Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., speaks to the Council on Food, Agriculture Resource Economics session on public data and big data. Seated the panel, from left, are USDA Economic Research Service Administrator Mary Bohman, American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist Bob Young, USDA Agricultural Statistics Board Chair Mark Harris, Monsanto Distinguished Science Fellow Ted Crosbie, North Dakota State University Professor Barry Goodwin and John Deere Chief Economist J.B. Penn.

Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., made a surprise visit today at the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) briefing on public data and big data.

Cochran did not discuss the subject at hand, but said he wanted the economists, including some from Mississippi State University, and congressional staff at the event to know that he was glad to have been part of the 2014 farm bill debate, which he described as “one of the most commendable processes I have been a part of.”

“A lot of people share in the success of that legislation,” Cochran said, adding that the process in the Senate where “the majority doesn't necessarily rule” had improved the bill.

“There were a lot of opportunities to slow things down, to make sure we got it right,” he said.

Cochran said he was not going to go “totally off the charts” and declare the 2014 farm bill “Congress’s finest hour,” but that the implementation of the bill is already proving “we can truthfully say [the 2014 farm bill] has done its job and is doing its job.”