A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed that in 2022, Wisconsin lost nearly 10% of farms and 30% of dairy farms from 2017. This is incredibly concerning as our state and the nation rely on Wisconsin farmers for many nutritional food items, most notably dairy products such as milk and cheese.

As the only Wisconsin Member on the House Committee on Agriculture in a decade, I’m fully committed to completing work in Congress that best serves our farmers and agricultural producers. This includes making sure we pass a comprehensive and effective Farm Bill. Unfortunately, my Democrat colleagues on the Agriculture Committee continue to politicize the Farm Bill, preventing us from making substantial progress on passing it out of the committee.

I find it incredibly reckless for my Democrat committee Members to put a party agenda over the well-being of our farmers and Americans’ food source. I want you to know that I’m unwavering in my efforts to work in a bipartisan manner to pass a 2024 Farm Bill that bolsters our agricultural industry, supports our incredibly hardworking farmers, and helps Americans put healthy foods on their plates.

My 2024 Farm Bill Priorities:

• Inclusion of the Dairy Business Innovation Act, which will allocate an additional $16 million per year to U.S. Department of Agriculture Dairy Business Innovation (DBI) Initiatives to support dairy businesses in the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products.
• Inclusion of the DAIRY PRIDE Act, which will prevent non-dairy products from using a dairy label and misaligning nutrient-scant products with the nutritious dairy products produced by America’s farmers.
• Inclusion of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which will allow schools to participate in the National School Lunch Program to serve flavored and unflavored reduced fat (2%) and whole milk.
• Inclusion of the Healthy Drinking Water Affordability Act, which would provide direct assistance to rural communities, households, and nonprofits to test their drinking water and fund filtration technology to provide safer drinking water.
• Inclusion of the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act, which would make necessary updates to the Dairy Margin Cost program to raise the Tier I cap to 6 million pounds and require production history to be updated every five years.

Food security is national security and it’s critical that Congress passes a reauthorized Farm Bill package. I will continue to hold my Democrat colleagues accountable for delaying the progression of this important bill.