U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is working to modernize outdated U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) systems that burden many farmers and leave farmland vulnerable to foreign adversaries.
During the hearing, Ernst secured a commitment from Richard Fordyce, nominee for Undersecretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation, to update and digitize the process for producers when working with their local USDA offices. She also pointed out her oversight efforts and ongoing work to overhaul the outdated Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) reporting system to better protect American farmland from malign foreign actors.
Source : senate.gov