|
This year, Congress will set upon the important task of rewriting the farm bill, which will establish our national agriculture policy into the next decade. In drafting the 2007 Farm Bill, the needs of farmers in North Florida must be considered, and that is why I am holding an Agriculture Summit to hear from agricultural producers in our area. At the summit, North Florida's farmers will get the opportunity to hear from the Chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and chief architect of the 2007 Farm Bill, Collin Peterson, as well as Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. This meeting will allow for feedback from farm families and farm groups on ways to improve our nation's farm policy and ensure that our farmers have the tools and resources they need.
Every five years, Congress writes a new farm bill, and many people who are not farmers may think that this legislation does not affect them. They would be very wrong. All Americans have a stake in the farm bill. The scope of this legislation is far-reaching and includes providing assistance to farmers, enhancing conservation programs, promoting rural growth and jobs, alleviating hunger and improving nutrition, investing in food and agriculture research, and even securing our nation's energy future.
Our most recent farm bill, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, made major improvements to the agriculture industry. In the 2002 Farm Bill, Congress made a commitment to improve the farm safety net and bring predictability to the federal government's farm support programs in a fiscally responsible way. Since the enactment of the 2002 Farm Bill, Florida's farmers, as well as the entire North Florida community, have benefited greatly from the provisions of this important legislation, which helped our farmers compete with the more heavily subsidized farmers in other parts of the world.
Unfortunately, our country's economic environment is not the same as it was in 2001 when the 2002 Farm Bill was drafted and we enjoyed a projected multi-billion dollar, multi-year budget surplus. Due to fiscal recklessness and deficit spending over the past six years, many important farm programs could be at stake as we face the possibility of a "smaller pie" when it comes to the 2007 Farm Bill. However, shortchanging the next farm bill would be terribly unwise and detrimental to our nation's producers who must be able to compete in a global market.
Despite our budget challenges, the rewrite of the farm bill presents huge promise and potential for the agriculture industry. In this bill, we have the opportunity to develop more effective disaster assistance, better access to agricultural credit, and more programs to encourage agricultural research, development, and conservation. Additionally, a core mission of the farm bill should continue to be promoting profitability and income potential in agriculture and a degree of stability in our nation's food and agriculture system. We must maintain programs that help our agricultural producers survive the unpredictability of weather and markets. We also need a farm bill that looks to the future and supports farm-based renewable energy as a way to move our country closer toward energy independence. I am committed to working in Congress to expand on the 2002 Farm Bill in these and other areas that will help our agricultural producers.
As a fifth generation farmer and one of a handful of active farmers in Congress, I know firsthand the challenges facing farmers in North Florida. I believe it is important for me to communicate to my colleagues in Congress the real impact that changes to the farm bill can have on our agricultural producers, our food supply, and our communities. At the Agriculture Summit, I look forward to hearing from North Florida's farmers and taking what I hear back to Washington so that our farmers can continue to provide us with the highest quality, safest, and most affordable food supply.
*For more information about the Agriculture Summit on Saturday, February 24, please visit www.house.gov/boyd/farm.
-30-
|
|
Back to top