Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing On Rural Communities Agriculture 20240713

Acknowledge forgiveness. Weir imperfection as human beings. The law is imperfect. At 10 00 p. M. Eastern, former Ambassador Nikki Haley with her book, with all due respect. Watch on cspan2. U. S. Senators wanted to know if the 2018 farm bill is being implemented properly. Agriculture, nutrition and Forestry Committee members talk to farmers. Rural Utility Service officials and Healthcare Industry leaders about issues impacting Rural Communities including access to Rural Broadband, Water Infrastructure and Health Care Services and agricultural production. Good morning. I call this on committee to forestry to order and its continued eversight of the department of agricultures implementation of the 2018 farm bill. A principle duty of this committee is to ensure that the department had the authority and resources to provide the agriculture producers with the necessary tools to feed a troubled and hungry world as well as this country. But the responsibility of the committee and the usda does not stop there and it is critical as Partnership Supports businesses and the electric cooperatives and telecom providers, schools and clinics and the product manufacturers and other essential services and providers that serve as the backbone of Rural Communities our farmers and ranchers all call home. Over the past two years, was there a hearing in kansas and michigan and not here in washington and they were representing both the administration and Rural Communities as they discussed changes to the farm bill that would help world development. We listened and we acted by adopting many of these recommendations on the bipartisan 2018 farm bill. On our first panel today we are pleased to have the administrators for the three agencies within the office of Rural Development at the department of agriculture. The rural Utility Service, the Rural Housing service and the Rural Business cooperative service. This panel will discuss the departments vision for fostering growth and economic prosperities that are out to Rural America, sorely needed and it will highlight the programs made and implementing changes this committee legislated and the role of Energy Titles of the farm bill. For the second panel of witnesses we will hear from a broad set of private sector stake holers including the ceo of one of mississippis leading Rural Electric cooperatives who works every day to provide essential Utility Services to farmers, ranchers and small town and an iowa farmer, imagine that, joany, an iowa farmer who utilized his resources provided by the department to build an on farm and aerobic digestion system and the Renewable Energy facility, something were doing in dodd city, kansas, by the way, joanie. Wed love to have you out there. Well make you an honorary miss kitty. Nobody remembers that. I understand that, but thats the way it is. A Kentucky Healthcare provider who has leveraged a usa Distance Learning and telemedicine grant to expand Service Capabilities throughout each day. This provides the most vulnerable populations to affordable healthcare and support on feith the opiate addiction crisis that is plaguing so many of our Rural Communities and finally, the director of Michigan State University Extension, go green and white who is working with both state and federal stakeholders to find ways to address Mental Health challenges that our farmers face every day and the titles of the farm bill and these programs play a role with the economic tools they need to grow and thrive. I now recognize the distinguished senator from michigan for opening remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ive been looking forward to this, and welcome to the panelists. This is so important. Everybody knows that Rural America is the backbone of the economy just like the hometown where i grew up in in claire, Northern Michigan and all across the country people in Rural Communities create businesses, family farms and work in manufacturing and really create quality of life for so many families. We should be doing everything we can to celebrate and strengthen our small towns and i know we all believe that around this table. In 2018 in the farm bill we made Smart Investments to grow rural opportunity and ensure every american can enjoy a high quality of life no matter where they live. When i visit rural michigan, one of the top concerns i hear and i know my colleagues here as well is the need to access highspeed internet in order to participate in the 21st century economy. And the farm bill, we increase the funding available for highspeed internet deployment and 15 times higher than the previous amount because it is so central to moving forward. I understand the ushg sda is currently writing new rules for the farm bill improvements and i urge the department to meet his goal to complete the rules by december so that congress can fund this new and improved program. Families in Rural Communities are also concerned about access the Mental Health and Opioid Crisis taking a devastating toll on small towns. We addressed this headon through expanded telemedicine and Community Facility investments to provide critical treatment for those who suffer from addiction and mental illness. To ensure that every family has safe Drinking Water, we Infrastructure Investments for small towns dealing with dangerous contaminants bike pfos. Rural communities also need strong, locally owned dbses like are theyre critical to creating jobs and creating person are personal, and where we make things and grow thing,ing can ag culture are both at the height of the economy and thats why we support biobased manufacturers and companies are creating new products from american grown crops. We also provided permanent funding for value added grants to help farmers grow their business, whether theyre turning locally grown tomatoes to salsa or corn to ethanol. It leads us to job creation and helps us address the Climate Crisis. In the 2014 farm bill i included a permanent mandatory funding for the. L Popular Program reap, which helps lower utility bills by installing Renewable Energy systems and making the efficiency upgrades. From hog producers to organic food grower they have a wide variety of farmers save money and become more efficient. We are also seeing wineries, breweries and restaurants across our states and install solar away, as the u. S. Strengthens the farm bill, we need to strengthen the world economy. Over the past three years its been disheartening to see the Trump Administration continue to target Rural America and the farm bill with cuts. We need to be investing more in rural community, not less. Eliminating Rural Infrastructure moves us in the wrong direction. On the issue of renewable fuels, it is caving to demans of the oil industry. Weve seen some discussion of changing that, but ive idea to see this really happening. Additionally, im disappointed that the committee has not received a nominee for an undersecretary for Rural Development. We reestablished this important position in the farm bill to be a staunch advocate for Rural America within the administration. We appreciate all of you and your focus, but we growed on a bipartisan basis in congress that we needed a focus leader to address the small towns and Rural Communities. Its great to see how theyre here today and i look forward to hearing your perspectives and look forward to your work. Today, i am pleased to welcome the three illustrators that oversee the usda office of Rural Development. Miss betty brand has the rule of businesses and are that is 35 years with farm credit where she most recently served as chief advocate for world businesses. Welcome, betty. We appreciate it. Next, we have mr. Bruce lambert. Mr. Lambert has had 35 years of experience leading Public Privaten stug Public Private institutions including as ceo and guaranteed lending. Thank you for joining us today, mr. Lambert. Lastly, we have mr. Chad group who is the administrator of the rural Utility Service. Prior to coming to washington, mr. Ruk, before joining the department he spent more than 13 years in the Banking Industry specializing in commercial lending in wyoming. Notably, he began his service to our country in the United States army. So thank you for your service. In the interest of time we have asked the department to provide one Opening Statement on behalf of all three administrators to answer questions on the committee. Do you plan to interview your kentucky witness . I appreciate that opportunity, mr. Chairman, if i may. The senator is recognized. Will go ahead and do it. Senator stabinaw expected me to make a speech on him. [ laughter ] but instead of speaking on him i am here to introduce ea con st p constituent of mine and he is working to move the ball forward on the legislations Rural Development goals. Michael stanley is the ceo of grace Health Community Health Center providing a wide range of services to per than 35,000 residences of southEastern Kentucky which is down in the Appalachian Region of my state with a focus on vulnerable and lowincome kentuckyian, grace health is tackling systemic Health Challenges in Rural Communities. As our colleagues on the committee know, access to healthcare know that the Appalachian Region is an important part of the Development Title. Healthy communities are better able to attract investment and encourage job creation and support the farm economy. Unfortunately, too many of my constituents suffer from Health Challenges which are compounded by severe physician shortage and all too frequently substance a bice. They will overcome the challenges by the programs in the eastern part of our state by delivering rather impressive result. There are only a couple of dummy employees. Today we had nearly 300 personnel and seven clinic sites across six counties and bringing them previously into underserved areas. For example grace Health Offers 40 school employees. And theyre opening new doors to treatment and longterm recovery and communities devastated by opioid and Substance Abuse. So today mike will shed light on grace Health Programs which represent a muchneeded investment into eastern cone tucky and i kentucky with the programs like telemedicine grants and mike and his team can continue providing highlevel care to areas than ever before. These federal grants also give grace health the opportunity to solidify partnerships with other Health Care Providers and development organizations. Mikes experience will be a helpful guide as we await the policies designed to tap into potential that we have in Rural America. So i look forward to his recommendations on how we can continue to support his work and help encourage healthy outcomes, and Economic Development in Rural Communities. So thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen store stabino and give these remarks on behalf of our constituency. Thank you very much for coming and making that excellent statement. It occurs to me that unless i recognize the distinguished president pro tem of the senate who is of the finance committee, he always this is the first time i would say that he hasnt come in first and asked to go first because of his duties elsewhere and i am a little alarmed as to whether or not we should recognize him now or not, but at any rate, senator grassley, do you have anything to say because if youre duties are elsewhere . Since i didnt think youd call on me, ive taken care of it by going to mr. Seavers and a very important constituent of mine that in about five minutes im leaving to open the senate and then im going to the Senate Judiciary committee to make a quorum to get more judges out, and hopefully youll still be on the program and i can ask him some questions, but im glad that the senator from kansas has decided to get the, per te expe the state of iowa and invite mr. Seefe seavers in. Thank you for doing that. [ laughter ] is it surprising i didnt yell at you . Yeah. Are you going to depart immediately or are we going have you here for five minutes and then youre going to come back . Im going to stay for five minutes. I see. But ive already been here 15 minutes. I understand that. You were right on time. We appreciate that. As a matter of fact, i noted the fact that i couldnt see betty brand because you were leaning forward, but thats okay. You might want to be like coop who just left here and lean back. There you go. Thank you. Now lets get real organized if we can here. [ inaudible ] mr. Group, i think i am going to call you first and i think you have a prepared statement ask thank you for coming. Good morning, chairman roberts and Ranking Member stabenow and distinguished members of the committee and i am with the usda world Development Rural Utility Service. I am accompanied this morning by my colleague, administrator betty brand who oversees Rural Business cooperative service and administrator bruce lambers who oversees Rural Housing service. The three of us administer unique programs and resources that help bring prosperity and opportunity to rural areas. We are honored to be here with you this morning to share Rural Developments efforts regarding implementation of the 2018 farm bill. Rural developments mission is to increase Economic Opportunity and improve the quality of life for Rural Americans. Together, we manage a lone portfolio of more than 225 billion, and our investments support rural residents looking for Affordable Housing, municipalities linking infrastructure and Rural Business businesses, cooperatives and looking for new markets. We are a vital resource for Rural Broadband and electric infrastructure. As you know, Rural Communities have unique challenges due to their location and lack of access to modern technologies like broadband hoe these challenges do exist role america also has unique resources that are prepared with their grit, determination and provide opportunities of through prosperity. Our goal at usda Rule Development is to partner with Rural Communities with these programs and resources that congress has made available to connect to them through a role of opportunity and ultimately prosperity. The 2018 farm bill, reauthorized Many Development programs that are vital to these communities build stronger economies, create jobs and improve their overall quality of life. We have been working effectively and efficiently to implement to 2018 farm bill and have successfully started to implement provisions such as the new lone grand option within the Rural Broadband program expanding royal communities by increasing the population for Community Facilities and Waste Disposal programs and they Agriculture Market program. As the administrators overseeing these programs, we will continue to work with members of the committee to have the unique needs of americans and we thank you for sharing the important work that we do. We appreciate your continued interest and support of these Development Programs because we believe that role america thrives all of america thrives. At this time we will answer your questions. Senator ernst. Mr. Lammers i finish my 99 county tour across iowa and one of the biggest concerns i heard this year of portable Rural Housing comes up over and over again. As you point out a new testimony, they 2018 farm bill is the subtle provisions that expands eligibility and Rural Housing service programs. What steps do we take to build on these provisions as we were to allow unity is to have more opportunity for financing in the upcoming months in years . Thank you for your question. You happen to be a neighbor of mine and having come from wisconsin so i appreciate your question. During my last year we served families with Single Family housing along with multi Family Housing laws. I believe, are allocation of on 30 5 02 is a billion dollars and utilize during the year and or very proud that were able to accomplish that. Are guaranteed low program is based on the demands of customers and i think its a Marketing Program that is a positive product for them. We provide housing through those two programs known as the Family Program and the farm labor housing. You said fully use so that would indicate a necessity to continue those programs into the future as well. Is that correct . Im pleased where it will to utilize the 5 02 program and provided 6185 home loans to families last year. Thats a billion dollar program. Very good. I appreciate that and its something that you continue to work on. Id like to work on the bio refinery and its been a vital source of Rural Communities since its creation. However, in the 2018 farm built there is a problem with the program requiring fine or she wanted to have chemicals from agricultural stocks and in advance biofuel which has certainly limited that programs effectiveness. The 2018 farm bill fixed it by fixing that problem by ensuring that these technologies were standalone. Can you give us an update on the working on this area and the emancipation of getting to this. Yes. Thank you very much for that question senator. The bile refinery biochemical Manufacturing Systems program indeed does include the chemical balance of the facility that can produce both or one or the other. That has been implemented through it has been implemented in the application on hand right now. We will be able to apply but one of these products can be qualified in the spring of 2020. Its working on that as well and its obvious to state. With that i will yield back. Senator stabenow. We go republican democrat and thats how we go. I will just yield to the chair thank you very much. First to mr. Rupe and the farm bill prioritized funding for communities and i think i just wanted to have to learn what p false chemicals were and its very serious and communities that are extremely concerned and we identify this priority how come the administration has proposed budget cuts to these critical Water Infrastructure programs despite the large backlog of conduct. We did prioritize it so what is the status of this requirement and what kind of things are you doing to ensure these Rural Communities know that the farm bill provides tools and resources to just contaminated Drinking Water . Senator, thank you for the question. First of all, id like to reaffirm that last year we serve over 2 million Rural Americans with out Drinking Water and thats an important note. We processed 1. 7 billion dollars worth of loans and grants request to serve americans. I would not lose sight of that issue. Specific to outreach and communication with the 2018 farm bill, we had an inter agency tax force on Water Quality that was established as a result of that. Earlier this year we met with public officials, stakeholders and our federal partners to begin reviewing what is needed to be able to support that issue. We plan to issue a report by december on our progress related to that issue and having said that, within our program we specifically do address eminent issues and immediate dangers for communities who are through the program and or whittled with them but through those programs that we immediately address needs for emergency situations for people that have issues that are directly related to Immediate Health and safety risks of the money that we have been obligated this past fiscal year, weve had 374 health risks out of the 500 and projects that we did throughout the United States. I believe that we are actively engaging in outreach to this. I would encourage you to continue that in michigan and i think at maybe just because they did more and identification than other places. But its very alarming what were seeing. Yes maam. I was happy to visit michigan last month and speak with the gentleman who was critical in helping address that so we engage with stakeholders to help work on that aspect of it. Great. Miss brand, i want to talk a little bit about wheat which as you know its one of the essential tools for approving Energy Efficiency and deploying alternative energy and applying the climate Climate Crisis which has been very popular in michigan and ensure in other areas which is why we keep a permanent mandatory funding and 2014. Unfortunately though, i have been hearing concerns that usda isnt promoting the program as it once was. What are you doing to ensure farmers, ranchers, rural Small Businesses are aware of the program and the opportunities to apply for grants and loans . Well thank you for that question. We have very much a Team Approach to outreach on the reprogram, both at the national level, our National Office team participates a national meetings, in fact, there was just the federal partnership we partnered with and provide outreach with, but also stakeholders and National Trade Group Meetings as well, the state offices work with their individuals in their localities to talk about the programs and help farmer producers and Small Businesses understand the benefit. As well, i have been out in the state and anywhere from a small, 12,000 dollar announcement to a Small Business and michigan to also in virginia to help finance moment where there was a hospital that benefited from solar panel and reduce their Energy Efficiency so i would say that we have done a lot and will continue to do more to make sure people understand the benefits of that program. Thank you, finally, i know we are running out of time but mr. Rupe, if you could answer Rural Broadband which every Single Person on this committee could tell you stories of the challenges because we dont have Rural Broadband, and we did make it a huge priority in the development of the farm title bell. Well the administration advocate for full funding for 350 Million Dollars for the farm bill Broadband Program as we go forward . Thank you senator for the question, we share your concern for Broadband Access for Rural America, it was important to the report submitted to the president shortly after the secretary came on board so its natural that we recognize that issue. Having said that, i think it is important to recognize the full effort that we have engaged in that light, we have addressed it through the american broadband initiative, and through that initiative we are working with our federal partners to address all of the issues to help modernize delivery, streamline our approach and more effectively leverage the federal dollars that we spend. What federal dollars though, the issue is that there has not been enough of a priority for federal dollars which is why we came together and did what we did to prioritize it in the farm bill, so i appreciate efficiency with what you have but if we are going to actually grow the economy and quality of life in Rural America this is central, so we are going to need the administration weighing had very strongly to make sure this is a priority in the budget. Yes maam, we are working very hard to deploy first of all the reconnect fund that was appropriated, we are in the middle of offering awards to many applicants throughout the United States, we received 1. 4 billion dollars of applications on the first 600 Million Dollars that we received, early next year we tend to offer more that is appropriated by congress in a second round of funding and anticipate having high interest in those programs as well. In addition to that, we are very happy to provide technical assistance, if requested, to help address some of the issues associated with funding and how we best approach that on an overall basis. We are actively engaged in marketing that program to make sure that we effectively deploy them. We also worked very effectively in a very friendly way with our partners about the fcc and tia, to make sure that we know where funding is needed, where we can Leverage Private investments as well as federal dollars and state dollars to help address this issue. We believe that by partnering with not only the private stakeholders as well as the non traditional folks that would normally not be in the broadband business, that are expanding into that area, we think those are very effective ways to help leverage that partnership, so it is not just a federal government solution, it is truly a Community Solution that is driven from the local level of shared partnerships and shape holders at every level. Thank you mister senator. Chad rupe you can take this on and then any member of the panel that wishes to add anything that they think is pregnant please feel free. Last week, the department notified the committee of upcoming plans to close 11 Royal Development offices across the country. On behalf of the entire group, can the panel talk about any impact that this will have, updates on the issue, constituent services, and each state affected by a closure . Other than the two offices in canada, are there any other vacant offices in the country that have not yet been closed . Cool police are. Senator roberts thank you for the question. The proposed Office Closures, i can say will not negatively affect Customer Service for our programs. The states where Office Closures are occurring well continue to have multiple field offices, there are employees in those offices who are able to identify a wide range of community and Economic Development resources for local leaders, business owners, families, farmers and ranchers, schools, nonprofits, cooperatives and tribes. There are other bacon offices in the country that have not been closed. And any Office Closure proposal where employees are stationed, the following applies. No employees are losing their jobs. And relocations are offered if needed to an employee. We are continuously evaluating the optimum location of staff and resources to serve the customer and deliver programs to Rural Communities. I can affirmatively state that a former career employee and the agency, as a former community banker, where we did not have a Rural Development office in our community, and as a former state director, Customer Service its not simply a matter of having an employee in a certain office, but more of having a strong employee with strong Customer Service skills in the optimal location. Help me understand this. It is probably counterintuitive. The two officers that are being closed, kansas, garden city, kansas, which is a thriving hub in southwest kansas, garden city is an area really experiencing a growth period which is good news of course, the other city being manhattan, kansas, optimistic infighting wildcats, we are seeing a lot of growth there to, especially with the b are i there and the national bio agriculture facility that is under construction. But you are closing in office there, and then perhaps, providing your service to other areas, or you mentioned field office says, people are asking me, why close in garden city when they are on the move . Why closer manhattan . Because that is probably the central focus of agriculture in our state. Senator, im happy to address that. I think that Many Community you want to see Economic Development and growth, that is the whole point of what we do. Having said that, i can address it from my perspective, from my hometown in douglas, wyoming, where we have a Strong Economy currently, and we still do not have a Rural Development office. There are plenty of services that are offered to the community where i come from, just as they would be in manhattan, or in any other rural community. Having said that, the last time that Rural Development had any major change was over 25 years ago, and if we all think back 25 years ago, how much the economy has changed, and how much corporations have evolved. For us not to evolve with that just doesnt make sense. We talk continuously about broadband and access and the changes to the economy by having modern technology. Our organization should take advantage of modern technology as well to deliver those services, and again i believe it comes back to having the right relationships and the right people in the optimal locations. It is not simply of having an Office Location in any Single Community, but more of having the right people in the optimal location, who have great relationships with the local leaders and are willing to engage at the local level. And i dont believe that you necessarily have to have your office in that certain spot to address every need because we have tremendous names throughout the United States and we cannot possibly have a location in every Single Community that needs it. We have to deliver our programs officially and effectively so that everybody can take advantage of the development, not just certain communities. I appreciate that answer, please keep us posted if you think we can be of help to you when you think that maybe some of these decisions could be revisited or as you have said, doesnt provide the bus service where it is finally needed. Let me ask another question, how is the Rural Utilities Service coordinating with the fcc on Rural Broadband issues, what is the most Significant Impact this coronation will have on worldwide access . Senator, thank you for the question. I think it is important to recognize that we have a very strong and positive working relationship with the fcc, the secretary of agriculture, as well as the fcc chairman have a great relationship, and that permeates down to the staff level. We meet with the fcc on a regular basis. I think it is also important to recognize, there is significant differences in the delivery of our programs, whereas the fcc provides operational cost reimbursement and high cost areas. We provide the Capital Construction costs to be able to build those services into a community. So we have distinctly Different Missions and different funding methodology is to achieve that. However, common to both of us is that we have to have good mapping to be able to determine where service is and where it is not. I think the fcc has done a superb job this summer of working to try to improve their methodology for collecting data, we are working with, not just the fcc, but also with the ntia and also private stakeholders to properly understand what is currently out there, what we have found when we have put boots on the ground and going out to do site validations, there are oftentimes, there is no Single Source that has the absolute correct data to be able to recognize who currently has service on the 24 7 Daily Availability at the fcc standard. So we are working diligently and meeting regularly to help accomplish that mission to where we can effectively deploy the federal dollars and partner with private investment, so we truly can leverage and make the right impact in the right locations. Thank you for your answer and again please keep us posted, i know that other members of the committee are interested in this issue, senator smith. Thank you chair robertson also Ranking Member, stabenow, i want to thank you for being here today and also for the topic of this hearing. Since i have been senator i have troubled all over my state to small towns in rural areas and i think a lot of times we go to these parts of our states, we all have them, and we showed some time with this attitude with tell me all about your problems, and instead of showing up and saying what can we learn, what are you doing that is working that we can work here in washington, and with that spirit in mind as a visit the communities in my state, i have been so inspired by the creativity and innovation that ive seen. Certainly there are challenges, ones we can work on here together, also so many things that are going right. It is with the spirit that i asked senator mike rounds to join me in a Bipartisan Working Group that will work on what we can do to support it more. I want to mention it to my colleagues because i want you all to participate in that conversation as a way of moving forward, the good news in Rural Communities and what we can do to support it more. With that spirit in mind im really grateful to have a chance to talk with you all today, i want to start mr. Lammers with you, the issue of Royal Housing which we started on, we know what a big challenge this an rural areas, it becomes an economic restraint when royal communities that are growing jobs dont have to housing that they need for their workers who are wanting to live in that community, it is particularly a challenge in minnesota for Affordable Housing in rural areas. I want to hone in on the federally assisting, excuse, me the federally assisted Housing Units that we know are not in great shape, and our aging quickly. Many of this problem, is just to significantly big problem in rural areas, so i introduced a bipartisan amendment to the agricultural appropriations bill that the senate recently passed that would require the usda to prioritize maintenance needs in Rural Housing units, and would also ask the usda to strengthen enforcement against Property Owners who are failing to make the repairs that are necessary to those Housing Units. So mr. Lammers, a no youll understand the importance of preserving these rental Housing Properties and rural areas, can you tell us about how this will be a focus of the Rural Housing surface Going Forward . Okay, its on. Thank you for your question. Last year i to have by traveling and seeing the people that we work with and the people that we help all in the communities we, learned a lot about the Mission Rather than what happens here in washington. Its inspiring to me to be able to be part of the mission that serves the Rural Communities especially. Weve had some great people throughout the country and here in our offices in d. C. That are inspired to help. Last year, we funding for 216 Housing Units. I think it was for 7678 families that were able to continue living in what i would call preserved housing. We are working on a restructure of the way we deliver services through multi family. Our goal is to have more of a focus on pathways that deal with managing of risk and assessing how often we should inspect and how often we should enforce Different Properties Property Owners. If a property is performing well financially and management is on site and is keeping the property up to date. We would probably look for less inspection than we happen to have problems in the past. Its a risk based approach which we look to implement. We have a new pro folio of what presented of our properties are in more need then of less need. It is a process that is underway. It is my understanding that its difficult to manage this enforcement because the Rural Housing services and currently keep track of the total number of inspection violations by property. Is that correct . Why wouldnt be usda require this information to be included on the inspection reports . Thank you, ive been part of a visitor property in rural colorado that perceived receives an inspection. It was a couple that own the property for many years and they were quite welcome to what our inspectors had suggested. We do keep track, i think we need to do a better job in the alignment that were working on that will allow us to do that. To concentrate our resources were their most needed. I look forward to continuing to working on that with you. Thank you. Senator fischer. Thank you mister chairman. Mr. Rupe, you mentioned in your testimony and although its not a program about the broadband that we connect with the pilot applications that are now being awarded. I have several companies and nebraska that have applied for that new Pilot Program over the summer. Then you give us some kind of status update on that a new Pilot Program. Can you describe how the processing of those applications and the decisions have been progressing so far . Yeah, senator, so proud of our reconnect program and we so appreciate your support in able to abreast address the broadband issues. First of all, i share of belief with the secretary that investments made through the Pilot Program is going to be critical to provide health care, education, banking and Job Opportunities in vital markets for our farmers. Id like to emphasize this is a pilot Pilot Program and therefore we dont know all of the right answers right now and we want to make sure that we delivered a modern and efficient way. We opened that program for applications earlier this year. We received 146 applications from 41 states throughout the u. S. For the total of 1. 4 billion dollars on 600 Million Dollars of appropriations from the first round of funding that we received from the appropriations bill. We work very hard to make sure we had a very decision system to reconnect on usda doug of. You can see the current status thats in any application thats able to pull up a map and will show you were the services have between posing any one area. We give providers the opportunity to challenge any service area that was proposed for service so when we put our boots on the ground we can verify better or not that area has service. We were speaking to the right people in the right location to make the right decision. Having said that, we have started the announcements and we plan to have that fully completed by december in the first round of funding. We have publicly announced some of them, we have many offers that are now on the table for 27 project so far as of this morning for a total of 289 Million Dollars worth of those funds in 20 states. We are actively engaging in these decisions and finding the opportunities and the right locations and changes on a daily basis. Or working extremely hard to make that happen. Thank you. You know how important it is to our broadband across this country. Id like to say, its the number one priority for infrastructure in the future if we are going to keep our rural areas vibrant to make sure that Governmental Services will be able to keep people young people there because of the opportunities that happen with education and older people there as they age and need to have possibly more medical care to make sure that thats available as well. Theres a lot of really cool things happening when it comes to the internet and things of productivity that is out there and to be able to make these advancements is extremely important, that we keep the citizens in this country connected to the future and whats available in the future. Administrator brand, in the 2017 farm bill we had some requirements to the biofuel markets program. The usda required and established and expedited approval process for products to be determined eligible for this program and to receive a bio based product label. Can you provide an update on where those efforts and the agency are right now. Thank you very much for that question. Were very happy to have the markets program with the Rural Development and its a natural fit with many of our stakeholders that weve already fully incorporated them within our programs and stakeholders have gone to meetings. The office team has accompanied them, so, the government itself is up and functional with the Rural Developments and the business clobbered of service. Likewise, the regulation we are in the process of finishing up and well have those available probably in 2020. Thank you so much. Thank you mister chairman. Senator casey. Thank you mister chairman. I want to thank the panel, im sorry i was here late for your testimony but i want to start with the topic you heard so much about and i guess to emphasize a couple of things that are coming into sharper focus now than maybe even before. A number of years ago, after hearing a number of individuals in our state and officials and others asking about what we are going to do about Rural Broadband. Talking about the Economic Development and a Business Impact and the broader economic impact. One commissioner finally made clear to me, senator, kids cant kill earn without broadband. Our school is a big part of the problem is that it was not happening in our school. Over and over again i would kick back to that. Weather is thinking about this in terms of Economic Growth or job creation in the connectivity that has to proceed that. Or whether youre thinking about a very basic term when it comes to children learning in school or not being able to learn. This is a huge challenge. I know that usda is working on this. I know that weve had a number of efforts made by both parties, both houses and now two administrations to begin to tackle this problem. Unfortunately, with all the programs we, are way behind. In my judgment, when it comes to Rural Broadband we are failing and we are not getting the job done. We cannot allow that to consist. We know that when it comes to both Small Businesses and farmers, sometimes theyre one in the same, without access their Profit Margins are being impacted. Farmers without access report missing out on technology to help increase their business. They may have to drive all rose to deliver Financial Information through their accountants, rural residents are having trouble in accessing information about government services. We will talk about this very much. This isnt just a small farmer who cant access information about usda. But cant get information about social security, about medicare, cant get information about filing their taxes, cant get information about applying for jobs online. There is a whole range of problems. I know usda as worked with other agencies and i appreciate the work that youre doing. There are others that come to us and say, we want to make sure we can maintain our tax exempt status while receiving broadband from it. I know from mr. Hayward, we are concerned about the electric cooperatives. Who are able to utilize these programs focused on broadband in this advantage. The first question is, by way of reiteration. I know youre repeating yourself because of this question. Give me the most update on where we are with the Rural Broadband program, the reconnect program and any other update you can provide. Senator, thank you for the question. I think its also important to recognize that there are electric infrastructure programs that we also have investment for smart grid which includes fiber. If we think back to when this organization was originally formed back in the thirties, it was the electric coopts of reform that helped start electrifying america and the secretary and definitely see this as a modernday version of that. Having said that, thats when i mentioned the non traditional approach that continue to do the same thing over and over without changing. We should expect the same result. Thats why i say we are working very hard to find non conventional approaches, while maintaining strong underwriting and good methodology to get the right information to make the right decision. With that, and it absolutely makes a difference, we are more than happy to pair up any programs to help find the right solution if its within our 30 to do so and make sense for our applicants to take that approach. So, we tried to be very flexible and thats how we designed the reconnect program to make sure that if someone has the capacity at they have the partners to come to the table to provide that service that is so desperately needed enrolled erica at a thought bit addressed through the private sector alone we are more than happy to engage and make that happen. We welcome the opportunity to do so through a program. We are very happy and pleased that weve been able to support our programs today. I appreciate that. I have to represent a state which people think as a state with big cities and a little bit of territory and we have 67 and 48 overall and thats how we hear about this issue a lot. Mister chairman, i want to submit a question for the record to administrator brand on the Healthy Food Financing Initiative which is a great model and as well as others. Thank you mister chairman. Thank you senator. Senator boozman. Thank you chairman and thank you all to discuss discuss the farm bill which for so many other in our state is one of the most important pieces of legislation that we deal with here. First of all, i want to thank you for the job that you are doing. Ive visited a lot with Rural Development in arkansas and they are doing a tremendous job and we appreciate the support. Give yourselves a big path on the back. Sometimes we hear lots of negatives but we dont take time when people are working hard and try to help each other. Dont really have a question about Broadband Speed so much but i do know its importance. Sadly, in arkansas through much of the country, in Rural America you see young people in their cars doing their homework with the broadband from the local school house. That is not an uncommon sight and even in upstate new york. It truly is amazing so that is something that we are certainly united on. Let me ask you a question regarding the rural watering Community Facility in the sense that in 2019, we still require the community survey. In 2006, through 2010 in determining the median house recount of the Service Areas and grand eligibility with these new programs. Its my understanding that Rule Development and non metropolitan Household Income from the census borough and must be obtained in order to have the survey. So, thats kind of in the ways. In the Rural Development means more current data which is set to determine the median household of the project service korea. Its been a lot since 2010. Thank you for the question senator. Its important to understand why we do that. I think we need to address that first. As far as why we do that it is to ensure that were being fair and equitable. The grand component of our program where we can match that up to where we are not giving advantages to someone who has a lot of deferred maintenance and refuses to charge their customers fair and reasonable rates to sustainable and functional healthy Drinking Water and disposal systems. That is the reason that we do that and secondly, we have to have equitable information and solid information and the census is a way to do that. So, because its every ten year census. It does create issues of challenges between what was and what is. As you said, a lot can change over the course of eight years as weve seen. The good news is we have a great economy and the economy is the best in my lifetime which is a good news story. It is worth stating. Because of that, we have seen the ability of people to improve on their systems and have a healthier and lively or economy because of that. With that said, there is an opportunity for us to help improve how we deliver that and make those decisions and by having access to current information, definitely is helpful and the ability to be able to improve on that and take a look at it and work on and we can work at you as we work forward. We appreciate that and wed like to work with you and there are similar programs that depend on the same sort of data but where you get in trouble is you get so far out and again, the very changing time of america. Thank you mister chairman. Let me ask a question to mr. Lammers that i intended to ask before. My apologies to senator gillibrand. Nice to have you back. I will do this for real quickly mister lammers, this question is for you. One of the Top Priorities and the Development Title of the farm bill was prioritize our Community Facility funding for the construction of or improvements to the Treatment Facilities which the problem or the epidemic that were experiencing. In kansas, we had the unified effort by Law Enforcement to close a lot of meth labs. Today, we find many states that do exist but the product comes through straight from mexico and from china. This is a much stronger situation with matt and we just had the District Attorney and ask them what the question was and did not expect this but for the second year in a row they said math and with Law Enforcement with the courts and calling causing great pain and to many families. My question is what kind of demand have they had for funding on these types of facilities and how are they educating the communities about the resources at the department to help fight addiction . Thank you for your question. Ive seen firsthand and some of my visits around the country, the issues that exist specifically touring kentucky and tennessee. I saw a trail that was under construction of the debate reserved of that was incarceration because of addiction. There is definitely demand. We have financed about 37 projects and in 15 states that have contributed to the treatment or the prevention of Substance Abuse. Our staff has been out working to find to make sure that people understand that a community and Facilities Program we are about to financial Treatment Facilities. So thank you. This is a problem that is not going to go away anytime soon but we really have to have an intensive effort to be of help and i thank you for your work. Senator gillibrand. Thank you mister chairman, its a delight to be back. Mr. Brand i was happy to pass my bill into law part of the 2018 farm bill. The authorization and this legislation made reforms to Rural Development titles to reverse the entrepreneurship and we create equality jobs across america. These reforms included multiple improvements to the Business Investment programs and access to equity capital. It is nearly nonexistent rural areas. Entrepreneurs are in desperate need of this to start in Rural Businesses. The farm bill out a program that i proposed in the motivation for a Strong Economy or rise which authorizes grants of 500,000 to 2 million each in a local league driven rural jobs and partnerships made of entrepreneurs, leaders, investors and job training providers, so they can work collaboratively on the economy and the position region to be more competitive. Can you provide a status update on the Rural Business Program Reforms and the newly created programs . Yes maam. Thank you for those questions. Personally, the Rural Business Investor Program are in the process now of writing the rule that the changes to be needed and some of those have been administrative notices but as been finished in early 2020. With regard to the Russian Program or the grant program, or excited to be able to look at that as an opportunity in rural drabs creator or accelerator partnership. We are awaiting to be able to implement that program. Thank you. The Rural Business investment programs model is after the s va Investment Company as the program and im aware that were signed by usda to better coordinate the program and the entrepreneurs and improved coordination in the ip programs which is part of the mou through capital businesses. Can you commit to working through the spca on efforts to prioritize the spca funds in the companies through the usda or are be eye sees. Thank you for that question. They already have been in existence for almost two years now and weve been working jointly with the spca and reaching out to investors across the country as well as trying to streamline the application to make it easier and one or both of the programs. Thank you. I introduced legislation of the rebuild rule america act which creates a rural block towards dedicated to longterm funding to implement an economic and Development Strategy royal communities face complex challenges and demand comprehensive solutions and long term planning with the system that is too narrow into flexible to address the specific needs. They have benefited from this investment for decades in the form of Development Block rents. My bill would create the similar pro funding and the non competitive block grants. How are you are programs helping the world communities build capacity to advance the community and Economic Development . Do you see value in a long term block programs that complements the existing competitive grants that are currently available through the development . Thank you again for that question. , one moment please let me catch up with you. We are working with the Development Councils and also to deliver those programs and right now we are in the process of reviewing that and will be working on that in the beginning of 2020. Thats great, thank you madam chair and mister chairman and Ranking Member. I appreciate that and it would appear now a big thank you to our first panel and thank you for coming, i appreciate your testimony and your insights and i would like to welcome our second panel before the committee and thank you to the first panel. Thank you sir. Thank you maam. Everybody settled . Thank you all for coming we appreciate very much senator, you are in the nick of time to introduce the next witness. The first witness. Thank you mister chairman and thank you for convening this hearing to review the agriculture implementation of the Energy Provisions in 2018 farm bill. Farm bills provide us with an opportunity to go back periodically and address and look at an array of programs and issues of ruling america and especially in places like mississippi. The senate at committee has an important responsibility to provide oversight to ensure the usda implement mission of it remaining consistent and congressional intent and about the constituents but i certainly appreciate these witnesses being here today. Paul would like to give a warm welcome to mr. Keith hayward. The electric Power Association president based an oxford mississippi. During mr. Hayward two decades of service, it is gone from providing electricity to 10,000 homes and businesses to providing power to approximately 20,000 thousand today. Im proud that this association continues to be one of the fastestgrowing electric power cooperatives and the entire country. Doing and sounding job and thank you for doing the time to come to d. C. And do this today and share your knowledge and insights and ways to improve the World Alliance that we have here in this country. Mr. Hayward, there is been a tremendous amount of attention to the broadband deployment and the 2018 farm bill. In recent appropriation bills. One program is the reconnect grant. It is the lone Program Administration by usda Rule Development and i understand your Power Association as shown a considerable amount of participating in this program. We offer some insight as to how this program is helping this association and meet the needs of the customers and bridge that Digital Divide that we so many times experience. What recommendation would you recommend to improve and make mississippi and the entire country. First, thank you for your introduction and your dedication to the state of mississippi and its well thought of and the reconnecting we did apply for the grant and the grant only program. There were some experiences and ranking in particular in our area, and we had one of the more areas in mississippi around oxford. We had a great deal of an serve territory for the grant application. One of the problems we had is we have the mapping system thats been discussed here before that has not been very accurate and is the best that we have. Were looking at Government Data thats been provided through the fcc and they give us the territory that we can apply for. One of the stipulations in the grand probe was that it was a 100 that did not have any in one service. 100 mark is very hard to reach. It is perfect. We stood up a phone bank of 1200 of our members that were in the territory and to try to figure out if we had somebody out there that didnt service that was on the map because if there was just one challenge then the way the grant was a written the old grant would be disqualified and were spending thousands of dollars to apply for this grant. Much like the loan programs, they were at 90 to 10 . One of the problems will try to make sure we dont know to this day we have received word that there were some people out there that we do know about or service and between the time we applied for the grant. The other issue that we had, we feel like, that through some of the money it is some of the systems that are in the electric space as part of the electric company. We feel like the electric gfs ours are not being the telecoms and i think all writing some of the rules and we need to understand that we have to figure out a way to do it differently and were going to serve the sparsely Populated Areas are structure is different than telecoms. Thats been demonstrated few some other futilities are out there and that needs to be a little bit more collaboration from the two different departments and the u. S. Cia. Those are the two main concerns that i had what bore and pardon me just a second. Oh, im, im sure well talk about this later when i get some more testimony. The our u. S. Program and the fcc is 25 three and when i talked to my constituents the first thing i asked as you can give me a definition of broadband. We have changed the definition of broadband so many times and finish what broadband and it feels like it out of date. I feel liked if there is another program it leads to be at least 25 but were developing our consumers or you offer up the gigabits service and are building for the future and thats what we do our coop and thats all we done for the past 85 years. We build something thats going to stand the test of time. As you talk to customers and rolled out these surveys and find people that are trying to run Small Businesses on their home, data plan, cell phone or trying to do their homework and a college town. We have several students and professors that are having to sit out there and have information on video and are taking glasses at school. The speeds are getting exponentially faster and faster and the need of data is getting more and more out there. Much like tennessee, we have Gigabit Service and we need it also. inaudible thank you very much. At this point i think will introduce the next witnesses. Senator ernst, was looking forward to introduce our next witness mr. Bryan sievers, that senators are supposed to be at two places at the same time over half the time. We will now add three to that now. We are happy to welcome brian and his wife pisa and the operator operators of sievers farm and acre 2400 beef cattle and Renewable Energy facility for scott county iowa which is the sievers farm who boasts a one megawatt combined heat and power system fueled by methane, produced by two digestions and the agricultural process and other coal fees. He electricity that its generated his soul to the Service Provider and a 1982 graduate home of the cyclones at a degree and agriculture and in the state of texas we come up there to play again and just take it easy on us, will you . Peter mcconnell is already introduced mr. Michael stanley, and the last witness has turned to our dissing drat distinguish Ranking Member. Thank you mister chairman but last but not least, im pleased to have dr. Jeff dwyer with us as the director of Michigan State University Extension and the senior associate dean of the engagement of the emission college of agriculture and Natural Resources. Dr. Doug wire leads six interfaculty staff with the quality of life in michigan. Hes looking to expand access to health care and michigan to address the Opioid Epidemic and the water issues, farmers stress and Mental Health. Before his role, he served as a senior associate dean in the college of human medicine. Welcome doctor dwyer, we are glad you could join us. Mr. Hayward. Yes. Thank you chairman roberts and members of the committee, thank you for the introduction. Congratulations on the recent passage of the new farm bill and thank you for the opportunity to testify. The farm bill is essential to the cooperation because it contains tools to keep the lights on a roll america. Broadband generates electricity and a removable sources and promote Economic Development as we easily serve. For decades, the Rural Service electric program has been our foundation providing low cost financing to coops, fruit stall they get paid to its been the most Development Tool in the nations history and about half of all electric coopts are all private cooperative banks like see fc and coal bank. They authorized the programs which give us a healthy option for financing the work that we do and the electrification work it has a role in the communities we serve. Since 2009, mississippi coops ive conducted around 25 Million Dollars of Economic Development loans and grants of these projects. We believe the Program Remains are provided all tool in job loss and mississippi. The recent farm bill includes changes to provide secure funding into the future. In the 21st, there is no more important rule than providing broadband internet. This committee knows, the broadband infrastructure is in sparsely Populated Areas is very costly. So much so, most of our members are lagging in those counterparts. Why coop recently approved the Digital Divide by offering five or ten broadband with up to good speed to 100 of her members. Our goal is to begin Offering Services as soon as next year. Were enthusiastic about the farm inclusion and the program for Rural Broadband and the usda reconnect footage we are experienced technical and rural challenges throughout the application process which to talk more about. We are committed to working with congress and usda to provide feedback on suggested amendments. The government funding to produce the Capital Investment or essential to the expansion of broadband through america. Just as broadband is key to the 21st century Economic Development, Communication Infrastructure is essential to the modern electric rig. The main challenge of coop, is to the electricity demands of customers as efficiently as possible. So every time he flip a switch the light goes on. Broadband in the great lets us know a lot more, a lot faster about whats going on in our system. If you want fewer outages, more renewable and less expensive cyberattacks, broadband in the great is key. If you continued to think about the broadband, dont forget about the separate grid smart grid component. They look alike and they worked for different purposes. The last thing i like to mention, is an issue not under your jurisdiction but will affect programs you see. And sure and under ten the consequence of the 2017 tax law which threatens our tax exempt that is if we accept fema reimbursements of a broadband a grant of federal assistance. This is an existential threat and a special thanks to senator smith, who is leading the efforts to fix this problem and thanks to many of you for supporting the deal. Thank you for a successful reauthorization and we look forward to continuing to work with you and i welcome your questions, thank you. Thank you mister hayward, mr. Sievers. Frank you chairman roberts, Ranking Member and thank you for letting me testify at the hearing and the energy of the 2018 farm bill. My background my wife lisa operate sievers farms near iowa. We have 2400 cattle and 22 acres and finally, our operates to complete digesters with bile gas which is used to generate electricity that sold to local Service Providers. We produce reclaimed heat which is to digest other buildings and farms. For generations, we focused on stewardship, conservation of our Natural Resources and implemented numerous water selfhelp practices over the years including waterways, field waters, buffer strips, contour farming, grid Soil Sampling and cover crops. Much of which have been supported by the programs that have been implemented through the usda in this committee and as well as congress. I also served as the board of american council, which is the only National Trade association representing the entire biogas industry. We represent over 200 companies in all parts of the supply chain which is dedicated to maximizing the production of bile gas from organic raced. It is in turn a member of the egg Energy Coalition and the organizations committed to a strong Bipartisan Energy type. The abc and the egg Energy Coalition will strength role americans and two key ways to advance the deployment of Renewable Energy and the production of biofuels. I come before you today, to urge the committee to continue to closely and foresee the 2018 farm bill. This important piece of legislator contains many programs and farmers diversify their farming streams. Horrible planting and harvest and whether the, administration as renewable Farm Bill Energy title programs which will continue to provide value to farmers, Agricultural Producers and small Rural Businesses. American farmers and Rural Communities are hurting. While the farms forecast the rise in 2018, the challenges are squeezing farmers between decreasing commodity prices, caused by date demand as a result of the trade war with china and caused by small extensions for the our than ever before. The Trump Administrations actions as decrease the value of several of the products and induces the revenue. Members of congress have labored over to craft policies that minimize the commodity formative lucky and as a member of this committee in the 2018 farm bill, we never said keep in mind the value of the 21st century economy which can help offset something earlier discussed, which can affect our farms, families and our economy. Chief among these policies is the farm energy title which creates i value jobs and new can come strange for american farmers. Its the commercialization and products of supporting the bio systems and the refinery manufacturing communities. Conventional and advanced biofuels in renewable natural gas and chemicals and biobased products will meet with technology to drive the demand including cover crops and perennial crops as well as residuals. This can be our farm revenue. It was very grateful to have the process of the 2000 were happy and in total the mandatory funding as indeed tree significantly from 690 and 2014 to 375 Million Dollars in 2018 which is a decrease of 46 . Alternatively, the discretion provided by the 2018 farm bill which is 1. 7 Million Dollars, is 13 more than it was authorized in the johnson 14 farm bill. For the energy programs. All the increase sounds positive, most profitable programs are not perceived discretion appropriations under Appropriations Bills which is something that should change. We urge the committee to make up for this decrease and mandatory funding by supporting the annual funding of this discretion authorized. Were pleased to see the committee of the role of digesters and establishing section nine of the utilization of bile gas program. Will digest economic jeez in the tour and greater deployment throughout the Rural Economy has been slow with the lack of awareness and education about how they work and their benefits. Digesters is one of the greatest methods to track methane which is residues which has a Renewable Energy, soil amendments, renewable natural gas, stocks for chemicals and bio plastics. Providing greater education to farmers and Agricultural Producers to decrease deployment of digesters as the utilization of the title programs that support digesters. Where is the committee to support the authorized annually for this program. While we celebrate the establishment of this program and we have it funded and very disappointed that they highlight the committee and the conference reports at the bile gas has an opportunity that has not been acted upon by the usda. This provision states that 180 days in the improvement act of 2018, the u. S. Va secretary in coordination with energy and the administrator will establish the inter agency bile gas opportunity to coordinate policies, programs and research to accelerate these investments and costeffective biogas systems. This task force can help the provide resources with new farms, projects to ensure the design, development, engineering, constructive have been operated to succeed. The lack of for progress if you could wrap disavowed be helpful. They can be very helpful once we move forward with the implementation of the farm bill. The remainder of my testimony would speak more indepth about the thousand 18 farm bill on the record and im happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you sir, thank you for your testimony. Senator robert, thank you for your information and also im humbled by senator mcconnell earlier remarks. As ceo of grace health i wanna show my appreciation for the usda and what we were awarded in 2011 in 2016 in the most recent the 2018 Teller Health equipment funding for 650, 000, which includes 154,000 funds we, were able to add additional non school based seven clinics and six nursing home sites. Grace health, Community Health center and businesses is a federally qualified Health Center with primary clearcuttings and the appalachian of kentucky. The priority is to serve the most vulnerable population including two children and pregnant women and people with low income. We accept medicaid, medicare and also provide services of the sliding scale to those that are uninsured. For great health, usda project, the service area is located in southEastern Kentucky, virginia and the east and bordering tennessee in the south. Includes leslie and these counties. All of our Service Area Counties have been designated as the federally designated Eastern Kentucky promise zone. Designed to encourage economic and Educational Development in the nations most impoverished areas. The counties are also designated as usda strikeforce own. The Service Areas located in the region of the state which is comprised of terrain of soaring mountains and valleys. Grace health sees the medicine as an opportunity to include the Work Environment for a Health Care Providers and thus assist and providing attention. Innovative strategy such as telemedicine provides access to resources and support for both the patient and the provider, privately provider a chance of making a difference that isnt always possible when these resources are not accessible. Grace health has identified four needs to be addressed in the telemedicine. Number one, access to Health Providers and services. Number two, transportation. Number three, Behavioural Health treatment including Mental Health and Substance Abuse treatment. Number four is Patient Engagement. To meet these needs, they have expanded in medicine to 33 sites including six primary care clinics. One Womens Health clinic and 19 school based Health Centers and seven Nursing Homes in one hospital. Services include primary care, consultation, Behavior Health and nation engagement. With telemedicine, rather than traveling two different clinics four different services, patients are able to access most of the services that they require in a clinic in their own community. Using telemedicine, grace health as increase the number of patients served. Through telemedicine, weve provided access to all of our primary care clinics as well as all of our school based Health Centers. This increases the inefficiency of our providers and greatly enhances services. Grace health as improved Patient Engagement by access to care. Providing support of services and providing form handoffs to the medicine. Access is the most basic form of engagement and telemedicine helps increase our Access Points of services. When its easier to access care, patients are more likely to receive the services they need to match our health. As of july 1st, 2019 its the new kayla health bills with military aid and plants, which will help sustain the programs. The reimbursement of these services. Kentucky is now a tell the health state, a critical encounter is reimbursing the traditional in person visit. That same encounter is reimbursable with detail the help technology. This includes all Services Provided and locations, they tell a health equivalent and the in person encounter and to having to negotiate employment rates. My personal opinion, tell a health is part of the answer to our shortage of the underdeveloped areas. Im grateful for the opportunity to part with the usda deal, i am committed to the success of this program that will improve the outcomes of your constituents and our patients. Mr. Stanley and dr. Dwyer. Thank you senator stabenow for your warm introduction. And the distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify about strengthening our services in the Rural America. In addition to our roles and the university, i have the privilege of living in a community of lefts and 10,000 on the shores of Lake Superior and the gateway to the national lakeshore. Algae are county has other areas and one in four residents of 65 and older and have significant concerns and there are ongoing challenges of Substance Abuse and jobs with a livable wage. Thanks to your efforts, my community will benefit from the learning Medicine Program authorized in the 2000 farm bill. Through that grant funding, the purchase of three d equipment will improve Cancer Detection by 40 over the next to the technology for my neighbors. This summer, i spent 15 weeks on the road visiting staff and stakeholders in all 83 michigan tallies,. If i saw the challenges and risks to defeat the world. One farmer told me, id be putting a half 1 Million Dollars into the ground when the weather permits and i have no idea what is going to happen. Up this is why the cooperative expansion system needs to build on our 100year reputation serving role audiences through agriculture Education Programs and integrated with politicizing Behavioural Health and Chronic Health conditions. After observing they completed suicides of rural areas for years and michigan, specifically among farmers and farm workers. We changed our approach. We have more than 600 faculty and Staff Members most of whom have completed by Double Health for state training. Lives have been saved as a result. We developed four programs to design help farmers and those who work in agriculture. Learn to identify the warning signs of stress, approach people suffering, listen apathetically and find resources. Our experience in Community Behavior and Health Monitors the emerging rule of the extension that they need to play in health care today. The farm bills emphasis and medicine and greater access to a reliable broadband will help increase opportunity at the nexus of direct Clinical Services and Community Based Health Education and Rural Communities. We need to do this in collaboration with physicians, nurses and other health care professionals. Yet, recruiting and retaining helps Rural Communities that are placed and one of these providers are where they want to live, work and razor families. Finally, research on the social determinants of health affirms social Economic Issues tribute success significantly there are often disadvantage of these dimensions. Adequate incomes, jobs, Affordable Housing, quality education and other factors directly Impact Health of the individual and population levels. Two years ago, this Committee Held a meeting in a 2018 farm bill. As producers of more than 300 commodities, Michigan Farmers are critical in any discussion about agriculture and health of our communities. I appreciate the time he took them listen and for the opportunity to continue the discussion today. Damaging and state, were doing what we can to put together with this committee with the federal state and we can find more ways to provide the services we need. Thank you again for your time and opportunity to address the committee, i look forward to having a questions. We thank you now doctor and senator stabenow. Thank you to all of you to her coming and for your testimony today. I specifically wanted to ask a doctor dwyer a little bit more in terms of health care, particularly in many challenges and health care are with the hospitals getting providers and making it even more difficult with Mental Health Addiction Services in Rural Communities. And 2016, the cdc reported that the farmers had doubled since 2012. Last week, data from the u. S. Courts revealed that farm bankruptcies were up 24s present from last year alone and a credible amount of stress. Farmers need tools and you talked about to manage stress in the face of market uncertainty and uncertainty everywhere they look and its very hard to get some certainty some place for our farmers and Rural Communities that we know they are challenged on every front. I also think that its very important when we talk about health care we, stop about health care above the neck as well as below. This is something i care very deeply about. As you mentioned, talking about medicine grants and expanded support for Community Facilities to address opioid addiction and health services. Doctor dwyer and specifically anyone else is welcome. Could you provide a little bit more context on what we should be doing to improve Mental Health in Addiction Services to rural families and farmers . Thank you senator stabenow for the question. I would add to the data you shared that workers have the highest death rate due to stress related conditions, such as heart disease, alters and nervous disorders. We need to dedicate this to the whole person and we completely agree with that. The additional inhabits apartment of the farm bill through telemedicine and broadband allows us with the potential to provide more Mental Health care online. The Research Shows that for most people, Online Health care is a viable and effective alternative to face to face therapy. I think you have provided the opportunity for us to provide people with greater access in that regard. We can link that to the farm system which we feel strongly at Michigan State university, there are next step is to train all Mental Health providers to understand the unique challenges are farmers and Rural Communities. If youre from an urban area and you dont understand the challenges and the difficulties that families, you need to know that in order to be able to provide affective care. The other thing i would say is that youve done a Great Service by including these programs in the farm bill. One of the things we found in Mental Health care is that we dont talk about that enough. I think by this body in the senate, and all of you in the positions that you have acknowledging the farm stress and the Mental Health and the depression, and the opioid misuse and all of those are not only important but something thats important enough to invest in. I think that level of awareness is important and we appreciate it a great deal. Thank you. Mr. Stanley. Senator stabenow thank you for the question and your support of Community Health centers. They allow our providers to rule patients without other addictions and other remote clinics. Enables providers to produce windshield time bribing with only patients that could be seen as the Behavioural Health to see more patience. As i may be aware, and the availability of the support that its a critical to our patience of the coping skills necessary for Successful Transition to sober living. Our Health Providers also support family members during recovery. As children, parents and family members struggle with our loved ones and are caught up in addiction. Vulnerable children are especially impacted, as they must deal with feelings of resentment towards their family members while the impact of the addiction leads to former trauma, setting up a potential cycle and Substance Abuse passed down through the family, maintained by repeated victimization and withdrawal from others due to feelings of shame. Breaking the cycle requires intensive support often in conjunction with medication insisted treatment, by medical colleagues, so the ability to provide treatment through collaboration is a critical component of the treatment process. As it allows for consistent provider messaging with the focus on improving outcomes, with the challenging population. Due to high rates of psychiatric and medical disorders. Too often, individuals with Substance Abuse disorders are isolated and residential treatment centers. Which relies heavily on single elements, such as medical treatment, counseling or housing support. Barriers to treat further and counter to Rural Communities when providers and access to treatment are scant. Treatment allows providers to Work Together for patients and chronic pain. Teaching self management skills at risk for developing addiction. Another risk population, that a pregnant mothers using drugs that can increase the chance of an infant remaining with its parents after delivery. When the patients returned home, therapeutic support becomes a necessity parents. The challenge of raising a child and the Substance Abuse disorder. These types of special populations are almost a commonality in our communities. We need all the Resources Available and capacity to help that are especially vulnerable to Substance Abuse disorders. Tell a Health Offers to maximize their impact and trans and barriers to care, thank you. I know my time is up and mr. Sievers, i want to followup to you about our digesters cars im interested in how we can support efforts to expand we are doing. I did want mr. Stanley to indicate that the senator and i are working on behavioural Health Centers to help be able to do what youre talking about with Health Centers, Behavioural Health and in the community. Keeping out of our jails, immediacy ruse and receiving treatment and we have some opportunities to move forward with you on that. Thank you. Senator brown. Thank you mister chair. Mr. Hayward, it looks like youre ahead of the curve on broadband in your area. How many counties does is your coverage . Parts of four counties. In the adult we have 92 counties and two thirds of them rural. Probably most are a county or two trying in the process to provide Rural Broadband. Well actually Start Service here next year it sounds like. When do you plan on being completed . Our project is a 40 month build out at le planet having built out within four years at least. That will give access to every member that currently has electricity . Yes sir. Our plan is to be able to provide every member our state law requires if we can get into the broadband business to have a plan to provide. Our other counterparts in mississippi receding at the same place. The outlaw we just passed in january were, not able to get into the broadband business and passed new legislation and we do have to have a vote of the articles of incorporation which takes place in december. We have eight coops already thats impressive. Youd be a model for other states. Were running short on time and next question for mr. Sievers. You said when, you talk about the farming economy and one of the toughest stretches involved is extending and being with the time i have available with the crops. You mentioned tariffs and waivers. What do you think of the underlying issues that have created chronic oversupply were acres are opening up across the world that weve never seen before in asia and africa, along with south america. You seem to focus on tariffs and waivers. My opinion is it goes much more deeply. How do you think we get through chronically low prices and high input costs to, keep the farming economy alive in a long run . Thank you for the question senator. I really believe its in the livestock. The demand that can come as a result as life stop productions will be helpful for these that we are faced with in corn and soybeans. Which then leads to how do you deal with that and trade is one of those that will help in the beef industry. We hope and into the paint the Market Opportunity with the deal thats just been completed air. Usmca will help that as well and the passes of that will be instrumental. The cycle will help pull the life stopped production in sector forward and improve demand for the commodities that are oversupply. Youre right. Where farms are focused on crops only in last 20 years, i think that might tip back the other way. Livestock and pull reare exploitable in a way that most of the world now is aiming to be substitution on food. Youre digesters and could you have done one and reach an economy scale that its been worthwhile . You have to digesters, correct . They actually operate in parallel so it allows us to process the vibe and maneuver which is half of the way streams we process. It provides an opportunity for agricultural process in the region to send us their streams from poultry industry, looking plants, chick hatcheries, biodiesel plants whats the radius of your location . We go as far as to what are miles away and they send us the stream. What youre cost per kill a lot when you do generate electricity to be competitive. We sell our electricity to our provider for 4. 8 cents and killed what our. That is why the things we have looked at and electricity producers and digesters are not eligible that are associated with d three and the fuels and the transportation feels can get with natural gas which is one of the changes wed like to see and finally implement there is a pathway there and we never adopted it with the pathway that would help us achieve the improved level of profitability. And the small refinery. My time is up, id love to learn more about this. Thank you very much. Thank you senator braun. Its on a very important topic and each of our witnesses are cooped. Thank you mister chairman. And thanks for having this hearing and i think its really important that we do what we do to ensure these programs are being implemented that congress intended. Im pleased of the 2018 farm bill and the Role Development program to, improve the Energy Efficiency and the Economic Development of Rural Communities across the state like south dakota. Mr. Sievers, you prove mention the epa issue of small waivers that is tragically undermined the food standard and the commitment to america. Ive heard from a lot of producers that share more concern. I urge the administration to waver. Can you briefly describe the impact of these waivers . Well, in our particular industry, the bio gas that is produced if its converted into natural gas, it becomes eligible for de three or d five rinse under and as a result the decrease s our ease will see the value plummet and ive seen them bounce back and i think were around 88 cents for d3 with his helpful. In our situation, we are contemplating going from generation of electricity from gas to natural gas facility which represents a significant investment for us, several Million Dollars and if we do participate moving forward with that project, we will rely on a portion of a revenue stream with that investment. Right now, 88 cents im not sure that the value is high enough to move forward with that. Okay. I hope that the epa has the work on this new making as to the administration that is made about ensuring the rfs number is a real number and the small refineries dont continue to erode the very positive impact that the bile fuel industry has had. Not only on the midwest farm economy but also on the National Economy and the Environmental Quality issues that were all trying to hit these days. It is been a win win and we need to keep it going in the right direction. These exemptions have undermined the a ten and effectiveness of the field standard. I appreciate your work and the extension is doing to address the suicide rates in rural areas among farmers. This is an issue of this committee id like to know that south dakota State University extension as ongoing efforts. Can you briefly describe Michigan States extension to address this issue . And also perhaps describe the agreement that you all have in place with the Farmers Union and the council to make sure that the farm stress education producers. Messam thank you for that question. We enjoyed working with our south dakota colleagues a great deal. The specific programming weve made initially focused on a program called weathering the storm which is for farmers and farm families. In january, we had 99 of our colleagues from extensions across the country and in 19 differences that were represented in that program and now that programming is being provided throughout the country. In addition, we have a parallel program for those who work in agriculture called communicating with farmers in distress. The issue is the challenges being faced by farmworkers impact farmers and farm workers but they look at those people that are in a position to know about the challenges and the changes that people might be experiencing. And they will develop online that were taking out nationally and the farm bureau with all of those sorts of things. It really builds on our belief that its something we need to use and we face these challenges. And have provided access and are embedded in communities and in the history of doing and we need to broaden that out in Mental Health and distress. Keep it up. Mister chairman can i ask one more question . Certainly. You were going to gavel this out. Its almost high noon. Stanley, in your testimony new book to talk about that is something in south dakota that we have long embraced and benefit to tell the health and expand quality and we have had the resources to provide health in 2018 that helps infrastructure and training and all out some of these communities and the network which as services and more. And in fealty id like to have you explain the investments and with these grants out these people will be accessing care if the it does allow our providers to provide services and we cover the county area and these are the most rural and most impoverished counties so youre talking about grandparents and incarceration and all these things are issues for access. Having our rural clinics with tel a health allows us to take care of that patient and it is very challenging to recruit providers that doesnt offer a lot so that is really an extended for us. We have it extraordinary eventually Health Practitioners which is really for us to meet that need. We have assisted treatment where we have utilized our mothers and deliver about 1000 babies a year and two to 300 of those babies are protected. Wait use this medically assisted treatment for the mothers that are willing. We have this trust relationship that will work with us and they have to be a part of the program. That Program Includes counseling and is not medical assistant treatment. It allows them to make a stay in that program and you come to one of the rural sites in the county area. I really want to thank the usda for their support and we see usda is a partner. Mister chairman, thank you sir. I think the senator from south dakota. Former president ial candidate. laughs mr. Sievers, still out there . Yes and mister chair. Heres a flash for you. Last year, the warrior bio gas project and the own kansas treatment started in to capture an mass produced for a distribution in the pipeline. Its a 9 Million Dollar project designed to clean through the digest and the process from City Residents with a beef Processing Plant and dont worry, about that smell, we just smell the money. That is not the case and what is the case is that they invited the senator to come out and take a look and i was literally blown away and the different circumstance and thank you for your testimony. And as this continues we are coming up and i want to think of all of the witnesses and the opioid addiction and even suicide risk and the best program i know will address the element in this something called farm income. Its a 50 year in a row but weve had prices before and its amazing in our situation that is not worse. And yet, farmers know that the heat going they expect that they will have a crop and i would say for the record until we get to this worked out and we do what weve done in the last 40 years which is to build our trade capability and not only with this country but weve got the big acronym for the new nafta. I call it the United States marine corps always. Maybe we can get this job back. You have contributed here a great deal and what were doing on the local level. Despite the fact that we have not achieved this view. I thank you for your efforts and i thank you for your testimony. To my fellow members, this will conclude our hearing today and if you have any additional questions, you may have them for the record. To the Committee Clerk five days from today or by 5 pm of november 15th the committee now stands adjourned