Congress and Agriculture 2023 Pt 1

Congress and Agriculture 2023 Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. After a slight delay, Congress is up and running, we hope, with some important ag policy on the table this year.

 

National Potato Council CEO, Kam Quarles says, a new Farm Bill is one of the more pressing ag issues on the agenda, but given the political atmosphere in Congress, it won’t be easy …

 

QUARLES … “Well, I think the biggest concern, question, is in this very chaotic environment will they actually be able to reauthorize a very complex and expensive Farm Bill or are they going to go into an extension or a series of extensions, somewhat like what has happened with the transportation bills, the highway bills. You’ve had short-term extension after short-term extension.”

 

Quarles says, like kicking the can down the road …

 

QUARLES … “The problem with that strategy is that it puts U.S. ag policy in a place of, kind of, stasis. It doesn’t evolve to meet the challenges of the future. It just stays static.”

 

But, Quarles says, there’s always hope they can get past their differences we’ll see some of these matters addressed …

 

QUARLES … “We hope that Congress will get passed a lot of these, kind of, chaotic differences and actually sit down and construct farm policy that makes us more competitive.”

 

That’s Kam Quarles, CEO at the National Potato Council.

 

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