Americans without high-speed internet access are slipping further behind as more and more aspects of American society are conducted online.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Members of the Committee, Representatives Nunn and Craig, and other cosponsors for introducing the ReConnecting Rural America Act (H.R. 4227).

I also want to thank Representative Feenstra for his recently introduced Rural Broadband Modernization Act (H.R. 3964).

Simply put, we must meet the current and future needs in rural America.

Disconnected Americans lose opportunities to their grow businesses, acquire new skills, or even engage in daily activities.

I would like to thank Ranking Member Spanberger for her comments and questions, and for her strong support of agricultural research.

I want to reiterate my continued support for making strong investments in research.

Today the deferred maintenance backlog, as we heard from a number of our witnesses, is estimated to be over $11.5 billion.

Today's hearing is an opportunity to review programs authorized in the research title of the farm bill to ensure our universities are equipped to solve the challenges facing agriculture now, and well into the future.

I appreciate the witnesses joining us here today and look forward to hearing about the great work they are doing.

I am also interested in a long-term solution to ensure the backlog never reaches this level again.

I am proud to represent State College--home of Pennsylvania's only land-grant university.

The farm bill that we are working on will obviously serve those in America's number one industry, agriculture, from 2023, when we get this done, to 2028.

We need to do is make sure we are creating a platform for the future, for what is over the horizon.

We cannot forget about the importance of agricultural research in ensuring the United States continues to have the safest, most abundant, and most affordable food and fiber supply in the world.

American farmers, ranchers, and foresters have increased agriculture outputs nearly threefold with little to no change in inputs.

As someone who comes from a long line of dairy farmers, it is my honor to rise and recognize National Dairy Month. I am proud to come from the State with the second most dairy farms and to represent more than 1,000 dairy farms in my…

As I often say, rural America is essential America, and without our rural producers, America would wake up in the cold, dark, and hungry.

Today's diverse set of panelists brings valuable knowledge and insight on how rural development programs work on the ground, and how they can be improved to better serve our rural communities.

I am advocating for those hardworking families, including on solutions to support mental health in rural communities, and ensuring that rural families have more reliable access to childcare.

As USDA's Rural Development agency is the only Federal agency with the sole focus of serving rural communities like the ones I represent, it is critical that we are providing these communities with the tools and resources they need to…

I know the importance of investing in the bioeconomy, which relies on our farmers and ranchers.

The farm bill is an opportunity to address these issues that rural communities face every day and help ensure our rural neighbors have access to affordable, high quality health care--particularly important to me as a pediatrician.

I hope it will keep a principled approach.

This rule changes the requirements for a person to be considered actively engaged in farming for the purpose of payment eligibility for certain Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) programs.