Today is Veterans Day, and the first thing I want to say is simple: thank you. Thank you to everyone who has worn this country’s uniform, and to the families who served alongside them: the spouses, children, parents, and siblings who carry the sacrifices, the long absences, and the uncertainty that come with a life of service. Thank a veteran today, and thank their family too.
Veterans Day also has me thinking about how much two communities have in common. Active-duty service members are less than 1 percent of American adults. Farm and ranch families are less than 2 percent of the U.S. population. Very few people carry the responsibility for protecting the country, and very few carry the responsibility for feeding it. These two groups also overlap.
That overlap shouldn’t surprise anyone. Rural and small-town America has long sent more than its share of sons and daughters to the armed forces, and many of them grew up on farms or in communities built around agriculture. It makes sense. Farming teaches people to show up before sunrise, work through weather and uncertainty, take responsibility for things outside their control, and put the needs of others ahead of their own. Those are the same habits the military looks for, and in wheat country you’ll find both in the same families… the same people.
There’s a deeper connection too. We think of national security as defense, and it is. But a country that can’t feed itself isn’t truly secure, making food security key to national security. Soldiers defend this nation and its values. Farmers make sure the nation can feed itself and its allies. Both jobs keep the country strong, and both depend on people willing to do hard work for a purpose larger than themselves.
Those who serve on either front deserve policy that works and is durable into the future. Today, wheat growers are being squeezed by costs they didn’t create. USDA-tracked farm production expenses are projected to be roughly 44 percent higher than in 2018, driven by energy prices, trade disruptions, and financing costs. One-time payments help, but they only treat symptoms. Lasting relief also requires addressing the underlying causes of inflation contributing to the farm input cost crisis, and doing so with the same seriousness we would bring to any external threat to the nation’s defenses.
It also requires finishing the farm bill. The House passed its version in April. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its bill in September, and it is still waiting for a floor vote, while the extension of the 2018 farm bill has run out. With the election behind us and lawmakers back in town, Congress must get this done. Farmers and our nation’s food security have waited long enough.
Anyone who has served knows what it means to finish the mission. Members of Congress, on both sides of the political aisle, should hold themselves to that standard. Thank a veteran. Thank a farmer. And then ask Washington to finish the job.