Issues Home

  • Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit

    Austin Scott (GA-08) Chair David Scott (GA-13) Ranking Member Jurisdiction Policies, statutes, and markets relating to commodity exchanges; agricultural credit; rural development; energy; rural electrification. Majority Members Bob Goodlatte (VA-06)...

  • Focus on the Farm Economy

    Farmers and ranchers have endured a 45 percent drop in net farm income over the last three years, the largest three-year drop since the start of the Great Depression. The most recent ERS report now tells us that net farm income will be down again in ...

  • Conservation and Forestry

    Frank D. Lucas (OK-03) Chair Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) Ranking Member Jurisdiction Policies and statutes relating to resource conservation, forestry, and all forests under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Agriculture. Majority Members Glenn Thomps...

  • Nutrition

    Glenn Thompson (PA-05) Chair Jim McGovern (MA-02) Ranking Member Jurisdiction Policies and statutes relating to nutrition, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and domestic commodity distribution and consumer initiatives. Majority...

  • General Farm Commodities and Risk Management

    Rick Crawford (AR-01) Chair Rick Nolan (MN-08) Ranking Member Jurisdiction Policies, statutes, and markets relating to commodities including barley, cotton, cottonseed, corn, grain sorghum, honey, mohair, oats, other oilseeds, peanuts, pulse crops, ...

  • Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research

    Rodney Davis (IL-13) Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-1) Ranking Member Jurisdiction Policies, statutes, and markets relating to horticulture, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and ornamentals; bees; and organic agriculture; policies and statutes ...

  • Livestock and Foreign Agriculture

    David Rouzer (NC-07) Chair Jim Costa (CA-16) Ranking Member Jurisdiction Policies, statutes, and markets relating to all livestock, poultry, dairy, and seafood, including all products thereof; the inspection, marketing, and promotion of such commodi...

  • Conservation

    Conservation programs have grown significantly in size and scope over the last 25 years. The Agricultural Act of 2014 maintained the core functions and goals of the conservation title while eliminating or combining duplicative and overlapping program...

  • Food Transparency

    America’s farmers and ranchers provide the world with the safest, highest quality, most abundant, diverse and affordable supply of food and fiber mankind has ever known. With the population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, food production techno...

  • Innovation in Agriculture

    U.S. agriculture has a strong history of innovation to develop better and more efficient ways to feed Americans and the world. The committee has been supportive of this innovation in agriculture in many ways, including in the strong support of resear...

  • Markets and Finance

    America’s farmers, ranchers and end-users depend on well-functioning markets to manage their businesses and mitigate risk. The success of these markets benefits consumers, the economy, and business around the globe. Over the past several months, the ...

  • National Security

    Global food price spikes in 2008 and 2011 led to significant unrest and political instability around the world. Throughout that period, on average, Americans continued to spend less of their disposable income on food than any other nation on earth. W...

  • SNAP

    The committee engaged in a top-to-bottom review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Past, Present, and Future of SNAP. In the committee’s first seven hearings on SNAP, it looked at the program through the eyes of recipients, which h...

  • Trade/Food Aid

    In 2014, U.S. agriculture exports reached a record-setting $152.5 billion, and with the recently-passed Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), Congress will be able to work alongside U.S. trade officials as they negotiate deals that could greatly expand ma...

  • Country of Origin Labeling

    First adopted in the 2002 Farm Bill, COOL has since been challenged in the World Trade Organization (WTO) by Canada and Mexico, main livestock exporters to the U.S., four times. Last month, the WTO's Appellate Body ruled against the United States’ Co...

  • CFTC Reauthorization

    "This bill codifies new practices instituted by the CFTC and other market regulators to protect customer margin, it includes a strong cost-benefit analysis measure to produce better rules, and it provides relief for end-users from burdensome requirem...

  • 2014 Farm Bill

    *Agricultural Act of 2014* The Agricultural Act of 2014 is the product of the House-Senate Farm Bill Conference. It is a five-year farm bill that reforms agricultural policy, reduces the deficit, and grows the economy. Text Statement of Managers Bill...