When it comes to ag policy, the elephant now in the room is actually a cow.
President Trump’s plan of increasing duty-free and discounted beef from elsewhere across the globe has ranchers and ranching advocacy groups still upset a week after it was announced — and with potential importers still yet to be announced. As part of his monthly interview on KVOE’s Morning Show, Kansas Second District Congressman Derek Schmidt said the administration’s “heart is in the right place,” but it’s not the right solution for helping either consumers or producers.
Ranchers and advocacy group members have told KVOE News this appears to be an overreach, and Schmidt agrees. It also “injects uncertainty” for ranchers determining whether to expand their herds and those grow the overall herd size, which is at its smallest amount in 75 years. Schmidt says he is open to mandatory country-of-origin labeling, which is seeing an increasing push in and out of Congress, but he’s not sold on it.
Ag producers on the farm side have their own worries, including fertilizer costs kicked up as the war with Iran continues — and also as the Russia-Ukrain war continues. Schmidt is struggling to find a short-term answer to the problem, but there is work towards the longer-term goal and what Schmidt says is the best solution: bypassing the Middle East and increasing domestic production.
Overall, Schmidt says a Farm Bill is finally near the finish line after years of negotiations.
Schmidt appears on KVOE’s Morning Show at 8:20 am the last Friday of every month. The House returns to Washington on Monday.
