Welch highlights new bicameral federal legislation to ensure farmers can fix their own equipment
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) outlined how President Trump’s global trade war has wreaked havoc on the United States’ agricultural market and created hardships for farmers across the country. Senator Welch also emphasized how the historic drought and President Trump’s tariffs, have hurt Vermont dairy farmers.
Witnesses included John Latham, President of Latham Quality, Inc.; Caleb Ragland, President of the American Soybean Association; Corey Rosenbusch, CEO of The Fertilizer Institute; Andrew LaVigne, President and CEO of the American Seed Association; Diana Moss, Vice President and Director of Competition Policy at the Progressive Policy Institute; and Noah Coppess, a family farmer from Stanwood, Iowa.
Watch Senator Welch’s full exchange with Iowa farmer Noah Coppess below:
Read a key excerpt from Senator Welch’s exchange with Mr. Noah Coppess:
Sen. Welch: “Much of what the farm community is facing is a result of policies that have been allowed to take place by this Congress. And we all revere the hard work of our farmers, but we’ve got to do some work of our own and address these policies…The market is absolutely destroyed, and that is directly a result of the tariffs. This is killing these guys, and we’ve got to acknowledge that and get their markets back.
“There is discussion right now about taking some of that tariff money and sending it to farmers. And God knows, I support getting some aid to farmers. But let me ask you this question: Do the soybean and corn farmers in Iowa—would they prefer to work hard and sell their product to a market, or get a government handout?”
Mr. Coppess: “Thank you for the question. We don’t want to live by the government’s hand. We’re fine being the tip of the sword if we can correct the greater problems and have a better long-term future.”
Sen. Welch: “But the point here is, you want to be self-reliant, you want to sell, you want to produce, you want to work hard, you don’t want a government handout—right?”
Mr. Coppess: “We would like to have fair trade.”
Sen. Welch: “I am totally with you.”
Senator Welch also questioned Mr. Coppess about how the Trump Administration’s reckless tariffs have impacted his farm and livelihood:
Sen. Welch: “You know, we’ve got the phosphate, as you mentioned, that is everywhere—14% increase in price in Vermont for our farmers. They have no control over that—we mostly import it from Canada. Is that an input cost that is also going up in Iowa?”
Mr. Coppess: “It is. On our farm, we minimize the use of phosphate down to an absolute necessity where we have to have it. It is simply a negative return.”
Sen. Welch: “…The tariffs are really hurting us in Vermont, my dairy farmers. And this drought, which they don’t complain about, is just something they’ve got to deal with…They cannot control the weather. They cannot control a lot of things. But we can control some policies that will make it possible for another five generations to keep going.”
The Senator also highlighted the benefits of his new Freedom for Agricultural Repair and Maintenance Act (FARM Act), bicameral legislation to provide farmers with the right to repair their own equipment and restore competition in the agricultural repair market.
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