Support East Tennessee's Farmers

My grandfather was a corn and soybean farmer. I grew up doing 4H, and worked on a small family farm in college. As a small business owner, I know what it means to put in a full day’s work and still worry about whether you can cover the bills. 

Farmers from across East Tennessee face rising costs on land, diesel, fertilizer, equipment and increased interest on loans. Input costs are keeping new and eager farmers from being able to afford the industry.

National conglomerates are hoarding power and control over the market, running local farmers out of business. Equipment companies prevent farmers from repairing their own tractors, and charge ridiculous prices for repairs. And many farmers face a hard choice between selling to developers so that they can retire, or figuring out how to keep the family farm in business for the next generation. 

Even when government programs offer help, there is often so much red tape that farmers struggle to access the resources they need.

Our farmers deserve a representative who will fight for them, not the Washington elite.

What I’ll work for in Congress:

• Expand federal cost-sharing programs like EQIP, especially for new farmers, to lower the cost of becoming a farmer

• Make farmland access for the next generation a national priority by co-sponsoring and championing bipartisan legislation that would establish a permanent Farm Bill program to help new and beginning farmers find land, access capital, and get the business support they need to build a thriving operation

• Support the reauthorization of agricultural grants to community-based organizations and service providers like UT Extension that provide education, training, and assistance to new and under-resourced farmers 

• Reward farmers who keep their land in farming and in the community by strengthening incentives like the Conservation Reserve Program’s Transition Incentive Programs and supporting farm-link programs so that when a farmer retires, it pays to sell or lease to a local, next-generation farmer

• Support conservation easements and estate-planning support so families can keep the farm whole across generations

• Invest in agricultural schools and agricultural innovation to support the next generation of farmers and help them make the most of our land

• Support right to repair legislation, so that farmers and independent repair shops can access the information, tools, and software they need to fix equipment

• Fund programs to help schools buy fresh food from local farmers to feed their students

• Redirect farm support subsidies to small producers, so that our farmers have a fair shot against massive national conglomerates

• Advocate for the development of independent diagnostic tools that could assess the durability and quality of farm equipment from different manufacturers

• Restore funding for USDA pest and disease monitoring, treatment, and response programs to keep our food supply healthy

• Fund the fight against the New World screwworm so this pest is stopped before it reaches East Tennessee herds 

• Invest in research, monitoring, and treatment for tick-borne illnesses that currently have no vaccines or treatment, which East Tennessee farmers are battling. 

• Research ways to cut red tape on USDA/FDA regulations so that we can help local farmers sell their products, while keeping food safe