Livestock and Foreign Agriculture

Today, Rep. David Rouzer (NC-7), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture, held a hearing on the market outlook for the livestock, dairy and poultry sectors. This was the final hearing in the Focus on the Farm Economy series, where each of the six subcommittees examined the growing pressures in rural America from the perspective of their subcommittee. Members heard from a panel of witnesses who highlighted the current conditions farmers and ... Read more

Today, the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research, and Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture held a joint hearing to highlight the importance of agricultural policies to protecting our national security. Members heard from representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on their joint efforts to mitigate ... Read more

Remarks as prepared: Thank you Chairman Davis. As my colleague has mentioned, this hearing is the third in a series of hearings highlighting the crucial intersection of agriculture and our national security. In our first hearing last November, the full agriculture committee heard from Ambassador John Negroponte and Dr. Tammy Beckam, Dean of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, in broad testimony concerning the various threats to agricultural security, as well as the econom... Read more

Remarks as prepared: Good Morning. I want to start today by thanking you for joining the Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit Subcommittee for our first meeting of 2016. As many of you may remember, the full House Committee on Agriculture held a hearing last July on the implementation of Dodd Frank over the five years since it was passed. That hearing highlighted some of the remaining challenges that regulators must still tackle to complete the derivatives market reforms envisioned by world l... Read more

Today, Rep. David Rouzer (NC-7), Chairman of the House Agriculture Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee, held a hearing to examine the preparedness of the United States in the event of the introduction of foot and mouth disease (FMD) into the country. Members heard from a panel of witnesses who shared what steps have been taken and what still needs to be done to achieve the objective of establishing a vaccine stockpile deployable within 24 hours of an outbreak. This hearing is a contin... Read more

Remarks as prepared: Good afternoon and welcome to today’s Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee hearing. Today we will be evaluating our preparation in the event of an introduction of a highly contagious animal disease: Foot and Mouth Disease - or FMD. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to be here and I want to thank, in particular, our witnesses for their participation and valuable insights. I agree with the sentiment expressed by Chairman Conaway last November in the first of ... Read more

Today, the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a joint hearing to explore the intersection of food aid shipping and military sealift capacity, particularly that provided by the Maritime Security Program (MSP). Officials from the Department of Defense, the Maritime Administration, and industry experts discussed how proposed changes to... Read more

Remarks as prepared: I want to thank each of you for joining us this morning as we continue our review of international food aid programs. To date, we have heard from USDA and USAID officials charged with implementing these vital programs; we have heard from those tasked with program oversight and accountability about what is working and what could be improved; we have heard from those producing and processing the food used in our food aid programs; and we have heard from on-the-ground implement... Read more

Today, Rep. David Rouzer (NC-7), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture, held a public hearing to examine the federal and state response to avian influenza. Identified as one of the worst animal disease outbreaks the U.S. has ever experienced, the disease infected more than 220 farms in 21 states. As a result, nearly 48 million chickens and turkeys have been depopulated and millions of dollars have been spent to aid in response efforts. Members heard ... Read more

Remarks as prepared for delivery: Good morning. I appreciate the attendance of our colleagues and witnesses as the subcommittee begins its formal review of the recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. As we will hear from our witnesses, this was without a doubt one of the worst, if not the worst animal disease outbreaks our country has ever faced. More than 220 farms were infected in 21 states, nearly 48 million chickens and turkeys were depopulated, and hundreds of millions of doll... Read more