Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says the committee is “heading straight to the heartland to talk directly to producers” for its first field hearing for the 2018 farm bill. “We need clear direction in what is working and what is not working in farm country, and we will be listening to see what needs to be adjusted,” said Roberts, in announcing the Feb. 23 hearing at Kansas State University in his home state.
The senior Democrat on the committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, agreed on the need “to hear directly from producers and others who care about rural America so we can craft a bill that continues to strengthen American agriculture as well as small towns and rural communities.”
Meanwhile, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven was announced as chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing USDA and FDA funding. Hoeven, who also serves on the Agriculture Committee, succeeds Jerry Moran of Kansas as the subcommittee chair, who shifted to chair the subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs. Marco Rubio of Florida replaced Moran on the agriculture appropriations panel.