“As one of the nation's top agricultural states, Nebraska has a great opportunity to provide input that will help shape the 2007 Farm Bill, .. This legislation will help determine commodity price supports, priorities with regard to conservation programs, as well as rural development, renewable energy and beginning farmer initiatives for several years to come.” YearsWellsStatesHelpingOpportunityEnergyNationsSupportDevelopmentShapesProgramRegardBillsDeterminePrioritiesFarmsFarmersInitiativeAgricultureCommodityConservationLegislationInputRenewable EnergyGreat OpportunityNebraskaCommodity Prices Author:Dave Heineman
“I do think that there is a big difference between family farms and agri-business, and one of the distressing things that I think has occurred is with consolidation of farm lands. You've seen large agri-businesses benefit from enormous profits from existing farm programs, and I think we should be focusing most of those programs on those family farmers.” ThinkingShouldBigsDifferencesLandBenefitsProgramProfitEnormousFarmsFarmersAgricultureDistressingConsolidationFamily Farms Author:Barack Obama
“What our family has done is participate in the farm programs. And so the farm programs I think essentially almost every farmer in South Dakota has participated in those, and they haven't been bailouts, they have been programs that the United States has put forward for farmers to participate in.” ThinkingHas BeensStatesDoneUnitedUnited StatesHavensProgramSouthOur FamilyFarmsFarmersDakotaBailoutsSouth Dakota Author:Kristi Noem
“The measure discriminates definitely against products which make up what has been universally considered a program of safe farming. The bill upholds as ideals of American farming the men who grow cotton, corn, rice, swine, tobacco, or wheat and nothing else. These are to be given special favors at the expense of the farmer who has toiled for years to build up a constructive farming enterprise to include a variety of crops and livestock.” MenYearsHas BeensGivenGrowsSpecialHe ManProductsSafeIdealsProgramBillsFavorsVarietyEnterpriseExpensesFarmersAgricultureFarmingCornConstructiveCropsRiceTobaccoWheatCottonSwineLivestock Author:Calvin Coolidge
“Exporters monitor economic and political policies to the developing world, but the consequences of that have been to make developing countries far more sensitive to the constant fluctuations. Developing countries are not always allowed to support their farmers in the same way as the U.S. or Europe is. They're not allowed to have tariff barriers. They're forced, more or less, to shrink their social programs. The very poorest people have fewer and fewer entitlements. The consequence of this has been that there's been a chronic increase in the vulnerability of those economies to price shocks.” PeopleWorldCountryPoliticalSupportEconomyEconomicPolicyConsequenceProgramSensitiveVulnerabilityBarriersFarmersEntitlement Author:Raj Patel
“Every time you cut programs, you take away a person who has a vested interest in high taxes and you put him on the tax rolls and make him a taxpayer. A farmer on subsidies is part welfare bum, whereas a free-market farmer is a small businessman with a gun.” PersonsInterestCuttingTaxesGunProgramWelfareFarmersBusinessmanFree MarketTaxpayersSubsidiesVested InterestsHigh Taxes Author:Grover Norquist
“A guest worker program should help farmers who are willing to pay a fair wage for law-abiding, dependable workers - not punish them ... And for this reason I support replacing the H-2A program and implementing new policies that will bring our illegal agricultural workers out of the shadows, as a first step in the process of overhauling our nation's immigration system.” ShouldFirstsReasonHelpingLawNationsProcessPayStepsSupportPolicyWillingShadowFairsProgramWorkersImmigrationIllegalFarmersGuestsFirst StepsAbidingImmigration ReformDependableImplementing Author:Bob Goodlatte