On Monday, U.S. House Committee on Agriculture leaders held their final farm bill listening session in the Northeast. The three-hour session at Cobleskill, N.Y., drew close to 500 people from all corners of the Northeast. It was the last of six “Conversations in the Field” sessions held across the country.

The representatives at the session were Ag Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-Texas), Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Vice Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pa.) and committee member John Faso (R-N.Y.). They were joined by non-committee member Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.).

After Thompson opened with prayer, close to 35 people addressed the legislators for their constituents on a list of issues. They were farmers, ag organization leaders, state ag officials, academic advocates for research, Extension employees, FFA youth leaders and more.

Changing the farm bill to better protect small farmers and dairy farmers was the most urgent issue. To that point, Tenney noted that many dairy farmers in her area “had closed up shop and switched to beef and grazing.” Over and over, the committee heard of the urgency to restructure the farm bill to help keep small farmers, new farmers and small dairies in business.

Specific issues addressed included the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, conservation and environmental protection, milk prices, Rural Electric Cooperatives, land grant funding, market access, organic ag, research and technology funding, sustainable ag, streamlining regulations and young farmers.

“I appreciated hearing from the good people of [the Northeast] as we dive headfirst into writing the farm bill,” commented Conaway. “From dairy to specialty crops to our nutrition assistance programs, we received a lot of feedback we’ll use to inform the draft of our bill.”

Peterson added: “This final listening session allowed those in the Northeast to share with the committee their thoughts on what the next farm bill should look like. I appreciated everyone taking the time to join us — not just today but at the previous listening sessions as well. I look forward to taking this information back to Washington and beginning our work on a new bill.”

For more on the farm bill, see "'Fixes' may be coming in dairy’s safety net."