“When I began my Chairmanship of this Committee, one of our first hearings was on the state of Black farmers in the United States. Since then, I have placed emphasis on ensuring that we are not leaving anyone out when looking to the future of agriculture in America,” said Chairman David Scott. “As the average age of the American farmer continues to increase, we must ensure that we are setting the stage for the next generation of farmers to not only have careers in agriculture, but to be able to thrive in the agriculture industry. To do that, we must provide all farmers with the tools they need to succeed, including credit.”

“Access to credit is a critical resource for farmers,” Chairman David Scott continued. “Agriculture is a capital-intensive industry, and credit serves as a tool to support producers, rural economies, and the American people. Given USDA and others’ far from perfect record in past interactions with young, beginning, and underserved producers, combined with the growing need for new farmers to take up the mantle as the next generation of American agriculturists, I believe today’s conversation was an important and timely one. We should be doing everything we can to maximize the role the federal government can play in supporting young, beginning, and underserved producers, and examining the state of credit available to these groups is an important step toward accomplishing this goal.”

Video of Chairman Scott’s opening statement can be found here.

Photos for use from this hearing can be found here.

Full video of the hearing can be found here.