Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) delivered the following closing statement at a full committee hearing titled “Past Breakthroughs and Future Innovations in Crop Production.” Watch the full hearing here.

Throughout this hearing, we have heard about innovations that are primed to come to market and how farmers use the tools available to them to grow crops more efficiently. 

For farmers to continue their progress and for industry to thrive, we need a fully staffed Environmental Protection Agency. 

For companies to have regulatory certainty and remain viable, they need to have their products reviewed in a timely manner. 

Reducing the number of scientists at EPA does not change the regulatory system; it leads to worse customer service and longer wait times.  

There is certainly room for reform in our regulatory system. But those reforms should make the system work better, not worse. 

For the past one-hundred years, we have seen immense progress in food safety and food production efficiency. These two things can and should go hand in hand. But the MAHA Commission is heading the opposite direction. They are advocating for change that makes our food supply less safe and makes it harder for farmers to do their job. 

I hope that we can keep the information we heard today in mind, and that the testimony of the witnesses will give us the courage to hold the administration accountable when they begin to degrade our food safety system or undercut our farmers. 

This is not about ideology. This is about doing the right thing for our farmers. This is about ensuring government and private sector partners work together based on sound science. 

I think the future remains bright for America’s farmers and biotechnology innovation – so long as we can keep the crackpots and conspiracy theorists from hijacking our nation’s public health and food policy. 

Thank you, I yield back.