Today, Congressman Dave Loebsack supported H.R. 2419, the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007. This legislation, which is the product of significant compromise between many competing interests, makes significant progress from the 2002 Farm Bill but will hopefully be improved in the Senate to protect Iowa’s family farms and stimulate our rural economy.
“Americans have long relied on Iowa to feed the nation and our state has long relied on our hard working family farmers to drive our economy,” said Congressman Loebsack. “While this legislation is a step in the right direction, it requires further reforms to better promote stability for farmers and create economic growth and jobs. We must also work harder to further enhance and protect our environment and improve the quality of life in rural Iowa.”
The following are the three areas of the Farm Bills that must be reformed to better address the needs of Iowa’s family farms and rural economy:
Strict Payment Limits
The farm bill must go further to prevent millionaire farmers who don’t need assistance from receiving farm program benefits. To truly protect family farms through a safety net a lower hard-cap must be set and enforced for the eligibility to receive farm subsidy payments.
Increased Rural Development Investment
The Rural Development Title of the Bill should do more to encourage entrepreneurial development in rural areas and further invest in rural communities through expanded economic development programs. We must work to reverse the growing disparity between rural and urban areas of the nation and ensure the long term prosperity of Iowa’s rural areas.
Expanded Conservation Efforts
The Conservation Title of the Bill must better focus on rewarding good stewardship of the land and generating conservation-minded farmers. We have an obligation to share in the cost of protecting the land and water we all rely on.
“I support this bill because it is an improvement over previous policy. Nevertheless I will continue to fight and support Senator Harkin’s effort to make sure more is done for our state,” added Congressman Loebsack. “We rely on farmers to provide us with necessary food during good times. We must provide our farmers and communities with financial security and economic opportunity during bad times.”
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