Political Quotes

“Madam President, 2023 will be a big year on the agriculture front as we work to draft the next farm bill. Farm bills are always a major priority for me given the essential place agriculture holds in South Dakota, and I have been gearing up now for the 2023 farm bill since last year when I began holding a series of roundtables with agriculture producers to hear firsthand what farmers' and ranchers' priorities are right now and what they need from the 2023 farm bill. I introduced multiple bills last Congress that I hope to get included in this year's legislation, including bills to strengthen and improve the Conservation Reserve Program, and address the needs of South Dakota livestock producers--and of producers around the country. Livestock production has long been an integral part of South Dakota's agriculture heritage, including cattle ranching in our West River communities; and one of my priorities for this year's farm bill is to address some of the challenges facing South Dakota's livestock producers in getting their products to Americans' tables. The last few years have revealed vulnerabilities in our food supply chain that have had an outsized impact on livestock producers. Early in the pandemic, some meat processing plants were temporarily closed, and these closures led to bottlenecks in processing and delays to process livestock.…”