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Kind Meets with Local Ag Stakeholders, Discusses Upcoming Farm Bill

01/26/12

Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Ron Kind today met with his agriculture advisory committee, a group made up of local farmers and stakeholders from across western Wisconsin.  Rep. Kind hosted the meeting in his La Crosse office today to share news from Washington as well as to hear the group’s concerns about ag issues, including the upcoming farm bill, risk management tools, milk markets and changes to the MILC program, and newly proposed labor rules, among others.

“It’s important to sit around the table and discuss the issues that so greatly impact western Wisconsin and our state,” said Rep. Kind.  “Hearing from this group helps me understand where our family farmers are struggling, how I can help facilitate support, and the things we can work on together to bring greater efficiencies and growth to the industry.”

A major topic of today’s discussion was the upcoming farm bill, which is expected to be considered later this year as programs are set to expire on September 30, 2012. Rep. Kind has long been an advocate for reforming the programs that steer taxpayer funded subsides to very few but very large agribusinesses, resulting in the top 10 percent of recipients getting 76 percent of subsidy dollars.

“These subsidies are fiscally irresponsible and only distort the marketplace,” said Kind. “Our local farmers are not getting the support they need, while addresses in Chicago and San Francisco are getting thousands of dollars in direct payments. We must reform these subsidies.”

According to the Environmental Working Group, in 2010, the government sent $394 million in farm subsidy payments to residents of U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 or more.  In Chicago alone, 734 farm subsidy recipients pulled in a total of $2,173,344.

Attendees at today’s roundtable included: Steve Boe, Wisconsin Farm Bureau; Mike Compton, Director of UW-Platteville School of Agriculture; Wade Miller, Farm Service Agency; Timothy K. Rehbein, Vernon County UW-Extension; Missy Hughes, Organic Valley; among more than a dozen others.