Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 222: $12B for Farmers, Trade Deals in Limbo, and Farm Bill 2.0 with Rep. Tracey Mann

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222: $12B for Farmers, Trade Deals in Limbo, and Farm Bill 2.0 with Rep. Tracey Mann · CattleUSA Daily

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  Today on the podcast, we are welcoming Representative Tracy
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  Mann on to the podcast. He represents the first district
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  here in the wonderful state of Kansas.
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  Tracy is also on the Ag Committee as well.
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  Today we are discussing Farm Aid.
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  We're discussing Farm Bill 2 Point O, and just some other
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  thoughts that Tracy has about things that are going on on
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  Capitol Hill right now. It is a very busy end of the
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  year as we wrap up 2025 and prepare for 2026.
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  Tracy does a great job for the next few minutes of breaking all
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  of that down for us. Before we hop into today's
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  episode, if you could please take a second.
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  If you're watching on YouTube, make sure that you subscribe to
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  our channel and like this episode.
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  If you're listening on any of our other podcast platforms,
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  take a second to make sure you're following the show and to
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  also go rate and review it as well.
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  And without further ado, let's go ahead and hear from
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  Representative Tracy Mann. Welcome to the Cattle USA daily
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  podcast Your. Go to.
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  Source for the latest livestock markets, industry insights and
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  the updates shaping agriculture today.
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  I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
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  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  Representative man, welcome back to the podcast.
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  We are so excited to have you on today.
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  We've got a wide variety of topics to talk about today.
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  There's a lot happening on Capitol Hill right now.
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  But first and foremost, can you kind of breakdown what your
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  reaction to the Bridge aid announcement was that was
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  released earlier this year? Yeah.
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  Hello, Lauren. Thanks for having me on again.
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  Thanks for doing this. Very good news, right?
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  And as we know right now, our farmers are struggling and
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  they're really struggling because commodity prices are
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  low, but also input costs are way up.
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  You know, we're 40 plus percent increase over the last few
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  years. And so the announcement was that
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  Trump's going to use $12 billion of money that's coming from
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  tariffs, tariff revenue we've already received to help our
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  farmers, a bridge to getting to better trade deals when better
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  trade deals should help to lower inputs and also rise prices.
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  And that's a great thing. So it was a fantastic
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  announcement. My administrate, my message to
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  the administration has been whatever we do to help farmers
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  needs to be significant. And, and it needs to be very
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  quick and really glad, you know, that that this is a very
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  significant announcement. And every indication is, you
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  know, intention of getting this money out the door to farmers
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  here right after the first of the year.
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  And, and that's a good thing. Absolutely, absolutely.
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  Is it enough in your opinion? Yeah.
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  Well, if it's not, we'll we'll take a look at it.
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  You know, it's, it's continues to change, you know, the
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  conditions for our farmers, for some producers it will be enough
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  for others it won't be varies by commodity.
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  So, so we will see, don't forget that our farmers are also going
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  to be helped when the provisions of the working families tax
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  cuts, the big, the big bill we passed on July 4th, those tax
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  provisions don't really go into effect a lot of those things
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  until January 1. So strengthen crop insurance,
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  raising reference prices, lowering tax rates, you know,
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  those will happen here right after the first of the year, and
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  that will provide a lift and a boost for farmers and in
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  agriculture as well. Yeah, absolutely wonderful to
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  hear. So what do you say to farmers
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  who are waiting for these trade deals to come to life?
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  We want better trade deals, but the reality of waiting for them
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  to come to fruition has been really, really hard for the AG
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  community. What happens if these deals are
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  still being negotiated next year, in your opinion?
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  Yeah, well, we've made some great progress.
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  There's more to do when we realize when Trump ended his
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  first term, we had an AG trade surplus of $6 billion.
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  When Biden ended his term, his time as president, we had an AG
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  trade deficit of 40 billion. So we lost $45 billion of market
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  share in four years while the last administration, I believe
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  was completely asleep at the wheel.
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  So, you know, Trump is doing something about it,
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  renegotiating deals. I've been very pleased at the
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  ACR. Visions in these frameworks have
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  already been announced. You know, with China buying
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  soybeans and sorghum. Now we need to hold our feet to
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  the fire, make sure they do that.
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  But the the deal struck with the United Kingdom, you know, to
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  buy, to purchase biofuels, to purchase our beef and be good
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  right in on the list. This is all great for
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  agriculture. We got to keep moving forward.
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  Absolutely, Absolutely. You touched on the one big
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  beautiful bill earlier. It passed earlier this year and
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  had a lot of wins in it for American AG, but there are still
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  a lot of programs that weren't funded with that that are about
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  to expire at the end of the year.
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  What do you think Congress will do about these programs as we
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  move forward? Well, anything, any any like
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  FarmVille provision that was not taking care of the big beautiful
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  bill. All those have been extended.
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  So there there will not be things that expire for the end
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  of the year. The question is how long are
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  they extended for some of them to January 30th, some of them to
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  September 30th. But we'll work hard to make sure
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  that they don't expire. And the big beautiful bill, you
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  know, look at agriculture in Kansas, for example, or the
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  majority of folks in AG. Crop insurance credibly
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  important. Well, crop insurance got
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  strength and fortified made much better for the next six years in
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  in the working families. Tax cuts raising reference
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  prices, reference price will go up every year for the next six
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  years and with what we've already signed into law,
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  doubling the dollars for market access program for market
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  development MAP and FMD, you know, really important on the
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  trade front, you know those are into effect come generally 1.
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  So that's really good. There's a handful of things that
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  are left to do though, conservation programs, a couple
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  of other things as well, and we'll work to get to those right
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  after the first of the year. Wonderful.
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  So switching topics a little bit into Farm Bill 2 point O, what
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  are your priorities as far as the Farm Bill goes?
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  Last time you were on, we kind of chatted a little bit about
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  it, but if you want to get back to that and tell us kind of an
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  update and what's going on with that?
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  Sure. And you know, we're calling it
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  Farm Bill 2 point O because Farm Bill one point O was done.
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  So we would call it the Skinny Farm Bill.
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  Some of my priorities are going to be moving Food for Peace from
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  the USAID, you know, which went away to Department of
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  Agriculture. I think they do a great job
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  implementing that program for our farmers.
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  So that's meaningful. The American Farmers Feed the
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  World Act is legislation I have that would make sure that when
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  we're doing the foreign food assistance, let's not just send
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  money, dollars, Let's also make sure that we're sending American
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  grown AG products, wheat, sorghum, others as well.
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  That's great for Kansas, great for our American farmers, good
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  for shippers as well. Promoting Precision Agriculture
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  Act. There's a lot of of things that
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  I would like to see in this farm bill and I'm optimistic that
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  that that'll get rolling in the committee here right after the
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  first of the year. That's very exciting to hear,
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  especially as we've been talking about a farm bill I feel like
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  just kind of forever at. This point, yeah, you're right.
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  I've been on the floor of the House 3536 Times Now over the
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  last years urging the rest of Congress to get serious by doing
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  a five year farm bill. Glad we got the things done
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  signed into law and the working families tax cuts, but but a few
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  more things to do here as well. Yeah, it's one of those things
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  that we finally get done with the 1st and then it's time to
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  start negotiating the next one because boy oh boy do those
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  years come very quickly. You know, our farmers need
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  certainty and we got to remember why are we doing farm bills in
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  the 1st place that are five years.
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  I would argue five years is long enough to provide some
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  certainty, but short enough to adjust and change with the
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  times. And the biggest change we've
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  seen now versus when the last farm bill got passed, which by
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  and large, a lot of farm producers are, are pretty
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  satisfied with the current farm bill.
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  But the biggest change is input costs.
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  And when input costs have risen like they have, we got to really
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  reevaluate these these programs where the safety net is, where
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  it ought to be and what farmers need to exceed moving forward.
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  Well, Tracy, I know you have to get back to the floor to go get
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  some votes put in as we start to round out this podcast.
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  Is there anything else that we didn't touch on today that you
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  would like to leave with listeners before we go?
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  Yeah. Well, I would just say, you
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  know, I appreciate all the listeners, appreciate so many
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  great ad producers in Kansas and around the country.
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  It does matter. And, you know, the basic values
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  to make America, America, I say, are things like faith, family,
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  hard work, personal responsibility.
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  You know, these values are alive and well in our rural
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  communities, are alive and well on Agriculture Day.
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  We need to make sure that we get the policy right so that
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  agriculture can continue to grow and and succeed and thrive, not
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  just for for the benefit of the industry, but for the benefit of
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  the communities and these values that we all love and appreciate
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  and hold dear. So have a Merry Christmas,
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  thanks for having me and full steam ahead.
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  Absolutely. Well, Tracy, thank you so much
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  for coming on and thank you for representing agriculture at a
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  national level. I'm sure you don't get told
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  enough. Thank you for what you do.
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  We really appreciate all the things that you do for us here
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  in Kansas and then how you stand up for agriculture on a national
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  level. So thank you for what you do.
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  We will let you get back to your very busy day.
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  Have a very Merry Christmas to all of our listeners.
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  Thanks for listening to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily
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  Podcast and we will see you all next.
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  Fine, have a good one y'all.