[firstname],

I'm excited to share this week's news: I have been selected to serve on the House Agriculture Committee! My passion for agriculture stems from my childhood, when I worked on my family's farm outside Zanesville – growing corn and soybeans and raising cattle – and participated in 4-H.

I’m honored to become the only Ohio Republican on the House Agriculture Committee and will fight for the priorities that matter most to Ohio's producers and consumers.

July 1, 2020 marked the effective date for the widely praised United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which I helped usher through passage in the House. This new trade agreement was needed to support more than 400,000 thousand jobs and to create tens of thousands more right here in Ohio, many of which are expected to come from our state's agricultural industry. I am looking forward to working with Ohioans to ensure our communities reap these new agricultural trade benefits. 

More recently, I have been particularly involved with agricultural issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. I helped establish the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program to provide direct relief to farmers, as well as provide for the federal purchase of $3 billion worth of fresh produce, dairy, and meat for nationwide distribution.

Congressman Balderson convened a standing advisory council comprised of top Ohio agricultural leaders in September 2019. The council meets quarterly to discuss challenges facing the industry.

Sincerely,