Congresswoman Sarah McBride (D-Delaware) holds an Ag summit at the Delaware State Fairgrounds.
The summit brought state and local leaders together to discuss issues Delaware’s ag producers face daily to inform McBride’s actions in Washington.
Topics included the ongoing debate over the Farm Bill, concerns about the bird-flu pandemic, and complaints focused on the Trump administration's promised $12 billion dollar farmer bailout, which producers say hasn’t found its way to farmers’ pockets.
Jim Minner is president for the Kent County Farm Bureau
"We put out $12 billion dollars to be distributed to farmers by the end of the month. Here we are at the end of the month and there wasn’t even a plan to distribute those funds” he said.
Minner says the money is especially important coming off of a farming year where profits were especially low. He says younger farmers were not financially able to take that hit without assistance.
"It's part of the trade war stuff, and with that in mind, it's very important that money comes out because- it's a band-aid, but it's a very important band-aid" he said. "It may keep some operations from folding up"
McBride notes there are concerns around the Trump administration's transparency on the matter. She says they’ve promised clarity on the distribution soon.
Minner says he maintains an optimistic attitude and hopes McBride can use what she heard to make a difference in Congress.
McBride also noted discussion about the impact of immigration policy. Many Delaware growers rely on H-2A visa-holding “guest workers” during their high production months.
McBride says there’s bi-partisan interest in reforming the H-2A system to work for American farmers, however…
“I am concerned that the larger toxicity around immigration policy could impact momentum for bi-partisan solutions to make sure the H-2A system works better for farmers and workers alike.” she said. "This president has politicized the larger immigration conversation, and frankly, turned much of our immigration system into a dangerous military force"
She says that despite those issues, she hopes that the discussion around H2-A reform can continue in Washington.
Also brought up during the three-hour round table discussion was concerns over the growing bird-flu pandemic, over 1,100 geese were found dead in New Jersey over the course of just two days- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection all of those deaths are attributable to avian influenza.
"Avian Flu presents an existential risk to Delaware's agricultural industry. Poultry is by far the single largest product that we produce on Delaware farms.... avian-flu provides a real risk to the survival of these farms," said McBride.
Among the discussion points was also the Farm Bill discussions- current Farm Bill text has not beenupdated since 2018 and has instead remained law through a series of extensions on old language.
"The Farm Bill we had was working" said Minner. "What's going on right now is just a government peeing match between the Democrats and Republicans. Nobody wants to sit down and discuss it and come up with a solution"
Farm Bill language covers a broad range of things including crop insurance, food access for low-income families, and farmer training on sustainable farming practices. McBride says that the bill being updated from its nearly-a-decade-year-old text is crucial to the survival of those programs.
"There's been text that's been introduced- it does sound like the Agriculture Committee will be marking up the legislation next month. My job is to bring the voices that were heard in this room to Washington DC with me. To make sure that the priorities that farmers here in Delaware shared with me today are heard by the agriculture committee" she said. "I'll be taking what I heard here to DC with me next week"
McBride and the US House of Representatives are scheduled to return from recess and resume work on Capitol Hill Monday.
