Presidential Document2024-06122
National Agriculture Day, 2024
Primary source
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Published
March 21, 2024
Signed
March 18, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 56 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 56 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20093-20094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06122]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 56 / Thursday, March 21, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
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Title 3--
The President
[[Page 20093]]
Proclamation 10712 of March 18, 2024
National Agriculture Day, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
On National Agriculture Day, we celebrate generations
of American farmers, farmworkers, fishers, ranchers,
foresters, and all those who work around the clock to
put food on our tables and steward our Nation's lands.
They represent the best of America--pride in community,
love of family, and work ethic and strength that power
our economy and help feed the world.
Over the last few decades, the failed trickle-down
economic policies of the past have hit rural America
especially hard. They have hollowed out communities,
essentially telling farmers that the only path forward
is to ``get big'' or ``get out.'' Food producers, meat
processors, and grocery chains have consolidated,
undercutting small local businesses and weakening the
bargaining power of the farmers and ranchers who supply
large corporations with goods. Meanwhile, corporations
that sell seeds, fertilizer, and even farm equipment
have used their own outsized market power to charge
more even as farmers sold their own goods for less.
Family farms have struggled, as the promise of keeping
a farm in the family is too often slipping out of
reach. When family farms go by the wayside, the small
businesses, hospitals, and schools that depend on them
suffer as well. Across rural America, thousands of
young people have had to leave home to find a good-
paying job and a fair shot at the American Dream. It is
wrong.
I came to office determined to change that. The
historic legislation I have signed is creating new
income and new ways for new generations of rural
Americans to thrive. We are investing in rural America,
creating new opportunities for farmers and ranchers
nationwide.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is strengthening farm
supply chains by rebuilding roads, bridges, railways,
ports, water systems, and more. It is bringing high-
speed internet to every household in America,
connecting rural communities to markets, customers,
jobs, health care, education, and opportunity. The
Inflation Reduction Act is investing nearly $20 billion
to help farmers and ranchers earn a living while also
helping to tackle the climate crisis, including
adopting climate-smart practices like cover crops,
rotational grazing, and nutrient management. It is
expanding renewable energy, including homegrown
biofuels, which is building a strong bio-economy for
jobs of the future. Together, these laws are helping
American farmers and ranchers remain strong and
competitive in the face of a changing climate--from
investing in watershed management and drought and flood
protection to wildland fire protection. The Department
of Agriculture (USDA) is providing billions of dollars
in assistance to farmers who have previously
experienced discrimination in their lending programs.
At the same time, my Administration is working across
the board to promote competition and level the playing
field for small farmers and ranchers. For example, the
American Rescue Plan invested $1 billion in independent
meat processors to help ease conglomerates' lock on the
market and help small- and mid-sized companies grow.
The USDA also published a Packers and Stockyards Act
final rule, which prohibits discrimination,
retaliation, and certain unfair practices in livestock,
meat, and poultry markets. The USDA also finalized a
rule to increase transparency in the poultry tournament
[[Page 20094]]
system so that growers have important information about
the terms of their agreements. We have also pushed to
cut costs for farmers by promoting farmers' ``right to
repair'' their own equipment, without having to send it
back to the manufacturer. We are working to expand
double cropping insurance so farmers have the financial
security they need to bear its risks and boost
production.
We are also standing up for the farm and food workers
who form the backbone of our Nation's economy. It is
simple. Every worker in America deserves fair pay, safe
conditions, and the free and fair choice to join a
union. We promised to be the most pro-union
Administration in history--and we are delivering. The
USDA is also investing $45 million into partnerships
with workforce development experts to better train
agricultural employees. But there is still more to do,
like finally providing undocumented farmworkers a
pathway to citizenship. Our economy needs them, and
they deserve dignity and respect.
It is simple: American agriculture feeds our families
and powers our economy. National Agriculture Day is
about celebrating the strength and tremendous
contributions of our Nation's farmers and ranchers and
making sure communities too long left behind have real
reason to feel a new sense of hope and pride.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 19,
2024, as National Agriculture Day. I call upon all
Americans to join me in recognizing and reaffirming our
commitment to and appreciation for our country's
farmers, farmworkers, ranchers, fishers, foresters, and
all those who work in the agricultural sector across
the Nation.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-06122
Filed 3-20-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 21, 2024.
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