Brown Presses USDA on Assistance for East Palestine Farmers

During a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on oversight of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pressed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to support farmers and agriculture producers in East Palestine and the surrounding region as they deal with the ongoing disaster caused by the Norfolk Southern train derailment.

“When I was last in East Palestine, I heard directly from Ohio farmers seeking assurances that they can safely plant and sell their cattle. Farmers in both counties want certainty,” said Brown.

Brown pressed Vilsack on USDA’s commitment to working with Ohioans to expand testing to include a larger geographic area and to include testing for dioxins and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in milk and beef cattle. Brown asked how the USDA can work with these farmers to rebuild consumer trust in the safety of their products.

“We will be happy to do that, Senator. We want to be helpful. I will say that USDA sees its particular role in this particular circumstance as supporting the farmers but also supporting EPA in terms of being able to figure out where, how, and what needs to be done to reassure folks that they can continue to farm and continue to market their products,” said Vilsack.

Brown went on to discuss the USDA’s disaster assistance programs and how they are ill-equipped to address environmental disasters like what occurred in East Palestine. Brown pressed Vilsack on the types of reforms USDA needs to make to its disaster programs to ensure that the entire agency can respond to the next, man-made crisis.

“…The reality is that as a particular disaster in one area of the country may be fundamentally different than in another area so to the extent that you can provide flexibility and allow us to have the capacity to respond to a disaster regardless of its design or cause or structure that would be helpful…” said Vilsack. “…It’s really difficult to be specific as specific as you would like it to be in order to cover anything and everything that can happen.”