SE Kansas News

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) questioned Brooke Rollins, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, during a Senate Committee on Agriculture hearing. Moran addressed the challenges faced by farmers and ranchers nationwide, emphasizing that Kansas is particularly affected.

"It has been described here the dangerous and dramatic circumstances that farmers and ranchers find themselves in across the country – it is certainly true in Kansas," Moran stated. "We have the same difficulties that everybody else has across the country with high input costs and low commodity prices, but I would add that almost 80 percent of the counties in Kansas are in a drought, and so you add to those problems that we can’t grow a crop."

Moran stressed the need for swift administration of disaster and economic assistance passed by Congress in December. He highlighted the importance of transparency in distributing this aid to help farmers plan financially for the planting season.

Additionally, Moran discussed with Rollins several priorities including passing a new Farm Bill, ensuring USDA employees are present in offices, advancing the Farm to Fly Act, supporting the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas, and promoting research at land-grant universities across the United States.