General Farm Commodities and Risk Management

Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX), along with Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN), Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) and Rep. David Scott (D-GA) sent a bipartisan letter to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Tim Massad expressing concern with the CFTC’s proposed exemptive order for the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. and the proposed amendment to a 2013 final order regarding six Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) and Independent System Operators (IS... Read more

Remarks as prepared: Thank you all for being here for this hearing exploring Big Data and Agriculture: Innovation in the Air. This is our second hearing in a series to educate Members about the different facets of this new frontier in agriculture. Production agriculture from one hundred years ago is markedly different than it is today. While our farmers are still producing many of the same crops, a plow once pulled by a team of mules is now pulled by a tractor that satellites guide through the f... Read more

Today, the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held a hearing on the growing financial pressures faced by U.S. farmers and ranchers. Conditions in farm country today contrast sharply with those during the formulation of the 2014 Farm Bill. While high prices for many farm commodities led to tremendous growth in net farm income through 2013, many of those prices have spiraled downward over the past three years. Witnesses spoke broadly about th... Read more

Remarks as prepared: As many of you know, this is the first hearing in a series focused on the farm economy. Every subcommittee will play a role in highlighting current conditions on our farms and ranches and in rural America today. Today, the economic conditions in farm and ranch country are fundamentally different than the conditions we faced when we crafted the 2014 Farm Bill. In just three years, net farm income has fallen by 56 percent. You would need to go back to the start of the Great De... Read more

House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) announced today that the committee will begin a series of hearings titled Focus on the Farm Economy. Each of the six subcommittees will examine growing pressure in rural America from the perspective of the subcommittee. The first hearing in the series—Focus on the Farm Economy: Growing Farm Financial Pressure—will be this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in 1300 Longworth before the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. Ov... Read more

Following media reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to deny urgently needed assistance to American cotton farmers and the rural communities that depend on the U.S. cotton industry, House Agriculture Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) issued the following statement. "I greatly appreciate that Secretary Vilsack has been taking time to consider the request made by me and more than 100 members of Congress to exercise his authority under the law to allow cottonseed to pa... Read more

Remarks as prepared: As most of you are aware, we have a very serious situation unfolding in the cotton belt right now. The purpose of this hearing is to hear from the folks who are directly affected on the front lines. I think it is important that we hear from the folks on this panel as they articulate how difficult the circumstances are right now and what may lie in store if mitigating action is not taken soon. Whether you hail from cotton country or not, each Member of this Committee can rela... Read more

Remarks as prepared: This hearing on the financial health of farm country will come to order. During the Farm Bill debate, we heard a good bit about the relatively high prices farmers were receiving for their crops, and the suggestion was made by at least some folks that it was as good a time as any to discontinue the Farm Bill. Now that we are in year two of the Farm Bill, I thought it would be appropriate to take a look at the financial conditions in farm country today and assess what might ha... Read more

Remarks as prepared: This hearing comes nearly a century after the Grain Standards Act of 1916 was signed into law by then President Woodrow Wilson. For nearly 100 years, this law has been the cornerstone of the vibrant grain trade both for domestic consumption and international trade. This law is relied upon not only by exporters and domestic shippers, but by the whole US agricultural sector. It establishes official marketing standards and procedures for the inspection and weighing of grains an... Read more

Remarks as prepared for delivery: I want to welcome our witnesses, Administrator Willis and Administrator Dolcini. Thank you for being here, gentlemen, and thank you for all of the good work that you have done so far in implementing the Farm Bill. By Tuesday of next week, most farmers from across the country will have made the choices that we offered them under the Farm Bill. This will be the capstone on a long and challenging process that began here in 2010 before I was even elected and did not... Read more