Congressman Mike Rogers attended the Farm Bill Conference Meeting today with his House and Senate colleagues.  Rogers’ opening statement is below.

Rogers is a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee and the only member from the State of Alabama.

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Opening Statement:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am pleased to once again represent Alabama here on the Conference Committee. 

I am honored to be working with each of you to craft long-term legislation to give our nation's producers the certainty they want, and frankly, deserve.

In 2013’s Conference meeting, I stated that my home state is home to over 48,000 farms. In today’s meeting, I’m here to tell you we have about 44,000.   

Agriculture is still a massive and important industry for Alabama’s economy, but as you can see, it’s a hard business. 

Alabama’s farmers and producers deserve a strong, consistent, and on-time Farm Bill. Ag is like football – you have to know the rules of the game before you play, and the Farm Bill gives farmers those rules. It’s also like football in that the state of Alabama is pretty good at it. 

In Alabama’s Third District, we care about protecting sensitive farmland while still maintaining farmers’ access to working lands. 

We care about citizens’ access to well-rounded nutrition. 

We care about America’s rural electric co-ops.

We care about protecting family farms by ensuring all family members can work on them.

 And we care about strong research funding for our two Land Grant Universities, Tuskegee University and Auburn University. 

Like most of America, my constituents strongly support enforcement of work requirements for SNAP users. 

What better time to build up an American workforce with increased job force training than when America’s economy is booming? 

I encourage my colleagues to work in a timely manner to protect America’s food and fiber. An on-time Farm Bill one of the most important things we can do for the folks back home. 

With that, I yield back my time. Thank You.