|
The Farm Bill recently passed into law will allow Minnesota’s farmers to continue providing food security for our nation. At only 0.27 percent of the federal budget, the commodity title in this new farm bill will have an enormous economic impact – providing a safety net for American agriculture that in turn employs one out of five Americans in the workforce and contributes roughly $3.5 trillion a year to the U.S. economy. Consider that in Minnesota agriculture generates $55 billion in economic activity and underpins 367,000 jobs; the agriculture and food industry is the second largest employer in Minnesota with two-thirds of all agricultural jobs being off-farm in processing, distribution, supply, and service sectors;and ranks 5th nationally in farm exports and leads the nation in sugar beet and turkey production.
The new Farm Bill not only ensures the viability of the agriculture industry, but the majority of the bill assists folks who are struggling to put food on the table. The Farm Bill was a labor of many months and years, and final passage is a major victory for Minnesotans—both rural and urban.
Helping Farmers Feed and Fuel the Nation in Good Times and Bad
Because of all they do for our nation, a safety net must be intact for our growers and producers. The good news is that this package includes key adjustments to the safety net, preserving its basic structure and makes needed adjustments for sugar, barley, wheat, and soybeans, among others. The bill includes a reauthorization of the dairy safety net, including the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC) program, which increases the payment rate to 45 percent. This provision will provide income stability for Minnesota’s dairy farmers when prices collapse due to factors beyond their control, while still allowing markets to readjust and return to more profitable levels. Additionally, to ensure that Minnesota’s sugar beet growers can continue to operate effectively and efficiently, the bill increases the sugar loan rate by 1.1 cents per pound by 2012. The sugar loan rate has not been changed for sugar cane for 22 years or for beets in 15 years – given the many increases in farm inputs, we’re long overdue for this adjustment.
Lending a Helping Hand to Those Who Need it Most
Despite the importance of the Farm Bill’s safety net for commodity programs, over 66 percent of its funding goes to the nutrition safety net, and as ranking member on the Nutrition Subcommittee, I worked hard for a strong nutrition title. Families are being hit hard right now by housing foreclosures, the economy, and food prices, which are being driven by energy costs. This farm bill rushes to the increased need for food assistance – providing an additional $10 billion above baseline to nutrition. The Food Stamp program, which assists over 260,000 Minnesotans, was significantly strengthened. We stopped inflation from creating further benefit erosion in the Food Stamp program, and encouraged savings among low-income families by exempting retirement accounts from counting against the asset limit.
I also sought increased funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and when all was said and done, the farm bill provided an additional $1.3 billion for this program, which allows our food banks and homeless shelters to keep up with the increased need for assistance.
Investing in Our Energy Future
A major part in bringing down the cost of food is bringing down the cost of energy. This farm bill does that by investing in up-and-coming renewable fuels with cellulosic ethanol incentives and a new sugar-to-ethanol program, a provision I have long championed. The sugar ethanol program will ensure sugar is not left out of our national effort for energy independence, while addressing the very serious issue of excess sugar imports from NAFTA. Brazil does not have to import a drop of oil, and they rely heavily on sugar ethanol – the technology for sugar ethanol is not out of reach, it is at our fingertips.
But the renewable energy vision of this bill does not stop with sugar. This farm bill looks to the future by paving the way for the next generation of biofuels: cellulosic ethanol. Included in the bill is a program I have supported to promote the production, harvesting, and processing of biomass, and the bill’s biomass loan guarantee program will prioritize local ownership of new cellulosic ethanol plants so that we can keep more of the value from ethanol plants at home. On the tax side, there will be a new $1 production tax credit for cellulosic ethanol. All in all, this bill provides $1.2 billion in new energy investment.
Conserving Minnesota’s Natural Beauty
The Senate farm bill represents the single largest investment in conservation this nation has ever seen. Specifically, it increases funding for major programs such as the Wetland Reserve Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Grassland Reserve Program. The bill also includes Open Fields, a voluntary program I have co-sponsored to encourage property owners to allow public access for hunting and fishing. All in all, the bill increases conservation funding by $4 billion, which will mean will mean increased wildlife habitat, cleaner water and a healthier environment for all of us.
Bolstering Minnesota’s Rural Communities and Farm Families
In addition to building on our existing conservation programs to the tune of billions of dollars, I secured mandatory funding for key rural development programs. The first provision provides aid to farmers for improving their grain storage capacity as they seek to meet increased demands for their commodities. It provides loans to producers for building and upgrading storage facilities and improves the availability of a stable supply of high quality grain for renewable energy production and livestock. This is something I have heard about directly from Minnesota farmers who have told me about the challenges of maintaining crop quality with insufficient storage space, and with the demand for grain higher than ever, we need to make sure we are getting as much as possible to the marketplace.
Not only do farmers need greater storage capacity to tap into the renewable energy market, they need a chance to continue to invest in the renewable energy enterprises cropping up in their own backyards. That is why I fought to include a provision in the Farm Bill that ensures our growers, producers and citizens have the opportunity to invest in any local biofuel plant that utilizes new incentives from the federal government. Enabling folks to invest in local businesses will keep wealth closer to home and allow Main Street – not just Wall Street - to share in the benefits of this energy boom.
I also successfully included a provision to authorize $20 million annually for the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program through fiscal year 2012. Under current law, the program receives $5 million annually. The program, which is a partnership between the Farm Service Agency and the Minnesota Rural Water Association, works to keep surface and ground water pollution from affecting drinking water, primarily by assisting local stakeholders in the development and implementation of local and regional source water protection plans. In addition to pressing for the inclusion of this important provision, the final bill includes $120 million in mandatory funding to reduce the backlog for unfunded, pending rural development water and wastewater loan and grant applications. Finally, lower interest rates for many water and waste water loans are also made permanent in the bill.
|
