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WASHINGTON, DC — Last Wednesday, Feb. 5, Arkansas rice farmer and USA Rice Board member Jennifer James testified before the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee hearing on the state of the farm economy alongside representatives from other major commodity and general farm organizations.
James shared the plight of the farm economy, highlighting how rice farmers have faced significant financial challenges the past four years. She expressed appreciation for Congress providing funding for the 2022 Rice Production Program and the recently passed economic assistance for the 2024 crop year.
She went on to underscore, however, that while ad hoc assistance was necessary and will provide some temporary relief from negative financial margins for many, rice farmers particularly need the long-term certainty of a new five-year Farm Bill with an increased Price Loss Coverage program reference price effective beginning with the 2025 crop year.
James relayed to the Committee this need not only for the current generation of farmers but the next.
“Just last week, we had one of the hardest business conversations we’ve ever had to have – is farming worth it? What scares me is I know we’re one farm family of thousands having these same conversations,” said James. “I pray this situation turns around, and that if it doesn’t, Congress steps in. We need assurance for not only the current generation of farmers, but the next.”
In his opening remarks, Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) recognized the need for an adequate safety net rice and other commodity producers.
“My highest priority for the next farm bill is to improve the farm safety net, whereby every farmer in every region of the country will have access to modernized risk management tools regardless of the commodity they grow,” said Boozman. “If we fail to modernize the safety net, agriculture will see further consolidation as farm families leave the business, and the ripple effects to our country will be profound.”
James concluded her testimony, “We have all heard the saying, ‘hope is not a strategy.’ Today, I urge you to deliver a new Farm Bill so we no longer have to hope but rather know we can keep doing what we love and enjoy – farming, providing food for our fellow man.”
