Agriculture, Food, Conservation and Rural Communities
Because of the tremendous importance of agriculture and rural communities to Iowa and our nation, I am fortunate to serve as the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittee on agriculture and related subjects.
Key initiatives I have long promoted and worked to advance are improving opportunities for better farm income; strengthening the economy, jobs growth and quality of life in rural communities; conserving and enhancing our invaluable soil, water, wildlife habitat and other resources for future generations; improving food security and healthy diets for American families; and investing in national energy security and a brighter future through farm and rural renewable energy, biofuels, biobased products and energy efficiency efforts.
In recent months, as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I have been working hard to enact a new farm bill that will build on the progress we made in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. Crafting a new farm bill is always a big challenge, and that is especially so in light of the much more difficult budget circumstances we now have compared to those for the last farm bill. Despite the challenges, I am optimistic and determined to complete work soon on a new farm bill that looks to the future and makes the needed investments to strengthen opportunities in agriculture and rural communities, to promote agricultural conservation, improve nutrition for nation’s families, and spur the growth and development of renewable energy.
Maintaining a Strong Farm Safety Net
In the 2002 farm bill, I worked to restore a countercyclical element to the farm income protection system - one that would provide better help when it is needed yet spend less in federal dollars if farm commodity prices are relatively higher. In the new farm bill, I support continuing a strong countercyclical program and to provide farmers a new option of participating in a state-level revenue protection system called Average Crop Revenue. I have also long favored and continue to support stronger payment limitations and a greater focus of farm programs on helping family-size farms.
Fair, Open and Competitive Agricultural Markets
Agricultural producers need transparent, fair, and competitive markets if they are to have a reasonable opportunity to stay in business and make a living. For years, I have worked to improve enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act, an important law that keeps livestock markets fair and above board. I have also worked to improve the accuracy and enforcement of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act, to ensure that livestock producers have the best reflection of current market prices so they can make sound business decisions for their operations. In the new farm bill, I am pursuing these objectives and others to improve the fairness of markets for our nation’s agricultural producers.
Agricultural Research
A prime example of the value of research can be found in the work of an Iowan and Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Norman Borlaug, who developed disease-resistant wheat varieties that were applied to other crops around the world, saving upwards of a billion lives. In the farm bill and in annual appropriations measures, I support strengthening our nation’s food and agriculture research system and making needed investments. These new investments in agricultural research and in the extension network used to bring the fruits of research to Iowans and others is essential to continuing this steady advance of knowledge and know-how.
Rural Development
In Iowa and elsewhere, the success of our farm households is tied not only to what is produced on the farm, but also to the strength of the surrounding economy and to policies that help not only farmers but all our citizens who live in small towns and rural communities. I have proposed a new Rural Collaborative Investment Program to encourage rural communities to work together within their regions, to scale-up investments, build competitive economic clusters, and overcome geographic disadvantages. I am also working to expand access to broadband in rural towns and areas, to make quality, affordable daycare more widely available, and to provide loans to rural hospitals so more of them can acquire state-of-the art medical equipment.
Ramping Up Renewable Farm Based Energy
With oil prices over $100 a barrel, it is an urgent national priority to accelerate our development of home-grown, farm-based renewable sources of fuel and electrical power. America’s agricultural sector offers tremendous potential for producing energy to fuel our vehicles, to power our factories, and to illuminate our homes. I worked successfully to enact a new, more ambitious national renewable fuels standard to spur greater production and use of ethanol and biodiesel, a significant share of which will come from cellulose biomass in addition to grain and oilseed feedstocks. In the new farm bill, I have included substantial new funding to invest in farm-based renewable energy initiatives.
Rewarding Good Stewardship of Land and Water
In the 2002 farm bill, I authored the Conservation Security Program (CSP) to provide financial incentives to farmers and ranchers for adopting and maintaining good conservation practices on land in agricultural production. Also in that bill, we made major new investments in a range of other USDA conservation programs. Strong USDA conservation programs are more important today than ever because the strong demand for farm commodities is drawing environmentally fragile land into production. In the new farm bill, I am pushing very hard to restore funding to CSP and enable many more farmers and ranchers to enroll in the program as envisioned and enacted into law in 2002. We also intend to invest new funds in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP).
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Schools
In the 2002 farm bill I started a small program providing fresh fruits and vegetables to a little more than 100 schools in four states and one Indian reservation. The kids, teachers, principals, and parents loved the program. And, before long, other states were clamoring to be included in the program, too. By 2005, we expanded the Fruit and Vegetable Program to an additional 10 states and two more Indian reservations. Now, I am pushing to expand the program dramatically, with a major funding increase in the new farm bill. Within a decade, it is my goal that free fresh fruits and vegetables will be available in every elementary school in America.
Promoting Farmers’ Markets and Locally Grown Foods
Farmers’ markets are expanding all across the country because people want to purchase fresh, locally grown food. But farmers’ markets require grassroots organizing, planning, and advertising to overcome logistical challenges. In both the 2002 farm bill and the new farm bill, I have worked to help people overcome some of those barriers through the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program to help people develop and organize farmers’ markets, and to enable direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities.
Transitioning Farmers into Organics
The organic industry is the fastest growing sector in U.S. agriculture, and the demand for organic products far outpaces the domestic supply. But we do not have enough farmers making the transition into organics. I am working to include in the new farm bill initiatives and funding for research into organic agricultural production and marketing, and to provide basic market data critical to the success of organic producers.
Nutrition Assistance
With growing uncertainty in the economy, rising food costs and shortages at food banks and emergency food pantries, too many Americans are unable to put adequate amounts of healthy food on the table for their families. I am continuing to push for strengthening federal food assistance that will do a better job of keeping up with food-price inflation while strengthening emergency food assistance. And I want to do so ways that encourage work, savings and education.
Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition across the Globe
It is a shocking fact that, even in the 21st Century, there are 820 million hungry people in the world, nearly half of them children. We can be proud that the United States has been the world's leading donor in international food aid programs in recent decades. I am a longtime advocate for a strong U.S. program of global food donations and hunger assistance. Our humanitarian activities throughout the developing world continue to be an essential component of our long-term effort to combat poverty. We must support these activities in the new farm bill and in annual agriculture appropriations bills.
