releases: https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/legislative-session-american-agriculture
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/legislative-session-american-agriculture | LEGISLATIVE SESSION--American Agriculture | 2025-10-15 | 2025 | 2025-10 | Republican | Senate | MS | Cindy Hyde-Smith | H001079 | www.hydesmith.senate.gov | hydesmith | https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom | scraper | Congressional Record Vol. 171, No. 170 (Senate - October 15, 2025) PDF The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi. American Agriculture Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to highlight a growing crisis that threatens our farmers, rural communities, food security, and our national economy. I am concerned that as American agriculture and rural communities face very hard times, many Americans are unaware of the stakes ahead. Here is the bottom line. American agriculture is in serious trouble, and Congress must act now with short-term assistance. That is not hyperbole. I continue to hear from producers in Mississippi and across the country that the numbers don't add up and the outlook is grim. Without immediate action, we risk losing not only farms but also the rural communities and the food security they provide. This is no longer a warning; it is an emergency. Over the past three crop years, rising input costs for seed, fertilizer, fuel, labor, and more have collided with falling commodity prices and high interest rates. Even with strong crop yields this year, many farmers are facing losing between $100 and $400 per acre. For a 2,000-acre farm, that is a financial hit in the hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars in losses. Farm bankruptcies have already surpassed last year's total, and if we do not step in, that trend will accelerate. The ripple effect is real. In small towns across America, family farms are the economic engine. When farms thrive, so do local grocery stores, schools, equipment dealers, banks, and churches. When farms fail, the community fails with them. Jobs disappear. Families leave. Main Street goes silent. We have seen this before. In the 1980s, a generation of farmers was nearly wiped out by high interest rates, collapsing markets, and inadequate safety nets. Today's producers are starting to feel those same pressures. Bankers, economists, and lenders are sounding the alarm again. While we may differ on policy, we must agree on the urgent need to act while we still have time to do that. The significant updates we secured in the reconciliation process this summer will strengthen the farm safety net, and I am proud of that progress. But those changes won't take effect until next fall. That is too late for many farmers already on the brink. We need short-term assistance now to help producers survive the coming crop year. Let me be crystal clear: Farmers do not want a handout; they want a fair shot. Food security is national security. We cannot afford to lose a generation of American farmers or become dependent on foreign countries to feed and clothe us. That is a risk that we cannot take. Over the long term, we know American agriculture will be stronger if we secure fairer trade deals and build stable markets at home and abroad. Our competitors--China, Argentina, Brazil, and others--are moving aggressively. I believe that if we don't act quickly, we will lose vital export opportunities and long-term stability for our producers. In this world of global competition, we must revive American-grown cotton to be the center of our supply chains, providing reliable markets for our producers and bolstering industries that depend on cotton. I introduced the Buying American Cotton Act to help us get there by incentivizing U.S. retailers to produce, purchase, and manufacture American cotton here at home. This legislation would help secure a resilient, self-reliant, and prosperous cotton industry for the future by reinforcing our supply chain--from farm to textile, to market--and by reducing our reliance on cotton produced under forced labor practices and environmental destruction. I call on this body to consider this legislation as we seek long-term solutions to the problems that beset American farmers today. I am encouraged by the bipartisan work underway to complete a 5-year reauthorization of the farm bill, which is long overdue. Last winter, we secured farm support funding, which was a lifeline for many of our farmers this crop year, but the crisis hasn't passed. Farmers are still facing impossible choices about whether they can afford to plant next year or even to stay in business at all. I fully support ongoing work to provide additional Federal bridge funding before the end of the year to ensure more of our family farms can stay in business. We all represent different sectors of American agriculture, but the crisis does not discriminate. It spans commodities, regions, and party lines. What matters now is that we come together with urgency and with purpose. | 1 | 2026-09-16T09:43:13Z | 2026-09-16T09:44:22Z |