Harvesting Strength
We can’t afford to have America’s food security be a weak link in our national security.
The empty shelves at the grocery stores Americans saw during the pandemic served as a wake-up call. Farmers had crops and livestock to sell, but processing bottlenecks, transportation disruptions, and fragile supply chains left consumers with shortages and skyrocketing prices. The lesson was clear: a country that can’t reliably get food from the farm to the table is a vulnerable country.
That’s why the American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act deserves widespread support. The legislation, co-sponsored by Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith and Jim Justice, recognizes that strengthening America’s food infrastructure is about so much more than agriculture.
This legislation does not add another layer of federal bureaucracy, but rather builds upon existing programs with a proven track record. It would make the USDA’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program permanent and create a new Regional Food Systems Hubs Program to improve food processing, storage, aggregation, distribution and transportation nationwide.
The investments may sound technical, but what they actually do is simple.
Local producers with nearby meat processors, cold storage, distribution centers and transportation networks spend less time and money to get products to market. Consumers get more reliable food supplies and lower prices in the grocery store. Farmers get more buyers, more flexibility, and better profitability.
This is especially true for America’s small and medium-sized family farms.
For decades, consolidation has been steadily concentrating food production into the hands of fewer and fewer people. The smaller operations frequently lack the infrastructure necessary to efficiently process and distribute their products and thus find it difficult to compete. This legislation will increase regional capacity and will provide more opportunity for independent producers to compete.
That issue has become more pressing as China and other foreign competitors look to expand their influence in global food production and agricultural resources. Each acre that stays in the hands of American farmers adds to our economy and to our national security.
The legislation also reinforces an important America First principle: domestic production builds national resilience.
A diversified food system with resilient regional networks is more resilient to natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, cyberattacks, labor shortages, or geopolitical conflict. America has a wider system that can adjust when there are interruptions, rather than depending on a handful of large processing plants or suppliers that are distant from where they are needed.
That strength protects consumers from sudden price spikes, while giving producers more confidence to invest, expand, and hire.
Conservatives need to be concerned about increasing foreign ownership of our nation’s agricultural lands.
Our lawmakers across the nation have raised alarm over China and other adversarial foreign countries buying up farm ground and strategically valuable parcels of land in proximity to our critical infrastructure. While it may still be a relatively small percentage of foreign-owned agricultural land nationwide, the increasing pace is a security concern that cannot be ignored.
The most effective solution to keep that land from falling into hostile hands can’t be solely a matter of restrictive regulations, although restrictions have their part in preventing them. It should be a matter of helping to ensure the profitability of family farms to maintain their ownership. When farmers are strained by rising input prices, poor infrastructure, and lack of market opportunities they are more likely to consider selling their operations, but when the odds are on their side, farmers can choose to pass the farm down to the next generation.
That’s the reason why The American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act is far more than just a discussion of processing plants and transportation hubs, it’s about safeguarding the rural heartland of our country and defending some of our greatest national strategic interests.
The American Security Coalition has warned that the buck stops at our doorstep. A country which is unable to protect its land, food production, and local businesses incrementally loses power to foreign hands. These agricultural systems do not just play a role in our economy but our security as well.
It should be considered one of the cornerstones of national power.
Fortunately, this legislation aligns with President Trump’s America First agenda. Instead of depending on global supply chains, authorities have begun to realize the significance of strengthening domestic capabilities and our workforce. Senators Jim Justice and Cindy Hyde-Smith are to be praised for offering up a viable strategy that tackles concerns faced by consumers and local producers alike.
By codifying existing USDA programs and making regional food hubs more accessible while also making family farms more competitive, the law will help to keep the cost of groceries low, support local businesses, and enhance the nation's overall security and food supply resilience.
America boasts some of the most capable farmers, natural resources, and agricultural history on the earth; we must utilize these to provide security and economic prosperity for years to come.
The American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act accurately states the fundamental premise of American sovereignty: protect our local farmers to protect ourselves. In today’s challenging geopolitical environment, with a current concern over inflation, this legislation delivers the leadership needed under the America First banner.