Dear Chairs Stabenow and Thompson and Ranking Members Boozman and Scott:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce looks forward to supporting the important work of your Committees to complete reauthorization of needed agriculture and nutrition programs this year, and encourage you to include several important priorities as you craft the 2024 Farm Bill.
· Promote global food security through exports and trade of U.S. products, technologies, and services to maintain U.S. leadership and strengthen U.S. businesses, while increasing economic prosperity and quality of life at home and abroad.
· Incentivize better permitting and more timely and streamlined federal decision-making (e.g., H.R. 4059, a bill to designate potash and phosphate as critical minerals and to ensure a single agency permit application) to provide a more transparent process and enable the business community to bring products and projects more quickly to market.
· Develop climate-smart and resilient agriculture through voluntary, flexible practices that leverage existing conservation programs and nature-based solutions. Doing so would enhance the role of farmers and other landowners in reducing greenhouse emissions and building climate change resilience for challenges including drought, floods, and wildfires.
· Provide increased funding for rural development programs supporting affordable electricity and improved water infrastructure, such as the Healthy H2O Act and the Water Data Act, along with the associated technical assistance to access the funding, especially in small and disadvantaged communities.
· Enhance the efficiency and impact of rural development broadband programs by ensuring these programs align with the Chamber’s principles on effective federal broadband programs.
· Support robust farm safety net and risk management tools, including crop insurance and commodity programs.
· Address the risks to agricultural producers and foreign trade partners that stem from conflicting state production standards for agricultural commodities shipped in commerce.
· Catalyze technology innovation, research, and development (e.g, the Foundation for Food Agricultural Research) to enhance sustainable and regenerative production and environmental stewardship. Solutions include carbon capture, methane emissions reduction, advancing use of earth observation, remote sensing and other smart and precision agriculture capabilities, reducing carbon intensity, and increasing access to renewable feedstocks (e.g., RNG, SAF). A consistent definition of SAF is important to ensure certainty for aviation sector users and producers alike.
· Create pilot projects to promote research in the applications of earth observations, remote sensing, and in situ data, including use of LiDAR and artificial intelligence, to commercially available smartphones and tablets to assess plant health, identify disease, spot invasive species, monitor soil moisture, measure carbon, and estimate inputs and yield. This would catalyze innovation and create quantifiable approaches to enhance precision agriculture and carbon sequestration measurements.
· Foster technology solutions to streamline and modernize nutrition programs.
We appreciate the work your committees have devoted to this endeavor throughout this Congress, and we look forward to you completing your work.
Sincerely,
Neil L. BradleyExecutive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer,and Head of Strategic AdvocacyU.S. Chamber of Commerce
cc: Members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Members of the House Committee on Agriculture
