Tuesday, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) questioned U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small during a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry Committee hearing. Brown shared the concerns of Ohio farmers brought to him at Farm Bill roundtables he hosted across the state at the "Farm Bill 2023: Rural Development and Energy Programs," hearing, pressing Torres Small on supporting local processing capacity and value-added agriculture; promoting rural housing; and creating Cooperative Centers for Excellence in rural communities.
During several of Brown's roundtable discussions with Ohio farmers, they mentioned their need for processing equipment and related infrastructure, and the lack of workable options for small and mid-sized producers to access affordable capital for equipment.
"I often say that the best ideas don't come from Washington, they come from Ohioans. This summer, I started holding Farm Bill roundtables and I will continue next year as we develop the 2023 Farm Bill. I've heard from growers from many different sectors of the agriculture economy -- from apples to cattle, maple syrup to dairy and everything in between," said Brown.
Torres Small told Brown that she had recently visited an Appalachian Ohio meat-processing plant that is adding labels to meat from local processors that add value to the product. An example of this type of label highlighting an attribute of the product that would raise its value would be "all-white chicken" or products that are low in salt and free of artificial ingredients.
"[This processing plant is] choosing this option because it's allowing them to increase their value and also sustaining reliable, more resilient options when it comes to meat processing in general. It was really a neat thing to see and I wasn't surprised because it was a local vision that we were helping to support when it comes to more options for meat processing. It really does provide great value," said Torres Small.
Brown, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, asked Torres Small about the need to preserve and expand affordable rental housing supported by the USDA's Rural Housing Service, which provides critical affordable housing to communities across the country, including to more than 13,000 families in Ohio.
"Affordable rental housing is crucial and our portfolio, as you know, is declining. We have about 400,000 rental units currently, but by 2050, we will lose over 333,000 of those. That's why preservation is crucial, both in terms of making sure that that housing stock is good stock, that people are in places they deserve to. They deserve to have a healthy, clean place to live," said Torres Small. "But also in terms of maintaining rental assistance that right now is tied to the debt of those facilities. We also need to expand when it comes to investment in construction of new rental properties so that we cannot just look at our aging stock, but how we invest into the future."
Categories: Ohio, Government & Policy