NFU Blog

From NFU DC Summer Intern Kale Van Bruggen

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Senate Gallery and personally watch the Senate consider the farm bill (again) and re-pass it 77-15.  For anyone who has not been to the Senate Gallery, I highly encourage you to go.  I believe it should be on every citizen’s “bucket list.”  Watching the governmental process in that room, I can’t help but think of all the great debates and legislation that has been heard there.  As I was listening to farm bill debate, I found myself thinking back to what the debate was years ago, perhaps in the time of my Grandparents, farming back home in Litchville.

One of the best parts about being a member of this organization is watching how our grassroots efforts operate.  The experience begins on our family farm and hardships faced by my parents. It continues with watching them, along with other members, bring those issues to the county and state conventions, participating in the policy debate with members on both state and the national level, and now working with that policy in the D.C. office.  Today I saw that process go one step further and heard U.S. Senators discussing those same issues that Tyler and I, as interns, have been researching this week.  Experiencing each of those steps has been a powerful motivator for me and I am thankful that I have been granted this opportunity.

This afternoon, NFU President Tom Buis attended “The Rural Development Title of the Farm Bill: Why it is Vital to Rural America,” a briefing sponsored by the National Grange Foundation. Presenters at the event addressed specific rural development issues including access to high speed internet, renewable energy development and library facilities in rural areas.

Title VI of the farm bill addresses rural development, and this briefing aimed to highlight the importance of funding programs in rural America. Access to high speed internet is vital for rural economic development; studies have shown that state-of-the-art communications, coupled with transportation, education and library services, is absolutely essential in stimulating economic development in rural America.

Buis also highlighted the importance of providing incentives and opportunities for growth in the renewable energy sector in rural America. Locally-owned projects generate 2.6 times more jobs and 3.1 times more rural economic benefit than those with outside ownership.

“Rural areas will see much more economic activity from locally-owned projects than they will from corporate-owned projects,” Buis said. “Local investors will re-invest in the community where the project is based. Big companies will filter out their profits to other areas.”

National Farmers Union President Tom Buis today held a media conference call to discuss ongoing farm bill negotiations and other issues of the day. In spite of some technical difficulties that had Buis joking he needed to put more coins in the phone, it was a very interesting discussion.

Buis reiterated NFU’s position that a new farm bill needs to be written - a straight extension or a baseline bill likely won’t be able to muster enough votes to pass. Buis said he’s a confident person and is confident all sides will come to an agreement and pass a farm bill in April.

Buis also discussed the Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program. Nearly 3.5 million acres have been enrolled since the program’s start and there is continued interest across the countryside from producers looking to help solve our environmental challenges.

By Tom Buis, National Farmers Union President

The farm bill unanimously approved Oct. 25 by the Senate Agriculture Committee is a good, fiscally responsible bill that includes record investments in conservation, nutrition, renewable energy development and specialty crop programs. America’s family farmers, ranchers, rural residents and consumers stand to benefit.

The Senate farm bill also contains a permanent disaster assistance program to aid producers affected by devastating weather conditions out of their control; allows for interstate shipment of state-inspected meat so producers can sell their high-quality products to their neighbors across state lines; and, after repeated delays, includes a means to implement mandatory country-of-origin labeling, giving our nation’s consumers the right to know where their food comes from.

Continue reading Tom’s Op-Ed that appeared the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Nov. 30.

NFU believes that enacting a permanent disaster assistance program is one of the most important pieces of the farm bill. As we can all see by Mother Nature’s devastating effect across the country just in recent weeks – the west coast is on fire while the southeast is drying up – farmers and ranchers would greatly benefit from a permanent program. With the political and economic climate today, ad hoc programs are just not going to cut it.

The current structure of providing disaster assistance on an ad hoc basis often leaves producers waiting for years for relief. Since 1998, Congress has approved 23 ad hoc disaster assistance bills and with each bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has to develop and implement a different program.

A permanent disaster program was approved in the Senate Ag Committee bill passed last week, but as the farm bill heads to the Senate floor, many have indicated they will oppose this vital program. It is important to contact your Senators and tell them to support this legislation as the bill goes to the floor the week of Nov. 5. Visit NFU’s Take Action! page to call or email your Senators today.

Former Senate leaders Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Bob Dole, R-Kan., released a report on Wed May 30, 2007, calling for major changes in agricultural policy to be implimented in the 2007 Farm Bill.  Read the Policy Report. 

The proposed plan lessens farmers’ dependence on subsidies by eliminating direct subsidy payments to farmers.  Instead, the plan impliments a countercyclical payment program which only pays farmers when prices are low.

The former Senators also stressed the importance of farmers taking part in emerging markets such as renewable fuels.
 
According to the Senators, the proposal could save $4.7 billion to the U.S. Treasury.

Read the Reuters News Story, the Associated Press News Story, or the Center for American Progress News Story.

NFU President Tom Buis just returned from Capitol Hill following his testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Click here to read the full testimony.

Click here to read the news release and listen to audio.

NFU President Tom Buis will appear before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry this morning to discuss “Economic Challenges and Opportunities Facing American Agricultural Producers Today.”

For more information on the hearing, including a live audio feed, you can go to the committee’s website.

Check back to see Buis’ complete testimony.