP, and also SNAP falls under this category, where they can reauthorized the funding to make sure these programs continue.

During COVID, the federal government came out with a program that's called Farmers to Families.

And it was a program instituted, not only to help the families but to help the farmers because they know a lot of them had excess crops.

Dairy farmers were stuck with a lot of milk.

They were dumping- dumping milk, and things like that.

So with this program, you know, a- a family would come out, they would get a gallon of milk.

They would get meat, butter, cheese, and all different types of vegetables in this box.

And- and basically what it did was help- it helped the farmers up drastically, but it also helped out to community because, you know, that gave them everything that they needed that- that was hard to get at that time, included eggs.

And, you know, and we all know what happened with eggs in a very short period of time.

So I think, you know, if that's a program that could fall back in the- on the farmville, I think it would be a win-win for- for everyone.

It's going to help the farmers it's going to, you know, put money back into their pockets because it's- it's basically, you know, if they have extra crops, they were just losing all these- these products beforehand.

Interviewer: Mel Curtis brings up some very important issues, re-introducing, of course, Congressman Thompson, Congressman Scott joins us on Zoom, and- and Dean Rausch from Penn State.

So Congressman Thompson, I know I've seen you on those lines distributing food, you've helped Mel out.

And Congressman Scott, I understand that you've also pushed up course in your leadership role for increased food aid.

So we look at how do we help?

And this is the statistic I pulled over 42 million Americans who depend on SNAP.

Nearly one in every four of those 42 million are children.

This is a very tough- tough time for everyone, but especially those that are in those margins.

Bennie Thompson: Yeah, Carolyn, absolutely, in the SNAP nutrition title overall.

SNAP is one part of that.

Obviously support for our food banks or food pantries.

Ah, the're- the- the all of SNAP, not just the nutrition assistance, but the SNAP employment, and career, and technical education training that we provide, really, you know, providing for the- the nutrition title provides for both food security and financial security.

And a lot of people are surprised by that, and also healthy eating because the, ah, and we do that through our land grants.

So actually the- the healthy eating a portion of SNAP is- is done through, ah, land grants like Penn State.

And so, ah, it is incredibly important.

We are, ah, there are a lot of people are hurting today.

Those savings have, folks might have had because of the assistance for COVID.

Those went away rather quickly because of this inflation.

So it's no surprise.

Interviewer: And we're looking at the graph.

They're just right now as to the, kind of, need that you're giving, you know, through- through help.

Bennie Thompson: No, that's correct.

I mean, somewhere around $260 is the average, and that- that- it is supplemental nutritional system.

That's why we also provide resources for the food banks, food pantries, but it's- it's just one part of the solution for help people achieve, ah, food security.

But again, we work very hard to make sure that we've, ah, are providing a pathway to financial security too, because they really- because you're struggling financially that's what you need if- if you're able-bodied.

Um, certainly, although having worked 28 years with people facing life-changing disease, and disability, and rehabilitation, those are some of the most motivated folks that I've ever seen that in order to get back into gainful employment- employment.

So the- the nutrition title was- is- is an extremely important part of this.

I- I also think it represents what I believe is a rural value in that, uh, and it probably is uncertain in urban and suburban.

I've just never lived there.

So, but in rural America, I know that neighbors helped neighbors in need.

And that's what the nutrition title does.

And there's not a calorie consumed under the nutrition title that it has not produced by a farmer or rancher someplace.

So it really is a- it's- in the end, it's really a great public private partnership.

Interviewer: Sure- sure.

And Congressman Scott, do you want to weigh in?

I know there- again, looking at this particular part of the farm bill and how important it is, again for your constituents as well.

David Scott: Absolutely.

And as I mentioned earlier, when we're dealing with food, we're now dealing with food security as a national issue.

A national security issue, as- as you mentioned earlier, 42 million.

But what we have to look at, is what is the makeup of this 42 million.

And as we make decisions about how we carry on with SNAP, we have to realize- excuse me- [NOISE] we have to realize, as the moderator pointed out, we're at right now, 5.2 million of these, 42 million are children.

And many of them are nourished and taken care of by their grandparents or seniors that are there.

So when we look at how we manipulate and deal with SNAP, we have to look at it from the standpoint of who makes it up.

Then we have our veterans.

Veterans are suffering from great hunger because we failed to really look at it.

We look at our veterans or military, there are our heroes, there in movies.

They fight wars for us.

But they pay a terrible price when they come home.

And they have to adjust to this society.

And so we have- when we look at SNAP, look at a nutrition program, we got to get in and dig in to make sure that these 42 million of our citizens are just really taken care of.

So right now, you mentioned the debate with our debt ceiling situation.

Why in the world is that even brought into?

I- I wish my republican friends had not brought that in.

Because how can we even begin to deal with?

Even thinking about dealing with our debt on the backs of our veterans, our children, and our senior citizens.

As I mentioned earlier, I was raised by my grandparents right there in Scranton, so many of us are.

And when you talk about the work requirements, you gotta be very careful with that.

We've got work requirements in SNAP right now.

But we're not putting it on our veterans who need it.

We're not putting it on our senior citizens who are raising these children.

So that's why there is this critical human element.

He put a well right there, our culture is help our neighbor, help those in need.

That's what those 42 million are.

And that's why we got to be very careful, very sensitive, and do it the American way.

Bennie Thompson: And- and I think we are.

I mean, when those numbers are important that- that David shared those percentages.

I mean of the 42 million on SNAP, 15.8 million are children.

There's no work requirements there.

In fact, if their pre-school children, there's no work requirements on the adult that would be- be caring for them.

There's no work requirements when folks who are living with a disability.

Uh, although many of those folks are looking for opportunities, and I work hard to try to create some pathways to that of older adults and the older I get them, I'm- I'm really cautious about naming ages.

Interviewer: Good.

I'm with you [OVERLAPPING].

Bennie Thompson: Those who are over 60, we'll just say that's 5.8 million of the folks that are on SNAP.

But, you know, for the folks who are- really are, ah, on, ah, on SNAP that are- and we want to provide them a sure- an opportunity for financial security.

And that's where- that's where these job opportunities, ah- Glenn Thompson: That we have already and we've had for decades, some people call it work requirements, but really it's job opportunity because we pay for the- uh, the imp- actually there's three things that you can do in this space.

You- you uh- you can either be working, and quite frankly, almost a quarter, 24% of everyone's SNAP is already working.

Interviewer: Okay.

Glenn Thompson: There are the working poor.

They're working one and two jobs, probably minimum wage, no benefit- Interviewer: You are still needing MELs program.

Glenn Thompson: And they're struggling financially, right?

Interviewer: Right.

Glenn Thompson: And so- so they're all- a- a quarter of the folks on SNAP are already working.

Interviewer: Okay.

Glenn Thompson: And then you have a- uh , actually the way the program works currently is that, uh, you either, uh- if you're between the ages of 18 and- and- and 49, we'd like- I'd like to see that go to 55 only because if you take it to 55, a 55-year-old would be eligible for these- these benefits.

Interviewer: Sure.

Glenn Thompson: And to be eligible for SNAP, currently to age 49, you know, you either be working 20 hours a week or volunteering 20 hours a week.

So there are other opportunities as well to make it as- as flexible as possible.

But in the end of the day, the SNAP program is incredibly important.

It's an important part of the Farm Bill.

There are some folks that would like to split that title out and- and, uh, I think both speaking on behalf of David and myself, we're- we think that that's an important part and we're very proud of the fact that farmers feed and nutrition matters.

Interviewer: Okay.

Glenn Thompson: And that- that needs to remain and- and, uh, you know, uh, as a part of the Farm Bill.

Interviewer: Okay.

Well, to quickly close this out.

Research.

Is research looking at this?

Rick Roush: Well, actually it's education.

So as Congressman Thompson mentioned, the land-grants are involved in nutrition education.

Many- most states, it's College of Agriculture has equivalent- here it's a College of Health and Human Development.

Interviewer: Okay.

Rick Roush: That- um, that has the lead on SNAP education.

So there's a small amount of the funding there.

It's trying to make sure that people are getting this kind of support, are getting good education about, um, nutrition advice.

We also do that in- uh, in extension.

And collectively there's- I understand there's about a million- the market for this is about a million people in Pennsylvania trying to improve their understanding of good nutrition.

Interviewer: Okay, great.

We- we could spend probably the entire hour on this, but let's move on and let's change gears a little bit.

And- and Dean Rausch, land-grant universities again, where you sit is such as Penn State here and University of Georgia, where our Congressman Scott's district is recognized for the significance that you play in fostering that research in education.

So start off this part of the conversation with a look at the funding and the impact can and should be making on the many issues that you deal with in your researchers and your- um, your students deal with in- in this land-grant institution.

Rick Roush: Well, the funding is critical.

Um, a lot of times it allows us to leverage even other- other funding resources.

But, um, for us, for example, there's about, uh, 23 million that we get from Federal funds to help with our research and extension efforts.

We get about 50- 56, 57 million from the State government.

So that's a partnership there.

There's about 10 million from the counties that's primarily involved in extension.

So the- it's the mix of all those that allows us to- to, um, have really strong research programs that translate quickly into, um, lessons on the ground.

I think one of the things we're really interested in expanding, which we've already talked on.

Touch congressmen is on workforce that- that we'd like to see more in the- in the Farm Bill support workforce development.

Um, the- the overall market of students is on the decline demographically, we need to work on not just the traditional students, but students returning servicemen and so forth to start really building a workforce for agriculture across the country.

Um, but the research is really critical and we'll talk more about the Venice fac- facilities, but- Interviewer: Okay.

Rick Roush: Essentially what we're trying to do is research in education across a wide range of areas that affect agriculture, um, the environment that agriculture is in- in rural Pennsylvania, rural United States more generally.

Interviewer: All right.

Great.

I had so many topics here, so let's move on if we can.

At this point, we will get back to some more of the specifics there.

But let's look at another big issue facing rural America.

And that is, how does this bill affect the digital divide?

And we do have a graphic that we'll show.

And Congressman Thompson, I know you've been on the frontlines of that as well taking a look at, because that's a lot of your constituency, I would assume.

Glenn Thompson: Well, I- actually when Chairman Scott- when David Scott- uh, Congressman Scott was chairman, we worked together, um, in 117th Congress and we passed a great bipartisan, uh, broadband bill.

And we need that, we needed bridge to digital divide.

It- it you know, it used to be thought that- that high- high-speed broadband was a luxury.

It's a necessity today and- and, uh, if- if we've learned nothing else from our time during COVID, you know, the importance of that when it comes to, uh- uh, helping to supplement education, accessing health care, keeping up with the grandchildren, that whole socialization.

Uh, but it's also about precision agriculture, right?

Um, uh, the- the efficiencies, the- the fact that, uh- the- one of the ways that- with this Farm Bill that we are going to help move the- uh, the increase in efficiency of American agriculture.

Right now it increased 287% was kind of the high watermark since 1940s.

We want to take that to 400% by- by the year 2035.

Interviewer: And that takes technology.

Glenn Thompson: And that takes technology out there.

Interviewer: And connections.

[LAUGHTER] Glenn Thompson: Yeah, so the- the digital divide is unacceptable from so many different perspectives.

Let alone the entrepreneur, the person who wants to move to rural America and there's a real demand for it after people that experienced COVID in urban centers.

And you know, our- our residential real estate, um, realtors are really busy right now, but there are people who are not going to come, they're not going to stay if they don't acc- have access to high-speed broadband.

Interviewer: Let's get, uh, Congressman Scott, you want to weigh in on this one for the digital divide?

David Scott: Yeah.

It's certainly do.

Here's the problem.

The problem is, and GT is right.

Uh, we did $65 billion and we got that out there.

But it's scattered where you got so many alphabet soup entities out there and agencies, departments, and they all gravitated and you got it.

You cannot bring rural broadband.

And last week follow the pattern that we did with who brought in rural- electricity to rural communities.

[LAUGHTER] It was organized and dedicated and- and orchestrated within the US Department of Agriculture.

You need that one unit.

What happened with that $65 bi- billion when Tom Vilsack in USDA got only two billion of it?

Interviewer: Oh, okay.

David Scott: What could you do when it scattered?

So GT and I have gone to work and we're putting together another bill that will get 45 billion and get it straight to the Department of Agriculture.

Who better equip to really organize and bring it together?

They're in the agriculture department.

It was the agriculture department that brought electricity, there in place for that.

So I'm hopeful that we can move on it and move on and very rapidly.

Interviewer: All right.

Rick Roush: So interestingly enough, one of our small team in our extension group in 2021 developed a mapping app that allowed to identify buildings across the state that were not served by broad man.

They made this app available to about a dozen companies to bid for EFCC funding and they brought back $368 million to try to reach untapped areas in Pennsylvania.

One of the things that illustrates is the College of Agriculture in extension are not just about cows and sales.

You know, they- they- we had a couple of guys who saw an opportunity, figured- you know, saw the need, developed this- It and had the capability to develop this app.

So the- they've done that.

And further recognition of the significance of what they've done is the Rockefeller Foundation has provided them another half a million dollars to try to- to try to build a mapping capabilities across the United States.

So just- the- the potential is there and sometimes it just- Interviewer: Help everybody.

Rick Roush: Yeah, it- illustrates it- in the land-grant universities, the basic capacity funding we have give us the capability to pivot for these opportunities and help out.

Interviewer: That's great.

Glenn Thompson: And I think it just speaks to the- to the point that our land-grant universities and the Farm Bill is- are- they are both a force for economic development.

Rick Roush: Absolutely.

Interviewer: Okay.

Well, let's touch on precision agriculture because I'm going to start that with you, Dean.

It- it sounds high-tech, but it deals with the farming world.

Rick Roush: There are a lot of- it's out there already.

Interviewer: Okay.

Rick Roush: So most p- well, they're sort of driving change in agriculture over the last few decades has been to go to no-till and cover cropping, where Pennsylvania is really a leader, that we're among the top five states in terms of adopting both.

Which has all kinds- kinds of implications for climate-smart agriculture, reduce- improving water quality and so forth.

Specifically- Interviewer: With conservation.

Interviewer: Okay.

Rick Roush: But an example of precision is that people Rick Roush: Exactly.

have equipment on their harvesters so they can tell what the yields are, how the yields are varying across a crop field, and they can map sites.

A field that need more help than others.

Um, typically people don't just broadcast, um, fertilizers anymore, but it's bandaged straight in the area where the crop is and they can return to that same band to use them that fertilizer that's still there in the next year.

So the- the- the number of options are fantastic and we're trying to expand them in various other ways.

But those are things that are already going.

Interviewer: And there are some critics in the climate, in the environmental world that are saying, you know, not enough is being done.

But this is an example I would assume of how that add to the Farm Bill.

Glenn Thompson: Oh, this- yeah, this- um, this is just one part of- well, American agriculture can define- be defined as science, technology, and innovation.

Interviewer: Okay.

Glenn Thompson: And so in the climate space, uh, there are no greater climate heroes anywhere in the world than the American farmer.

And I'll use that broadly, farmer, rancher, forester, processor.

Glenn Thompson: And they are.

And the data shows that, right?

I mean, today the average on an annual basis, the American farmer with that term used broadly.

So American agriculture, you know, sequesters 6.1 gigatons of carbon annually.

Put that into perspective.

That's 10.1 percent more than what they admit.

Nobody does it better than the American farmer.

Also, if it is truly science, technology, innovation, it's not static, it's not standing still.

It's dynamic and there'll be new innovations and new research.

Interviewer: And it takes money.

Glenn Thompson: And new developments and that research absolutely takes an investment.

Interviewer: Okay.

Congressman Scott, would you like to weigh in on this part with precision agriculture and- and your- your perspective?

David Scott: Yeah, so I- I would because I wanted to tie that in with the importance of our land grant colleges and universities.

And this is one of the reasons why, um, I've been out front and was able with JT's help once again.

And we have put together what is going down in history right now as one of the most historic bipartisan, biracial, uh, programs.

And that is the 1890s land grant colleges and universities are land-grant universities is what was able to rebuild the south.

And, you know, I'd always loved to tell the story about Tecumseh Sherman.

Many of you may remember him as William Sherman, the great general that savaged through my home state of Georgia there.

But after that Civil War, everybody came together and they talked to Lincoln about it and said, we got the land here.

What we're going to do.

And in every Confederate state, they put an- land grant school.

And then the African American communities, slaves were free there, but where were they to do?

But a few years later, Plessy versus Ferguson came in, separate but equal.

So everywhere they had, uh, land grant of serving the white community, they had land grants for the African American community.

So we've got that program there is dealing with precision agriculture.

We brought groups in to discuss that.

And, eh, it is going, um, real fast.

And, um, we've been able to get so far 800 scholarships there.

And this is what makes it even greater.

Those 1890 land grant African American colleges and universities have every race, creed, and color of our great nation go into those institutions.

And that's why this is great and technology is key to the future.

And your guests there mentioned the carbon sequestration.

That is what we have got to revitalize our soil.

They don't call them Mother Earth for nothing where we all come from.

Interviewer: All right.

Thank you.

Congressman Scott we're sitting in a place that is part of the land grant institution.

So we of course have to be thankful for that as well.

Let's move on to the robust dairy farming industry, which is a big, big part of Pennsylvania here in the Commonwealth.

Uh, much of the farming things that are not guaranteed and we talked about this favorable weather, healthy livestock economic decisions.

So how do farmers manage that risk, which is kind of huge unknown in light of the Farm Bill.

How does that play into it?

Glenn Thompson: Well, that's the risk management title that we have and specifically on dairy and dairy is if- agriculture is our number one industry in Pennsylvania, which I would argue it's the number one industry in every state except for Hawaii [LAUGHTER] And it used to be number one in Hawaii and it's still very robust, but tourism sort of co-opted [LAUGHTER] Um, and in Pennsylvania our number one commodity is dairy, I have a small dairy farm so less than 100 herd.

But they're so incredibly important.

So in a program that we, uh, that we worked on starting in 2014, refined it to where it was in 2018, was the dairy margin coverage.

And it's a- it's a- it's a almost like crop insurance.

It's- it's a risk, but it's a public-private partnership.

The dairy farmers buy into it.

Uh, this is, uh, and- and basically, you know, they- they buy insurance based on the cost of inputs.

Uh, uh, corn, wheat, uh, corn, soybeans, alfalfa.

And it's a great program that really helped a lot of dairy farms through a very difficult time when the food supply chain was disrupted during COVID.

And it helps any other time.

So we need to make sure that we're strengthening that program.

Well, part of being in a listening mode is finding out from dairy farmers what they need or seems like there may be a need that we take a look at- at increasing the amount of pounds that could be ensured.

And- and quite frankly, looking at some things like adjusted gross income, because with a cost of inflation, um, all costs have gone up.

But what hasn't improved as the margin.

You know, farming is a business.

And at the end of day is not so important what you bring in is what you're left with after you pay your bills.

And then we have- we have livestock type risk management programs and certainly crop insurance.

Interviewer: Yes.

Glenn Thompson: And again, it's a public-private partnership.

This is not like fire insurance, this is not like winning the lottery.

Uh, fire insurance your house burns down, the insurance will help you rebuild it.

This will help you pay enough bills so that you can continue to farm in the next season.

So, uh, harvest season, so, uh, really important, mainly helping farmers manage risk is an incredibly important.

On dairy, uh, it looks like, uh, the USDA is going to, hopefully we'll have some hearings with the Federal Milk Marketing order.

Uh, it's a very complex system, but it looks like that's a consensus among the dairy industry to try to do that through regulatory authority.

I will tell you, being from a long line of dairy farmers and most of my family farms went away when they built the dam and Howard, they lay at the bottom of a lake today eminent domain.

If- if USDA can't do something with Federal Milk marching orders, and I- and I've confidence and hope that they will, but if they don't, we as a committee, we'll take a look at it because we can't keep doing don't dairy what we've always done.

Because if you do that, we're going to wake up someday and we're going to be dependent on another country for- for our dairy- dairy supplies.

Interviewer: We- we've got less than 15 minutes left.

I want to if you're joining us right now, we have Congressman GT Thompson representing the 15th congressional district.

We have Representative David Scott representing the 13th congressional district in Georgia and Dean Rick Crouch from Penn State's Agriculture Science.

Um, let's- let's look at this because you- you've touched on this to everyone and that's how does this bill support those looking into going into farming as a business.

I've- I took a look the number of small family farms has dwindled drastically.

According to what I research, less than 1% of the US population actually lives on a farm today.

So will this bill help reverse that trend?

And what are your perspective things- what are you doing to- to incorporate that?

Glenn Thompson: Well, the average age, uh, average farmer age is age 57.5.

And so we- we need to be thinking about the future and succession, uh.

GT Thompson: Ranking Member, Scott and I, we've worked together for a lot of years past, uh, uh, at least to farm bills, uh, where we've really put forward programs that are part of -are part of the farm bill for new young and beginning farmers, help them get access to information, access to credit, which is so important, you know.

There- there are literally farmers out there that borrow more in one year to produce a crop or a herd than what the average family borrows in a lifetime.

You know, they borrow it, they raise, they- they harvest or they sell, and then they pay that loan off.

Interviewer: Leverage all of that, it's very risky.

GT Thompson: In credit so important access to acreage, uh, f- for the- you know, for the, uh, you know, for those new young and beginning farmers, but also for the veterans farmers.

We have under the miscellaneous title, which is titled 12, uh, we do have programs listed there for new young and beginning.

These are ones that we've worked on since at least 2014.

We need to look at- take a look at those.

Do they need to be improved in any way?

And we have specific set-aside programs for veterans, those American heroes who are returning.

They would- they- they see agriculture as a path forward for them.

Interviewer: Okay, your training future farmers, is it working?

Rick Roush: It- it does.

We- we need to increase our workforce development efforts.

They're non-traditional students.

A lot of them will get- trained through the extension thing but completely endorse everything that GT's said.

But- but, you know, one of our big challenges is recruitment, and we've got to, you know, start young to get that, but we- we need to intensify our recruitment and the demographics stuff.

You can't just- essentially, you can't just rely on rural areas to reduce these fe- future farmers.

we also have to reach out to people in suburban and urban areas as well.

Interviewer: And all demographics, all the ethnicities, everyone is welcome to the table of farming, right Congressman, Scott, do you want to weigh in quickly on that?

David Scott: Yeah, I do.

And this is a heartbreaking, very serious issue.

The New York Times recently did a story and did a lot of research on it.

And they were able to point out that we were losing 17,000 small ranch farmers each year, and that thousands of our farmers haven't made a profit in over five years.

Now, we do have this serious problem.

I've delved into it, we've brought, um, our- our ranchers our farmers in, and everyone.

If we do not save the small family farm, I mean, uh, you know I grew up on a farm and there are two elements to it.

There are the crops, there's tobacco, there's candy, there's corn, there's all of that.

And- but then there are the animals that have to grow year after year.

And it's that family relationship that grows the cattle up from a calf.

The same thing with our dairy.

These are, uh, uh- they require tender loving care, so to speak.

So what we've done is we've put together a bill, we're working on it that would do two essential things.

One of the things we would do is set up a safety net with an indemnity plan where we will be able to address it to the small family rancher and farmer.

And that would mean as far as the ranchers concerned below 100 cattle be, uh, uh, heard and target that.

And then the other part of it will be setting up a unique direct marketing plan, which, uh, will- we will be able to get to Tom Bell side, add USDA, a summer manager, do precisely that.

We have got to do this, it is a national issue.

And if we don't save those smaller family farms and keep the family in it, I mean, I think right now for example the majority of farmers, many of them, they don't farm full-time, they work at the school, they work at a store, they farm at part-time, and the youngsters are not moving into it.

That's where we work also with our 89, is getting our young people in because science and technology is taking over.

I can express how big an issue this is, the loss of our farmers and our small family farms.

And I hope that this bill, we're getting it and we're going to put it into the farm bill and, uh, with GT scalp, and we working together, both Democrats and Republicans disagree, we got to save these small family farms and ranches.

GT Thompson: Consequences are well beyond that too, right?

You lose these farms.

And- and we don't have large farms in Pennsylvania, uh, you wind up, uh- you lose jobs, you- you lose economic opportunities, you see our small towns start- continue to lose grocery stores and- and various businesses because, uh, you know, there- the- it's just the- the economy.

You also have a negative impact on the environment when you lose the farms because it- and on the climate quite frankly because you lose that sequestration, it happens through modern American farming and at the end of the day, they are worst- the last crop, uh, is a parking lot or housing development.

Interviewer: There you go.

Rick Roush: Or solar farm.

GT Thompson: Or a so- and I don't use those two words together.

Interviewer: Right.

GT Thompson: The solar is not a farm, but I understand, I had the same concerns you do.

Interviewer: We've got just about 10 min left.

I just wanted to give our wonderful guests and our audience that update.

And we've got Congressman GT Thompson representing, of course, most of the- all of the WPS you- viewing area and a lot of Pennsylvania, the largest Congressional District, and Congressman David Scott from Georgia, as well as our Dean Rausch from Penn State's Agricultural Sciences.

So we're talking, uh, with the 10 minutes left, again, we- there's so much you can talk about this bill.

And this conversation continues.

Uh, I will show you the portals where you'd go on both of the Congressman websites to get information.

The listening tour continues.

This bill, again, we'll talk about at the very end, needs to happen by September 30th, hopefully.

But I wanted to ask and touch on this, how does the bill help with increased funding for research as it relates to competitors staying far ahead or rather in other agrarian countries?

So beyond the United States, is their impact?

Start with you.

Rick Roush: Uh, I've had a somewhat unique experience for this.

So if you look at the investment in agricultural research and development, uh, in about 2000, the, uh, the United States outspent China about 2-1.

But by 2015, China- the last data we have for China says they're spending about $10 billion a year on agricultural research and we're about 5- 5 billion Euro.

The European Union has also increased over- across farming, it's about 8 billion.

But I was in Australia at that time and was- had a colleague who is fluent in Chinese and well-connected in China.

And I visited eight of the major agriculture universities during this transitional period when their investment was rapidly- start this rapid climb- climb, and it was- is really clear that they're looking to compete with us.

Uh, one occasion, a senior Agriculture Administrator in China said, we were never really worried about food security, about fell out of my chair, I said, how- how do you mean that, I said, we realized as we industrialize, like Japan, we'd have enough income we [inaudible] the world market.

DEAN RAUSCH: Completely blew me away in terms of it- but the China- the Chinese leaders or leadership is not embarrassed about what their aims are and is happy to talk about them and is really competing on the world market.

I realized that in flash they were not in Africa, we're buying leases in Australia, just because they were worried about food security, they were worried about- they are interested in competing on the world food market and see is a strong place to make a dollar.

So in terms of the competitiveness, we- this is a serious thing for us that we can't afford to drop off.

[NOISE] We're struggling sometimes to recruit, um, great scholars storekeeper students from going to Europe where the opportunities are greater.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Sure.

DEAN RAUSCH: Uh, in our plant sciences group here at Penn State, Jonathan Lynch was ranked recently in the top eight plant scientists in the United States.

And he's- and we're working in plant science and facilities that were built in the mid 20th century.

That is to say we're trying to do 21st century research with facilities that were built in the middle, or early half of the 20th century.

So our greenhouses were built in 1947, Plant Science Building '49, the Plant Pathology Building in 1930.

So it just says, you know, if we're gonna keep up, we really need to invest more in infrastructure.

So that's a major interests I'm sure.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Sounds like an ask here.

[OVERLAPPING] The whole Farm Bill.

DEAN RAUSCH: It won't be the first time that you've heard about this and not just for me.

GLENN THOMPSON: Yeah.

My past two years and five months, I've, uh, an additional work at my district.

I've been 41 different states.

It engaged in this conversation on the- on the farm bill.

And actually it was, uh, one of the first ones to raise this because of what, this issue of infrastructure investments and land-grant universities.

If we want to recruit and bring the best and brightest to our land grants, you know, we need to be able to have the, really the best facilities.

And that's important for America's food security and economic security going into the future.

And so, uh, um, I- I- you know, we uh, are land grant- land grant universities are very important.

So that- that's an issue that we're- that we're looking at.

That's one, nine out, I'm hearing about more frequently as- as we travel around.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Okay.

And Congressman Thompson, Congressman Scott Dean Rausch.

We have just a few minutes left.

So I'm gonna get to my summary question because I'm gonna need you to be a little brief on this.

We've got just five minutes left, but I want to make sure our points are clear, so with all that we've just discussed.

And it's the tip of the iceberg really there are 12 actual titles in this bill we played on the top four really when you look at it, but there's so much more.

We invite you to go to their portals, invite you to become engaged and interested in this, and we'll have information at the end.

Um, what's the likelihood of it passing?

What happens if it's not passed?

If you can briefly describe that.

And again, where's the priority from your lenses?

And I'm- I'm going to start with you, Dean Rausch so that I can give the last two to our Congressman.

DEAN RAUSCH: Well, strictly from a- agricultural research universities, including when- the- the historically black colleges and so forth, we- we really need to get this investment in infrastructure.

Further, help with investments in workforce development, which I think will pay big dividends kept moving forward.

So there's a key areas for- for us in terms of moving forward and I will- will keep talking about that.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Okay.

I'm going to let Congressman Scott go next and just a couple of minutes briefly, Congressman Scott.

DAVID SCOTT: Yeah.

Well, uh, there are two things that we need to watch out for, and that is Russia and China, they're serious.

And I wanted to mention this.

Uh, Number 1, Russia right now controls 60% of the nitrate part of, well, use of fertilizer.

That's a dangerous situation.

And that's why we have put into this bill.

Encouragement and funding to begin to grow and develop our home for larger.

We will not be able to stay where we are.

We do not.

And the other issue is we need to take serious and getting a better grasp of this approach of China buying up much of our agriculture space in this country.

So we can- we got to have a judge's eye on those two countries as we move out.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: All right, Congressman Scott and Congress and Thompson, I have just a few minutes left.

But, uh, confident, as you stated in your opening statement back with the White House, you agree the Farm Bill can be bipartisan, bicameral, on-time, and highly effective.

GLENN THOMPSON: Yeah.

Extremely important.

I got one goal with Farm Bill, that's it.

Thousands of objectives [LAUGHTER].

But one goal and that last part, highly effective, is extremely as- as important as the rest.

I think anybody could get a Farm Bill done if you watered it down to the point where there was- it was not effective.

We need to make this effective.

We need this effective for- for 2023 through 2028 and quite frankly into the future.

If we- if we allow this to expire, at some point, we will revert back the Dust Bowl Era language, which will not be good for- it- that will hurt every farm family and every American family.

And that is unacceptable.

And that's why my commitment is to get this done in a bipartisan, bicameral, on time and highly effective.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: [LAUGHTER] All right.

You are in the hot seat, Congressman Thompson, I can see that, but in a good position again, we appreciate so much your time.

Um, what can people do out there to- to get involved?

So you've got portals, you've got, um, still some more.

GLENN THOMPSON: Yeah, we're still on listening sessions.

We'll be uh- uh, we'll be having one at AG progress.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Okay.

GLENN THOMPSON: Coming up in August.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Okay.

GLENN THOMPSON: Yeah.

Uh, um, actually, I'll be out the Allen town fair on that opening day, we'll be doing a listening session there.

We'll have some different ones throughout Pennsylvania and some- and more across the country.

And if you go to the House Agriculture websites, so house.gov.agriculture, you'll be able to find a drop-down box and you'll be able to find a link and we welcome unlimited [LAUGHTER] written input into the Farm Bill.

CAROLYN DONALDSON: Wonderful, wonderful.

Well, thank you so much all of our guests for joining us on.

Three very busy people taking time out to discuss this important piece of legislation.

Well as the listening tour continues and more talks at the White House maybe planned, um, we hear that we're still confident as you stated.

Congressman Thompson hopes that participants can agree to do the Farm Bill that is bipartisan, bicameral, on time and highly effective.

Here's a look at some additional resources to find out about this important bill.

And here at WPSU, we will continue to monitor and bring you the very latest developments as we move closer to that September deadline.

So from the Dr. Keiko, Will Ross production studio as well as on Zoom Congressman Scott, Congressman Thompson, and Dean Rausch.

We thank you so much for joining us here on this important issue.

I'm Carolyn Donaldson.

We hope you have a great day.

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