"We need to remember the lessons of the 1980s, when farm income and land values decreased, bankrupting many young farmers," Polansky said. "Lower land values did not encourage young people to enter farming. Instead, many lost an opportunity for a future in farming."

Kansas

Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky told U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns at a farm bill listening session today at the Kansas State Fair today that new farm policies should encourage a new generation to become farmers.

"New farmers are the future, and providing for a new generation of farmers is a necessity, not an option," Polansky said.

How farm policy addresses unintended consequences, and ensures that those consequences do not discourage new farmers and the next generation of farmers from entering production agriculture, is one area Johanns has emphasized on a farm bill listening tour that has taken him to many farming states.

Polansky, a third-generation farmer and secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, told

Johanns the United States must maintain and enhance the integrity of the farm safety net if new farmers are to enter the business.

"We need to remember the lessons of the 1980s, when farm income and land values decreased, bankrupting many young farmers," Polansky said. "Lower land values did not encourage young people to enter farming. Instead, many lost an opportunity for a future in farming."

Polansky pointed out that young farmers already are facing increasing fuel costs, a jump in fertilizer prices and rising interest rates.

"Lowering the safety net, farm income and cropland values will have consequences of the worst kind," Polansky said. "We should look for ways we can directly help a new generation transition into farming."

Polansky offered three possible options to make agriculture a more viable career option for young farmers:

--Provide a tax benefit to land owners as an incentive to sell to younger farmers.

--Streamline and enhance the Farm Service Agency's beginning farmer finance program.

--Allow beginning farmers equal crop insurance risk protection. Polansky plans to provide USDA written comments on the remaining topics that are the focus of the farm bill listening sessions:

--How farm policy should be designed to maximize U.S. competitiveness and our country's ability to effectively compete in global markets.

--How farm policy should be designed to effectively and fairly distribute assistance to producers.

--How farm policy can best achieve conservation and environmental goals.

--How federal rural and farm programs can provide effective assistance in rural areas.

--How agricultural product development, marketing and research-related issues should be addressed in the next farm bill.

Date: 9/22/05

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