Agri-Pulse Open Mic Interview

This week’s Open Mic guest is Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association. Despite the work of several government agencies and billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars invested, there is still a significant number of Americans without broadband or adequate bandwidth to support effective service. Bloomfield says hundreds of for profit and non-profit companies are working to close the digital divide, but there are numerous terrain challenges as well as regulatory headwinds from Washington that stand in the way of providing service to rural areas. Bloomfield comments on the USDA’s ReConnect program and other supports from Washington that are helping to bring service to rural America.

This week’s Open Mic guest is Dan Basse, president of AgResource. As Congress prepares to write a new farm bill, Basse says the industry is seeing domestication of market structure. Despite regulatory headwinds from Washington, Basse believes demand for renewable energy feedstocks will command a greater presence in price discovery. Globally, Brazil may be nearing an end to its rapid expansion of production area while the Russian invasion may see a tremendous decline in Ukraine grain production. Basse sees India as a rising opportunity for U.S. ag exports while China remains a wild card with both production and imports.

This week’s Open Mic guest is Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association. The Biden administration’s vehicle emissions rulemaking is drawing fire from oil and agriculture industry groups over concerns the rule would be a de-facto ban on internal combustion engines in the future. RFA is one of more than 100 groups that wrote President Joe Biden recently asking for liquid transportation fuels and various engine technologies to be a part of the solution to meet the nation’s goals for reducing emissions. Cooper laments headwinds for renewable fuels from the last three administrations and says it’s time for legislation to define the regulatory role of the EPA.

This week’s Open Mic guest is Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. After an extended tenure of serving his constituents in Utah in the U.S. House of Representatives, Matheson assumed the reins of the NRECA in 2016. Rural residents formed their own electric cooperatives in the 1930’s to bring electric service to their homes and communities. Today, those same member owned organizations serve over half of the land mass in the nation and more than 42-million customers. Matheson speaks to the challenges of meeting growing demand for electric power including electric generation and transmission. He is in favor of renewable energy sources but says the nation needs reliable power generation in the face of growing demand from industry, homes and an influx of electric vehicles. Matheson says the digital divide is real in rural America and the NRECA is working to close the digital gap for the sake of health care, education, precision agriculture and rural development.

This week’s Open Mic guest is House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson. After spending time with yet another farm bill listening session, the Pennsylvania Republican spent time reflecting on listening sessions in 40 states. Thompson says it’s evident that farm programs provide critical risk management tools in every state as well as conservation programs, food safety and nutrition. He acknowledges the financial obstacles of writing new farm policy but shares thoughts of pulling funds from various resources to fund programs. Thompson also shares insights from a labor task force he has appointed to survey agriculture’s need for an adequate workforce.