U.S. House Committee on Agriculture

   

The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, or Agriculture Committee (often referred to as simply "Agriculture", as in "He's on Agriculture") is a Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives.

History of the Agriculture Committee

The Agriculture Committee was created on 3 May 1820, after Lewis Williams of North Carolina sponsored a resolution to create the committee and give agricultural issues equal weight with commercial and manufacturing interests. The committee originally consisted of 7 members, from the states of Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. Thomas Forrest was the first chairman.

The United States Senate counterpart to the House Agriculture Committee, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, was created on 9 December 1825.

The Agriculture Committee remained a 7 member body until 1835, when 2 more members were added. It was not until 1871 that the next 2 members were added. Since then it has gradually grown to its current size of 51 members.

Role of the Agriculture Committee

The Agriculture Committee is not generally considered to be a particularly powerful one. However, it is an important committee to be on for Representatives from many rural areas where agriculture is the main industry. The committee has jurisdiction over agriculture, forestry, nutrition, water conservation, and other agriculture-related fields.

The committee also has a deal of influence over immigration as many nonresident aliens are employed in agricultural fields.

Current members

Republicans

Democrats

Subcommittees

  • U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development and Research
  • U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
  • U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Foreign Agriculture Programs
  • U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry
  • U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Horticulture

External link

Agriculture Committee homepage (http://agriculture.house.gov/index.html)


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