(NAFB) – COVID vaccine distribution, rural broadband, climate change, and racial equity were among the top issues House Ag leaders laid before USDA’s 97th Ag Outlook Forum last week.

From his roots growing up on his grandfather’s farm, House Ag Chair David Scott described the plight of America’s black farmers through generations of discrimination and earlier slavery and are make up less than two percent of all farmers today. Tied to that, Scott, from rural Georgia, argues is food security and rural health.

Scott spoke earlier with President Biden to get more vaccine supplies to rural districts, as Scott tries to close the rural-urban health divide and deal with pandemic hunger and infrastructure needs like rural broadband. But one area of partisan divide remains climate change. Top House Ag Republican Glenn Thompson…

Thompson called the 2018 farm bill “arguably the greenest…ever” with its voluntary incentive-based programs to sequester carbon and boost efficient farming practices.