{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.marshall.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-marshall-this-farm-bill-was-written-by-kansas-farmers/", "Senator Marshall: This Farm Bill Was Written By Kansas Farmers", "2026-08-06", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "KS", "Roger Marshall", "M001198", "www.marshall.senate.gov", "marshall", "https://www.marshall.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Senator Marshall Hosts Press Conference on Farm Bill Mark-Up\n\nWashington \u2013 On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), hosted a local virtual press conference to discuss the upcoming Farm Bill markup and the benefits it will provide to farmers and rural Americans, including permanent, year-round E-15 and childcare and broadband expansion as well as Senator Marshall\u2019s priorities in farmer mental health, biofertilizers, SNAP nutrition, and conservation.\n\nClick HERE to download the full video.\n\nHighlights from Senator Marshall\u2019s remarks include:\n\nOn passing the Farm Bill:\n\n\u201cWell, good afternoon, everybody, and welcome back to my office. It\u2019s been a quick 18 hours or so \u2014 in Wichita last night, got back here early this morning, and proud to just get a CDC director across the finish line, by the way, as well. But today I want to talk about the magical Farm Bill.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been certainly the honor of my life to represent Kansas on the Ag Committee \u2014 first in the House for four years, and now in the Senate for six years. As a fifth-generation farm kid, it\u2019s certainly just, again, the honor of a lifetime to get to work on this bill that\u2019s so important \u2014 not just to our farmers \u2014 but to rural Americans, and tomorrow we\u2019ll have the markup of this bill. And I\u2019m so proud that Kansas farmers\u2019 fingerprints are all over this bill. We have 22 bills that we authored that\u2019ll be part of the bigger package here. You know, for instance, on the House side, I had maybe two pieces that were inserted in the Farm Bill, but we\u2019re going to have 22 of those, and as we go through that markup tomorrow, maybe we can kind of highlight what you might be looking for and why this is so important to Kansans.\u201d\n\nOn the importance of the Farm Bill to all Americans:\n\n\u201cI think one of the big misconceptions is that a Farm Bill is just important to farmers \u2014 but I can assure you it\u2019s important to every American and certainly every Kansan. And this is why: we\u2019re so fortunate in this country that we pay a fraction of what folks from other developed nations pay for groceries. We pay a fraction \u2014 maybe it\u2019s a half, maybe it\u2019s a third \u2014 and the reason is that we have a very reliable, stable supply of food. And what the Farm Bill does is creates a safety net so when farmers have a bad year \u2014 whether it\u2019s drought or whether it\u2019s hail \u2014 production is down, prices are down, this safety net from the Farm Bill keeps them in business. And then, of course, to rural America, there\u2019s other important reasons, and we\u2019ll talk about those in a second.\u201d\n\nOn the importance of the Farm Bill for farmers:\n\n\u201cIf Pat Roberts taught me one thing in writing a Farm Bill, it was to go to sit on the tongue of the wagon and listen to the farmers, and they\u2019ll tell you what should be in it. And I think that\u2019s exactly what we did here. To a farmer, let me talk about what\u2019s most important in this Farm Bill to them. And I think number one, the simplest one to explain, is it\u2019s going to include year-round E15. So year-round ethanol 15% blended is going to mean the consumption of about 500 million extra bushels of corn or milo consumed. 500 million bushels. And so what\u2019s that mean? It\u2019s almost like increasing our exports by 25, 30 percent, something like that. That\u2019s what this means, and it\u2019s a consistent market. And the farmer gets a premium \u2014 he maybe gets a 10, 20 cent kicker on this from the ethanol plants. The ethanol plants, of course, have more jobs in rural America as well. And by the way, ethanol brings down the cost of gasoline as well. The more ethanol that\u2019s blended, the less expensive gasoline is. So year-round E15 is the big win.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd then the second win \u2014 I\u2019ll go back to that farmer safety net that\u2019s so important in this bill. And this would be why the farmers say their top priority is the crop insurance and something called an ARC and PLC program. So, if you recall, in the Working Families Tax Cuts bill we added $65 billion to crop insurance, we raised reference prices for those commodities by 10 or 20%. Now, what this bill is going to do is give those farmers at least five years of certainty. So, when they\u2019re trying to decide which crop to plant this fall. You know, whether they\u2019re going to go back and plant wheat, or maybe they\u2019re going to change something to alfalfa or whatever it is. This gives them certainty again on those bad years, the lean years, that they\u2019re at least going to get enough money to be able to plant next year\u2019s crop. So those are the top two things I think that are in this for the American farmer as well: the crop insurance and the E15.\u201d\n\nOn the importance of the Farm Bill to rural Americans:\n\n\u201cThen I want to talk for a second about rural America \u2014 what\u2019s in this for rural America? You know, as agriculture goes, so goes rural America. So, number one is this provides for a stronger, steady economy, so that\u2019s important for rural America. And then next, I would talk about infrastructure and connectivity. So, the one thing I did get accomplished in my last Farm Bill was increased funding for high-speed internet to rural America \u2014 getting that last mile connected \u2014 and this Farm Bill builds on that. So, everybody understands roads and bridges wear out, and you have to keep replacing them. Well, you can think about the same thing with high-speed internet \u2014 here\u2019s always the next rendition. And just like in your own jobs, the American farmer is using more and more megabytes, gigabytes, whatever it is, when they\u2019re doing their precision agriculture. And of course, there are so many people that are working remotely from home that we need more of that high-speed internet as well across rural America. So, this funds connectivity.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd then next, I would talk about infrastructure. As you can imagine, a lot of our water structures \u2014 our clean water, our waste disposal systems \u2014 all those systems are aging out across the state, so this has funding for infrastructure. And then something else I\u2019m really proud of \u2014 again building on the Working Families Tax Cuts bill \u2014 is childcare money. So traditionally, USDA can make loans for new hospitals, all sorts of what we would call rural development opportunities, but this is going to allow childcare centers to be eligible for more USDA monies as well. So, I think that\u2019s at the top of the list for what\u2019s going on with rural America.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe also have more funding for farmers\u2019 mental health. You all may know this, but we lose more farmers to suicide than we do from farm accidents. So, one of our big priorities up here is farmer mental health, and this will have more funding to continue those programs. So, for instance, K-State Extension has a farmer outreach program, and that would be the typical type of program that we would be looking to fund as well.\u201d\n\nOn Senator Marshall\u2019s conservation priorities:\n\n\u201cOkay, I want to go through some of our more specific ones here for a second as well \u2014 some things that I have made my priorities. And I think I would start off talking about conservation projects that are important to me. You know, I want to leave this world cleaner, healthier, and safer than I found it. And anything that we can do in agriculture to promote more conservation \u2014 I\u2019m all in. And by the way, farmers and ranchers, we were the original conservationists. I remember back in the early 1960s, my grandfather building terraces, and we were learning about soil conservation and soil erosion in our grade school science classes. So, we continue these conservation programs, and a big concern of mine and Kansans is water. So, one of the things we\u2019ve done is set up a water conservation program where we would reward farmers who don\u2019t use all their water allotment. So, we\u2019re going to reward people for using less water and less fertilizers. So proud of our efforts in that direction.\u201d\n\nOn Senator Marshall\u2019s biofertilizer priorities:\n\n\u201cAnd then another thing that\u2019s a priority for me is getting biofertilizers to market. So rather than just using the traditional chemicals \u2014 nitrogens, the sulfurs of the world \u2014 there are fertilizers, microorganisms that come from nature that we can use. That\u2019s going to leave the soil healthier. So, for instance, in Pratt, Kansas, a company takes manure from the feedlots, uses a byproduct from the ethanol plants and enriches that, and then adds certain bioorganisms, microorganisms that enrich that soil. So, trying to promote more healthy soil by using biofertilizers.\u201d\n\nOn Senator Marshall\u2019s SNAP nutrition priorities:\n\n\u201cOn the nutrition standpoint, I\u2019m very proud of what we\u2019ve done on some work in that area as well. Specifically, we have reward programs within SNAP \u2014 reward programs if you make healthy choices. We\u2019ve had fruits and vegetables on that for quite some time \u2014 that if you choose fruits and vegetables, we give you extra SNAP benefits. Well, we\u2019re going to extend that to milk products as well as protein products. So, I understand carbohydrates are cheaper, but trying to get families to buy more proteins will be much healthier for their families as well. So proud of the work that we\u2019ve done on this MAHA side of things, where we touch both conservation as well as nutrition.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think I\u2019ll stop there again. This has been a six-year project to get here, and it\u2019s an exciting day for me. This is one of the reasons I came to Washington, D.C. \u2014 to use that experience as a fifth-generation farm kid, growing up in the industry, continuing to be invested in the industry, and then learning the agriculture policy here, so that we can keep farmers in business, help the Kansas economy be stronger, and at the same time make Kansans healthier. And then add on the conservation piece of this, and you have a good strong Farm Bill.\u201d\n\nOn regulating fertilizer use:\n\n\u201cI\u2019m trying to remember what we did with this. So, on the House side, they were working on the preemption side of things, and I think in our bill we\u2019re just going to leave it alone. We\u2019re not going to overexercise the federal government\u2019s job in regulating fertilizers right now. I see the American farmer, through their own volition, wanting to use less and less fertilizer. And why wouldn\u2019t they? They\u2019re so expensive \u2014 they\u2019re about maybe 20% of their input costs right now. So, we\u2019re seeing American farmers and ranchers use less and less chemical fertilizers anyway, so we\u2019re going to stay out of that issue right now. And we\u2019ll see if someone offers an amendment tomorrow; otherwise, I won\u2019t be surprised if they do.\u201d\n\nOn changes to SNAP funding and decreasing error rates:\n\n\u201cYeah, I think that\u2019s the critical issue. And I can\u2019t tell you exactly what the Democrats are going to do, but all across the country, we\u2019ve seen a rising error rate in the administration of the SNAP dollars \u2014 and we\u2019ve seen that in Kansas as well. So, what we had suggested is if the state is not going to be efficient and is going to have more and more errors, then they should weigh a bigger portion of their share of the food stamps. So, what we\u2019ve suggested is a one-year delay in that and allow states to improve their efficiencies and decrease the error rates. And then, if that happens, it wouldn\u2019t change any of the funding at all. That\u2019s a good point to talk about the other food programs in general. People want to stay focused on just SNAP dollars, but in my time here in Congress, I\u2019ve seen increased funding for our food programs go from around maybe $70 billion a year to now $140-150 billion dollars a year.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe SNAP program, unfortunately, is probably the most ripe with fraud and abuse. The good ones that are working great are our food banks, our Meals on Wheels, our senior centers, our school lunches. So, across the state of Kansas now, at least 50% of the kids are on free or reduced lunches. But now almost every school in Kansas offers free breakfast, and most of them are offering free dinners if you\u2019re sticking around for after-school activities, and in many instances, we\u2019re sending them home with food as well. So, to me, the priority here is I don\u2019t want anyone to go to bed hungry. We\u2019re making some increased funding for making healthy choices with the SNAP dollars as well, but we also don\u2019t want the SNAP program to be administered frivolously. So, we\u2019re asking states to do a better job to be more efficient as they\u2019re administering these programs.\u201d\n\nOn the timeline of passing the Farm Bill:\n\n\u201cRight, right. So, I expect it to get out of committee tomorrow, and determining the future, we\u2019ll see how many \u2014 if any \u2014 Democrats vote for it. If we can win several souls over, and we have a nice, strong bipartisan support of the bill\u2026 And by the way, all these 22 things that I mentioned are all bipartisan; I have co-sponsors for them in the bill \u2014 this bill is very well represented with bipartisan support. So, depending on how many Democrats vote for it tomorrow will help determine how quickly it\u2019s going to get to the floor for a vote. Because on the floor in the Senate, you may recall, it takes 60 votes to get it across the finish line. So, we need some type of a product that can get to those 60 votes, and then I think that\u2019s when we have to do some more negotiating regarding this delay in the SNAP share of cost. So, we\u2019ll see \u2014 I don\u2019t know if we can get it done before the election, or if it\u2019s a lame duck situation. We\u2019ve got a jam-packed week as well \u2014 I think it\u2019ll kind of slow down when we get back, and everyone\u2019s attention turns towards that November election. I didn\u2019t mean to evade the question there: the bottom line is I don\u2019t know.\u201d\n\n\u201cYeah, and when the dam breaks, it\u2019ll break. I think that we\u2019ll go from zero Democrats supporting it to 30 supporting it. And what is the magic piece of that puzzle that makes that dam break, I\u2019m not sure of \u2014 but I think it\u2019s time to get this markup done so then we can get it to the floor and figure out what amendment we need to get it across the final finish line. But certainly, we\u2019re going to do everything we can to get it done this year.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-06T07:37:31Z", "2026-08-06T07:38:34Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.marshall.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-marshall-this-farm-bill-was-written-by-kansas-farmers/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6267928294837475, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}