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Some express concern for small farmers over next four years
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP)--As the Bush administration prepares for another four years in the White House, some Nebraska agriculture interests are concerned the administration's ag policies will hurt small farmers.
The key for future prosperity of family farmers and ranchers will be continued profitability--and national policies that allow for that profitability, said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union.
"We have a national trade policy which will continue to hack away at all the income supports that agriculture has," Hansen said.
Keith Olsen, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said he is concerned that when the new GOP-led Congress convenes in January, there may be an attempt to change the current farm bill.
"That's something we are going to stay very much on top of and make sure that if it does get changed, it isn't negative toward agriculture," Olsen said.
American Farm Bureau officials expressed disappointment at the loss of two politicians who have been supportive of agriculture interests--Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Texas Democrat Rep. Charlie Stenholm.
Hansen agreed that agriculture and rural communities lost important allies in Daschle and Stenholm.
"You can't get rid of a rural advocate like Tom Daschle and then somehow think things are just going to continue to roll," Hansen said.
Daschle's efforts led to mandatory price reporting, as well as country-of-origin meat labeling, Hansen said. The South Dakota Democrat also is a strong backer of a ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock 14 days prior to slaughter.
Without Daschle's leadership, Hansen said he's afraid the country-of-origin labeling bill passed by the Congress as part of the 2002 farm bill could be made a voluntary program, stripping it of any meaningful authority.
A bill was introduced last summer in the U.S. House that would make country-of-origin labeling voluntary.
Another concern for Nebraska's rural agriculture involves the future of various commodity checkoff programs, which require producers to pay a small fee per commodity unit to fund commodity education and marketing programs.
In December, the constitutionality of the national beef checkoff will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Reopening U.S. beef exports to nations that banned U.S. beef following a mad cow scare also is a priority, Olsen said.
"If we are going to meet the Japanese requirement that we prove that the meat we are sending over there is from animals less than 20 months old, (a national) ID program can do that," Olsen said.
He also noted the need for a national energy policy that has a renewable fuels standard to help U.S. ethanol and biodiesel industries grow.
Date: 11/24/04
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