Corn Comments: DaNita Murray Discusses the 2023 Farm Bill
Welcome to Corn Comments, the radio spot about South Dakota corn producers and the issues that are important to their operations and communities. I’m DaNita Murray, Executive Director at South Dakota Corn. We are brought to you by the South Dakota CornUtilization Council, a volunteer group of farmers who promote corn marketing in this state, the U.S., and around the globe.
As we look towards the 118th Congress and the 2023 farm bill, a couple of amazing facts are at play in Washington, D.C. About half of the US House of Representatives has NOT voted on a farm bill—they are new since 2018. Around a quarter of the US Senate is in the same boat. There has also been a turnover in agricultural leadership. Former Senate Agriculture Chair Pat Roberts from Kansas and former US House Ag Committee Ranking Member Colin Peterson from Minnesota are no longer in the Senate and House. There will need to be an educational effort by all commodity groups on food security here in our country against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the decades old partnership that includes SNAP funding reauthorization in every farm bill. But what do I think new Members of Congress need to understand about your operations? That while the vast majority of South Dakota farms are family run and operated, make no mistake, they are not the farms of yesterday, but are sophisticated operations that manage modern risk in various forms and size on a daily basis. Looking forward to 2023, there is a lot of outreach and education to be done, and we’ll need folks to pitch in and help with that effort.
In the meantime, it’s important to remember that corn growers work every day to help provide food to a growing world and domestic fuel here at home. For the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, thank you for your efforts to make this state a great place to live.