OBBBA<\/a>) and renewal of the U.S. Grain Standards Act, and continued funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food & Drug Administration.<\/p>\nAgriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says she is eager to \u201cget back to the business of helping farmers thrive.\u201d Speaking at the National Milk Producers Convention in Arlington, Texas, Rollins said the USDA is working with Congress on a farm aid package and with the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security on labor reforms. <\/p>\n
Rollins emphasized she wants farmers to \u201cfarm for prosperity, not just survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
RFD-TV\u2019s Tammi Arender got a chance to catch up with Secretary Rollins in Arlington and got an opportunity to ask her about the reopening and any farmer aid package that might be on the way.<\/p>\n
At the Convention, Brooke Rollins discussed investments in the dairy industry across the country totaling some $11 billion. She also mentioned the challenges facing all farmers with input costs and labor concerns. Specifically, she noted that dairy farmers are unique in their labor needs because cows must be milked 365 days a year. So, H2A and other programs don\u2019t fit their labor needs. She also told me that she\u2019s looking forward to the government reopening and getting back to the business of helping our farmers and ranchers thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully by Friday, the government is reopened,\u201d Rollins told RFD-TV. \u201cAnd as we have really worked to do everything we can \u2014 I call it \u2018band aiding\u2019 and \u2018duct taping\u2019 and \u2018bubble gumming,\u2019 as much as we can possibly do \u2014 you know, opening the FSA offices, working to ensure that we\u2019re moving at least some of the payments out that were promised. It\u2019s extremely complicated, the government. Congress has made this overly complicated. But there are a lot of farmers struggling that are really depending on USDA, and we\u2019ve lost so many family farms in the last four, five, eight years, that we can\u2019t afford to lose any more. So hopefully, government reopens this week; we begin to move out a lot of what we\u2019ve already promised; and there\u2019s good news coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the potential of a farm aid package, Rollins said she believes one is in the works but really depends on Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in the works \u2014 of course, that\u2019s Congress \u2014 but I\u2019m working very closely with our partners over there; I believe that there will be,\u201d Rollins said. \u201cI think that as the market \u2013 and our row crops especially, but even dairy and a few others that are struggling \u2013 as we move toward the end of the year, as we\u2019re looking at perhaps better numbers, a stronger market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rollins also said she is listening to farmers asking not just for short-term help but for a system that helps farmers sell products in the free market in the long term, moving away from a cycle of subsidies to support the agriculture industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, the one thing I keep hearing \u2014 I just finished a great roundtable with seven of America\u2019s best dairy farmers \u2014 and the one thing I hear over and over from our farmers is: \u2018We don\u2019t want a handout. We don\u2019t want to farm for checks. We want to sell our products.\u2019\u201d Rollins told RFD-TV. \u201cSo obviously, USDA will continue to move out the farm aid, but really looking to figure out how we get off this hamster wheel of check after check, and getting to the point where our whole, entire system is based on government checks. But moving more toward opening up the markets around the world, creating these markets where our farmers can hopefully farm for prosperity and not just for survival. That\u2019s really what we\u2019re working to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
While at the National Milk Producers Convention, Rollins addressed dairy consumption, saying she wants to incentivize more dairy consumption through changes to dietary guidelines, which are due out in the coming months. Rollins said as far as farm labor issues, she is seeking federal changes to rules and regulations in coordination with the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n
Alan Bjerga, with the National Milk Producers Federation, joined us on Wednesday\u2019s Market Day Report with the dairy industry\u2019s perspective on the event and Rollin\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n
In his interview with RFD-TV News, Bjerga gave viewers a virtual walk-through of the Dairy Bar and shared his observations from the show floor. He also discussed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins\u2019 keynote address, delivered yesterday, and focused on strengthening producer resilience and promoting dairy innovation.<\/p>\n
As the event continues, Bjerga also reflected on the overall sentiment among producers \u2014 noting the optimism surrounding market opportunities, ongoing discussions about farm policy, and the shared excitement for what\u2019s ahead in the dairy sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, TEXAS (RFD-TV) \u2014 House lawmakers are expected to vote this afternoon to end the longest government shutdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-51457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}