OIL CITY, La. — With the U.S. House of Representatives in recess, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson returned home to Northwest Louisiana this week to host a roundtable with agricultural producers facing heavy economic pressure and competitive trade challenges.
The meeting took place on the Oil City cattle ranch of Marty Wooldridge, a fourth-generation beef producer. Wooldridge hosted Johnson and agricultural representatives from across Louisiana, who delivered a unified warning: Without regulatory relief and economic adjustments, more local farms risk closing.
Farmers representing key state commodities — including beef, sugarcane, rice and timber — traveled hours to attend the discussion. Participants emphasized that high fuel and fertilizer costs, paired with domestic markets flooded by foreign imports, represent their toughest challenges.
"As a rice farmer, I can grow rice. I can put rice on shelves in Louisiana," said Richard Fontenot, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. "But unfortunately, I got unfair trade partners coming in and dumping rice in those same markets. So I'm getting an inferior price for my products with the extremely high cost to produce those. So at the end of the day, net effect is agriculture is hurting."
Fontenot, who works with Congress on agricultural policy, noted the significance of having a House speaker who represents one of the largest agricultural districts in the country.
During the discussion, Johnson said federal officials are working to support domestic agriculture by exploring new market opportunities, such as innovation in timber biomass, and by easing operational burdens.
"So the objective is to bring certainty for our producers, stability, transparency in some of these areas," Johnson said. "And I think that's going to make a big difference going forward."
The roundtable comes as the federal Farm Bill, which addresses many of the producers' policy and economic concerns, remains stalled in the Senate after passing the House earlier this summer.