A U.S. House subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday highlighting the threat climate change poses to the world's food supply, and how farmers can be assisted in adopting solutions.

Testimony included input from a Minnesota farmer.

Bonnie Haugen, who has a dairy operation in Fillmore County, touted her farm's regenerative practices, including rotational grazing. She noted it can keep soil from eroding.

Haugen urged Congress to expand funding for programs which would incentivize farmers to implement climate-friendly practices and limit the presence of Confined Animal Feeding Operations.

"Please remember that big CAFO dairies are not the same as ours," Haugen explained. "They're like big-box stores, similar to a Walmart building in the middle of one of our small towns."

She and other witnesses argued corporate farms greatly contribute to harmful emissions from agriculture, which ultimately result in more extreme weather events, disrupting the growing and delivery of food. Republican committee members argued higher gas prices are a bigger threat to agriculture right now, along with regulations under the Biden administration.

Sarah Goldman, policy organizer for the Land Stewardship Project, said Haugen's testimony accurately captured the challenges farmers face in helping to reduce the impact of climate change as try to they maintain a healthy food supply.

"Supporting family farms is really a way to counterbalance some of those pressures that we've seen," Goldman contended.

Goldman added market concentration forces too many family farms out of business, and thinks there are not enough conservation resources to keep their land resilient and profitable.

"There's some great programs that are out there to support farmers doing regenerative, sustainable agriculture," Goldman acknowledged. "But there isn't enough funding."

Last year, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy reported 67% of farmers who applied to programs in the last decade were rejected, partly due to a lack of funding.

Goldman stressed she hopes the next Farm Bill will contain some solutions. It is due for reauthorization next year.

Texas farmers who want to transition some of their land from conventional crops to organics are getting help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bob Whitney, a Regents Fellow and extension organic program specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, works with the state's Transition to Organic Partnership Program. Whitney said California grows more organic fruits and vegetables, but Texas is making inroads.

"We're number one in organic dairy production, we're number one in organic peanut production, number one in cotton production," Whitney outlined. "The last couple years, we've been number one in organic rice production."

Before crops can be certified organic, farmers must manage their land without using synthetic pesticides for 36 months. So far, Texas has issued 383 organic certificates to farmers. Overall, estimates show Texas in sixth place among the states for organic ag acres.

A report by Statista said global sales of organic food increased from $18 billion in 2000 to $131 billion in 2021.

Supermarket produce labeled organic has been strictly defined by the federal government since 2002, and Whitney noted shoppers pay attention.

"I'll just tell you these other labels that are on foods are not very well trusted, according to research," Whitney observed. "Organic still has a very high trust with the consumer."

He added participants chosen for the program will learn organic practices, business development, marketing and more, from farmers who have already been successful.

"These farmers that we will work with will be paid a mentorship fee," Whitney explained. "They will help these transition farmers with questions, with how-tos; a little bit of pep talking when they need it."

Whitney has found once farmers commit to organics, they don't look back.

"I can tell you that I do not lose organic producers," Whitney asserted. "As I've heard many of them say, 'You know what, I've got kids, and I'd rather know that they're not out there in the middle of something that's been sprayed.'"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has committed $100 million to the Organic Transition Initiative.


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William Peace University is teaming up with Produce Purpose, a nonprofit organization, to install a hydroponic farming operation on campus.

The new program aims to provide purposeful employment for individuals with special needs, promote sustainable and pesticide-free agriculture, and encourage healthy eating habits at the university.

Matthew Harvey, founder of Produce Purpose, said the program, inspired by his special needs brother, is not only to promote interactive learning but to address a real problem happening among young people.

"The age demographic between the ages of 18 and 29 is seeing the most weight gain in a person's lifetime," Harvey pointed out. "The freshman 15 slogan holds more truth than people really want to admit."

To bring the hydroponic farming operation to life on campus, Produce Purpose will also be partnering with Freight Farms, a hydroponic technology company based in Boston. Plans for the fully automated hydroponic farm are already underway, and the first crop is set to become available for harvest this fall.

The collaboration goes beyond merely providing fresh produce to students; it also creates multidisciplinary educational opportunities for them. Harvey highlighted the program will be accessible to students studying subjects such as biology, interactive design, psychology and special education.

"For example, if you are a physics student and you want to learn more about how different colored light waves can affect the growth of plants, you can see that in the red and blue light wave tech that the container farm has developed and perfected," Harvey explained.

Harvey added the program will hire about three special-needs farmers.


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Georgia farmers are watching a bill that is being reintroduced in Congress for ways to help their farms become more sustainable and less likely to contribute to the warming climate. The Agriculture Resilience Act is making a comeback this year after languishing in Congress since 2019. Its goal is to make agriculture a 'net-zero emissions' industry by 2040. Farming now contributes about 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.

Lotanna Obodozie, Climate Campaign director with National Young Farmers Coalition, said her group hopes the bill gives farmers more access to the resources they need to increase sustainability.

"Farmers are experiencing a lot of barriers when trying to use or apply for USDA programs, and so I think that is a challenge that farmers could face," she said.

Agriculture is a $70 billion part of Georgia's economy. The bill focuses on assisting farmers in adopting eco-friendly practices, and would fund research into cutting-edge farming methods. The Agriculture Resilience Act has just been reintroduced. Previous bills had no co-sponsors from the Georgia delegation.

The legislation also includes measures to address social-justice issues in farming communities. It outlines ways to support minority-owned farms and promote equitable access to resources like land and water. Obodozie said this focus is needed to bridge gaps in agriculture across the nation.

"One thing that's really important is just how can we make sure that these programs are accessible for all farmers - not just large farmers, but also small farmers, beginning farmers, farmers of color, and other historically disadvantaged farmers," she said.

Some people have suggested adding this legislation to the 2023 Farm Bill, which Congress is scheduled to begin debating in September. In Georgia, over 42,000 farms span more than 10 million acres, according to the USDA.


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