Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) delivered the following opening statement at a full committee hearing entitled "Increasing Demand and Opportunities for Homegrown Products Here and Abroad." Watch the hearing here.

[As prepared for delivery.]

Good morning. I want to begin by thanking our witnesses for being here today.

We are here to discuss creating opportunities for America’s farm families. I firmly believe that Congress and the current administration should do more to expand market opportunities at home and abroad for American agriculture. For example – and I may sound like a broken record on this point – making simple policy reforms like allowing year-round E15 would be a big help to the farmers I represent in Minnesota.

Instead, this administration can’t seem to stop getting in its own way.

Earlier this Congress, Republicans and Democrats worked hard to get E15 included in an omnibus appropriations package, only to have that effort once again fail.

The administration destroyed USAID, which in previous years purchased roughly $2 billion worth of U.S.-grown agricultural products annually.

The administration canceled Biden administration programs that resulted in purchases of food from local farmers for our schools and communities.

The administration sold out American cattlemen by prioritizing 300,000 metric tons of Argentinian and Brazilian beef, even as our ranchers struggle to rebuild the U.S. herd. The president’s govern-by-tweet approach has rattled cattle markets with small producers selling calves at $300-400 less than they were just a few months ago. That’s money taken from farmers and handed to our foreign competitors; not exactly America First.

Congressional Republicans cut $187 billion in nutrition assistance, throwing millions of American citizens off SNAP – including more than 1.5 million children – resulting in less American food being bought and more hungry Americans. That represents around $25 billion in lost revenue for family farmers.

The administration canceled funding to help young and beginning farmers acquire farmland so they could get into farming.

The president declared a worldwide trade war. The American Farm Bureau calculates losses due to Trump’s tariffs to be around $30 billion for the 25/26 crop year – and that’s before he threw the latest trade grenade at Canada, one of our largest trade partners.

The administration began a war with Iran that sent the cost of fertilizer and fuel to record highs – farm diesel is at $6.31 per gallon, as of this morning.

I could go on. And on. And on.

The result of all these actions are lost opportunities and higher costs for farmers. Consequently, America’s farm country is in crisis.

15,000 farms were lost last year, according to the USDA’s own data.

Farm production expenses are forecasted to increase by $7.1 billion this year.

Farm bankruptcies were up 70 percent in the Midwest over the past year.

The administration brags about reducing the ag trade deficit, but it is not because farmers are exporting more — it is because Americans are importing less because they can’t afford Trump’s tariffs.

So, I say again: if we want to create opportunities instead of closing them out of markets and putting a bullseye on their backs with tariffs and trade wars – maybe the administration should start by getting out of its own way. When you’ve put yourself in a hole this deep, the first step to getting out is to stop digging.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today, who represent a wide range of perspectives and expertise. I hope to hear an honest assessment not only about what proactive positive things can be done to improve demand for their products – but also what this administration should stop doing that undercuts opportunities.

I will conclude with one final statistic, which I think speaks for itself: USDA expects direct government farm payments will increase by nearly 70 percent this year.

If the president was “winning” like he says, farmers wouldn’t need 70 percent more in government payments this year than last year – they would be getting it from the marketplace, like they want.

Trump is running up a tab that hardworking Americans cannot afford. Congress must start standing up for farmers and stop giving this out-of-control president a free pass at the expense of farm country.

I yield back.