[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 121 (Thursday, July 21, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FARM BILL IMPACT SERIES NO. 13

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TRACEY MANN

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 21, 2022

  Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to deliver the 13th installment 
of my Farm Bill Impact Series during a time when the effects of a poor 
wheat harvest in Kansas are only compounded by crushing inflation.
  This is insult added to injury for Kansas wheat farmers. Producers 
are laboring under the burden of skyrocketing input costs while they 
work hard to keep our country fed, fueled, and clothed, and they 
deserve workable solutions to this inflation crisis before the 
situation gets any worse. Farming is already a risky, volatile business 
without the added burden of inflation, and USDA estimates that input 
costs will continue to rise to astronomical rates throughout 2022.
  For an example of the risk and volatility--the wheat harvest just 
ended in Kansas, and the results were a fraction of the yield that 
farmers in the Wheat State hope for and bank on during normal seasons. 
The Farm Bill (which Congress will reauthorize in 2023) exists, in 
part, specifically for situations like this past wheat season--to 
provide emergency assistance to the people who feed, fuel, and clothe 
the world even when mother nature doesn't cooperate.
  The weather in Kansas can be extreme and unpredictable, which means 
that growing wheat in the wheat state can be a very difficult prospect 
sometimes. I had an intern in my office this summer named Parker 
Vulgamore who is a rising senior at Kansas State University where he 
serves as the student body president. He is also a member of the sixth 
generation of his family farm in Scott City, which lies in my district. 
Vulgamore Family Farms is a wheat, corn, and sorghum operation, with 
wheat being a staple. This year, due to an exceptional drought and 
extreme conditions throughout the growing season, much of the wheat 
never grew past three inches tall. So, what is typically a highly 
anticipated three-to-four-week wheat harvest only lasted a day and a 
half. Many wheat farmers in Kansas barely even ran their combines this 
year--they harvested what they could, cut their losses, and moved on.
  This is where Farm Bill emergency assistance programs like crop 
insurance come in. Crop insurance serves producers and consumers alike 
because it helps prevent producers from going out of business and 
grocery store aisles from sitting empty. Farm Bill programs like crop 
insurance have secured our national food supply and helped generation 
after generation of producers avoid bankruptcy when times get tough. 
We're in one of those times right now. Inflation is skyrocketing in 
America, President Biden is trying to impose his Farm Killer Tax, and 
producers are going out of business. The chance to reauthorize the Farm 
Bill for 2023 has come at a critical moment in time.
  The farm crisis isn't just about money. It's about morale and spirit. 
It's about joy. Missing wheat harvest time in Kansas doesn't just mean 
missing out on the yield of a cash crop--it means missing out on the 
special Kansas tradition of celebrating the culmination of all your 
family's hard work. It means missing out on grandma's casserole in the 
harvest field and missing out on seeing your mom in the semi, your dad 
in the combine, and your little brother getting to drive the grain cart 
for the first time. A bad wheat harvest in Kansas doesn't just create 
financial insecurity, it also leaves a void where a renewal of family 
camaraderie should be. American agricultural producers are hurting not 
only from the skyrocketing input costs that come with inflation, but 
also from the lowered morale that comes with drought, thin margins, and 
a broken supply chain. In 2023, Congress must reauthorize the Farm Bill 
with American farm families at the front of our minds, because they are 
in a crisis.
  I'll be back on the floor soon to deliver another installment of my 
Farm Bill Impact Series and highlight more programs and titles within 
the Bill that I believe Congress must understand and support to ensure 
that agriculture thrives in America. The people who feed, fuel, and 
clothe us all deserve our unwavering support. They also deserve a 
robust safety net in the Farm Bill and workable solutions to the 
inflation crisis before it's too late.

                          ____________________