Transcripts For CSPAN3 House Hearing On The Impact Of Agriculture Technology On Farming 20240713

We thank everyone for joining us for our first Small Business meeting of 2020. I want to especially thank the witnesses for taking the time to travel from across the country and take time away from their businesses to have this important discussion. There will be members coming and going or overlapping hearings with other committees. Youll see folks, and we ask for your patience with that as well. Farming and agriculture are at the heart of strong economies around the country. It is crucial to insure that our communities thrive. Coming from colorado, i understand the importance that farming and agriculture have on our states way of life and economic wellbeing. Nearly half of colorados 66 million acres are dedicated to over 30,000 farms and ranches. Many of which are small, locally owned operations. Colorados a leading producer of cattle, corn, wheat, and dairy. Colorados small farms are raising everything from bison and ostriches and growing mushrooms and grapes to name a few. In the 21st century, technology and innovation are changing everyday life, reshaping how consumers shop and how business is conducted. Modern farming is no different. Through advancements in robotics, sensors, artificial intelligence, Gps Technology and digital platforms, agriculture is undergoing a revolution and trance zishzal from the Industrial Age to the digital age. These innovations commonly known as Agriculture Technology provide an opportunity to help farmers increase yields and profitability while reducing waste and environmental impact. Todays hearing will provide members with an opportunity to hear from innovators, farmers, and researchers about how its helping farmers modernize their businesses and how entrepreneurship and innovation is changing our food and farming systems. The increased use of ag tech has the potential to reduce challenges well face over the next century. Globally, the worlds population is on track to exceed 9 billion in the next 30 years. According to the united nations, this means our Agricultural Production will need to incrose by 70 . To meet the growing demand for food, fiber, and biofuel. Meeting this Global Demand for food will be even more challenges in the face of Climate Change that is already impacting our food systems, water, and land. Changing temperatures reduce yield and increase pest pressures. Changes in precipitation patterns increasingly cause crop failure and decline. As a former army ranger, i have seen how these threats including skas Water Resources and poor Food Security can have a profound impact on our national security, readiness, and resiliency. But the full potension of ag tech to meet global food demands create jobs in our Rural Communities will not be fully realized unlessio fully support our farmers and innovators and the research that supports them. Ag tech can spur growth in rural parts of the economy, and its struggling to find and retain skilled a skilled and stable workforce. To address this, i worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass the Farm Workforce modernization act, which will help create a Reliable Work force for american agriculture. This legislation will help provide certainty for guest workers and for American Farmers and ranchers. An important step in solving the labor challenge facing American Farmers and ranchers. There should also be robust funding of Agriculture Research at the usda to support farmers in Rural Communities. Im proud colorado is a hub of ag tech and innovation. Funding opportunities through my district, and a pipeline of talent from outstanding universities Like Colorado State University and the university of colorado systems have helped make colorado the second largest ag tech ecosystem in the country. As that pipeline develops the skills and food science, these specialists will lead the ag Tech Industry forward. Finally, it is crucial to mention the need for greater deployment of highspeed internet in our Rural Communities. Outside of this outside of its importance in health care, education, and legal services, connectivity is the backbone of ag tech. Broadband makes it possible for farmers to aggregate and analyze data in real time while tracking Commodity Markets and operating digital technologies. Small businesses and farms across colorado suffer daily from lack of access to highSpeed Broadband due in large part to lack of investment. High Speed Broadband is a necessity and why congress should make investments in infrastructure projects. Technology has become indispensable for all Small Businesses and farmers and ranchers are nodize. Small businesses play a vital role in providing products and services to support americas farming revolution. I look forward to hearing from our experts witnesses on how farmer is being impacted by technology and how rnd is impacting Small Business growth and entrepreneurship. And i would now like to yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Balderson, for an Opening Statement. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, mr. Chairman, chairman crow. Appreciate it. Happy new year, and look forward to a great 2020. I anticipate a great 2020, with another year of bipartisan camaraderie and innovation on the Workforce Development subcommittee. Todays hearing will explore innovations that are modernizing our farms and revitalizing rural america. Having spent time working on a family farm myself, i understand the impact farmers have on their community and our nation. Agriculture technology or ag tech, is a broad term describing a diverse range of technologies including bioscience, big data, analytics, automation, and robotics. Live chain and logistics and alternative Business Models such as hydroponics and meat alternatives. They can increase productivity, on a larger scale, ag tech is revitalizing efforts by attracting startups, jobs, and investment dollars to the agricultural region. Ag tech attracts aunlt entrepreneur and investors from various industries and geographies. As we observe the astounding growth, we couldnt lose focus on our farmers. With uncertain markets and narrowing profit margins, farmers may be hesitant to take on additional risks that come with new technologies. For example, an investment in precision Agriculture Systems included equipment purchases, installation charges and precious time spent learning to use and maintain these technologies. To be fully taken advantage of, the system must be compatible with preexisting machinery,con Business Models. Technologies must have a tangible impact on productivity and profit. As options rapidly increase, how do farmers determine what will work best for their specific Business Needs . I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today and to talk about thesis experiences called Ag Technologies and what resources are available to minimize the risk and maximize the benefits of investment. Thank you for being here today to represent this promising industry. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Balderson. I agree with you on looking forward to 2020. We had some exciting wins and collaborations in 2019 and look forward to continuing that in the next year. The gentleman yields back. If the Committee Members have an Opening Statement prepared, we ask they be submitted for the record. I would like to take a minute to explain the timing rule. Each witness gets five minutes to testify and each member gets five minutes for questioning. Theres a lighting system in front of you to assist you. The green light will be on when you begin. And the yellow light will come on when you have one minute remaining. The red light will come on when youre out of time, and we ask you stay within that timeframe to the best of your ability. I would now like to introduce our witnesses, but before doing so, i am going to ask unanimous consent to allow Jimmy Panetta to join the subcommittee hearing. Without objection, so ordered. Welcome, mr. Panetta. Thank you for joining us today. And i will actually yield to you to introduce our first witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity to be here to speak about a very, very important issue. And thank you, Ranking Member balderson. I appreciate both of your Opening Statements and agree with absolutely everything both of you had to say, so thank you. Its an absolute honor to be here. Its actually quite a far, far away from where i come from, not just in the building but in california. I come from the Central Coast of california, and its otherwise known as the salad bowl of the world. Trust me, my fellow members on the ag committee get sick and tired of me saying that, and they have heard me say it over and over. Now you get to hear me say it, but i say it with a lot of pride because there on the Central Coast of california, you name it, we grow it. We have hundreds and hundreds of specialty crops. Theres a reason why were not only a salad bowl of the world, but we have the garlic capital of the world, the artichoke capital of the world, the berry bowl of the world, we have specialty crops. But as many of you know, specialty crops can be very difficult to harvest, especially crops. Take that human discernment when it comes to soft fruits and vegetables as to figuring out what is safe, what is ripe, what is ready to be picked. What is aesthetically pleasing to the consumer, because as you know, most of the time, those products, once theyre picked, they go right into the cartons. The cartons go right on to the shelves of the stores, and those cartons then go home with us, and then those products go right into the mouths of our sons and daughters. And so it does take at this point a very skilled you have to be very skilled in order to harvest this product. For a long time, we have relied on humans to do that, especially on the Central Coast of california. That is why jason and agree with you, the farm worker modernization act was a very, very important bill that im proud to say was not only passed in a bipartisan basis in the house. It must be passed in the senate and signed into law. In the meantime, the other avenue we must go down is ag tech, as you mentioned. But this type of technology, or these types of crops, were behind it. Were lagging. Dont get me wrong. I have been out in our fields there in watsonville, and i have seen some pretty interesting things from some companies right over the hill and from silicon valley, where i have seen machines take more pictures of a strawberry plant in one afternoon than all the previous history of taken photos of a strawberry plant. Its that type of technology thats needed, but more is needed to be invested in this technology to do it. And i think thats why its so, so important that were having this type of conversation here in washington, d. C. So that those types of investments in the field, not just on the Central Coast but throughout this country can benefit from the investment thats needed when it comes to ag tech. So its an absolute honor that im here today with you. But also have the opportunity to introduce mr. Kevin france. Kevin france is the chief executive officer of swim systems. A Small Business that provides onfarm agriculture water farming. Swim has a Satellite Office in my district on the Central Coast, and it partners with the western growers association, which has one of its main offices in my district as well. Now, under mr. Frances leadership, swim has been recognized as a top 25 Ag Tech Company by Forbes Magazine. Mr. France, i thank you for being here, for your preparation, for your time. And all of us look forward to hearing what you have to say in regards to the investment thats needed and what has been done and what needs to be done when it comes to ag tech. Thanks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ranking member. I yield back. Thank you for being here, mr. France. And jimmy, you might have a lot of agricultural capitals of the world, but i dont think you can claim the mushroom capital of the world, because that belongs to ms. Holoahan sitting next to you. Want to be clear for the witness. The second witness is dr. David pote potere. Hes a Technology Leader focused on building Applied Science platforms using geospecial technology to tackle complex business challenges. Hes focused on building a living map of the world food supply. Using reliable maps, data, and metrics can help farmers grow crops that are more profitable and sustainable. Prior to joining indigo, he was cofounder and ceo of tellis labs which provided agriculture intelligence using machine learning, remote sensing, and geospatal analysis. Hes got a ph. D. In geo demography from princeton and served as a Service Warfare officer in the u. S. Navy. Thank you for your service to the country and for being here today. Our third witness is mr. Roberto ma meza. While a grad student at mit in the art culture and technology program, he was inspired by student projects addressing Food Production in urban landscapes. His career quickly transitions from the arts to agriculture with a focus on food access. After a hiatus working on farms, roberto moved to colorado with a childhood friend and started their own farm in 2017. Emerald gardens distributes greens to restaurants, retailers, and smaller areas. They operate using solar energy. Burto is also the chair of outreach for a local chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. Hes also a board member of the High Plains Food coopand is developing a model to help to coops and local producers gain access to markets. Thank you for taking time away to be here today. Its always good to see a fellow coloradans in washington, d. C. I would now like to yield to our Ranking Member to introduce our final witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to acknowledge the Ranking Member of the Small Business committee has joined us also. Ranking member mr. Chabot. Thank you for being here this morning. Im sure a lot of you are looking and see the witness list. We have made an agreement, were not going to do the ohio stuff, but we do want to acknowledge that though ohio state is not in the national championship, joe burrow is. Thats where he got all his training, so ohio state is still represented in the championship game, coming up monday evening, so i just want to make sure that everybody is well aware of that. And from the southern portion of ohio, so were well represented. Will the gentleman yield . Yes. You mentioned he may soon be a cincinnati bengal, which i happen to represent. We shall see. We shall see. Our next witness, sorry, doctor. Dr. Douglas jacksonsmith, from Ohio State School of environment and natural resources. Hes here today as a representative of the universitys program for food. Before joining the school, he served 15 years as a faculty member of the department of sociology, social work, and atheropology at utah state university. He has a bachelors degree, a masters degree in macroeconomics and a ph. D. In sociologist. His Research Explores the dynamics of technology and structural change in natural and resource systems. Hes helped lead 25 million worth of Interdisciplinary Science grant funding. Dr. Jacksonsmith, we thank you for your research in this field and appreciate you taking the time away from your work to beak here with us today. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you. All due respect to the Ranking Member, dr. Jacksonsmith received his academic training from the university of wisconsin, so go badgers. Not to be outdone this morning. Thank you very much. Mr. France, you are now recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congressman, thank you very much. And other members of this committee. Appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today on the impact of Agricultural Technology in rural america. And i appreciate this opportunity to share some of my experiences. My name is kevin france, and i chief executive officer of swim systems. My graduate and undergraduate degrees are in Business Administration and my professional experience includes developing technologies through Public Partnerships that can be integrated into the private sector. Prior to the internet of things, also known as the iot revolution, sensors were not generally connected to the internet. As a result, data was gathered manually, normally by a grower when time permitted in between growing. Now, sensors are being connected to the internet and data is being made available in near real time. Growers need better access to the gamechanging technology in order to sustain our agricultural economy in the face of everincreasing water shortages. So what is an onfarm water account . Top recognized by Forbes Magazine and we maintain a Distribution Agreement with western growers association, one of the largest trade organizations in the nation. Our clients are made up of growers of all sizes and shapes. We provide complete water use reporting, including applied and consumed Water Resources on a realtime basis by field and by crop. Similar to the way your cpa provides a detailed statement of financial accounts, money in, money out, and from what source, we enable growers to quantify and protect their water allocations well into the future. Our initial research was originally funded by private investment and underpinned by state Water Conservation plants. The technology was then developed over a fiveyear period through an agreement with the usda, colorado state, and utah state universities. Our first issued pachtant was codeveloped with help, directly alongside of the usda. Depending on their location, a grower may have access to river water, access to ground water, some have access to both. Unlike other farming folks, however, water is the only component to a farming operation that has no alternative source and if not available, could put the farmer completely out of business. By way of example, take the Colorado River, the prime surface water source for seven western states, and its overappropriated by as much as 40 , leaving some farmers without water to grow crops in which our nation severely depends upon. Years of drought exacerbates the situation. As another example, take californias recent passing of the sustainable ground Water Management act to manage overpumping. With the upcoming restrictions, at least 500,000 acres of farmland in the Central Valley of california will be without water, most likely, which means no crops will be grown on those acres. Our clients tell us that they fear their livelihoods and legacy of their operations. Many of which have been in their families for generations. Growers need access to updated technology to fight the consequences of drought and lack of water availability that is widespread throughout the u. S. The equipment we most often see in the field fails to provide the accurate water accounted needed today. We see roughly about 1 in 5 flow meters in the field producing data that is off by as much as 25 . An oldfashioned open canal measurements where they show the yardstick in the water, off by as much as 40 . Consider what this means. Our experience shows us that many of the current Funding Sources are geared toward research. Iscontributions are valuable, but the net sum result of many of these products simp 11 leads to more Research Without much private sector engagement. They have programmed that are designed to help farmers and irrigation districts implement technology. They include Funding Sources. These programs, although well intentioned, are tough to plan around, as funding cycles do not track with grower needs and the application process is difficult to complete. Funds for these programs are managed and distributed generally on a regional basis. Making larger, more scalable projects that can benefit multiple regions more challenging to implement. We have seen that firsthand. One example relates to a project were currently finalizing along the Colorado River in arizona with support of the federal government. Were working with the bureau of Indian Affairs and bureau of reclamation in an area that will benefit from this use of water data. This could be expanded through a partnership with bia and multiple users along the Colorado River for meaningful scaling to be achieved. To provide a Paradigm Shifting Technology and embracing the technology on a wider scale, Funding Sources must be flexible and allow for approval on a propro proje projectwide basis. Thank you again for the opportunity to share the story with you today. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. France, for that testimony. I would be remiss if i didnt recognize youre bringing your family here as well. And it is my understanding at least your youngest daughters first time in washington, so welcome to our nations capital, to the France Family as well. Youngest and oldest, thank you. Thank you. Dr. Potere, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, chairman crow, other members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in todays hearing. You know, fundamentally, growing food has always been a venture of Small Businesses. And that is true here in the united states, despite all we hear about consolidation of farms, today in the u. S. , no sector has a higher percentage of Small Business ventures than agriculture. And thats not only the farmers that are growing the food but the shippers and carriers that bring that food to market. The accountants and cpas and economists and mechanics who help bring that crop out in the world, and of course, Small Business is challenging. And no Small Business is more challenging than agriculture. I come to you today as a te technologi technologi technologist. Im not a farmer but i have been serving farmers for the last five years building out a better system of agriculture intelligence using satellite and Weather Technology as a result of hundreds of millions of dollars of Government Investment over the last many decades. And im now proud to be a member of indigo agriculture, which is a Company Whose mission is to use technology to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. The challenges that the farmers face today, we have seen 49 reduction in the profitability of farms since 2013. Were looking at a 400 increase in input costs for farmers over the last 40 years, most of that in the last 15. You think about where that increase in input cost is going, its not going to Small Businesses. Think about how challenging it is to market that green out in the world. As an asset class, commodities futures is one of the most volatile Asset Classes on the planet. Farmers every year have to figure out when and how to market their crops out into the world. Its hard to be small in the food system. And at indigo, we believe that technology is a part of the solution to making farming a more viable profession, and the two aspects of our business that i want to share most with you today are around bringing that crop out into the world via Indigo Marketplace, and learning how to grow a new kind of crop. Learning how to become a carbon farmer. We think this is one of the most hopeful things we have heard of when it comes to the Climate Change story. Bringing farmers into the solution. Its true that farming represents 25 of carbon emissions. But at indigo, we believe that farming can be a definitive part of the solution for Climate Change, because of the potential for agricultural soil to absorb carbon. Its really an Old Technology called regenerative farming. It basically means planting cover crops and letting what we all learned in eighth grade science take over when it comes to photosynthesis. Plants are really good at turning Carbon Dioxide into carbon. We should let them do that and do that year round by helping farmers move to a system where they plant crops in the winter that make the soil healthier, make the food healthier for human consumsurtion, and create resilience for farmers to better resist the Climate Change, which if unmitigated look like they could present a 20 headwind when it comes to Agricultural Production in the country. That requires a marketplace, and Indigo Marketplace technology is designed to match buyers and sellers. And thats a real tough problem. I have sat at the farm gate with many, many farmers in my time at indigo around harvest time trying to make that decision of where and when to sell their grains. Theyre not armed with the same technologies as the big ag companies theyre selling into. We work to democratize the intelligence it takes to make smart, rational decisions at that key moment, including learning how to sell carbon. One of the things we wanted to make sure to menth today as we speak with all of you is an opportunity to support farmers in that chance to sell carbon, and the thing we would like to observe is for a decade now, due to changes in the tax code, oil and Gas Companies have had the opportunity to sequester atmospheric carbon as part of enhanced extraction. And the question we have for the committee is, if it makes sense at 50 a ton for the government to subsidize oil and gas to put Carbon Dioxide back into the ground, wouldnt it make sense to allow farmers to do the same thing . And to allow farmers to do that at lower cost per ton and do that in every small Rural Community in america and allow them to become part of the same solution that we know is so urgent for the agriculture system. Ill leave you with that question. I look forward to answering your further questions. Thank you, dr. Potere. Ms. Meza, you are recognized for five minutes. Chairman crow, Ranking Member balderson, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the community to testify today. My name is roberto meza. I am a firstgeneration farmer and cofounder of emerald gardens, a farm located 15 miles east of denver on 35 acres in colorado. My Business Partner and i operate a controlled environment passive solar greenhouse in which we cultivate herbs, edible flowers and over 20 varieties of microgreens. Every week, we harvest more than 300 pounds of microgreens destined for restaurants, grocery stores, food pantries, public schools, farmers markets and for direct delivery to consumers. I am a member of the rock y Mountain Farmers Union which represents approximately 20,000 family farmers, ranchers and rural members across colorado, new mexico, and wyoming. Im also the chair of membership and outreach of mile high farmers, a cochapter of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the National Young Farmers Coalition. My Business Partner and i are proud to be building our small farms with a focus on environmental stewardship, technology, innovation, and community engagement. Microgreens are the primary crop of our farm, and our labor of love. They have low input needs, have a quick turnaround time, can be grown year round, and have a high nutrient density. It is through growing and incorporating microgreens into my diet that i experienced healing and renewal when i was struggling with personal health issues. Furthermore, they exhibit beautiful colors, have distinct flavor profiles which makes them highly sought after from chefs and discerning consumers. On our farm, we use Innovative Technologies that help reduce our costs and be strong environmental stewards. Our greenhouse uses a passive solar design that is both energy efficient, economically sensible, and environmentally friendly. It works by using clear poly carbonate material on the south side to let the light through and insulated metal panels on the sides and the north wall to trap heat. This allows us to charge our ground to air Heat Transfer system, a design we refined that is based on the principles of a climate battery. This allows us to channel that heat in the greenhouse through a series of tubes that run below the structures foundation. And allowing us to reduce our reliance on auxilerary heating and cooling implements. We grow vertically to maximize the use of our 3,000 square feet and use supplementary l. E. D. Lighting to be cost efficient. Over the next few weeks, well be installing 40 solar panels to power it lights and fans in the greenhouse. Also, as coloradans know very well, the state closely monitors water supply and use because of the arid climate. We use an automated resickur recirculating system to provide the plants only what they need. Many people are still unfamiliar with microgreens. Social media is a critical tool we use to raise awareness about their nutritional benefits as well as the Important Role they play in local food systems. By posting videos that show our Farm Practices and the technology we use in our production systems, it builds trust, transparency, and a deeper connection for consumers and their food source. A major puzzle we have been working to solve is optimal distribution of our product. Emerald gardens is a boot strap business, so unsurprisingly, we relied on relatively lowtechmodes of distribution, but well also have an online farm stand so customers can place orders from their smartphones. For broader distribution, we have partnered with an innovative local grocery startup. That allows us to deliver to all of our wholesale and Retail Markets through a single weekly pickup. We also partner with them to share data that helps us optimize our delivery routes. As technology advances, including Agricultural Technology, its become increasingly important for todays farmers to have a College Education. Indeed, its become an asset on many farms as well as our own. A College Education is out of reach financially for many, and Student Loans are essential. Unfortunately, Student Loan Debt is one of several key factors preventing young and beginning farmers from getting or staying involved in agriculture. As a firstgeneration and beginning farmer with my own Student Loan Debt, i believe a federal Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Program is essential. Looking ahead, were excited by the opportunity to partner next year with the Technology Startup that will pilot new sensors in our facility. These sensors will generate data that would help us understand the microclimate in our greenhouse to increase the precision of our production methods. Support for technology such as these, which can improve environmental and economic efficiencies are increasingly important within the context of our changing climate. I want to close by saying innovation is born of struggle. While we face a myriad of challenges as Small Farmers and Small Business owners, we remain committed to a mission of feeding our community, improving our farm and food system, and remaining careful stewards of colorados natural environment. Technologies both hightech and lowtech as well as grit and determination are helping us get there. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. And i look forward to your questions. Thank you, mr. Meza. I know tomorrow is your distribution day. I especially appreciate you flying out to do this today. Always good to see you at the stanley marketplace markets. Dr. Jacksonsmith, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you. I want to begin by thanking the subcommittee for the opportunity to speak to this important issue. As your introduction pointed out, im a professor of water security at ohio state university. I spent my career studying both the drivers and implications of technological change for farmers, with a particular focus on small and midsized farms in Rural Communities. My comments today also reflect the contributions of a colleague, dr. Casey hoy, who is the director of the initiative for food and agricultural transmission that i can speak to more later at ohio state. Many of the challenges faced by Small Businesses stem from structural disadvantages that they face and are competing against large scale specialized businesses that serve global Commodity Markets and benefit economies of scale. That said, theres reason for optimism for the future of small and mediumsized farms, agra businesses, and companies. Changes in preferences, expanding markets for Food Products that offer social, economic, environmental, and health benefits, support of private policies and a raft of cutting edge Technological Innovations provide a foundation for reinvigorating Small Businesses in rural america. Specifically over the last 20 years, a rise in consumer interest and awareness of how their food is produced has contributed to the rapid growth of new markets and were seeing a resurgence of diversified farms and markets in the u. S. It includes diverse crop rotation, and those who produce niche or specialty products. It also includes small Food Supply Chain businesses that are more nimble and better able to meet the needs of different types of customers. In our written testimony, my colleague and i list many examples of innovations that could help support these businesses and for the sake of time, im going to highlight a few in my oral comments. First, there are innovations that improve the performance of diversified farms which we see as a foundation for this frontier. The diversified farming systems of the 21st century are not your grandfathers farm, but rather improvements have opened new windows into the dynamics of agrow systems and how it can be leveraged to improve farming. Inpromising areas include support for farmer innovation. There are tens of thousands of farmers working to diversify their crop and stock positions and this could be a foundation for future discovery and innovation. Theres breeding and genetic engineering tools, both traditional and cutting edge that could be used to develop new crop and livestock varieties optimized for small Scale Production and the use of sensors and precision farming data. A second cluster of innovations may provide linkages to these farms and markets. Including tools to track the performance, innovations like the Environmental Sensors and tracking systems the previous speaker spoke to. Improving traceability. New Data Management systems in particular, Block Chain Technology that could be harnessed to track products throughout the explain chain that doesnt place a burden on producers and retailers. And increased opportunities for direct marketing. In the digital age, cething with consumers requires access and a reliable presence on the internet, and the comment about Rural Broadband internet, ill deal more with that. Finally, opportunities to expand opportunities for nonhp farm businesses. And these might include innovative Farm Machinery companies, Food Processing technologies designed specifically to support diversified production and smallscale producers. As well as food safety Monitoring Technology that could address potential threats to the food supply associated with the distributed and diversified supply chain. Including new sensors in automated samples and technology that are more accurate. So big picture, while Technological Innovations can help small and mediumsized businesses thrive, we are not working in a vacuum. And for decades, the dominant thrust of technological change in the u. S. Farm and food sector has focused successfully on largescale commodity production. Without conscious public leadership in this space, were concerned that the future of Technology May not generate the opportunity for Small Businesses and Rural Economic Development that all of us desire. Fortunately, i think emerging markets, good Public Policy and targeted investment in research and innovation and Small Business development can help energize the technology as we have talked about today and stimulate Economic Opportunities in areas where federal leadership and Stimulating Research and innovation around diversified farming and food systems could have a significant impact. I thank you for the opportunity to address the committee and look forward to your questions. Thank you, dr. Jacksonsmith. And i appreciate everything that all four of you have shared with us today. Ill begin by recognizing myself for five minutes, and start with pl meza. Mr. Meza, you have done something that not a lot of people are able to successfully do. That is from no background or experience in this area to jump in and start a small farming operation, and to be able to survive your first few years, that is a very challenging statistically thing to do, and i would love for you to share with us for a minute what advice you would share with other young folks who are looking at entering into the profession and doing this and your Lessons Learned, very briefly. Thank you. Mr. Crow. My experience has definitely been challenging, as you mentioned. I think one of the reasons why we have been successful is our involvement in our community, in our Farmers Union, working with extension offices, and also identifying appropriate technology and crops that are sought after in our community. As you know, denver is a blossoming culinary world, but it also has an underdeveloped food system. So with those two factors in mind, we have targeted microgreens as a perfect crop to really address a lot of those factors. For us, its been an opportunity to explore and Research Different models for how to create a niche for ourselves and how to create a viable business. With the support of our community and the solidarity with other farmers, it has allowed us to get to where we are today. I would say the backbone of our farms, aside from technology, is also the relationships and partnerships we have established. So i would definitely advice beginning farmers to collaborate, especially with their local communities. And i know the last time we had a roundtable together at the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, there was some disugz about what you mentioned, an emerging restaurant market. We added almost 50 population, almost 2 million more coloradans in the last two decades which has led to a boom in the restaurant industry, and one of the Biggest Challenges is getting Fresh Produce to those restaurants in a timely way without them sitting on the shelf and having the spoilage, and i know some folks in the union are experimenting with Online Platforms to do that, where a restaurant can order something up in realtime pget it within hours. Have you had experience with that, and are those platforms, do you think, are valuable . Definitely. These platforms allow us to have a really strong relationship and communication avenues with our markets and our buyers. Growing microgreens allows us to generate enough product every week to cover the immediate needs of chefs and restaurants. So we have been able to capitalize on the benefits of microgreens in order to satisfy the needs of our blossoming culinary enterprises. Is there a role in your view for this committee in helping young folks with the startup costs or the barriers on those platforms . One of the things i love about this is you cant outsource Fresh Produce. Right . It has to be grown locally. Produced locally, and sent to local restaurants, so its, i think, a great opportunity for us. But what are those barriers that you think folks like us up here could help reduce . Absolutely. I think, you know, one of the challenges was accessing capital. When my Business Partner and i decided to start a farm in colorado, we didnt exactly know how to approach it. We didnt know what products to grow, and we also wanted to be mindful of food waste. So for us, it was an opportunity to research what the local menu is in our context. Microgreens became that crop that we focused on. And because of their ease of production and low input needs, we were able to bootstrap our operation in a very small 150squarefoot greenhouse that was adjacent to my initial property i was renting in colorado. And through that allowed us to really connect with the markets that were emerging, especially through farmers markets. Now that we have scaled to our commercial phase, we have realized that much more infrastructure and input needs have been required by our Business Model to be viable. So access to capital has been quite a challenge. But were bootstrapping it as we go along. This allows us to really understand the scale that is needed to address a lot of these factors and make our business viable. Like i mentioned before, Student Loans have been a factor in our ability to address the infrastructure needs of our business. But were optimistic and were determined to innovate new models for helping younger farmers, especially since a lot of our aging farming population is experiencing this moment of transition. So were trying to engage, inspire, and motivate the next generation of agricultural. I do have some questions for the other witnesses, but i want to spread it around a little bit before i loop back to all of you for a second round. So my time has expired, and mr. Balderson is now recognized for five minutes. Thank you, chairman crow. Ill start off with dr. Jacksonsmith. Doctor, according to a recent article in the minnesota star tribune, tractors built in 198 or earlier are in high demand because the price to buy and maintain them is significantly lower than new. Hightech tractors. Can you give us a brief interpretation of this trend . Certainly, and i can say that i just retired my 1985 toyota corolla, which rusted out before the engine went, so i bond with those farmers. And i farmed for 25 years, and when i farmed, i understood the value of this kind of tier of technology. My explanation for that kind of ties into the fact that farmers at the small and midsized tier have limited resources, and a lot of cuttingedge technology, especially when it first rolls out, is beyond their reach or designed for scales initially that might exceed their capacity to take advantage of it, whereas technology from the 70s and 80s can do the job without having to be expensive and difficult to acquire and maintain. Farmers also farm for more than economic reasons. The quality of the labor experience, their ability to achieve independence is critical tafarmers i work with, and being able to work on your own tractor was why i kept that toyota corolla. I could fix a car that has a carburetor. I cant fix my toyota prius. In fact im scared to touch the toyota prius. It is an interesting observation, but it reflects both the lack of development of appropriate technology perhaps in the mainstream Machine Industry historically, and also an opportunity for manufacturers to get into that. To find ways to produce technology thats really targeted and suited to that kind of clientele, and there are manufacturers who are wising up to that. Thank you very much. The next question i have is for the whole panel, and you all can jump in however you may. According to the innovate ohio statewide broadband strategy, 3,000 households in ohio representing nearly 1 million ohioans lack Broadband Internet access. As a member of the Small Business and transportation infrastructure committees i advocate for Rural Communities including those in my district that suffer from crumbling infrastructure and inadequate internet access. How does Broadband Access adopt technology for Rural Farmers . Thank you, i can make a comment from the perspective of indigo ag. We have had to build mobile technologies for farmers to validate the work theyre doing on farm, in order for buyers to pay a premium. Were trying to decomaudatize grain agriculture. We have to send farmers themselves into the field tatake notes on whats happening. The lack of Broadband Access has required us as a Technology Company to build all of our apps resilient to a lack of internet connectivity, and the Development Costs of that and the missed opportunities around a twoway street for the farmer are just really mindboggling. Its really interesting from a Software Developer perspective, we bring developers from all over the world to indigo. They were shocked to deal with that challenge because theyre so trained on urban challenges, it was a real moment to recognize the lack of band width was going to mean developing against a total blackout from a band width perspective. Thank you. If i may, i would like to second that. Our entire network has been developed based off a cellular and satellite uplink because of the fact that in many of the regions were in, theres not sustainable broadband. So we do use broadband where we can, because theres a constant benefit to doing so, but its a secondary backup. Some of these areas are in the middle of the deserts. Were in areas where it gets to 130 degrees as a high and areas of colorado where its below zero. So that shift in climate over the year puts you in a position where not only do you have to have solid equipment that can sustain itself but also the connectivity to get to the web is still not there. We have been lucky in our context in rural bennett that we have incredible fiber optic connections. Its essential its an essential part of our Business Model because we are able to create a niche for ourselves in a market for ourselves through the use of communication platforms. By educating consumers about our product and connecting them with our food source, thats pretty much how we have been able to create this business for ourselves. And we also need this technology to utilize Sensor Technology were using to mitigate any energy waste that we may encounter in our production methods. Thank you very much. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Balderson. The gentleman yields back. Than. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Balderson, the gentleman yields back. The gentle laud i ddy from kans recognized for five minutes. Thank you chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you to all the folk who is came out here to testify on what i think is a really amazing opportunity for us on the Small Business committee to be talking about issues that really touch on rural, urban, and suburban points of contact here. I represent the Third District in kansas which is home to garmon. So, weve got a lot of the precision Agriculture Technology is very important to the district i represent. But also in my state, there is really, i would consider there to be a big push towards the Sustainable Agriculture you all have been talking about today. Johns county Community College has the program i had the opportunity to go visit. One of the things they brought up was how hard it can be for people to get into some of the types of farming that youve been talking about, the smaller farms getting into some of the crops that people are less familiar with. So, i guess the question for anyone on the panel who wants to help enlighten us is how do we how can we as the Small Business committee or Congress Help support that pipeline and also the technologies that i think im particularly excited about the carbon piece. I would love to hear from you how we can really implement or make the programs we have existing better for you all. Congresswoman davis, i appreciate the question, and ill maybe address in particular the carbon opportunity. It is its something we wrestle with is if this is such a win win, coming to regenitive system means you can use less inputs, farm more profitably, make more healthy food, and be paid for it, why havent we seen the transition, right . Farmers are entrepreneurs. If its that compelling, why are we only seeing 2 , 3 , and 4 of all americans doing those things. We think the barrier in most part is risk and know how. So, its risky to change the model. And the model conventional farming is well understood. Anything introduces risk. I would suggest anything that congress can do to create incentives around overcoming that first barrier, once folks have been doing this for two or three years, its a more profitable farm. But its overcoming that initiation obstacle that seems to be a big part of the blocker. If i may add to that. So, slim, were in three states and we have a staff of 30 something. Weve applied for state and federal funding, been successful in some cases, failed in others. We find ourselves helping our growers maybe 30 of the time use some funding mechanism to help integrate this type of technology where its swiimbased technology or otherwise, some level of technology. The other thing that we find as a barrier is the fact that these growers were told over and over just want to grow. Theyre not in a position where they want to fill out paperwork. Theyre not in a position where they want to wait. Many of the programs, at least the ones that were involved in, that are available create a disincentive to predeploy these types of technologies. Again, whether its swiim or any other technology, whereby you can apply for funding. Rural wants to get in on it now. If they do so, the funding package will not allow them to be reimbursed. So, they cant and im speaking specifically to equip. Im sure theres others. Weve had growers just say flat out im tired of waiting. I want to get this Water Conservation technology in place. To heck with it. Im just going to deploy it myself over and over. I think weve helped our clients apply multiple times. And almost every single one of them have just moved forward and done it themselves. So, a revamp of the process, maybe thinking outside the box weve had growers say if we could do one master application for all the fields in this region, we would do it in five seconds. But one form for every single field its the same reason they dont want to monitor the water. They want to leave it to a professional. Thank you. My time is coming to an end here. I appreciate the tangible suggestions that you have. And ill reach out to the folks who didnt get to answer this question to see what you have to say about it. Thank you so much, and i yield back. Thank you. The gentle lady yields back. The gentleman from tennessee, mr. Burchett is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and i appreciate yall being here. Ive been involved in, i guess, an organic business. I have a composting mulching business for a long time, and i kn know, i guess the learning curve i had to experience. Also regulations, they just make them up as they go. So, its kind of im excited to see yall doing what youre doing. And i couple of questions. This is for the full panel. How do American Consumers affect ag Tech Industry dynamics and are they driving the expansion of the industry, or are they continuing to learn how it works . Thank you, mr. Burchett. You can call me tim. Were good. Appreciate it. In colorado, theres a really strong local food movement. And consumers are increasingly demanding products that are available locally, not only to receive the freshest and most highquality ingredients but also to limit the food miles that food has to travel to get to their plates. So, weve been able to address that by the kind of crop that we grow. And not only that, but i think theres also this greater awareness of the participation we all have in establishing a sustainable local food system. Its really the ecosystem that we all partake in. Farmers, consumers, everybody thats involved in food. So, its it really is a driving force because we grow for the consumer. Thats our primary goal. And for me, its really important to not only think of it in terms of a transaction but a reciprocal relationship, right . We see it as we take care of the plants so that they can care of us. And then we can take care of the community. And that relationship has been the, i would say, intangible infrastructure that supports our entire business. I was glad to hear you say that. Im an organic gardner. You know, i grow tomatoes and squash and green beans and blueberries and blackberries and razz b raspberries. Its all kind of conglomerated. I remember when i started in my backyard it was covered in all the kinds of stuff. And my neighbor, oddly enough wasnt in my political party, told me i needed to spray it down with some chemicals. I hesitated. I was mayor of the county but lived in the city. Kind of confusing. I adopted two goats and they were wonderful. Even the neighbors liked them. I always thought i was going to get in trouble with the goat police. A lot of fond memories. They were ray and lucy. I named them after some friends of mine. I appreciate that. Its true. You can look it up. You can look it up. Neighborhood kids would come by and say mayor can we get a picture with your goats. Sure. Theyre great. Theyre like member of the family. One time eating breakfast, my little girl isabelle technologies . When i was in my deal i was strict on the Environmental Issues and i was it seemed like our universities were not they didnt like the organic aspect. And i found out later that a lot of the funding comes from some of the big boys who i taunt regularly on my twitter page about, you know, my organic berries and stuff. And which im sure brings them to their knees. But the truth is that they get a lot of funding, these universities do, from that, so they sort of discourage the environmental thing. I know one of yall said you grew microgreens and other things. So, i was kind of curious how that all played in. Yall just kind of jump in wherever you want to. Or just shake your head in disbelief. I think the interesting thing about universities i think the world has chaupged. Universities are very much focused as in agriculture in a way it was 30 years ago in this emerging, consumer driven market. There was skepticism when i started my career about organics was the real deal. Its now a 50, 60 billion industry. So, thats woken up a lot of researchers to the possibilities of being in that space and being able to optimize those systems in the way we have conventional agricultural systems. And i think for farmers, the area of diversification and regenerative agriculture is the next frontier. Its complex. Its going to require work, but if im selfserving, universities are going to play a role in helping solve and figure out some of the fundamental dynamics of the systems that entrepreneurs and developers will be able to develop new technologies that can help farmers adopt. I see ive run over my time once again. But i really appreciate yall being here. Thank you. In all sincerity, i dig entrepreneurs. Weve got to encourage that, encourage the university, and through the emerging new markets its very encouraging. Sorry mr. Chairman, i yield back none of my time. Thank you, mr. Burchett. I think everyone is disappointed your time has expired, including me. Some of my favorite five minutes of the committee hearings. But im sure youll go viral, so we can watch it later. The gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Hern is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I have no goat stories. But i did grow up on farms. As a Small Business owner for almost 35 years now and job creator and all kinds of farming and ranching over the years, but im also an engineer. So, i really appreciate technology and what it does to make your lives better or confuse us, one or the other a lot of times. It has allowed for increased efficiencies. You related to that in your testimony. Its also very familiar with iot and what its done for changing america, the legacy of equipment we have out there. Small business stars have created numerous and, you know, theres been a lot of conversation about more sustainable Food Production, the creation of stronger resistance to environmental factors which is huge to create more yield. To continue the success its essential that we as elected officials are fostering growth for start ups and Small Businesses rather than creating more barriers. One of the things if you know the history of the committee its a Bipartisan Committee that works on trying to cut through the politic of whats out there to get things into the hands, ideas, and remove barriers in order for entrepreneurs to go out and create jobs. Unfortunately a lot of times when the government tries to get in the way sh did i know a lot of times when youre coming here youre asking for the government to get involved. We can also be the Worst Nightmare because everybody has a wonderful idea that tends to stifle growth and innovation. One of these examples stems from the 2011, bringing new plant variety to market cost average of 136 million and more than 13 years to complete. In an effort to reduce these burdens both obama and trump administrations have called for reforming agriculture biotech rules to increase cost, improve efficiency, and reflect decades of safe use. Theres more we can do to improve the environment. Theres something i would like to ask each of you about. The question is in our two and a half minutes well start here and move down. Do yall have thoughts or recommendations specific or general on ways we can improve the regulatory climate, remove barriers, or allow better participation in this critical sector . Sir, i would write a book on that if i could figure that out. It would probably be a best seller, be my guess. In all seriousness, as far as regulation goes, weve spent a lot of time in our particular area looking for ways to take alreadyestablished programs and make them work for our clientele. So, were talking equip, rcc funding for a third party source, directly going to bor, bia. I struggle with asking the government to come up with another program. I would suggest looking at the programs we have there and giving more leeway to those that have the ability to kind of look outside the box. For example with a lot of the usda funding thats issued on a regional basis. Its regional offices, if you will, and they place it. If, for example, you found a project that cross spanned regions giving one person the authority to fund all of those under the same terms and conditions, maybe flexing within the system thats in place would be my advice. Im not sure you would necessarily want to go in and create a brandnew program. Thats my view. Thank you. We certainly feel the effects that youre describing. It is one of the reasons why weve pursued microbial technology, naturally occurring microbes that are in nature, amplifying those is one of the reasons thats attractive avenue for yield improvements is because of the barriers youre talking about. So, this is maybe an example of the private sector reacting to those barriers. And id say also that the system of conventional farming is something that needs to change. And that is also not a regulatory constrained avenue. In our case, i think were while we do face some of the constraints of Regulatory Approval for those microbes that were developing, we found two promising ways kind of around that. So, certainly verifying what youre saying around the challenges that it creates. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Ill extend two minutes. I would actually like to hear the other two witnesses answer your question. Thank you. Yeah, i think, you know, the first thing we need to do is go to farming communities and ask them what ideas they have. I think too often we, as experts, think that we have a program thats complete and that will allow further development. But context are different everywhere. So, the only one that can really speak to those contents are the farmers themselves. I think its really important to take into account the specificities of each farmer and what they need and how they see the whole matrix of things working. Another thing that i think would help is we all know that big ag has been subsidized, so we should be able to channel some of the funding into regenerative agriculture, new innovative models for producing food, and hopefully we can come up with a nice brainstorming session that will yield some innovative models. Thank you. Its a fantastic question. You stumbled into an area about which i know too much. So, ill be talking for the next 45 minutes like any good professor. Actually ive worked quite a bit on ag culture. I started out when bovine growth hormone was Cutting Edge Technology in the dairy industry. It was a controversial, contested, and still is technology. And was the opening salvo in an ongoing saga of genetic engineering being a political football or at least a very contested issue. And i think our regulatory system reflects that. I dont know anyone who thinks our current regulatory system on genetic engineering makes any sense. Kind of like no one really likes the immigration system. To find our way forward with genetic engineering requires finding middle ground, finding balance and coming up with a system that incentivize careful scrutiny in places where its necessary and recognize that much of the barriers that have been put in place are preventing us from deploying technology for purposes that i think all of us would celebrate. There are plenty of examples. We talked some about it in written testimony that might innovate cover crops, that allow cover crops to succeed. Theyre a great idea. Most farmers try them, theyre more complicated than they were told, and thats because we havent been able to breed cover crops that suit the conditions farmers use. Biotechnology and genetic engineering could be a tool if we were able to confidently deploy that as part of our portfolio. But i recognize that and am sympathetic that the ways it has been deployed to date hasnt always percolated down to benefits for Small Businesses. The skepticism and earn cans about biotechnology are real. But i think that youre touching on an area where there is a bottleneck and a bottleneck that somehow were going to have to see our way through in the future. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you, mr. Hern. Gentleman yields back. I thank the chairman for yielding. And for the opportunity to discuss the opportunities that Ag Technology can bring to rural america. First i would like to talk a moment to highlight a farm in my Congressional District which has been incredibly successful in utilizing tech following had to improve operations. January and d jan and dan turner own and operate an 80 acre farm in shippingsburg, pennsylvania where they raise lambs. Several years ago dan and jan entirely relied on a system of spreadsheets and postit notes to record the growth and any medication, vaccination, trimmings, other details relevant to managing their flock. The process to collect this data was tedious, and it required them to access the sheep one by one, flip through pages of spreadsheets to find the corresponding records, and then input the updated relevant information into the spreadsheets. To improve this process, the very innovative turners joined the National Sheep Improvement Program and purchased a system which consisted of ear tags with an rfid chip and a hand held chip reader as well as a bluetooth enabled scale that works with the chip reader. This technology has allowed them to collect more data and do it in a fraction of the time. They have seen a remarkable four to one time reduction in the barn and a stunning 12 to 1 reduction in labor on data entry. More importantly, the turners not only save time, but the Additional Data enables them to improve quality of care to the flock and decreases the stress on the animals and the shepherds. In the words of the turners, and i quote, its like having a farm hand who has xray vision and almostperfect memory. We can all aglree that technoloy of this magnitude can be revolutionary for small and medium operations. However, as noted by your testimony here today, major hurdles continue to develop and impede the deploying of these technologies. And this technology relies in a large part to Broadband Access. One of my Top Priorities since coming to congress has been to increase and expand Rural Broadband deployment. Dr. Jacksonsmith, you certainly have a broad expertise in this. Can you further elaborate on how a lack of reliable broadband limits opportunities available to small and medium farms that are looking to diversify, to modernize, and to improve their operations . I can. And i can speak about the goats that i used to raise not really. But the fact that i used to live on a farm where we did raise goats and sheep and we had dialup internet and it senz advertised me to what the realities of life in Middle America is like for farming and being able to access Cutting Edge Technology. For most developers, they have very little exposure to agriculture, little personal experience of realities of what that environment is like, the complexities of juggling the demands of that task, and often come from you are bareas. People who have been working in Tech Development for 20 years, when they take on a rural project or ag project at the realities of what its like. Its a huge barrier to being able to deploy things. One of the strategies we should explore more is be able to get more entrepreneurs and innovators out in Rural Communities before technology is hardened and developed, to get an appreciation for what the clientele are like and where there are opportunities. I think its a vastly underresourced time for us to spend resources and effort that would lead to things we couldnt imagine, but a designed system. I raise sheep. A designed system for a producer that fits with my budget, makes my life easier, and allows me to be more successful is where we ought to be in. Thank you, sir. Thank you, mr. Chair. And i yield back. Thank you dr. Joyce. The gentleman yields back. Mr. Veasey is recognized for five minutes. Excuse me. Thank you very much. I wanted to ask i have questions for mr. Jacksonsmith. I know that information that can help farmers make these decisions surrounding input and best Management Practices are critical to be able to maximize yields. As Technology Becomes more available, how do you think this is going to change farmers behaviors as it relates to conservation. I think conservation is where were going to see some of the major technologies in terms of technology driven, data driven, information driven decision making. It requires the emergence of markets and incentives for conservation that allow farmers to get returns for those kinds of investments which often benefit society a lot more than theyll benefit the individual operator. I think my comment earlier speaks to the fact that if not appropriately tailored to the needs of rural and small and mediumsized operations, a lot of technology might not give us the benefits we like to think they can achieve. I think thats where theres a role for all innovation is going to come from the private sector. Theres a Critical Role for small and all businesses to innovate. For the federal government or governments in general to build the infrastructure that creates the template in the 21st century for success and Rural Broadband internet is one of those key Infrastructure Investments that will never make sense to a Verizon Wireless company because there arent enough customers per mile, but make tremendous sense in terms of us being a key player in the future. But also trying to train and develop a work force thats capable of being sense toif tit the needs of agriculture. I spoke in oral comments about getting farmers more involved in research. I went by it quickly. Ive come to the opinion that Conservation Innovation is going to go faster if farmers are there at the beginning of that process to help design solutions. Then if we work from the outside and innovate and try to sell things to farmers. I think that supporting programs that imbed farmers with universities i do that every day in my work but also imbed entrepreneurs and businesses to a greater extent and farming in Rural Communities will be some of the hidden ways to innovation in that space. Do you think innovation in that space is embraced by people in agriculture, or is it something that has to be sort of gradually sold to them . Or is it something that people are very open to, or is it more of a hard sell . So, im a social scientist. I get the phone call from my technologyoriented colleagues who say weve invented fasomethg farmers dont use. You come wag your sociology wag and say how to get them to do that. Things that work are pretty easy to get people to use. If you design something that really fits a farmers problems or context making decisions, its a lot easier to get to that adoption. Its simple to think that farmers do or dont want to do conservation, but its a lot more complicated. Ive rarely met farmers who dont want to do conservation. They want to leave the land in better shape than they found it. Thats what agriculturalists are like. When farmers arent doing conservation, its more reasons that makes sense. Theres costs that exceed anything they can afford without returns that compensate for that or technologies that sound better than they might actually operate like the cover crop arena. We need to do a lot more to make cover crops be something. And when we design solutions, i think in partnership with farmers, were going to find that the end of convincing people, of telling people and educating them, is no longer going to be the barrier. Its really something that tends to unfold on its own. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. The gentle lady from iowa is recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair, and thank you so much for being here today. I know sochl you travelled pretty far to be here, and it means a lot. I am the congresswoman from iowa. I represent iowas first Congressional District. Its 20 counties in northeast iowa. We touch illinois, wisconsin, up to minnesota. And innovation and agriculture is huge for us. And doing it right and making sure that our folks in iowa have access to innovation is one of our Top Priorities but also something that we struggle with because of our lack of access to broadband which i know you guys have touched on quite a bit today. But i think its just important to keep hammering this home why this is so important. And you see in my district theres about three months or so ago i had fcc commissioner Jessica Rosen out to iowa one. We went to a farm in diersville, showed her some of the new equipment that was out there. But then also as we were sitting there and she was talking so some of the Young Farmers in the area as well. One of the guys came with his dad who i think just got out of isu. Hes trying to show on his ipad the information they had for the feeding operation. As hes pulling out the ipad, the thing wont load. And its just a perfect example about why we have an issue when it comes to folks having access to the innovation thats already here. But also what that means in the long run as well about what were going to be missing out on if we dont get this right sooner than later when it comes to broadband and making sure that our farmers have reliability connectivity and fast connectivity. I know mr. Potere, you talked about doing innovative work on trying to create apps or Different Things that would make it so if you have low connectivity it would still work, and i think thats great. But what i would like to know is what are we missing out on right now because we dont have the high speed connectivity reliably throughout the country . And what would that actually mean for innovation if we had that so you could focus your work on apps and other things. I could do even more, versus im trying to bring them down to where they work on low connectivity . Congresswoman fing i think im we build apps that are resilient. We log a bunch of data. Once you get a broadband area, dump it into indigo servers. That means its a oneway street. Were not able to provide support to the farmer the way we could so that theyre getting Drone Imagery in near realtime of critical moments in that crops life cycle. Theres a disadvantage around the farmer decision making. Theyre missing out on intelligence they should have. Consumers preferences are such that as dr. Jackson was saying, theyre changing. And consumers are increasingly ready to pay for decommoditized agriculture. Weve done business with Companies Like anheuserbusch, low water and crops, but you have to very few that the farmers are doing what theyre saying. If theres no connectivity, you cant do that. The last example is those experiments that dr. Jacksonsmith was talking about involving farmers. Every day there are millions of experiments of when to plant, what to plant. If were not watching we cant allow them to participate in this experiment. We try to implement as many field z apossible and watching them from space. But thats a half you are many. The reality of prevalent broadband would be all three of those things get better and just accelerate us. Thank you so much. I appreciate you all taking time to be here today. This was such an important topic. Thank you mr. Chair for holding this hearing w. That i yield back. I would now like to recognize the gentleman from new jersey who is the chair on the subcommittee of Economic Growth and tax, a Relevant Committee for this as well, for five minutes. Thanks chairman. I just wanted to dive into a few things. This is critically important for my district. We have nearly 1,000 farms in the new jersey third Congressional District. K, i don you know, making farming more efficient. The technological advances that you joins us to speak about sound promising here. I guess, my question, dr. Potere, i would like to start with you. My initial questions are what can be done to help farmers successfully transition into more technologically driven farming practices . And as withe know with the adve of technology, that sometimes that transition is difficult both in terms of taking on the resources, being trained up, thupgs of that nature. So, what can we do to decrease the burden upon farmers to integrate this type of technology into their lives and their work . Congressman kim, i appreciate the question. You know, we should realize we are incenting farmer behavior with billions of dollars in tax and other kinds of subsidy. The question is how could we direct some of whats already out in play towards more of these sustainable beneficial ago practices. I mentioned just one example ill spend a moment with you on which is this carbon tax concept. And, you know, for us the question is weve decided a decade ago that it makes sense to incent oil and Gas Companies to sequester Carbon Dioxide as part of enhanced extraction techniques. It costs us 50 a ton to do that. We think that for a fraction of that cost, farmers can put the same time of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide into the living agricultural soil. So, the question is, you know, wouldnt it make sense, should we really care where those carbon thats being pulled out of the atmosphere is going . Weve done math and weve done whats called the teraton initiative. Its a challenge to sequester a trillion tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent into agricultural soils all around the world. Thats all of the Carbon Dioxide thats been emitted net since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Literally farming has a potential to be a solution to the climate problem. We have farmers on all of that land, and you know, dr. Jacksonsmiths right. Cover crops and regenerative agriculture, it isnt easy. Its going to take technology to help those farmers understand a digital playbook of how to do this well. But the reward, if the government can help incentivize that kind of behavior, is really hopeful. Its putting the farmer as the hero in the climate challenge. And we think its time to start to put incentives in place to make that happen. I appreciate your answer there. Dr. Jacksonsmith, i just had a question for you. I really enjoyed in your presentation just kind of the breakdown of how to look at this in terms of what technology can do on this front. And i would like to just delve in a little deeper. In my district, our district got crushed by super storm sandy. In new jersey we have a lot of temperature flux. As we see the challenges that are arising with Climate Change and extreme weather. This is a real problem for farming in our district. We know cranberries and blueberries are particularly sensitive to that kind of change in temperatures. And the flooding is something thats just getting worse and worse. Its not just about when storms come. Its really a daily occurrence in many places. So, i guess my question to you is how can Technology Help lessen some of these harmful effects as well as increase the resiliency when were looking at farming . So, i think one easy big picture answer lies in the concept of diversifying production systems. To the extent that we look more towar towards agri based systems were going to need farming that produce a range of crops, that give them resilience in the face of extreme weather events that we know is possible. And were going to have to develop the technologies in the markets that allow that to be a viable and expanding, exciting opportunity. I think its that combination of putting the package together to make us to that next generation of agriculture thats going to show up as a more robust and resilient Agricultural Community in your district to the extent that we can help those farmers make that transition in ways that makes sense to them. Look, these are all things that well have to Work Together to do. Chairman, i yield back. Gentleman yields back. Thank you very much. We want to thank all the witnesses for taking time out of their schedules to be with us today on this really important topic. And it was a really fantastic testimony on issues that we all look forward to working on and trying to find ways to help the industry. As weve heard today, Small Businesses are at the fore front of a Tech Revolution as both producers of Exciting New Technology and as farmer and rancher users to become more efficient and sustainable over time, helping that transition to occur. In the 20th century, the Public Investment in Agriculture Research and development was a driving force in innovation and increased efficiency. Yet u. S. Public development has decreased steadily since 2002, being surpassed by china actually in 2008. So im going to thank our witnesses for being here today to help reverse that trend and make really smart and wise investments. I think we all view our role here, and theres great collaboration on the committee, to try to reduce barriers and help spur innovation in the private sector, public sector, and Research Institutions and universities as well. Theres tremendous work going on. I think we all recognize that. And we want to be helpful in reducing the hurdles and barriers that that can continue. So, i would like to ask unanimous consent that you have five days to support materials for the record. Without objection, so ordered. If theres no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned. Thank you. Were going to spend the next couple of hours looking at state issues that impact the National Landscape with conversations with a number of governors about issues theyll deal with. Well start with illinois governor j. B. Pritzker. The tactics were remarkable and powerful. And the Lessons Learned from the suffrage movement, i think you could really trace throughout the 20th and 21 century. So, the Movement Like many movements broke into different factions. Some more conservative and some were radical and activists. So, alice paul and others felt like if it were not then, then when would women be able to finally achieve the right to vote . And they saw this, again, as a long trajectory lasting throughout the 19th century and even into the 18th century. So, they took to the streets. They took to the white house where they were, first of all, kind of seen as an oddity. Imagine the silent sentinels standing there every day, day after day, throughout the teens, starting about 1913. And then president Woodrow Wilson decided kind of enough was enough. They were getting way too much attention and distracting from the work of the presidency. So, as they were imprisoned, in a way working against wilson and those who wanted to defeat the amendment and to defeat their spirit of advocacy, so they became even more famous. These were very educated, brilliant women. And so as more and more were arrested, again, adding to their ranks. And finally when we were released, they realized that they had both survived prison which was heroic just in that, but that they had a special story to tell. So, they went around the nation making sure that everyone knew that they had been just released from prison and really kind of giving t a sense, i think, of urgency, a huge sense of sacrifice that they were willing to give literally let themselves knowing after a while they knew they were going to be arrested. So, you can imagine what that took to walk up to the white house knowing you were going to be arrested. This year marks 100 years since the 19th amendment was ratified leading to women getting the right to vote in national elections. And tonight at 8 00 eastern, well take you to the smithsonians American History museum for a look at the womens Suffrage Museum there. Its part of museum week, featuring American History programs normally seen only on weekends. Watch museum week weeknights this week at 8 00 eastern and American History tv saturday through monday morning here on cspan3. Police ctico recently hosted state Solutions Conference in washington, d. C. With governors from around the country. Speakers included j. B. Pritzker who was elected governor of illinois in 2018. [ applause ] thank you. Okay. Thank you, kerry. All right. Good morning everyone. My name is darius dixon, associate editor for politico states and im also the editor for illinois playbook, a daily newsletter we have covering all things politics in the great state of illinois, the land of lincoln. Thank you. Welcome to state solutions. So, we have a lot toe