A friend to farmers and champion of the biotech sector, Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced last week she won’t run for a fifth term in 2024.
The first woman Senator from Michigan when she was elected in 2000, Stabenow chairs the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and is also part of several other committees.
She championed the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which enables farmers to participate in carbon markets. She saw the legislation through Senate passage in 2021, and its provisions were ultimately encoded in law in the 2023 spending bill.
Stabenow highlighted what she called “a comprehensive approach to summer meals for children. This is accomplished by establishing a nationwide summer electronic benefit (EBT) program and more flexible meal delivery options. This is an important victory for children and families because it is the first permanent investment Congress has made in child nutrition in over 10 years.”
She co-authored the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills and promised the 2023 Farm Bill would be a focus during her last term.
The 2023 U.S. Farm Bill can help drive biomanufacturing by improving federal programs, according to testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee, given by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and its member company Geno.
What she’s said about biotech:
Past remarks from Stabenow:
- “Biotechnology has enormous potential to help us increase productivity while farmers address the climate crisis.”—April hearing with U.S. Trade Rep. Ambassador Katherine Tai.
- “Science tells us that biotechnology is safe. I’ll say that again: Biotechnology is safe and it can improve people’s lives.”—March 2020 Agriculture Committee hearing.
- “Accelerating agricultural research is vital to feeding a growing global population and addressing the climate crisis.”—December 2020 Agriculture Committee hearing.
- “I believe that agriculture can lead in this space right now of designing the kinds of solutions to deal with climate change.”—September 2020 BIO IMPACT Digital panel.
As the first woman in many leadership positions, Sen. Stabenow said it was time for her to pass the baton to a new generation of leaders.
“I have always believed it’s not enough to be the ‘first’ unless there is a ‘second’ and a ‘third’,” she said.
