CFRA Weekly Column

We have written extensively about health care challenges faced by rural Americans. Among the challenges is dependence by many on a very expensive system that provides minimal coverage. Now a survey of over 2,000 non-corporate farmers and ranchers in the Midwest finds:

In 2009, the Nebraska Unicameral will have an opportunity to give Nebraska small businesses the boost they need during these tough times. If our Senators act, they can help set our economy back on a strong track.

The dawning of a new year is a time when most of us resolve to improve our lives in some way. This year, I resolve to dedicate myself to ensuring that President-elect Obama lives up to his potential and to the promises he made to rural America during the nomination and election processes. And I resolve that I will continue to hold all of our elected officials, be they Republicans or Democrats, accountable to the campaign promises they made to rural America.

President-elect Obama's choice of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture has gotten as much or more attention as any cabinet appointment.

In 2009, the Nebraska Unicameral has an opportunity to continue support for establishing and creating small businesses all across the state.

The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 prohibits price discrimination by meatpackers against smaller, family farmers and ranchers. Specifically, the Act makes it unlawful for packers to "...make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person or locality in any respect whatsoever."

When the Nebraska Legislature convenes in January they will make important decisions about the future of rural Nebraska.

Whether just getting into farming, in the middle of their career, or considering transferring the farm to the next generation, farmers are faced with many tough challenges.

Barack Obama launched his campaign in Iowa with a promise to create genuine opportunity for rural people and a better future for their communities. Now President-elect Obama must appoint a Secretary of Agriculture who embraces the change needed to achieve those goals.

Small enterprise has a critical role to play in America's economic recovery, especially in rural areas. So when Congress takes up legislation to refuel our economy, small entrepreneurship should be the centerpiece.

As a response to declining housing values and increased foreclosures, Congress adopted the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Part of that law is the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides nearly $4 billion to address housing issues in communities that could lead to long-term declines of housing values of neighboring homes.

If you have land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and you are trying to decide what to do with it once the contract comes to a close, consider the benefits of transferring that land to a beginning or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher. A new federal program, the Conservation Reserve Program Transition Option, can provide you two years of additional CRP payments for doing just that.

Nearly ten years ago I first wrote about the growing threat of vertical integration and concentration in meatpacking. Smithfield, Cargill, IBP, etc. were buying up packing plants and industrial hog production facilities at a breathtaking pace. We spoke loudly and often about the need for the Justice Department to take on these mergers. We called on USDA to write rules that define the "unreasonable preferences" that the Packers and Stockyards Act prohibits and get busy enforcing them to prevent packers from discriminating against smaller volume family farm and ranch livestock producers.

Earlier this year Brazilian meatpacker JBS (the largest beef packer in the world) announced their intention to purchase both National Beef and the Smithfield Beef Group (which includes Five Rivers Feeding with the capacity to feed 800,000 head of cattle at one time). This would have reduced the U.S. cattle market from five major packers to three and would make JBS the largest U.S. beef packer with nearly 35% of the cattle slaughter market, followed by Tyson and Cargill. The top four packers JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National together slaughter more than 85% of U.S. cattle.

One of the most important things Congress will deal with in 2009 is health care reform. The 60 million people in rural America have much to gain, and much to lose, in any debate over reform of the health care system.