By Steve Baccus
Life
is never as simple as the sound bite reaction of the uninformed. Unfortunately,
more and more, impressions are formed without the benefit of the whole truth.
This is especially troubling in my world.
As leader of the Kansas Farm Bureau, one of my responsibilities is to help our farmers and ranchers remain profitable. Clearly, a huge component of that work involves engaging with government policy-makers responsible for crafting our nation's farm policy.
Right or wrong, like it or not, American agriculture and our federal government are inextricably linked. Given our druthers, no farmer or rancher wants his or her income to come from the government. Like all American entrepreneurs, we would prefer to let the market dictate our success or failure. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. In fact, it's downright complicated.
Federal
subsidy payments are tied to market prices. Market prices are tied to export
demand. Export demand is wrapped up in international trade policy. International
trade policy is arrived at in painstaking global negotiations. Every country
involved in those negotiations has an agenda.
Speaking of a global view, it's also important to keep things in perspective. The entire farm program budget is roughly one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget. That sum helps sustain an industry that is responsible for 15 percent of our nation's gross domestic product, 25 million jobs and a supply of food, fiber and fuel that is the safest, most abundant and most affordable in all the world.
Our country's farm policy helps keep small family farmers in business. Farms with sales between $2,500 and $5,000 received 64 cents in subsidies for every dollar of sales; farms with sales of $1,000 or less received $3 in subsidies for every dollar in sales.
In addition, American farm policy as currently constructed goes way beyond the bottom line of individual farmers and ranchers. Nowhere is that more evident than in my own state, where the health of so many of our small, rural communities depends on local producer trade.
These dollars are recycled throughout our rural communities several-fold. They pay for the kids' shoes at the Main Street merchant, we drop them in the offering plate in church on Sunday and we use them to pay local property taxes to support our schools.
I understand that times are changing. I look at the current makeup of Congress, and quite frankly, I worry about their perception of us. It's no secret that Congress, just like several state legislatures, is skewing urban/suburban. A majority of members of Congress haven't a clue about the life my family leads in Ottawa County, Kan.
It's a life based on a love of the land, a passion for agriculture and the values handed down through the generations in a small, rural community.
The discussion about budget cuts that has now begun in Congress is just the beginning. Discussions on the 2007 farm bill are well under way by those of us with a stake in the debate.
But, if the perception of me and my producer peers is that we're standing out here in the country with our hands out, then, clearly, we have some work to do.
Steve Baccus is the president of Kansas Farm Bureau.
Source: http://www.fb.org/news/fbn/html/defending.html