(Grayson Bakich) – It seems as though, for the past two years, every facet of American society is under attack. Agriculture and the nation’s food supply are critical targets, and an important product of that food supply is sugar. Environmental policies can end up doing more harm than good, as a recent comment by Congressman-elect Cory Mills (R-FL-7) suggests.
Rep. Mills, who recently flipped Florida’s 7th congressional district from Democrat to Republican, has long held the belief that the U.S. sugar policy was “paramount” to national security.
“Protecting and preserving the high standards of our national food supply and security that is undoubtedly anchored by our US sugar policy is paramount to our national security interests,” says Mills. As such, he contends that “any domestic or foreign threats – including attacks on our farmers by liberal environmental special interests – that look to weaken this policy should be swiftly stopped in its tracks.”
A September letter signed by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) spells out this concern to US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The letter states that all signers are in “strong support for U.S. sugar policy.”
Because of this, the letter asks, the Biden Administration (D) should not change course on US sugar policy. This is because there is a chance such a change will “create a glut in the U.S. market and collapse prices below grower costs of production, which would violate the spirit of U.S. sugar policy and ultimately drive family farmers out of business.”
But it is not just domestic kneecapping that threatens the American food supply. Later in September, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) made moves through the state legislature to prohibit Chinese buyups of Florida farmland. In February, a USDA health inspector received a death threat in Mexico, temporarily halting the importation of produce.
In January, Mills wrote an opinion for The Floridian, outlining the various issues Florida farmers face.
“The current economic agenda that Progressive Democrats are championing is not only driving up the cost of food but is crippling the American farmer across the country,” he wrote.
Mills also touches upon the foreign threat towards the conclusion, saying that “farmers are the heart of the U.S. economy and lawmakers need to focus on preserving the threat that exists from foreign governments like China that are actively trying to undermine our food supply.”
With President Biden saying he will do “nothing” to change his economic policy, we can only hope the next administration will better address the food supply issue.
Florida born and raised, Grayson Bakich is a recent recipient of a Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Central Florida. This column was originally published in The Floridian.
