(Red Oak) U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide immediate assistance to cattle producers in Iowa and across the country through the resources passed in the Phase 3 relief package. Ernst spoke with members of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association earlier this week.
Ernst and her Democrat and Republican colleagues write: “The COVID-19 outbreak has demonstrated the need for domestic food security…All farmers and ranchers are vital to our country’s ability to keep food on the table in a future pandemic or related crisis, and many producers, including young producers, are often highly leveraged and cannot fall back on years of equity in a time of crisis. As such, we urge you to quickly deliver relief to producers as we work to lessen the economic impact of this pandemic.”
Ernst and her colleagues note the importance of prioritizing assistance to cattlemen in order to help facilitate the stabilization of farm and ranch income for producers who are facing market volatility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic fallout.
In the Phase 3 relief package, Senator Ernst helped secure critical provisions for Iowa’s agriculture community, including:
- Assisting food banks and pantries by providing funding for additional commodity purchases.
- Bolstering direct assistance to farmers and producers through the Commodity Credit Corporation and emergency support.
- Protecting the security of our food supply through additional funding for food inspections.
- Eliminating the excise tax for alcohol used to produce hand sanitizer and other supplies.
