00:00 - The following program is sponsored in part by customers

00:04 - bank.

00:12 - Congressman Glenn Thompson, chairman of the U.S.

00:16 - House Agriculture Committee.

00:17 - We'll talk about the farm bill.

00:19 - But first, how well financially is the average Pennsylvania farmer doing?

00:24 - Well, Larry, just thanks for the opportunity to be able

00:27 - to come here

00:27 - and to talk about Pennsylvania's number one industry, which is agriculture.

00:32 - I'm, I have the privilege of serving as the first member

00:36 - of Congress from Pennsylvania in over 170 years, as chair of the U.S.

00:40 - House Agriculture Committee.

00:42 - Whereas the first 1 in 1820.

00:44 - We had one just prior to the Civil War.

00:45 - I'm not saying they had anything to do with the Civil War.

00:48 - And then, of course, today I'm proud to serve as chairman of this committee.

00:52 - These are very difficult times, for our farmers.

00:55 - For for a number of reasons.

00:57 - Number one, you know, the inflation dating

01:00 - back, in the past, you know, five and a half years,

01:04 - has really

01:05 - raised the cost of the input costs that farmers have.

01:09 - And agriculture is is, input intensive, you know,

01:13 - you know, starting with seed and fertilizer, the the cost of acreage,

01:19 - labor, is a significant issue I'm actually going to be introducing this week.

01:24 - The, salad bill, the Securing Agriculture Workforce Act,

01:29 - to address that.

01:31 - But, you know, it really has been a challenge.

01:34 - And in the, you know, the the chaos and confusion that comes

01:38 - when you have massive trade negotiation

01:41 - because unfortunately, and it really is immoral.

01:43 - But any time trade is disrupted,

01:47 - our trading partners tend to use,

01:50 - agriculture, commodities, food, actually,

01:53 - and they target those with, you know, with, tariffs.

01:58 - And and so that's been an issue as well.

02:01 - And so it's, it's been a significant challenge right now.

02:04 - And that's why, the actions that we have been taking,

02:08 - the things that I've been leading in Washington, rather successfully,

02:12 - actually, are so important to get done now.

02:15 - And just what kind of help, Congressman?

02:18 - Do farmers in Pennsylvania need from the federal government?

02:21 - Yeah, well, they are not our largest commodity of this.

02:25 - Number one industry is dairy steel in Pennsylvania.

02:28 - Significant.

02:30 - And, and so I was very proud to lead,

02:35 - the, whole milk for

02:36 - healthy kids legislation, which, you know, 15 years ago,

02:41 - some very misguided legislation that occurred in Washington.

02:46 - Demonized whole milk and whole milk and flavor in our schools.

02:50 - And when they did that, we started to serve the kids,

02:53 - low fat and nonfat milk

02:55 - and and flavored nonfat milk, which, quite frankly, is just disgusting.

03:00 - And the kids wouldn't drink it.

03:01 - They wouldn't consume it.

03:03 - Even those that are forced to take it,

03:06 - with our free and reduced meals there.

03:09 - A lot of unopened half pints that wound up in a garbage can.

03:12 - And, and we don't want food waste, let alone cheating our kids of nutrition,

03:17 - because of the essential vitamins and elements that are in and whole milk.

03:21 - And so really proud that that became law of the land that we restored whole milk.

03:26 - That whole milk for healthy kids restored the that option.

03:30 - That's important for our kids.

03:32 - I think it also is really important for our dairy farmers as well.

03:36 - They I mean, we lost an if not one, maybe two

03:39 - generations of milk drinkers, starting 15 years ago.

03:43 - And so,

03:45 - so that's one thing that we've delivered,

03:47 - and it's having a very positive impact, both for our, our youth.

03:51 - Now it's optional.

03:52 - But I encourage as a recovering school board member, I encourage all school

03:56 - boards to adopt, whole milk, back into their, their, their lunch.

04:02 - Well, not just lunch is breakfast. Lunch.

04:05 - I have a district that's so large and so rural, they feed them dinner

04:09 - before they put them on the bus to send them home.

04:12 - In the King County.

04:13 - But it's snacks.

04:14 - It's special events. It's preschool.

04:17 - So that's a really positive impact.

04:21 - Do you think having a whole milk in schools will just lead to less

04:24 - waste ultimately, anyway, and better nutrition for our kids?

04:28 - You know, the, obviously it's been documented that,

04:32 - the essential elements that our children are not getting or that is what you find

04:36 - in whole milk and whole milk and flavor in particular is,

04:40 - you know, kids like to drink it.

04:42 - And if that encourages them to drink, it's it's, it's a very good

04:46 - thing everybody benefits.

04:48 - Obviously, we did a,

04:50 - we've done, I've done not just one, but two farm bills.

04:54 - The first one, farm bill 1.0, was a part of H.R. one.

04:57 - The, Working Families Tax Cuts bill.

05:00 - President Trump signed that at the white House.

05:03 - Almost a year ago, July 4th, 2025.

05:06 - Privileged to be there,

05:08 - standing there with them.

05:10 - And then, we also,

05:13 - we have passed out of the House Committee and now the House of Representatives,

05:18 - farm Bill 2.0, which is,

05:21 - farm Bill 1.0, was 20% of the farm bill.

05:23 - It was basically 80% of the investment.

05:27 - You know, this was all budget neutral.

05:29 - It was strategic investment.

05:31 - And with a great return on investment for, you know, for American families,

05:37 - for farmers, and really for food security and national security.

05:40 - And what we just, back in April, it's now sitting in the Senate.

05:45 - What we passed out of the House,

05:47 - was the Farm Food and National Security Act of 2026, and that was the remaining

05:53 - 80% of the farm bill, 20% of the spending and investment.

05:57 - And so that, it's in the capable hands of Senator John Bozeman.

06:01 - He's a senator from Arkansas.

06:03 - He's also a dear friend of mine. He was a mentor of mine.

06:06 - When I came into the house.

06:07 - We, we did Bible study together.

06:09 - So, I'm very pleased he's he's got to navigate that through the Senate.

06:15 - He's got to get 60 votes.

06:17 - And, and then we'll go to conference committee.

06:20 - And it is the House has turned a chair.

06:21 - So I'll be chairing the conference committee for, for the farm bill.

06:25 - Well, what's in the farm

06:27 - bill that's passed the House that can help preserve farmland in Pennsylvania?

06:32 - Any number of things, actually,

06:34 - and when it comes to risk management, title one, which is commodity title

06:38 - and title 11,

06:39 - which is the crop insurance title, we've made significant investments.

06:43 - We've increased the,

06:47 - the, the

06:48 - the investment in a commodity title,

06:51 - you know, by probably $55 billion.

06:54 - It's a risk management tool, basically to protect

06:58 - against, market volatility.

07:01 - That, you know, the, the farmers are able to have access to,

07:05 - we've also added, especially on title nine.

07:09 - That's crop insurance.

07:10 - We've invested six, $6 billion into crop insurance, making it more affordable.

07:16 - Now, that's a public private partnership.

07:18 - The farmers have to buy into it.

07:20 - It's it's like an insurance program, and technically is what it is.

07:25 - You know, there a third party entities that offer the, the,

07:28 - the insurance policies and those are mostly based on weather.

07:32 - Now, we've made these, crop insurance more resistant.

07:35 - Also disaster in the past, a farmer, you know, we're going to have flooding

07:40 - too much, too much heat, too much cold, too wet, too dry.

07:46 - And it, you know, it's a

07:47 - it's a challenge when you're a farmer to dealing with the weather.

07:51 - Crop insurance is a risk management tool to, to really to be able to manage

07:54 - that risk.

07:56 - We've not only made that more affordable for everyone,

07:59 - with what we've, what I've let out of the House of Representatives.

08:03 - We've, we've made it so that it applies to disaster situations.

08:07 - So instead of waiting on Congress to act on it in an ad hoc way

08:11 - and, you know, at some point after, well, most recently and certainly included

08:16 - this, you know, the central Pennsylvania and south central Pennsylvania area,

08:20 - the frost that we had it as impacted significantly our,

08:24 - our orchards and groves and, and, strawberry plants.

08:30 - That is an example of that in the future there, there'll be access

08:34 - to, new crop insurance tools, and those tools would help.

08:38 - In an event like that, they won't have to wait for Congress

08:40 - to act in an ad hoc way for disaster assistance.

08:45 - Well, let me put it

08:45 - this way, Congressman, is Pennsylvania losing farmland, and if so, why?

08:50 - What's happening?

08:50 - Well, it is, and unfortunately, it's everywhere.

08:54 - Part of it is just, the growth and development,

08:58 - there's nothing

08:58 - sadder when we lose, a prime farm acreage,

09:02 - to housing developments, to shopping malls.

09:06 - We, we we've seen a significant amount

09:10 - to, solar fields, actually. And,

09:14 - and I have a concern anytime I see that

09:16 - we're losing prime prime agricultural soils,

09:20 - you know, type one or type two soils, which are really the best for growing.

09:24 - We have, we need to feed the families in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,

09:27 - but also those of the nation and a significant portion of the world.

09:31 - When you look at our humanitarian assistance and our trade

09:34 - that we do of selling, Pennsylvania grown commodities,

09:38 - around the world, around the globe, actually.

09:41 - And so we have provisions actually within this farm bill

09:44 - to number one, to make farming more profitable.

09:47 - So that there's less,

09:49 - motivation to

09:51 - to see this land converted into non farming use.

09:55 - We have a lot of bellies to fill, and we need this acreage.

09:58 - We have provisions within this farm bill.

10:01 - In the past, the energy

10:03 - title of the farm bill would fund,

10:06 - massive solar projects

10:09 - and, and I, you know, I

10:11 - solar is great, but it shouldn't be on prime farmland.

10:15 - And so and we certainly shouldn't subsidize it,

10:18 - through the, through the farm bill.

10:20 - And so we have new provisions where, you know, if a farmer is

10:23 - just putting enough solar on his farm and they're not selling electricity

10:28 - to the grid, but they're using it to bring down their cost of operation.

10:32 - That's great.

10:33 - And I certainly encourage them to use removing roofs,

10:38 - barns and sheds and outbuildings for solar.

10:41 - But, you know, if you're going to put it on on the land and, you know,

10:45 - there every farm has soil that's less productive.

10:48 - Maybe it's a steep hillside

10:50 - that we don't farm because you want to avoid runoff and erosion.

10:55 - Those are the types of things that we encourage and,

10:57 - and, that type of scenario, the farmer would still be able

11:00 - to get assistance to be able to, you know, to do some solar production.

11:05 - But if it's just putting massive solar that leasing with somebody

11:09 - to get so back to the grid that know with the passing of the Farm Food.

11:13 - National Security Act that would no longer be eligible for,

11:17 - you know, for our farmers, you know, we,

11:22 - you know, we're also trying to

11:24 - there's two sides, Larry, of of of any business.

11:27 - Right? There's,

11:29 - there's the income coming in and there's the cost.

11:32 - I address some of the costs.

11:34 - There's a whole lot more we're doing making access to credit a little easier.

11:38 - But we, on the,

11:42 - on the,

11:44 - the the,

11:46 - the the income side coming in, we've,

11:49 - we've doubled the, assistance for trade, and this is a prime time to do it with,

11:55 - you know, with, Trump administration having accomplished

11:57 - 18 trade agreements in the past 18 months, with nations.

12:02 - And and I will tell you that agriculture has really been the number one priority,

12:07 - of the U.S.

12:07 - Trade representative, Jamison Greer, he's a,

12:11 - he's a friend of mine.

12:12 - We communicate, we work. You know, I,

12:15 - talk with him frequently.

12:17 - We doubled. What?

12:18 - The programs in the farm bill.

12:20 - It's called market access program, which is exactly what it sounds like.

12:23 - It helps farmers access foreign markets to sell their commodities

12:27 - or the foreign market development program, which is kind of

12:30 - a preliminary step where we it's monies to help develop new markets.

12:34 - And so we're, we're assisting our farmers, sort of on both sides of that coin

12:38 - in terms of, of, market access, including, grant programs for value

12:44 - added programs to help a farmer develop domestic access, new domestic products.

12:50 - But also in managing their costs.

12:52 - Well, let's go back to farmland preservation

12:54 - just for a minute, Congressman, and bring that right up to date.

12:57 - In other words, let's consider the potential impact

12:59 - of data center development in Pennsylvania, because my understanding

13:03 - is a data center can take up as many acres as Central Park does in New York City.

13:08 - Yeah, well, you only have to visit, Lancaster County and see,

13:12 - some of these, buildings that have been built in on prime farmland,

13:16 - not necessarily data centers, but warehouses and,

13:20 - and it's, it always makes me a little certainly makes me sad to see that.

13:24 - I think data centers are a part of our future.

13:28 - Well, it's a part of the present, actually.

13:30 - And, but I think there's better places for them, you know, to be able to,

13:35 - but let's let's even start more geni in other states.

13:38 - Congressman. No,

13:39 - I mean, here in Pennsylvania, you know, I mean, let's talk about Maryland.

13:43 - Maryland is addressing, really data centers in a significant way.

13:48 - And, Larry, do you know where they're getting their power for them?

13:51 - They want to get it from Pennsylvania, because we are we're power

13:54 - rich in Pennsylvania

13:55 - in terms of electricity production, because we have a diverse portfolio

14:00 - of how we produce electricity here in the in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

14:05 - So there's really a choice.

14:07 - We there's either we manage better, manage

14:10 - the placement of data centers here in Pennsylvania,

14:13 - or we experience,

14:15 - what I think is a serious threat of eminent domain,

14:18 - because we're talking about

14:19 - they're talking about building data centers in Maryland

14:22 - and then exercising eminent domain through a lot of farm property,

14:26 - and certainly all private private property to be able to get their energy.

14:31 - And so, so that

14:34 - that is not

14:34 - a good alternative, but that's what will happen if Pennsylvania ignores,

14:39 - the topic in a serious way of data centers.

14:42 - And so I think there are some places that we could

14:45 - the data centers could be placed.

14:47 - And is there anything in the farm bill that anticipates

14:49 - the development of data centers here?

14:51 - No, no, there is and but there is farm related that would benefit.

14:55 - I mean, how many farms do we have, mostly north of Interstate 80

14:59 - that have capped Marcellus or Utica gas wells.

15:03 - Those gas wells could be used to generate power.

15:06 - And so we could place data centers literally.

15:11 - Certainly

15:12 - my congressional district can dam users and, and, and probably some others

15:17 - where these data centers will be placed out of sight.

15:20 - They could get their energy, which would actually benefit the landowners.

15:24 - A lot of those are farmers, you know, using that,

15:27 - that, natural gas that's been capped, but not put on a, on a pipeline.

15:32 - We also have a ton of abandoned mine sites.

15:35 - I work, nation leader, not

15:37 - just in agriculture, certainly other areas like abandoned mine reclamation.

15:42 - I have more abandoned mine sites in my congressional district

15:45 - than the other 434 districts added together.

15:48 - And so there are some sites that are already scarred that we

15:51 - we need to do remediation, or we have done remediation,

15:55 - and they're using very rural and very much out of the way.

15:59 - So I think there are some better ways,

16:02 - you know, to manage, the data centers, I,

16:05 - you know, I think data centers are here to stay.

16:09 - The it's a, and I but I think we should

16:13 - seize the opportunity to direct those

16:16 - so that we don't see massive, fertile farm land

16:20 - that is taken either by a data center or, quite frankly, by eminent domain

16:26 - in order to feed electricity to a data center in another state.

16:30 - How big a toll is extreme weather taking on the crops here in Pennsylvania?

16:34 - Earlier, you didn't mention that there was a, a freeze,

16:38 - and that was back in April, and that had an impact on the apple crop here.

16:42 - We're really going to be feeling comes. Yeah.

16:44 - Come September.

16:45 - Apples, peaches. Strawberries.

16:48 - Maybe some other, specialty crops that were just blossoming at that time.

16:53 - Well, this week, as you and I talk, we're expecting heat.

16:57 - A heat index is probably maybe pushing 110,

17:00 - 115, you know, real temperatures closer to 100.

17:03 - But, you know, with humidity,

17:06 - you know, what's out there to help farmers cope with that crop insurance.

17:10 - Now, in the past, it's not been there for those specialty crop growers.

17:14 - You know, the like you mentioned the apples.

17:18 - The peaches, you know, they're considered specialty or their specialty crops.

17:26 - Vegetables.

17:27 - Watermelons, squash.

17:29 - You know, those are all there.

17:30 - And Pennsylvania has a lot of specialty crops.

17:33 - They've never been eligible before.

17:35 - This farm bill that I prepared, for crop insurance,

17:39 - but we're, we've done now, we've invested in

17:43 - especially crop block grant program, the specialty crop research.

17:48 - It is, it's an important.

17:50 - It's an important part of our.

17:51 - Well, it's important part of nutrition, right?

17:53 - I mean, those are nutritious foods, like,

17:57 - like all agriculture commodities.

18:00 - And our farmers grow here in Pennsylvania.

18:02 - And so we just, we are now going to be providing,

18:07 - our farmers, a way to manage the risk of weather in a better way.

18:12 - What kind of incentive is in the farm bill for farmers to plant crops

18:16 - that will improve soil quality, and that would be an important investment

18:20 - in the future?

18:21 - No, absolutely.

18:22 - I mean, that's been a I'd like to say it was an evolution or something new,

18:27 - but we're actually Larry, we're just going back to the way God designed it.

18:31 - You know, in the past, I think humans have gotten away of that natural process.

18:38 - There is there is no better,

18:41 - climate, champion

18:43 - in the world, than the American farmer,

18:46 - an American farmer, rancher, forester, actually.

18:49 - But just stay with crops for now.

18:52 - You know, we,

18:55 - soil health is so important.

18:57 - I was, honored.

18:59 - Oh, now, it's been at least 15 years ago, I, I chaired the first,

19:03 - soil health hearing that was ever held, in Congress,

19:08 - when I chaired that subcommittee with that jurisdiction. And,

19:13 - and the beauty of it, when farmers

19:15 - with great modern agriculture practices and my definition of American agriculture

19:21 - is science, technology and innovation, when we do that and we do it right,

19:27 - we basically take, carbon out of the air,

19:31 - and, and it goes into the soil and the beauty of it

19:34 - and it creates more topsoil.

19:37 - It makes the soil more healthy.

19:39 - You know, we try to not release the, the carbon from the soil.

19:43 - That's why we do.

19:44 - We see the majority of what we see today is no till planting.

19:48 - And, you know, versus the the days when we did you run a plow through

19:53 - through a field.

19:54 - You're releasing all that carbon

19:56 - and that carbon actually helps to increase the yield.

19:58 - And I think the health of the,

20:01 - the products that, those farm commodities that we're producing.

20:04 - And so it's an extremely important, part of agriculture.

20:08 - It always has been.

20:09 - It is not a new discovery.

20:12 - Maybe we're doing a better job of, highlighting it and talking about it.

20:17 - And this,

20:19 - in this farm bill, we actually increase the,

20:23 - funding for conservation programs.

20:25 - I think they'll go up, like 34% by the year 2031.

20:29 - Significant 24% increase to start with.

20:33 - And so, those conservation programs all help

20:36 - with my point is, they all help with soil health.

20:40 - Last question, Congressman.

20:42 - What do you anticipate the Senate will do with the farm bill

20:46 - that's cleared the House?

20:47 - In other words,

20:47 - will they take what you've done and sign off on it, or will they start over?

20:51 - Well, we we work real hard to keep the the,

20:54 - Senate, leader and his staff, John Bozeman

20:57 - and his team informed as we've worked on this farm, bill traveling.

21:01 - And this is what we wrote, this farm bill from the outside in.

21:05 - So not just Pennsylvania, multiple listening sessions in Pennsylvania,

21:09 - but a total of over 160 visiting 43 states in one territory.

21:14 - And so all that time we kept the Senate informed.

21:16 - So there was no surprises when we passed.

21:19 - Now we had 109 amendments, on, on the floor.

21:25 - I think we were heading to a neighborhood of,

21:28 - maybe about a little less than 30% of

21:30 - those were made in order and were added to the bill.

21:34 - Is that a lot of amendments?

21:36 - Congressman 109 sounds like a lot to me.

21:38 - Yeah, it sounds like a lot to me.

21:40 - Although it, in the past it's been a little higher.

21:43 - Now, part of that we didn't see as many amendments because,

21:46 - my, that's my style of lading.

21:48 - I brought everybody to the table.

21:51 - We did it in a tri partizan way.

21:52 - Republicans, Democrats and the people of of,

21:55 - American agriculture at the table.

21:58 - And so, but the Senate will have to make

22:00 - some modifications, because they have to get 60 votes.

22:04 - There'll be a couple of things that probably won't be included

22:08 - with what they pass, in order to garner those 60 votes.

22:12 - And I understand that, but the process says once the Senate passes,

22:18 - their farm, their version of the farm bill, and they've already,

22:22 - Senator Bosma has already released a draft of it,

22:24 - and it's largely parallels what we had,

22:28 - minor changes and, and quite

22:31 - frankly, we'll go to a conference committee at that point.

22:34 - So we'll actually go to regular order of conference committee.

22:36 - It's the House has turned the lead.

22:37 - So I will be chairing that conference committee.

22:40 - Congressman Glen Thompson, chairman of the U.S.

22:43 - House Agriculture Committee. Thank you.

22:46 - My pleasure. Thank you.