Joni Ernst Presses USDA Officials on Farm Bill Programs to Lower Energy Costs

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, yesterday questioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary of Rural Development, Xochitl Torres Small, on programs in the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill aimed at lowering energy costs for Iowa’s farmers and rural communities. Ernst, who grew up on a family farm in Southwest Iowa, emphasized the high propane prices Iowa farmers are facing and the impacts the rising costs have had on this year’s harvest.