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AdvertisementNew NFU President addresses Kansas membersAt the request of Dickinson County President Gene Lorson, newly elected National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson travelled to Kansas to speak at an area wide Farmers Union meeting in Abilene, Kansas. His trip expanded into a meeting/media tour of Kansas, where he did media interviews in Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, Abilene, Topeka and Marysville and attended a second area meeting in Corning, Kansas. Johnson was elected NFU President in March 2009 at the National Farmers Union Convention in Washington, D.C. Johnson grew up in Farmers Union and was raised on a farm 50 miles north of Bismark, North Dakota in a small town called Turtle Lake. In 1996, he was elected the Ag Commissioner of North Dakota. Farmers Union is the largest farm organization in North Dakota and played an active role in electing him as Ag Commissioner, a position he held until he was elected NFU President. Johnson said Farmers Union is actively involved in Washington, D.C., in framing the discussions on several ag issues. He reported the two big issues before Congress today are health care and climate change. He stressed the importance of Farmers Union being a player in ag policy debate in Washington, D.C. He said for the first time the United States has a permanent disaster program for agriculture and Farmers Union played a key role in this legislation. "Getting a predictable disaster program in place is a big win for agriculture," Johnson said. Johnson said farmers produce 7% of the greenhouse gases, but will have the ability to sequester 20 to 25% of all greenhouse gases. Addressing climate change, he said science is in on this and the United States will eventually join the rest of the world community on climate change, using cap and trade as the model. "And we want agriculture to get something from this," he said. "Either we will be at the table, or we will be out." He said farmers costs will go up, namely energy and fertilizer. But the real question is, according to Johnson, can we reduce the amount they go up? And can we provide an income offset to farmers for their good farming practices, he added. Addressing the farm bill, he said it took two years to put it together and Farmers Union influence was significant. Under the last bill, Country of Origin passed, but was not implemented; this time it is being implemented. He said there is a safety net and payment limitations in this farm bill and all payments are individually attributed, which is a huge victory. He added payment limitations must be figured on "adjusted gross income" not gross income. Advertisement
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