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- Utah legislators, including Mike Schultz and Casey Snider, visited Washington, D.C., to discuss Western issues.
- They met with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and other officials, focusing on farming challenges.
- Rollins announced $21 billion in disaster aid for farmers, emphasizing small farm sustainability and processing support.
WASHINGTON — Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz and House Majority Assistant Whip Casey Snider were among a contingent of Utah lawmakers who were in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to discuss important issues to the state and elsewhere in the West.
"It was amazing," Schultz, R-Hooper, said in an interview Thursday, emphasizing how impressed he was with the responsiveness of Trump officials the delegation met.
On the same day, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins hosted an inaugural Farmers First roundtable at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Rollins hosted Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, the board of directors for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and over 20 farmers and ranchers from 11 states who run smaller-scale, independent, family-owned operations.
These operations, Rollins said, are at the heart of American agriculture, and their success is critical for the economic viability of the industry.
Both Schultz and Snider, R-Paradise, are steeped in farming, but they also met with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Forest Service and other top-ranking officials.
Following several natural disasters that deeply impacted farms and ranches across the country, Rollins announced plans to expedite $21 billion in disaster assistance.
Farmers receiving livestock relief for drought and wildfire can expect to receive payments as soon as the end of this month.
Schultz said Rollins gets it: There must be some way to salvage small- and mid-sized farming operations in the United States.
Snider added that the meeting convened included some East Coast farming operations, but was of particular note to smaller farming interests in Utah and elsewhere in the West.
"I think it is pretty humbling," he said. "That level of deference. ... And just the fact that a Cabinet member would spend two hours to talk about this issue when everything else is going on is, just — I'm just incredibly grateful for that opportunity".
How the federal government plans to help
Rollins, in a release, said while the agency aims to move all payments out to struggling farmers expeditiously and to cut timelines where possible, some payments will take more time.
"At USDA, we understand there are many challenges to starting a new farm and maintaining a small family farm. While there are many programs to assist our farmers, we feel strongly that it takes government entities, nonprofits and the private sector working together to improve the viability, prosperity and longevity of small family farms," she noted.
"I have had the honor of visiting many farms and speaking with families over the last several months, and have heard firsthand that farmers are struggling. We are working every day to improve the farm economy," Rollins said.
Schultz said a main topic of conversation centered on how to build up a cadre of processing centers that support U.S. farmers and ranchers.
Farmers in Utah and elsewhere are struggling with the lack of ability to process U.S. production of food and fiber.
Years ago, a processing plant for lamb shut down in adjacent Colorado. That set producers in Utah in a quandary, only to be accentuated by the effects of COVID-19. Local food supplies were a huge concern, but farmers and ranchers had no way to get it to market.
As the supply chain dried up for high-end meat due to the shuttering of cruise lines and expensive sit-down restaurants — and processing plants shut down due to the risk of spreading coronavirus — cattle, lambs and other animals sat idle on ranches and in feedlots.
"In Utah, we have small family farms, for the most part," Schultz said. "She (Rollins) understands and realizes that this consolidation we have happening in our farm industry is not good for America."
The Utah lawmakers also heard from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and from the U.S. Forest Service on issues related to air quality regulations and shared stewardship agreements when it comes to Forest Service land management.
Utah was among the first to ink a deal that solidified collaboration with the federal agency and land managers in Utah to better manage forests, which are getting increasingly dry in the West, particularly.
Both Schultz and Snider said they believe Utah has caught the attention of Cabinet members of the Trump administration due to a number of factors, the state's leadership and its continuing role as the best managed state in the nation.
"In so many ways, we are leading out on some of these issues, as no one else in the nation," Schultz said. "They want to figure out what Utah is doing and how we can help other states do it."
