Agriculture
Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers feed the nation. Growing up as the fourth generation of Wyoming ranchers just outside of Ft. Laramie, I know the challenges the Wyoming agriculture community faces on a daily basis. These challenges, however, are unnecessarily complicated by bad Washington, D.C. policies, put in place by bureaucrats who lack real world experience.
This can be seen through the abuse of the Endangered Species Act, attempts to implement the harmful Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, the ongoing effort to mandate electronic identification (EID) tracking of our livestock, and so many more. Affordable and reliable food, a pillar of modern U.S. success, is threatened through such policies. As your representative, I continue to work every day for the values and policies that will benefit our agriculture industry and which ensure the food security Americans deserve and have come to expect.
More on Agriculture
According to a recent USDA report, after 30 plus years of a positive trade balance, the United States will import more dollars worth of agricultural products than it will export.
The imbalance looks to grow larger in 2024.
The lowered export values are “largely driven by lower exports of soybeans, soybean meal, and dairy products” according to the USDA.
The Big Four meatpackers and power-hungry bureaucrats are trying to play Big Brother for America's beef industry. If the USDA's EID eartag mandate goes into effect, many independent ranchers and cattlemen will not be able to withstand it's added costs and overbearing requirements, further consolidating power into our existing meat oligopoly. My Amendment #83 will block funds for this program and protect small-scale beef operations across the nation.
On August 17, Congresswoman spoke at R-CALF USA's 2023 convention on the true nature of the "American Spirit", challenges facing America's livestock industry, and her efforts in Congress to address these issues.
I am grateful to serve as President for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, whose mission of education includes assuring consumers can make fair choices on where their food products are grown or raised. In this role, I represent over 15,000 family farmers and ranchers from Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Our member-led policy makes it exceptionally clear that we support clear and transparent labeling within our food supply. When shopping for their families, consumers expect an easy and accurate way to determine where their food comes from.
Farm Credit Services of America; Clark and Associates Land Brokers, LLC; the University of Wyoming (UW) College of Agriculture, Life Science and Natural Resources (CALSNR) and the Wyoming Livestock Roundup hosted their annual Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame (HOF) Awards Picnic to recognize leaders in Wyoming agriculture on Aug. 16 at Riverside Park.
Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman believes a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal to require mandatory electronic ear tags for cattle and bison is as useful as a chicken-wire canoe.
Hageman has released an amendment to the USDA proposal to gut funding of the bill, which was first proposed back in January. In March, USDA extended the public comment period on the proposal.
According to the agency, the rule is needed to trace animals and eradicate disease.
The lengths to which Joe Biden will go to control our lives knows no bounds. We have been burdened with ‘rules and guidance’ in education, energy production, gun ownership, and even in our choice of home appliances – and now this administration’s costly and unconstitutional overreach is affecting our food production and private property rights.
It's a can that's been kicked down this road for more than 20 years now, but labeling food products specifying country of origin remains one of agriculture's biggest beefs.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit beef retailers from designating foreign beef as an American-made product. The legislation, dubbed The Country of Origin Labeling Enforcement Act, defines U.S. beef as "exclusively born, raised, slaughtered and packaged in the United States.”
In March 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), issued a proposed rule mandating electronic identification (EID) ear tags for cattle and bison.
This centralized mandate infringes on the privacy rights of U.S. farmers and ranchers, threatens their livelihood and furthers vertical integration of the beef supply chain for a major industry.
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman’s (R-WY) amendment would prohibit USDA funds from being used to finalize and implement this harmful rule.