Moran Continues Seeking Input for Next Farm Bill

Subcommittee Hearing Focuses on Federal Farm Policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Jerry Moran today hosted former Secretaries of Agriculture in a House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management hearing to review federal farm policy. Next week, Moran will continue preparing for the writing of the next farm bill by hosting university agricultural economics professors from across the country in a hearing in Washington, D.C. 

"It is often said that me must learn from the past to have success in the future," Moran said in today's hearing. "We are here today to learn from those who have walked the path before us. This is the first time in the Committee's history that we've heard from a panel of former agriculture secretaries."

Participating in today's hearing were the Honorable John R. Block, Secretary of Agriculture from 1981-1986, the Honorable Clayton Yeutter, Secretary of Agriculture from 1989-1991 and U.S. Trade Representative from 1985-1988, and the Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary of Agriculture from 1995-2001.

Glickman addressed the "five R's" in his testimony about future farm policy including resources, research, riches, reform and right.

"If nothing else, farm bill debates have produced creativity and imagination-more for the good, some just bewildering," Glickman said. "If I have one piece of advice: produce clarity of basic policy choices."

Moran's Subcommittee has been active gathering input from farmers and ranchers across the country about what American agriculture needs to survive and prosper. Leading up to today's hearing, the Subcommittee held field hearings in Georgia, Arizona and South Dakota. Next week, Moran will chair a hearing to review current and potential options for the next farm bill and hear from top university agricultural economists about their view of where farm policy is headed.

Moran also encourages farmers and ranchers to stay involved throughout the process and to submit comments about the current and future farm bill in the farm bill feedback portion of his website at www.jerrymoran.house.gov/.

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