Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The U.S. ag industry is ready to work with the new president-elect.
Multiple farm organizations welcomed Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after multiple news outlets called the U.S. election in favor of Biden on Saturday.
“The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) congratulated President-elect Biden on his election, as well as the representatives and senators elected to serve in the 117th Congress,” Zippy Duvall, president of the AFBF, said in a Nov. 7 statement.
The AFBF also highlighted some of rural America’s pressing issues the new administration will be tasked with managing.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
These include rural broadband, farm labor shortages, a stronger farm bill and regulatory reform.
Addressing those challenges will require collaboration on both sides of the aisle, Duvall said.
“We urge all those by the people to use the election to turn the page on partisanship and commit to working together,” he said. “Show farmers, ranchers and families across America that we will rise to meet the challenges before us together as one nation.”
Members of the renewable fuel sector also congratulated Biden on his victory.
“We look forward to working with the Biden administration in the years ahead to ensure a strong and growing market for low-carbon renewable fuels like ethanol,” Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in a Nov. 7 statement.
While campaigning for the presidency in August, Biden announced his government would “honor the critical role the renewable fuel industry plays in supporting the rural economy and the leadership role American agriculture will play in our fight against climate change,” Reuters reported.
With Biden prepared to assume the presidency, the biofuels industry is ready to work with the new government on industry issues.
“We are committed to collaborating with the Biden administration on the many opportunities that lie ahead for renewable fuels,” Cooper said.
Members of the livestock sector have put forward trade issues the new government should address.
In Jan. 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to remove the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Re-engaging with those countries will be crucial, said Howard Roth, president of the National Pork Producers Council.
The member countries “are among the largest pork-consuming nations in the world,” he said in a statement posted to Twitter. “The United States produces the highest quality and most affordable pork in the world and we are eager to compete on a level playing field with these high-growth markets.”