Thompson Honored with American Farm Bureau Federation’s Friend of Farm Bureau Award

Washington – Last week, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) was presented the Friend of Farm Bureau Award from the American Farm Bureau Federation for his outstanding service to support farmers, growers, and producers during the 117th Congress.

“The American agriculture community powers our economy, and their work is vital to the success of our country,” said Thompson. “I am honored to receive the Friend of Farm Bureau Award from the American Farm Bureau Federation, and I look forward to continuing to work with these leaders and our agriculture community to deliver economic success for every grower, producer, and farmer.”

"We greatly appreciate the attention Congressman Thompson has brought in recent years to the issues of disaster assistance. Our farmers and ranchers depend heavily on accurate and timely payments when it comes to recovery efforts. Given the challenges relating to Phase One and Two rollouts under the Emergency Relief Program (ERP or formerly WHIP+), we applaud the Representative’s efforts to encourage USDA to move more swiftly on these distributions," said California Farm Bureau President Jamie Johansson.

Rep. Thompson has always worked to deliver for agriculture communities and has secured many top priorities for farmers, growers, and producers:

• Led the reauthorization of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP, formerly known as WHIP+) to provide direct payments to producers for crop losses due to smoke taint, wildfire, drought or other natural disasters in 2020 and 2021
• $4 million in 2022 and $4.5 million in 2023 (passed the House, waiting action in the Senate) for smoke taint research which goes to three universities, including University of California, Davis
• Recently held a roundtable and Congressional hearing at the Port of Oakland which serves as an essential export gateway for California agricultural goods. Rep. Thompson has been leading efforts to address ongoing issues at the port to help agricultural producers access global markets. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Rep. Thompson voted to pass, the port was awarded a $36 million grant to address port congestion and help improve the movement of goods. These investments will also help support the port’s roadmap to becoming a zero-emissions port
• Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which included significant investments to assist the agriculture community deal with the effects of climate change and support Western states that are dealing with unprecedented drought
  • $5 billion in strategic forestry investments
  • $21.25 billion in strategic conservation investment
  • $13.265 billion in rural development investments
  • $4 billion for drought relief in the 7 reclamation states (including California)