David Scott

House Democrats voted Tuesday to make Minnesota Representative Angie Craig the new Ranking Member on the Republican-controlled House Ag Committee.  The Hill points out that Democrats chose a younger member of the House over long-time veteran legislator Jim Costa of California, who was also vying for the seat.  Co...

While the 2024 Farm Bill has been stalled for multiple months, the legislative logjam is showing a few signs of breaking after key ag groups took to Capitol Hill last week to share the economic reality facing farmers and ranchers. In a letter last week to House Ag Committee Democrats, Ranking Member David Scott, from Georgia, said, “We all know that Congress needs pressure to act. That’... Read Mo

Rural broadband deployment won’t succeed in closing the “digital divide” unless the agencies handling billions of dollars in funding coordinate better.  That’s the collective sentiment of House Ag members.  Ag Chair David Scott said “effective communication” is the key to 100% rural broadband deployment using the historic Infrastructure and Jobs Act funding.   “And this is why we established proce

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it’s not ready to back a cattle competition bill by House Ag Chair David Scott but adds the legislation is a much better starting point than the alternative.  While the NCBA opposes Senator Chuck Grassley’s Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, Tanner Beymer said they aren’t ready either to back Scott’s Small Family Farmer and Rancher Relief Ac

House Ag Committee Chair David Scott recently introduced the Small Family Farmer and Rancher Relief Act to help small farmers and ranchers in the cattle industry. “As I’ve said before, it’s a crisis in this nation that we’ve lost an average of 17,000 cattle ranchers per year,” Scott said.  “The drivers of the loss ar...

Last week, House Agriculture Chairman David Scott announced the intention to introduce a bill to help small family farmers and ranchers and address the national crisis in our nation’s beef supply chain. Scott said, “What has been missing from the conversation is help for the very beginning of our food supply chain, which is our nation’s small family farmers and ranchers.” The bill Sco...

The four CEOs of Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef Packing have agreed to testify before Congress. Reuters said the meatpacker bosses will discuss cattle markets and price increases for consumers. House Ag Committee Chair David Scott says it’s important to find out why prices have dropped for ranchers and risen for consumers. ...

The war in Ukraine took the attention of the House Ag Committee this week, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a passionate plea to American lawmakers by video link. And that presentation impacted the Ag Committee hearing. “Ukrainian farmers put 50 million metric tons of corn and wheat into the global food supply," said House Ag Committee member, Austin Scott of Georgia. "

The Ag Secretary is already thinking about the 2023 Farm Bill. Tom Vilsack spoke before the House Agriculture Committee last week and mentioned the upcoming Farm Bill. The Secretary wants the committee to use the next Bill to help him move rural America from an “extractive economy” to a “circular economy.” He said a circ ...

Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow is non-committal so far on cattle market reforms proposed by other senators trying to boost competition and prices to independent producers. A fire at Tyson’s Holcomb, KS facility in 2019, followed by the pandemic have together sparked outrage by many over the big price spread between fed cattle and boxed beef, but Stabenow is making no promises on reforms. ... Rea