Joco Today

Kansas City, KS – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. joined Market Day Report on RFDTV to discuss the recent bipartisan field hearing on the historic midwestern drought he hosted along the Kansas-Colorado state line earlier this week. Senator Marshall addressed feedback from farmers and ranchers, effective water conservation policies, and the need for the Farm Bill to support those impacted by the drought.

On creating effective water conservation policies, Senator Marshall stated: “The one thing I can’t do is make it rain, but what we can do is work on our conservation practices. The folks out there like myself, they’re fifth sixth generation farmers, ranchers – they’re innovators, they’re resilient. And there are some conservation farms that have figured out how to use this aquifer underneath us, and still keep it replenished.”

He emphasized the necessity of a farm bill that supports these conservation programs: “We need a farm bill that’s going to allow them to use these conservation programs. Right now, the way this IRA bill was written and the current farm bill is written, we can only use about half of the conservation programs out there.”

Senator Marshall also highlighted challenges with current requirements: “They are requiring us to use cover crops in order to access these conservation programs, and cover crops simply don’t work in eastern Colorado or western Kansas.”

Regarding crop insurance during a drought, Senator Marshall noted: “We’re doing everything we can on the conservation side of things. That was the purpose of this official Ag hearing. In Burlington, Colorado, we also had a good roundtable in Goodland, Kansas as well. At the end of the day, crop insurance is what allows the farmer to plant next year’s crop... so we need a little bit of help with crop insurance, and we need to increase those reference prices.”

He expressed concerns over certain legislative frameworks: “One of the testimonies we got is that if we would use the Democrats’ framework for the Farm Bill, it actually hurts wheat and sorghum... They’d rather have an extension than a bad Farm Bill and I agree with them.”

On finalizing an effective Farm Bill, Senator Marshall stressed its importance: “This is a five-year bill; we have to get it right. We’re not going to sign a Farm Bill just to get one done.” He added: “We’re just asking for a smidgen of increase in crop insurance funding... 10 to 15%.”

Marshall pointed out differences between legislative proposals: “The House has a bill that they like; Republicans released our framework in the Senate... but unfortunately the Democrats’ focus is totally upon SNAP programs.” He concluded with optimism about future leadership changes: “Hopefully John Boozeman is chairman next year and we’ll put the ‘farm’ back in Farm Bill.”