"Agriculture has already taken substantial and, in my judgment, disproportionate cuts in the current budget."
"Senator Roberts and I are working very closely to make sure that does not happen in the future."
"The House of Representatives passed a bill earlier in the year that would have cut $48 billion in production agriculture's baseline."
"We know we need to tackle it. We know everybody in farm country and every rural community understands that they have to do their part like everybody else."
"We look forward to working with you as we put the pieces together for the Farm Bill and recommendations and how we focus on risk management."
"We know we have a lot of challenges in front of us, probably the toughest Farm Bill to write since the first one was written."
"Supporting American agriculture and rural communities is a lot more than about funding levels or even policies."
"Our way of life is worth fighting for."
"Thank you very much, and I want to thank both Senator Leahy and Senator Lugar, who are very distinguished former Chairs of this committee."
"I am proud to say these important crops are a part of the Farm Bill discussions and their place in the Farm Bill is here to stay."
"Sales of U.S. specialty crops top $65 billion annually with nearly 2 billion of those sales coming from Michigan alone."
"Organic sales also contribute to an overgrowing--reaching nearly 29 billion in 2010."