Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - [Market-farming] Collin Peterson's editorial

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Ploughshare" <gjbrever AT midwestinfo.net>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Collin Peterson's editorial
  • Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:15:01 -0500

On Friday I had an editorial in our newspaper about the new farm bill. In today's editorial there is a letter from Collin Peterson ( a rebuttal to my letter, I do not know). Anyone have any opinions to the Congressman's words? I see some small nuggets in the farm bill, including country of orgin labeling. However, thus far it seems to just be more of the same--subsidies for the wealthy farmers.
--Gary

By Congressman Collin Peterson


The United States has an excellent system of independent family farmers. Survival of the family farm is critical to the future economic viability of rural America, and across the nation, strong family farms mean food safety and security, at a low cost to consumers.

RELATED CONTENT
Add a comment

In the years I've served Minnesota's Seventh District in Congress, few moments have been as important to rural America as last week's passage of a new Farm Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.


As chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I have been given an opportunity, and a challenging mission, in crafting a Farm Bill that is representative of and good for the entire country.


While one or two distracting issues in the Farm Bill debate made headlines, such as payment limits and false claims of tax increases, the bill we passed in the House on July 27 was a true compromise among commodity groups, regional interests, and conservation advocates, to name a few.


One of the best decisions I've made as chairman was to open up the process and give members of the Agriculture Committee an opportunity to gather input from their constituencies and use their expertise to write their respective sections of the bill.


What we ultimately agreed on, in a bipartisan fashion, was a strong Farm Bill that addresses concerns of producers, nutrition and conservation advocates, and renewable energy efforts.


Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, for fruit, vegetables and meat is, in my opinion, one of the most important pieces of this farm bill that has impacted consumers in decades. This legislation says that when you shop for steak, it will have a label to tell you if it came from China or if it came from Minnesota. If you buy strawberries, the label will tell you if they were grown in California or Mexico.


Given a choice, most consumers will buy U.S. grown meat, fruits and vegetables, especially in light of recent problems with food imported from China.


This House Farm Bill also makes historic investments in fruit and vegetable production, conservation, nutrition and renewable energy while maintaining a strong safety net for America's farmers and ranchers.


The bill strengthens and enhances the food stamp program by reforming benefit rules to improve coverage of food costs and expand access to the program with additional funding support.


We addressed rural economic development by including key provisions that invest in rural communities nationwide, including economic development programs and access to broadband telecommunication services.


We addressed important reforms by strengthening payment limits to ensure that non-farmers making more than $500,000 (adjusted gross income) can no longer collect conservation and farm program payments, and closing loopholes that allow people to avoid payment limits by receiving money through multiple business units.


Conservation funding was increased significantly by extending and making critical new investments in popular conservation programs, including the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentive Program, Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, and many others.


Finally, we created a new energy title to make important new investments in renewable energy research, development and production in rural America.


On July 27, The House of Representatives passed the 2007 Farm Bill by a vote of 231-191. American consumers got a heck of a deal.


. . .


Peterson is Chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and is serving his ninth term in Congress. He is a Democrat from Detroit Lakes.



Attachment: chat.gif
Description: GIF image




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page