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August 4, 2005
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| U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said he came to Minnesota to listen to farmers. Congress is in the early stages of preparing the next farm bill. (MPR photo/Mark Steil) |
Redwood Falls, Minn. — The farm bill may be the single most important piece of legislation for rural America that Congress writes.
The legislation delivers billions of dollars to farms and small towns. It includes money for everything from crop subsidies to food stamps to energy development.
A varied group of farm bill recipients spoke at the Farmfest meeting. One told Secretary Johanns the next bill should include more money for small town sewer systems. Another said the legislation should work to upgrade drinking water supplies.
Many used real life examples to underscore their argument.
Janell Johnson of Grove City said the farm bill should include substantial funds for low-income rural housing. She said a recent grant from the Agriculture Department's rural development arm helped rehabilitate a housing project in her central Minnesota community.
"It is clearly the role of rural development to provide safe, decent, sanitary housing for citizens in rural Minnesota," says Johnson. "Without funding such as this, Grove City Community Homes was headed for closure because of extreme rundown conditions. This funding will allow 26 low income families to have a decent place to live."
The agriculture secretary took it all in, mostly in silence. Johanns, raised on an Iowa farm and educated at a Minnesota college, said he was there to listen.
Farmers delivered the most heated messages. Although agricultural income has reached record levels in recent years, farming is still a struggle.
Dairy producers said the next farm bill should do something to raise milk prices.
Sugar beet farmers worry the just-passed Central American Free Trade Agreement will bring boatloads of cheap imported sugar to the U.S. and ruin their business.
Several farmers were concerned about rising farm land prices. Others said the changing face of farming carries a social cost.
Livestock farmer Jim Joens says American farmers are one of the nation's bedrock institutions. It's a lifestyle centered around family and work. He said too often work wins out.
"My day starts with my wife getting up at 5 o'clock so she can be to work at 6. I'm up at 6, I do chores, wake my two teenage kids, tell them to go to work," said Joens. "Then I go do chores at my place, I do chores at my parent's place, check my elderly parents who are both handicapped. Go across the road, check my neighbor lady who is elderly. And then I start my farming day. We run a cabinet shop, a diesel farm shop, and I raise cattle and I raise hogs."
Joens says he would like to see more done in the next farm bill to help small farmers.
That was a theme of several speakers. One said the Agriculture Department had sold out to corporate farm interests, ignoring small farmers.
At a press conference before the public testimony began, Johanns said the next farm bill should reach out to all segments of the agricultural community. He said, however, that money could be limited because of President Bush's pledge to reduce the federal deficit. Johanns said it's impossible to predict how much money will be available in the next farm bill.
"To try to grab a number today would be absolutely impossible," says Johanns. "My crystal ball would not be that good. But the reality is that any piece of legislation like the farm bill does have to deal with the budget, it's just the nature of it."
The current farm bill expires in 2007. Johanns said work on the new legislation must start now to make sure it's passed by then.
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