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

Technology on farming. We heard about innovations and how federal policy including rural access to Broadband Internet can help in the development of agriculture. Good morning. We thank everyone for joining us this morning for our first Small Business Committee Hearing of 2020. I want to especially thank the witnesses for taking the time to travel across the country and take time away from their businesses in some instances to have this important question. As is the case with these hearings, there will be members coming and going. There are overlapping hearings on other committees so youll see some folks come and go so we ask for your patience in bearing with that as well. Farming and agriculture are at the heart of strong economies around the country. Investing in agriculture is crucial to ensure that our communities can thrive. Coming from colorado i understand the importance that farming and agriculture have on our states way of life and economic wellbeing. Nearly half of colorados 66 million acres are dedicated to over 30,000 farms and ranches, many of which are small, locally owned operations. Colorados a leading producer of cattle, corn, wheat and dairy, but colorados small farms are also raising everything from bison to ostriches and growing sunflowers, grapes and mushrooms to name a few. In the 21st century, technology and innovation are changing every day life, reshaping how consumers shop and how business is conducted. Modern farming is no different. Through advancements in robot s robotics, sensors, artificial intelligence, Gps Technology and digital platforms, agriculture is undergoing a revolution from the Industrial Age to the digital age. These innovations commonly known as Agriculture Technology provide an opportunity to help farmers increase yields and profitability while reducing waste and environmental impact. Todays hearing will provide members with an opportunity to hear from innovators, farmers and researchers about how ag tech is helping farmers modernize their businesses and how entrepreneurship and innovation in ag tech is changing our food and farming systems. The increased use of ag tech has the potential to address challenges our country and the world will face in the next century. Globally the worlds population is on track to exceed 9 billion in the next 30 years and our agriculture production will need to increase by 70 to meade the demand. Meeting this demand for food will be even more challenging in the face of Climate Change thats impacting our food systems, water and land. Changing temperatures reduce yields and increase pest pressures. Changes in precipitation patterns increasingly cause crop failure and production decline. As a former army ranger ive seen how these threats including scarce Water Resources and poor Food Security in other countries can have a profound impact on our own national security, readiness and resiliency. But the full potential of ag tech to meet global food demands mitigate the negative impacts of Climate Change will not be fully realized unless we fully support our farmers and innovators and the research that supports them. Ag tech can spur innovation and growth in rural parts of the country, but like many other sectors of the economy, agriculture is struggling to find a retained skilled and stable workforce. To addresses this i worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass the Farm Workforce modernization act. This legislation will help provide certainty for workers and American Farmers and ranchers, an important step in solving the labor challenge facing American Farmers and ranchers. There should also be robust funding of Agriculture Research and development at the usda to support farmers in Rural Communities. I am proud that colorado is a hub of ag tech and innovation. Growing tech centers in the denver and boulder areas, funding opportunities in my district, and a pipeline of talent from outstanding universities have helped make colorado the second largest ag tech ecosystem in the country. As that pipeline develops the high tech skills and food science, Environmental Engineering and precision agriculture, these specialists will lead the ag Tech Industry forward. It is crucial to mention the need for greater deployment of high Speed Internet in our Rural Communities. Outside of its importance in health care, education and legal services, connectivity is the backbone of ag tech. Broadband makes it possible for farmers to aggregate and analyze data in real time while tracking Commodity Markets and operating digital technologies. Small businesses and farms across colorado suffer daily from lack of access to High Speed Broadband Services due in large part to lack of investment. Reliable and affordable high speed brond band is a necessary and why Congress Must work to coordinate federal resources and make investments in infrastructure projects. Technology has become indispensable for Small Businesses and farmers and ranchers are no different. Small businesses play a vital role in providing products and services supporting americas digital farming revolution. I look forward to hearing from our expert Witnesses Today on how farming is being impacted by technology and how r and d is impacting Small Business growth and entrepreneurship so that the u. S. Can once again be the world leader in agriculture, research and innovation. I would now like to yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Balderson for an Opening Statement. Good morning, everyone, and thank you mr. Chairman, chairman crow, i appreciate it. Happy new year and i look forward to a great 2020. I anticipate a great 2020 with another year of bipartisan camaraderie and Workforce Development subcommittee. Todays hearing will explore Agriculture Technology innovations that are modernizing our farms and revitalizing Rural America. Having spent time working on a family farm myself, i understand the impact farmers have on the community and our nation. Agricultural technology or ag tech is a broad term describing a diverse range of technologies including bioscience, big data analytics, automation and robotics, supply chain and logistics and alternative Business Models such as hydroponics and meat alternatives. On farms these technologies can increase productivity, reduce waste and boost profits. On a larger scale ag tech entrepreneurship is revitalizing efforts by attracting startups, jobs and investment dollars to agricultural regions. With the diversity of technologies involved, ag tech attracts entrepreneurs and investors from various industries and geographies. As we observe the growth and impact of ag tech ventures, we cannot lose focus on the primary stakeholders, our farmers. With uncertain markets farmers may be he is tesitant to take o additional risk. For example, agricultural systems include equipment purchases, installation charges and precious time spent learning how to use and maintain these technologies. To be fully taken advantage of, the system must be compatible with preexisting machinery, Internet Connectivity and Business Model. To be worth farmers investments, technologies must have a tangible impact on productivity and profit. As options rapidly increase, how do farmers determine what will work best for the specific business needs. I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today and to talk about these experiences from Ag Technologies and resources are available to minimize the risk and maximize the benefits of investment. Thank you for being here today to represent this promising industry. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Balderson, and i agree with you on looking forward to 2020. We had some exciting wins and collaborations in 2019 and look forward to continuing that in the next year. If the Committee Members have an Opening Statement prepared we ask that they be submitted for the record. I would like to take a minute to explain the timing rule. Each witness gets five minutes to testify and each member gets five minutes for questioning. There is a lighting system in front of you to assist you. The green light will be on when you begin and the yellow light will come on when you have one minute remaining. The red light will come on when youre out of time and we ask that you stay within that time frame to the best of your ability. I would now like to introduce our witnesses but before doing so i ask unanimous consent to allow congressman Jimmy Panetta to join the subCommittee Hearing. Without objection, so ordered. Welcome, mr. Panetta. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today, and i will actually yield to you to introduce our first witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity to be here to speak about a very, very important issue. And thank you, Ranking Member balderson. I appreciate both of your Opening Statements and agree with absolutely everything that both of you had to say, so thank you. Its an absolute honor to be here. Its quite far away from where i come from, not just in the cannon building, but in california. I come from the Central Coast of california and its otherwise known as the salad bowl of the world. Trust me, my fellow members on the ag committee get sick and tired of me saying that and theyve heard me say it over and over and now you get to hear me say it but i say it with a lot of pride. Theyre on the coast of central california, you name it, we grow it. We have hundreds and hundreds of specialty crops. Theres a reason why were not only the salad bowl of the world but we have the garlic capital of the world, the artichoke capital of the world, the berry bowl of the world. We have specialty crops, but as many of you know, specialty crops can be very difficult to harvest. Specialty crops take that human discernment when it comes to soft fruits and vegetables as to figuring out what is safe, what is ripe, what is ready to be picked, what is aesthetically pleasing to the consumer because, as you know, most of the time those products, once theyre picked, they go right into the cartons. Those cartons go right onto the shelves of the stores and those cartons then go home with us and then those products go right into the mouths of our sons and daughters. And so it does take, at this point, a very skilled you have to be very skilled in order to harvest this product. For a long time we have relied on humans to do that, especially on the central koecoast of california. Thats why i agree that the farm worker modernization act is a very important bill that is not only passed on a bipartisan but must be passed. The other avenue that we must go down is ag tech as you mentioned. This type of technology for these types of crops, were behind it. Were lagging. Dont get me wrong, ive been out in our fields in watsonville and ive seen some pretty interesting things from some companies right over the hill from Silicon Valley where ive seen machines take more pictures of a strawberry plant in one afternoon than all of the previous history of Human History of taking photos of a strawberry plant. Its that type of technology thats needed, but more needs to be invested in this technology to do it. I think thats why its so, so important that were having this type of conversation here in washington d. C. So that those types of investments in the fields, not just on the Central Coast but throughout this country, can benefit from the investment thats needed when it comes to ag tech. So its an absolute honor that im here today with you, but also have the opportunity to introduce mr. Kevin france. Kevin france is the chief executive officer of swim systems, a Small Business that provides on farm agriculture water accounting. Swim has a Satellite Office in my district there on the Central Coast and it partners with the western Growers Association which has one of its main offices in my district as well. Under mr. Frances leadership, swim has been recognized as a top 25 Ag Tech Company by forbes magazine. Mr. France, i thank you for being here, for your preparation, for your time, and all of us look forward to hearing what you have to say in regards to the investment thats needed and what has been done and what needs to be done when it comes to ag tech. Thank you. Thank you, Ranking Member. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you for being here, mr. France. Jimmy, you might have a lot of agricultural capitals of the world but i dont think you can claim the mushroom capital of the world because that distinction belongs to ms. Hu houlihan sitting next to you. Just wanted to be clear for the record. Our second witness is dr. David potierre, the head of gio innovation. He is a Technology Leader focused on building integrated Applied Science platforms using gio spishl technology. For the past several years hes focused on building a living map of the worlds food supply using reliable maps. Prior to joining indigo, the doctor was cofounder and ceo of telles labs which provided intelligence across the food value chain using machine learning, Remote Sensing and gio spatial analysis. He has a phd from Princeton University and served the country as a Surface Warfare officer in the u. S. Navy. Thank you for your service to the country and for being here today. Our third witness is mr. Roberto mesa, a beginning farmer and cofounder of Emerald Gardens in bennett, colorado. While a grad student at m. I. T. Roberto was inspired by student projects. His career quickly transitioned from the arts to agriculture with a focus on food access. After a hiatus working on farms and observing problems in our food systems, he moved to colorado with a childhood friend and started their own farm in 2017. Emerald gardens grows, harvests and distributes greens to restaurants, grocery stores, and food pantries. They operate using geothermal and passive solar energy. Roberto is the chair of the local chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. Hes a board member of the High Plains Food coop and is developing a model for last mile distribution to help food coops and local producers gain access to markets. Thank you for taking time away from your business to be here today and its always good to see a fellow coloradoen in washington d. C. I would now like to yield to our Ranking Member, mr. Balderson, to introduce our final witness. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to acknowledge the Ranking Member of the Small Business community has joined us also. Ranking member sha bat. Mr. Sha bat, thank you for being here this morning. Im sure a lot of you see the witness list. Dr. Jackson smith and i have made an agreement were not going to do the ohio stuff. Joe burrow is there and thats where he got his training and thats coming up monday evening so i want to make sure everybody is well aware of that and he lives from the southern portion of ohio so were well represented. Will the gentleman yield . Yes. He may soon be a cincinnati bengal too which i happen to represent. We shall see. We shall see. Our next witness sorry, doctor. Dr. Douglas Jackson Smith, professor and assistant director of Ohio State University school of environment and Natural Resources. He is here today as a representative of the universitys initiative for food and agricultural transformation. Before joining ohio state in 2016, dr. Jackson smith served 15 years as a faculty member of the department of sociology, social work at the utah state university. He has a bachelors and masters in rural sociology and a phd in sociology. Trained as a rural sociologist, his Research Explores the dynamics of technology and structural change and agricultural and Natural Resource systems. He has helped lead 25 million worth of Interdisciplinary Science Grant Funding from usda, nsf and doe. We thank you for your research in this field and appreciate you taking time away from your work to be here with us today. Thank you. I yield back, chairman. Thank you, mr. Balderson. All due respect to the Ranking Member and mr. Sha bat, dr. Smith received his academic training from the university of wisconsin, so go badgers. Not to be outdone this morning. Thank you very much. Mr. France, you are now recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congressmen, thank you very much, and other members of this committee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today on the impact of Agricultural Technology in Rural America and i appreciate this opportunity to share some of my experiences. My name is kevin france and i am chief executive officer of swim system. My graduate and undergraduate are in Business Administration and my professional experience includes developing technologies through Public Partnerships that can be integrated into the private sector. Prior to the internet of things, also known as the iot revolution, sensors were not generally connected to the internet and as a result data was gathered manually normally by a grower, wind time permitted between growing. Now sensors are connected to the internet and data is made available in near real time. Growers need better access to this Game Changing technology in order to sustain our agricultural economy in the face of ever increasing water shortages. What is on on farm agricultural water accountant . Twice recognized by forbes magazine, we maintain a Distribution Agreement with western Growers Association, one of the largest agricultural trade organizations in the nation. Our clients are made up of growers of all sizes and shapes. We provide complete water use reporting including applied and consumed Water Resources on a real time basis by field and by crop. Similar to the way your cpa provides a detailed statement of financial accounts, money in, money out and from what source, we enable growers to quantify and protect their water allegations well into the future. Our initial search was originally funded by private investment and underpinned by state Water Conservation grants. The technology was then developed over a fiveyear period through an agreement with the usda, colorado state, and utah state universities. Our first issued patent was actually codeveloped with the help directly alongside of the usda. Depending on their location a grower may have access to river water, access to groundwater and some have access to both. Unlike other farmers, water is the only component to a farming operation that has no alternative source, and if not available, could put the farmer completely out of business. By way of example, take the Colorado River. Its a prime surface water source for seven western states and its over appropriated by as much as 40 leaving some farmers without water to grow crops in which our nation severely depends upon. Years of drought exacerbates the situation. As another example, take californias recent passing of the sustainable groundwater Management Act to manage overpumping of its aquifers. With these upcoming restrictions, at least 500,000 acres of farm land in the Central Valley of california will be without water most likely, which means no crops will be grown on those acres. Our clients tell us that they fear their livelihoods and the legacy of their operations, many of which have been in their families for generations. Growers need access to updated technologies to fight the consequences of drought and lack of water availability that is widespread throughout the u. S. The equipment we most often see in the field fails to provide the accurate water accounting needed today. We see roughly about one in five flow meters in the field producing data that is off by as much as 25 . An oldfashioned open canal measurements where they shove a yardstick in the water, off by as much as 40 . Consider what this means. Our experience shows us that many of the current Funding Sources are geared toward research. These contributions are valuable but the net sum result of many of these projects simply lead to more research for that much private sector engagement, unfortunately. The usda and nrcs has programs that are designed to help farmers and irrigation districts implement technologies. They include equip and rccp Funding Sources. These programs, although well intentioned, are tough to plan around as funding cycles do not track with grower needs and the application process is difficult to complete. Funds for these programs are managed and distributed generally on a regional basis, making larger, more scaleable projects that with benefit multiple regions more challenging to implement. Weve seen that firsthand. One promising example relates to a project that were currently finalizing along the Colorado River in arizona with support of the federal government. The client is working with the bureau of Indian Affairs and the bureau of reformation in an area that will benefit significantly with this type of water use data. This can be expanded through a partnership with bia to multiple users along the Colorado River, more meaningful scaling could be achieved. To provide a Paradigm Shifting Technology and embracing of that technology on a wider scale, Funding Sources must be flex inl and allow for approval on a projectwide basis. Thank you again for the opportunity to share this story with you today, and i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. France, for that testimony, and i would be remiss if i didnt recognize that you are bringing your family here as well. Its my understanding that its at least your youngest daughters first time in washington. Youngest and oldest, thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Dr. Potierre, you are now recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Chairman crow, other members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in todays hearing. Fundamentally growing food has always been a venture of Small Businesses and that is true here in the United States despite all that we hear about consolidation of farms today in the u. S. No sector has a higher percentage of Small Business ventures than agriculture, and thats not only the farmers that are growing the food but the shippers and carriers that bring that food to market, the accountants and cpas and mechanics that help bring that crop out in the world. And of course Small Business is challenging and no Small Business is more challenging than agriculture. I come to you today as a technologist. I build technologies. Im not a farmer but ive been serving farmers for the last five years, building out a better system of Agricultural Intelligence using satellite and Weather Technology that is the result of hundreds of millions of dollars of Government Investment over the last many decades. Im now proud to be a member of indigo agriculture which is a Company Whose mission is to use technology to help farmers sustainablely feed the planet. The challenges that the farmers face today, weve seen 49 reduction in the profitability of farms since 2013. Were looking at a 400 increase in input costs for farmers over the last 40 years, most of that in the last 15. Think about where that increase in input costs is going. Its not going to Small Businesses. Think about how challenging it is to market that grain out in the world. As an asset class, commodity futures is one of the most volatile Asset Classes on the planet and farmers every year have to figure out when and how to market their crop out into the world. Its hard to be small in the food system, and at indigo we believe that technology is a part of the solution to making farming a more viable profession and that Small Business opportunity a more viable profession. The two aspects of our business that i want to share most with you today are around bringing that crop out into the world via Indigo Marketplace and learning how to grow a new kind of crop, learning how to become a carbon farmer. We think this is one of the most hopeful things that weve heard of when it comes to the Climate Change story. Bringing farmers into the solution, its true that farming represents 25 of carbon emissions, but at indigo we believe that farming can be a definitive part of the solution for Climate Change because of the potential for agricultural soils to absorb carbon. Its really an old technology. Its called regenerative farming and it basically means planting cover crops and letting what we all learned in eighth grade science take over when it comes to photosynthesis. Plants are really good at turning Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and helps farmers move to a system where they plant crops during the winter, cover crops, that make the soil healthier, make the food healthier for human consumption and actually create resilience for those farmers to better resist the changes of Climate Change which, if unmitigated, look like they could create a 20 headwind when it comes to Agricultural Production in the country. So that Carbon Solution requires a marketplace, and Indigo Marketplace technology is designed to match buyers and sellers. Thats a real tough problem and ive sat at the farm gate with many, many farmers in my time at indigo around harvest time trying to make that decision of where and when to sell their grain. Theyre not armed with the same technologies as the big ag companies that theyre selling into. We work to democrat ties the intelligence it takes to make smart, rational decisions at that moment, including learning how to sell carbon. One of the things that we wanted to make sure that mention today as we speak with all of you is an opportunity to farmers in that chance to sell carbon. The thing wed like to observe is that for a decade now, due to changes in the tax code, oil and Gas Companies have had the opportunity to sequester atmospheric carbon as part of enhanced extraction. And the question we have for the committee is if it makes sense at 50 a ton for the government to subsidize oil and gas to put Carbon Dioxide back into the ground, wouldnt it make sense to allow farmers to do the same thing and to allow farmers to do that at lower cost per ton and do that in every small Rural Community in america and allow them to become part of the same solution that we know is so urgent for the agricultural system. Ill leave you with that question and i look forward to answering your further questions. Thank you, doctor. Mr. Mesa, you are recognized for five minutes. Chairman crow, Ranking Member balderson, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is roberto mesa. I am a first generation farmer and cofounder of Emerald Gardens, a farm located 15 miles east of denver on 35 acres in bennett, colorado. My Business Partner and i operate a controlled environment, passive solar greenhouse, in which we cultivate herbs, edible flowers and over 20 varieties of micro greens. Every week we harvest more than 300 pounds of micro greens destined for restaurants, grocery stores, food pantries, public schools, farmers markets and for direct delivery to consumers. I am a member of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union which represents approximately 20,000 family farmers, ranchers and rural members across colorado, new mexico and wyoming. Im also the chair of membership and outreach of my high farmers, a cochapter of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the National Young Farmers Coalition. My Business Partner and i are proud to be building our small farm with a focus on environmental stewardship, technology, innovation and community engagement. Micro greens are the primary crop of our farm and our labor of love. They have low input needs, have a quick turnaround time, can be grown yearround and have a high ne new treent density. I experienced healing and renewal when i was struggling with personal health issues. Furthermore, they exhibit beautiful colors, have distinct flavor profiles which make them highly sought after by chefs and restaurants. On our farm we use Innovative Technologies that help us reduce our costs an be strong environmental stewards. Our greenhouse uses a passive solar design that is both energy efficient, economically sensible and environmentally friendly. It works by using clear polly cash nat material on the south side to let the light through and insulated metal panels on the sides and north wall to trap that heat. This allows us to charge our ground to air Heat Transfer system, a designed refined by series Greenhouse Solutions thats based on the principles of a climate battery. This allows us to channel that heat in the greenhouse through a series of tubes that run below the Structures Foundation and allowing us to reduce our reliance on zily heating and cooling implements. We grow vertically. Over the next few weeks well be installing 40 solar panels to power the lights and the fans in the greenhouse. Also, as coloradoens know very well, the state closely monitors water supply and use because of the arid climate. We use an automated recirculating system to supply roots only what they need while retduce be evaporation. Many people are still unfamiliar with micro greens. Social media is a tool we use to raise awareness about their nutritional benefits as well as the Important Role they play in local food systems. By posting videos that show our Farm Practices and the technology we use in our production systems, it builds trust, transparency and a deeper connection for consumers and their food source. A major puzzle weve been working to solve is optimal distribution of our products. This is a boot strap business so unsurprisingly weve relied on some relatively low tech moth odds of distribution such as attending farmers markets. We also have an online farm stand so customers can place orders from their smartphone. Weve partnered with an innovative grocery start up, ponderosa. It al lullows us to deliver to retail and wholesale markets through a single pickup. We partner with ponderosa to share data that helps us optimize advances, including Agricultural Technology, its becoming increasingly important for todays farmers to have a College Education, indeed its become an asset, on many farms, as well as our own, a College Education is out of reach financially for many Student Loans are essential, unfortunately, Student Loan Debt, is one of several factors preventing young, and beginning farmers, from getting or staying involved in agriculture, as a first generation, a beginning farmer with my own student loan, debt i believe a federal Student Loan Debt Repayment Program is essential, looking ahead were excited by the opportunity to partner next, year with the Technology Startup that will pilot new sensors in our facility, the sensors will january data, that will help us understand the micro climate, in our greenhouse, to increase the precision of our production methods, support for technology such as these, which can improve environmental, and economic inefficiencies, are increasingly important within the context of our changing climate, our to close by saying innovation is borne of struggle, while we faced a myriad of challenges, a small farmers, and Small Business owners, we remain committed to a mission, a feeding our communities, improving our farm and food systems, a remaining careful stewards of colorados natural environment, technologies both high tech, and low tech, as well as grit and determination, are helping us get there. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and i look forward to your questions. Thank, you i know tomorrow is your distribution, day i specially appreciate you flying out to do this today, always good to see you at the stanley marketplace market doctor Jackson Smith, you are now recognized for five minutes. Thank, you i want to begin by thanking the subcommittee for the opportunity, to speak to this important issue, as youre instruction pointed out under pressure of sociology omar security at highest university, ive said my career studying both drivers of the implications of technological, change for farmers, and particular focus on small to mid size farms, my comments today also reflect the contributions of that kellogg down share, and the director of food and agricultural transformation that could speak more about later, many of the challenges faced by Small Businesses stem from structural disadvantages they face, competing against largescale specialized businesses, that serve global calm onto the markets, and benefit economies of scale, theres a reason for optimism, for the future of faulty medium sized farms, changes in Consumer Preferences, standing markets for food products, that arent supported public policies, and most importantly from todays, hearing the rapids cutting edge Technological Innovations provide a foundation for reinvigorating Small Businesses and roll america. Specifically over the last 20 years, the rising could sue more interesting awareness of how the food is produced, thats contributed to the rapid growth of the market, any response related seeing, the resurgence of diversified farm and Food Supply Chains in the u. S. , certainly includes farmers incorporate copper, crops crop rotations, reliance more on egg her business, and those who produce each of our Specialty Products it also includes small chain businesses, and specialized needs, to special types of computers. In our written testimony a colleague nice as many examples of innovations that could help the support these diversified farm businesses, im just gonna highlight my comments first theyre innovations that improve the performance the diversified farming systems, are not your grandfathers, farm and scientific knowledge of open new windows, in how diversification can be leverage to improve farming, some promising areas through innovation include support for former innovation, there are literally tens of thousands of farmers currently working to diversify the crop systems, these farmers represent a reservoir Practical Knowledge that we should start, and a foundation for future discovery and, innovation is in genetic engineering tools, both traditional cutting edge they could be used to develop new crop and livestock varieties, optimized for production systems. The use of sensors and precision farming data, to help farmers use more input more efficiently. A second cluster of innovations might improve linkages between diversified farms, in these emerging markets, that would include tools to try to, improving traceability, data management, systems and block chain technology, being harness to track products, it dont place burdens on producers, and increased opportunities for direct marketing in the digital age, connecting with consumers, requires accents, and reliable presence on the, internet and the comments on Rural Broadband, internet finally, there innovations to expand opportunities for non farmers, throughout this diversified system, these biden could innovative Farm Machinery companies, Food Processing technologies, designed specifically to support diversified productions, smallscale, producers as well as food safety monitoring technology, that could address potential threats to food supply, associated with them distributed and diversified supply chain, including new sensors and automated sampling technologies, that are less labor intensive, and more accurate than many current systems, big, picture while technological innovation can help small and medium sized businesses thrive, in a war diversified farm and food system, we are not working in a vacuum, for decades the dominant for us to technological change, in the u. S. Farm and food sector has focus successfully a largescale specialize commodity production, i think without cause just public leadership in his face with a concern in the future of Technology May not generate the opportunities for Small Businesses, and World Economic day of element at all this desire, emerging markets, good public policy,s research and innovation, Small Business development, cannot energize the technologies weve talked about today and, stimulate economic opportunities, in areas where federal leadership Stimulating Research and innovation around diversified farm and food systems, i thank you for the opportunity, and dress the committee i look forward to your questions. Thank you doctor Jackson Smith appreciate everything you here today, i will get by recognizing myself for five minutes, mr. Raise, that youve done something that not a lot of people are able to successfully, do and that is, from no Background Experience in this area, to jump in, sort of small farming operation, and survive your first few years, thats a very challenging, statistically, thing to do, i will offer you just share with us for a minute, what advice he would share with other young folks that are looking at entering into the profession, in doing this, and youre lessons learned, very briefly. Thank you, my experience has definitely been challenging, as you mentioned, i think one of the reasons why, weve been successful is our involvement in our community, and our Farmers Union, working with extension offices, and also, identifying appropriate technology, and crops that are sought after in our community, as you know denver is a blossoming culinary world, but it also has an underdeveloped food system, with those two factors in mind, we have targeted micro greens as a perfect crop, to really address a lot of those factors. For us, its been an opportunity, to explore and Research Different models, for how to create a niche for ourself, and how to create a viable business, with the support of our community, and the solidarity with other farmers, it has allowed us to get to where we are today. I would say the backbone of our farm, aside from technology, is also the relationships and partnerships that weve established. I would definitely advise farmers to collaborate, especially with their local communities. I know the last time we had a roundtable together at the Rocky Mountain farmers who knew there was some discussion about what you mentioned, in the emerging restaurant market we found it almost 50 population, almost 2 million more colorado into the last two, decades which is led to a boom, in the restaurant industry, up one of the Biggest Challenges is getting Fresh Produce to those restaurants in a timely way, without them sitting on the shelf, and having spoilers, i notice some folks, in the union, are experimenting with online platforms, to do, that or restaurant can order something, in realtime, and get it within hours. Have you had experience with, that are those platforms valuable . Definitely, these platforms allow us to have a really strong relationship, communication avenues with our markets, and our buyers. Growing michael greens allow us to, generate enough product every week to cover the immediate needs of chefs and restaurants. Weve been able to capitalize on the benefits of micro greens, in order to satisfy the needs of our blossoming culinary enterprises. Is there a role in your view, for this committee, in helping young folks, with the start up costs, for the barriers in this platform . One of the things that love about this, is that you cant out source Fresh Produce. It has to be grown locally, produced locally, and sent to local restaurants. I think its a great opportunity for us, what are those barriers that you think folks like us could help reduce. Absolutely, i think one of the challenges was accessing capital. Our Business Partner or i desire to start a foreman colorado. We didnt exactly know how to approach it. We didnt know what products to grow, we also wanted to be mindful of food waste. For us, it was an opportunity to research with a local man you it is, in our context. Michael greens became that crop, that we focused on. Because if theyre ease of production, and low input me. We were able to boot strap our operation, in a very small, 150 square foot greenhouse, that was adjacent to my initial property that i was running in colorado. Through that, allowed us to really connect with the markets that were emerging, especially through farmers markets. Now that weve scaled to our commercial phase, we have realized that much more infrastructure, and input needs have been required by our Business Model to be viable. Access to capital has been quite a challenge, but we are boots dropping it as we go along, this allows us to really understand, the scale, that is needed, to address a lot of these factors that make our business viable, like i mentioned, before Student Loans, have been factored in our ability to address the infrastructure needs of our business, we are optimistic to innovate new models, a lot of our aging farming population is experiencing this mode. Of transition. Were trying to engage inspire and motivate the next generation of agriculture. Thank you, i give some questions, i do want to spread it around a little bit before i look back to all of you. For a second round. My time has expired. Mr. Balderson is now recognized for five. Minutes thank you chairman crow. Ill start off with doctor smith doctor according to a recent article, the minnesota times. Excuse me the minnesota star tribune, tractors built in 1980 or earlier are in high demand because the price to buy and maintain them is significantly lower than. New can you give us a priest interpretation of this trend . Certainly and i can say that i just retired my 1985 toyota corona, which rested out before the engine ever went. So i bond with those farmers. And i farm for 25, years and when i farmed i understood the value of this kind of tier of technology. My explanation for that kind of ties into the fact that farmers, at this small and mid sightseers tier have limited resources. A lot of Cutting Edge Technology is beyond their reach. Or scales that might. For technology from the seventies and eighties certainly tractor technology, can do the job without having to be very expensive and difficult to acquire and maintain. Farmers also farm for more than economic reasons, the quality of the labor experience, theyre ability to achieve independence, is critical to farmers that i work with. And being able to work on your own tractor is why i kept that tired across. I could fix a carburetor i cannot fix my toyota previous. In fact im afraid to touch. It its an interesting observation but it does reflect both the lack of development of technology perhaps in the mainstream machinery industry, and therefore all tech tractors having a niche, but also for manufacturers get into that space and find ways to produce equipment that is to do to that planter. And there are manufacturers otherwise enough to that. I thank you very. Much the next question i have asked for the whole panel and you all can jump in, however you may. According to the ohio broadband society, 300,000 households in ohio, representing of approximately 1 million ohioans. As a member of the Small Business and transportation infrastructure committee, including those in my district who suffer from inadequate Internet Access, how this Broadband Access impact technology, for rule rural farmers. Think you i can make a comment from the perspective of indigo, we have had to build mobile technologies for farmers to validate the work they are doing on the farm. For fires to pay a premium. We are trying to look at agronomists farmers to take note of whats happening. In the lack of Broadband Access, it has required us as Technology Company to build all our apps, rib zillion to interact activity. The Development Cost of that, and the missed opportunity, around a two way street for the former, are just really mindboggling. It is really interesting from a Software Development perspective, we regain developers from all over the world to indigo, they were shocked to deal with that engineering challenge. They are used to solving urban problems, it was a real moment to realize that the lack of bandwidth, was going to mean developing against total blacked out from a bandwidth perspective. Thank you that is a good answer. If i may, i would like to second that, our entire network has been developed based off of the cellular and satellite up link, because of the fact that in many other regions we are in, it is not sustainable broadband. We do use broadband where we can, because there is a cost benefit to doing so, but it is a secondary backup, in some cases they are in the middle of the desert. We are in areas where it gets to 130 degrees, as a high, and then were in areas of colorado where it is below zero. That shift in climate, over the year, put you in a position where it not only have to have solid equipment that can sustain itself, but connectivity to the web is still not there. We have been lucky in our context in rural bennett, that we have incredible fiber optic connections. It is essential and its an essential part of our Business Model. We are able to create a niche for ourself and a market for ourself through the use of communication platforms. By educating consumers, about our products, and connecting them with their food source. That is pretty much how we have been able to create this business for ourselves. We also need this technology, to utilize the Sensor Technology that were using, to mitigate any energy waste that we may encounter in our production methods. Thank you very much i yield back mister chair. Thank you mister balderson the gentleman yields back, the gentlelady from kansas is now recognized for five minutes. Thank you chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you to all the folks who came out here to testify, on what i think is a really amazing opportunity for us on the Small Business community to be talking about. Issues that really touch on rural urban and suburban points of contact here, i represent the Third District in kansas, which is home to garments, so we have a lot of the position Agriculture Technology, it is very important to the district i represent, but also in my state, there is i would consider there to be a big push towards the Sustainable Agriculture that you have all been talking about today. John county Community College has an agriculture program. Which i had the opportunity to go visit. One of the things they brought up, was how hard it can be for people to get into some of the types of farming that youve been talking about. The smaller farms, getting into, some of the crops that people are less familiar with. I guess the question for anyone on the panel, who wants to help enlighten us is how do we, are how can we as Small Business community, or congress, help support that pipeline, and also the technologies that i think our particular the excited about, i would love to hear from you about how we can really implement, our make the problem programs that we have existing better for everyone. Congresswoman davis, i appreciate the question, and i will address in particular the carbon opportunity, it is something we wrestle with, if this is such a winwin, coming to the system, it means you use less input, far more promptly, make more healthy food and be paid for it, why havent we seen the transition right. Farmers are entrepreneurs, if it was that compelling, why are we seeing only two and three and 4 of all American Farmers doing those things . And we think the barrier, in a large part is risk, and know how. So it is risky to change the model. And the model as well unconventional farming, that anything that stretches conventional farming introduces risk. I would suggest to anything that congress can do to create incentives, around overcoming that first barrier, once folks have been doing this for two and three years, its actually a more profitable farm. But its actually overcoming that initiation obstacle, that seems to be a big part of the blocker. If i may add to that, were in three states we have a staff of 30 something. Were Small Businesses well, weve applied for state and federal, funding successful in some cases, field and others, we find ourselves helping our growers, in the 30 of the time, there is some funding mechanism to help integrate, this type of technology, whether some level of technology or otherwise, barriers or a fact that these growers are told over and over, just want to grow theyre, not a position where they want to fill out paperwork theyre not a position where they want to wait, many of the programs, at least the ones that were involved in that are available, great disincentive, to predeploy these types of technologies, whether its swim or any other technology. Whereby you apply for funding, whoever wants to get in on it now, if they do so the funding package will not allow them to be reimbursed. So they cant, enough seeking specifically to equipment im sure theres others, weve had growers who say flat out, im waiting, i want to get this technology in place, to heck with it im just going to deploy myself. Over and over, i think weve applied, weve actually helped our clients apply, multiple times, and almost every single one of them had just move forward again themselves a revamp of the process maybe thinking outside of the, box that would like grower say we could just do one master application, for all of our fields in this one region, we could do it about five seconds, on form for every single field, its the same reason they dont want to monitor their water, they want to leave that youre professional, same recent years push back on these types of programs, thank you. Thank, you and my time is coming to an end here, i appreciate the tangible suggestions that you, have all reach out to the folks who didnt get to answer this question, and see what you have to say about it thank you so much and i yield back. Thank you gentle lady years back, the gentleman from tennessee, mr. Urchin is recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman i appreciate the opportunity to be, here i appreciate you all being here ive been involved in organic business composting mulching business for a long time, i know the learning curve, i had to experience, but also with regulations, and they just make them up as they go, so its kind of exciting to see you doing what you are all doing, have a couple of questions. This is for the full panel, how to american consumers, perfect industry dynamics, are they driving expansion the industry or are they continuing to learn how it works . Thank you mister. You can call me tim. In colorado there is a really strong local food movement. Consumers are increasingly demanding products that are available locally, not only to, receive the freshest and most high Quality Ingredients but also to limit the food miles that the food has to travel to get to the place. Weve been able to address that by, the kind of crop that we grow. Not only that, but i think theres also just awareness, of the participation we all have in establishing a sustainable local food system, its really the ecosystem that we all partake, in Farmers Consumers everybody thats involved in food. So, it really is a driving force because we grow for the food system, thats our primary, goal for me its really important to not only think of it in terms of a transaction, but a reciprocal relationship. We see it as, we take care of the plants, so they can take care of us, and then we could take care of the community. And that relationship has been, the intangible infrastructure, that supports our entire business. I was glad to hear you say, that im an organic gardener, i grow tomatoes, squash, in green beans, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. Its all collaborated, i remember when i started, in my backyard, i was covered in all kinds of stuff. My neighbor, oddly enough, he wasnt in my political, party told me i need to spray it down with some chemicals. And i hesitated, i was mayor of the county but i lived in the city, kind of confusing, but i adopted to goats, they were wonderful, even the neighbors ended up liking them. I always thought i was going to get in trouble with the goat police. But they were awesome. A lot of fun and memories i, name them after some friends of mine. I appreciate that. You could look into. The neighborhood kids. Lets say can we get a picture with your goats, mayor. I would say sure come on back theyre great, their members of the, family remember one time i was eating breakfast, modal girl is about with trump in the back i, looked over and made her mama saw her, and the go teddy in the screen, they do eat anything, i mean anything, thats no lie, eating that screen, and she was feeding it cinnamon through the kitchen window, i love my girl, so she could come right in the kitchen for all i, care mama wouldnt have like, that anywhere, back to my questions. Thats good for ratings on cspan by the way, you love that stuff, they can discourage smalls family farmers when considering new technologies, i was strict on environmental, issues and i was, it seemed like our universe, they did not like the organic aspect, i found out later that a lot of the funding, comes from some of the big boys, who i talked to regularly on my twitter page about my organic berries and staff, which im sure brings them to their knees, the truth, is they get a lot of funding, these universities do from, that say sort of discourage the environmental thing, i know what do you said you grew migrants and other things, i was kind of curious how that all played you can just jump in whatever you want to, or just shake your head in disbelief. Did you pointed out universities, are just dumping on this one, and i think the interesting thing about universities, universities are now very much focused, as is agriculture on the, way 30 years ago, this emerging consumer driven market, there is skepticism what i start my career about whether organics is the real deal whether theres a real Science Behind organic farming, now 50 60 billion dollar industry and so, thats woken up a lot of researchers to possibilities, of being in that space and helping, optimize those systems the same way weve optimize other cultural, systems i think for farmers area diversification into geography agriculture is going to be the next frontier, its complex, is going to require a lot of support, but i think, if i have to be self serving universities are going to play a, role in helping solve, and figure out some of those issues, that entrepreneurs and innovators will be able to develop in technologies, that can help farmers. I see everyone over my time once, again but i really appreciate you all being here thank you, in all sincerity. Weve got to encourage that, universities, and all these emerging new markets is very encouraging sorry mister chairman. I yield back. Thank you mister birch. I think everyone is disappointed that your time has expired including me. Some of my favorite five minutes of all the Committee Hearings i appreciate it very much. I am sure youll go viral, so we can watch it later. Gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from oklahoma mr. Hearn is recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman i have no goat stories. But i did grew up on farms. Thank you all for being here today, as a Small Business owner for almost 35 years now, and job creator, all kinds of farming, and ranching over the years, i am also an engineer, so i really appreciate technology and what it does to make our lives better. Or confuse us one of the other a lot of the times. It allows for a lot of increased efficiencies and youve related to that your testimony. Im also very familiar with iot and what its done for changing america. The legacy equipment we have out there. Because Small Businesses create numerous innovation in agriculture and especially these innovations have helped farmers impact their profit making more fish, and you know theres been a lot of conversation about, more Sustainable Food production, creation of a stronger resistance, environmental factors which is huge, to create more yield, to continue the success, its essential that we as elected officials are fostering growth for startups and Small Businesses, rather than creating more barriers. One of the things if you know the history of this committee, it is a really bipartisan committee, it tries to cut through all the politics of whats out there to really get things more into the hands, ideas, and remove barriers for entrepreneurs to and create a lot of jobs. Unfortunately a lot of times when we try, when the government tries to get in the way, and i know when you come here youre asking for the government to get involved, and we can also be the worst nightmare. Because everybody has a wonderful idea, that tends to stifle growth and invasion, allows these examples to the barriers extends from a 2011 study, that found due to regulation bringing a biotech ad on chuck lot of money and many years to complete. This burdens both obama and trump administrations have called for reforming, our agriculture and biotech rules have improved costs cost and efficiency. That said there is more that we can do to improve our regulatory environment, this is something i would like to ask each of you about. The question is, in our two and a half minutes, and we will just start right here and moved down if you dont mind. Do you all have thoughts or recommendations, specific or general, on ways that we can improve the regulatory climate, remove the market barriers, and allow for betty better Small Business participation. I would write a book on that if i could figure that out sir. It would probably be a bestseller in my guests. But in all seriousness, as far as regulation goes, we have spent a lot of time, in our particular area, looking for ways to already establish programs and make them work for our clientele. So were talking a quid, are sissi funding for a third party saw source, below rbi a, i struggle with asking for the government to come up with another program, i would suggest looking at the programs we have and giving more leeway, that have the ability to look outside the box. The funding is issued on a regional basis, issue to regional offices, if example you found a project, that was crossed band regions, giving one Person Authority to fund those, under the same terms and conditions, maybe flexing within the system in place, i think would be my advice. I dont think we want to go and start a brandnew program that is just my point of view. We certainly feels the effects that you are describing, it is one of the reasons why we have pursued, microbial technology, natural natural occurring microbes, identifying those, this is one way, and one of the reasons this is in the attractive avenue, is because of the barriers youre talking about. So maybe this is an example of the private sector reacting to those barriers. And i would say also, the system of conventional farming, is something that needs to change. And that is also not a regulatory, constrained avenue. In our case while we do face some of the constraint of Regulatory Approval for those microbes where developing, we found to promising ways around that. So certainly very very much verifying what youre talking about. Thank you mister chairman i yield back. I will extend two minutes, i would like to hear the other two witnesses hands are your question as well. Thank you. Yes i think the first thing we need to do is, go to farming communities and ask them what ideas they have. I think too often, we as experts think that we have a program that is complete, and will remove at a low further development, but context are different everywhere, and so the only one that could really speak to those context are the farmers those themselves. I think its really important to take into account, the specificities of each farmer, and what they need and how they see the whole matrix of things working. Another thing that i think would help is, we all know that, there are subsidies, but we should be able to channel some of the funding, into regenerated agriculture, new models for producing food. And hopefully we can come up with a nice brainstorming session, that will yield some innovative models. Thank you. Its a fantastic question you stumbled into an area of which i know too much, so i will be talking for the next 45 minutes. Actually i have worked quite a bit on aggro technology. I started out with bovine growth hormone, in the dairy industry in wisconsin, it was a controversial, contested, and still is technology. And was the opening salvo, ongoing saga, of generic a genetic engineering. And i think our regulatory system reflects that. I dont think i know anyone who thinks our regulatory system makes any sense. Its like nobody really likes our immigration system. But to find our way forward, requires finding some middle ground, finding some balance, and coming up with a system that incentivize, careful scrutiny where it is necessary, and recognizes much of the barriers that have been put in place right now, are preventing us from deploying technology for purpose that all of us would celebrate. There are plenty of examples, we talked about it in our longer written testimony, that might be for example innovating cover crops. They would allow cover crops to succeed. Its a great idea but most farmers try it and its more complicated than they were told. And thats because we havent had a chance to engineer and develop, crops that soothe the versatile and climates that farmers use. It could be a tool if we were able to confidently deploy that as part of our four for folio, but i recognize that i am sympathetic to the way its been to the point today, that it hasnt always percolated down to the benefits for Small Business and consumers. So the concerns about biotechnology israel, but you are touching on an area where there is a bottleneck, and the bottleneck somehow we are going to have to see our way through in the future. Thank you mister. Chairman thank you mister hunt yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania is doctor choice is recognized for five minutes. I thank you chairman for yielding, and for discussing the opportunities, that Bag Technology can bring to Rural America. First i would like to take a minute to highlight, a farm in my district, which has been extremely successful and utilizing technology to improve their operations. John and dan turner own and operate, you lamb right farm, and 88 acre farm in pennsylvania, where they primarily raise hair sheep and lambs. Several years ago, they relied on a system of spreadsheets and post it notes to records the growth, and any medication, vaccination, trimmings, other details, relevant to managing their flock. The process to collect this data, was tedious. And it required them to access the cheap one by one, flip through pages of spreadsheets to find the corresponding records, and then input the updated relevant information into the spreadsheet. To improve this process, the very innovative turners, joined the National Ship improvement program, and purchased a system which consisted of ear tags, within our f id chip, and a handheld ship reader, as well as a bluetooth enabled scale, that works with the chip reader. This technology has allowed them to collect more data and do it in a fraction of the time. They have seen a remarkable four to one time in reduction in the bar. Entered stunning 12 to one reduction in labor on that entry. More importantly, the charters not only save time. But the Additional Data enables them to improve quality of care to, the flock and decreases the stretch on the animals and shepherds. In the words of the turner, and i, quote its like having a farmhand, who has ex revision, and almost perfect memory. We can all agree that technology of this magnitude, can be revolutionary, for small and medium operations. However, as noted by the testimony here today, major hurdles, continue, to develop, and impede, the deploying of these technologies. This technology relies, in a large part, to Broadband Access. One of my Top Priorities since coming to congress, has been to increase, and expand, Rural Broadband deployment. Doctor Jackson Smith, you certainly have abroad expertise in this, can you further elaborate on how a lack of reliable broadband, limits opportunities available, to small and medium farms that are looking to diversify, modernize, and improve their operations . I cant, i can speak about the goes today used to raise, the fact that i used to live on a farm, where we could raise goes in shape, that we had dial up, internet he sensitized me to the realities of what life in Rural America i was like, for farmers being able to access Cutting Edge Technology, for most developers in technology these days, theyre very little exposure to agriculture, their personal experience with the realities of what that, working environment is like, proxies juggling all the demands of the task, and often come from urban areas, some of the comments made, earlier surprise the people working in tech development, when they take on a royal project, the realities of what Internet Access is, like its a huge issue, its a tremendous barrier, to being able to deploy steaks, one of the strategies, i think that we should explore more, as being able to get more entrepreneurs and innovators. That speaks to Workforce Development, out on farms, in Rural Communities, before technology is developed, to get yen appreciation for what they are like, at where there are opportunities, again places to spend resources that will lead to things he couldnt, imagine it is guidances, for a small scale sheep, deficit my budget, lakeside life easier, and allows me to be more successful, is exactly where we ought to be. Thank you sir, thank you mister chair and i yield back. Thank you doctor joyce, the gentleman yields, back the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much, i want to ask questions from mr. Jackson smith, and the information that can help farmers make these decisions, input and best Management Practices are very critical, to maximize yields, as the Digital Technology becomes more available, how do you think this is going to change, farmers behaviors as it relates to conservation . I think conservation is where we are going to see some of the major opportunities. Technology driven, data drudges decisionmaking, it requires, emergence of markets and incentives for conservation, that would allow farmers to get returns, for those kinds of investments. Would often benefit society a lot more than they will benefit the individual operator. My comment earlier, speaks to the fact that if not appropriately tailored to, small medium size opportunities, Technology May not give us the benefit that we can, achieve take thats where theres a role, all innovation is gonna come from the private, sector theres a Critical Role for small and all businesses, before the federal government, in general to build the infrastructure, to create the template of the 24 secretary for success and Rural Broadband ensure net is one of the key infrastructure vastness that will never make sense, to resume wireless company, is theres not enough customers probable, make tremendous says in terms of us being prepared to be a key player in small and Rural Communities to be a key player in the future. But also trying to train in develop the workforce is capable, of being sensitive to the needs of agriculture, to develop, i spoke in my role comments about getting farmers more involved in research. I went by quickly, but ive come to the opinion that Conservation Innovation is going to go hala faster, farmers are there at the very beginning of the process to help design solutions. If we work on the outside, and innovate, and then try to southeast farmers. I think supporting programs, with farmers in universities, i do that every day i work, but also entrepreneurs in business, is to a greater extent informing a Rural Communities, will be some of the hidden ways we can really accelerate innovation in that space. Do you think that innovation in that space is embraced, by people and agriculture, is something that has to be, sort, of gradually, sold to them, or is it something that people are very open to, or is it more of a hard sale . Its not a social scientists. I get a phone call from my, colleagues they say weve embedded, something farmers to use, it you come a long, way with your magic sociology warned, you tell us how we can best get people to do, that ive thrown that question back and said well, ive always found things that work, are pretty easy to convince people to, use if you design something that really solves. Our farmers problem. Or fix with the kind of context they are making decisions, is a whole lot easier, to get to that adoption, its simple to thank the former steward dont want to do conservation, with actual a lot more complicated, ive rarely met farmers they dont want to do conservation. Ubiquitous say people are very sensitive about their environmental footprint, they want to be good stewards, want to make the land better shape than they found, it thats what agriculture us or, like when farmers arent doing conservation, usually for reasons that makes sense, the cost of 60 anything they can afford, without returns, or technologies this sound better than they might actually operate, like the copper proper, reena we need to do a lot more, to make our crops be something, and when we design solutions, in partnership with farmers, and find the end of convincing people, of telling people, and educating them, is no longer going to be the barrier, its gonna be something it tends to unfold on its own. I yield. Back the gentlelady from iowa. Thank you mister chair thank you guys also for being here today, some of your travel quite far to be here in it means a lot, as the chair said im a congresswoman from iowa. I represent i was first congressional district. Its 20 counties in northeast iowa, we touch illinois wisconsin up to minnesota, on innovation and agriculture it is huge for us. And doing it right and making sure our folks in iowa have access to innovation, is one of our Top Priorities. Also something that we struggle with because of our lack of access to broadband. Which i know you guys have touched on quite a bit today. But i think its just important to keep hammering this home as to why this is so important. You see in my district it was about three months or so ago, i had fcc commissioner, rosenworcel, out to iowa one. She showed her some of the new equipment, that was out there in regards to this, also as we are sitting there, she was talking to some of the Young Farmers in the area as well, one of the guys came with his dad, he had just got out of bias you, and he is trying to show her on his ipad, the operation they had because they are pork producers, it was for their feeding operation. As hes pulling out the ipad to show her, the thing wont load. And it was just a perfect example, about why we have an issue when it comes to folks having access to the innovation that is already here. But also what that means in the long run as well, to what we are going to be missing out on if we dont get this right sooner than later when it comes to broadband. And making sure that our farmers have reliable collectivity, and fast connectivity. And i know mr. Protests air, you spoke about this, doing some innovative work. To try to create apps, or Different Things that would make it, so if you have low connectivity it would still work, and i think that is great, but what i would like to know, is watery missing out on now. Because we dont have the high speed connectivity reliably throughout the country. And what would that actually mean for innovation, if we had that. So you could focus your work on apps and other things that we could be even more. Forces trying to bring them down to where they work on low connectivity. Congresswoman thank you, i think im going to highlight three examples of the things were missing out on. What we have today is essentially a one way street, where we build apps that are resilient, we can log a bunch of data, and then when you get to a broadband area, dump it bout into indigo servers. So that means is a one way street. So we are not able to survive provide agnostic imagery. Drone imagery in realtime in during that trumps life cycle, there is a difference they are missing out on intelligence they should have. There is also consumers are missing out, Consumer Preferences are such, that as dr. Jackson was saying they are changing. And consumers are increasingly ready to pay for agriculture. Like and highs a bush, sourcing sustainably low crops like rice. If theres no connectivity from the black, zone you cannot do that. The last example is those experiments that dr. Jackson has been talking about. Involving farmers. There are millions of experiments, as farmers decide what to plan and went to plant it. If we are not watching, we cannot allow them to participate in this experiment. At indigo we fight that, by trying to instrument as many of those fields as possible and watching them from space. But that is a half measure, the reality, of prevalent broadband is all three of those things get a lot better. And just accelerate. Us thank you so much, and again i appreciate you all taking the time to be here today, this is such an important topic, and thank you mister chair for holding this hearing and with that i yield back. Thank you the gentlelady yields back, i would like to recognize mr. Kim from new jersey, Economic Growth and relevant tax, for five minutes. Thanks chairman, i just wanted to dive into a few things, this is critically important for my district, we have nearly 1000 forms in the new jersey third congressional district, making farming more efficient and profitable industry, something i care along about, technological advances that you join us to speak about, certainly sounds really promising here, i am trying to think about how best this could be implemented, i guess my question, doctor forte i would like to start with you, i guess my and the questions are, what can be done to start farmers transition into more technologically driven practices, as we know that with the advent of technology, into different industry, as we have seen in other sectors, sometimes that transition is difficult. Polls in terms of taking on the resources, being trained, up things of that nature. What can we do to reduce decrease the burden, to farmers to integrate this type of technology into their lives in their work. Congressman kim i appreciate the question, we should realize that we are incentives farmer behavior with billions of dollars of tax, and other kinds of subsidies. The question is how can we direct some of what is already out and play, towards more of these sustainable beneficial acts and practices. I mention just one example, i will spend the moment with you on, which is this carbon tax concept. For us the question is, we have decided a decade ago, that it makes sense to incent oil and Gas Companies. As part of extraction techniques, it cost 50 dollars a ton to do that, we think that for a fraction of that cost, farmers can put the same time type of Carbon Dioxide into the agricultural soil. The question is when it makes sense, should we really care, where those carbon, thats coming up the atmosphere is going. We have done some math and thats why we have created the terror ton initiative. Its a challenge to sequester trillion tons thats all of the Carbon Dioxide, thats been emitted, next, is the beginning of the industrial, revolution literally far ruling has the potential to be a solution, to the climate problem, we have farmers on all of that land. Dr. Jackson is, right cover crops and degenerative agriculture isnt easy. Its going to take technology to help those farmers, understand a digital playbook, a power to do this, but theyre award, if the government can help that kind of behavior, is really hopeful, exporting the farmer as the hero in the climate challenge, we think its time to start to put incentives in place and make that happen. Appreciate your answer there, doctor Jackson Smith, i just had another question for, you i really enjoyed, in your presentation, the breakdown of how to look at, this in terms of what technology, can do on this friday, and id like to delve a little deeper, our district got crushed from sandy, in new jersey we have, a lot of temperature fluxes, as weve seen the challenges the terrorizing, with Climate Change extreme weather. This is a real problem for fall meringue in our, district members into areas are particularly sensitive to that kind of change in temperatures, and the flooding is something that is just getting worse and, worse is not just about when storms come, its really a daily occurrence in many places, so i guess my question to you is how can Technology Help lessen some of the horror role affects, the impasse of such, events as well as increased the resiliency, of what were looking at informing. I think one easy big picture answer, lies in the concept of diversifying our production assistance, to the extent that we look more towards aggro ecosystem, base are going to need farmers and farmer systems, that produce a wide range of crops, practices that make resilience, that we know is possible, we have to develop technologies and allow that to be in a viable, expanding, an exciting opportunity, and so i think its that combination of putting a package together, they can take us to that next study ration of agriculture. Is it more robust and resilience Agricultural Committee our district, to the extent that we can help those farmers, make that transition, in ways that makes sense to, them well succeed. These are all things that we have to Work Together to, do chairman i yield back. Gentlemen yields back, thank you very, much we want to thank all of the witnesses, here taking times that youre scheduled, to be with us today, on this very important topic, its really a fantastic testimony on issues that we all look forward to working, on and trying to find ways to help the industry, as weve heard today, Small Businesses are at the forefront of a tech revolution, us boasts producers of exciting new, technology and is farmer and roger users, have become more efficient and sustainable overtime hoping that transition to occur, in the 20th century unites his Public Investment was a driving force behind innovation that increase efficiency, a u. S. Public investment in Agriculture Research and development has decreased steadily since 2002, being surpassed by china, actually in 2008 and i think our witnesses for being here today to share the challenges and opportunities, reverse the draft, and make, smart wise investments, i think all of you, are all, here great collaboration this, committee trying to find ways to reduce, barriers it spur innovation, in a private sector, public sector, and Research Institutions and universities as well theres tremendous work going, on if you go recognize, that known to be helpful in reducing the hurdles of barriers, so i would like to ask unanimous, consent the numbers of five legislative, days tissue statements supporting which are as to the, record and if theres no further business to calm before the committee, you are adjourned. How do on she spends washington journal, live every, day with news and policy issues that impact, you, coming up this morning, texas republican michael burqas joins us to discuss the future health care. Then organ Democratic Congress woman susan, talks about Older Americans and job discoloration. And regulations against, chemicals ariana figure. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal, live at seven eastern this morning, drawing the discussion pull. Our campaign 2020 coverage continues tuesday live at 8 pm eastern on cspan, to President Donald Trump is in milwaukee wisconsin, at a keep merica great rally, watch our coverage on cspan to, you on demanded cspan. Org, or listen on the, go with a free spread radioactive. Next to hear from the executive director of the u. S. Advisory commission on public diplomacy, talking