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Nebraska Farmers Union |
1305
Plum Street • Lincoln, NE 68502 Contact
John Hansen Office: 402-476-8815, Fax: 402-476-8859, Cell: 402-580-8815 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nebraska
Farmers Union Says Senate Farm Bill Positive for Nebraska
WASHINGTON
(Dec.14, 2007) – Nebraska
Farmers Union commended the U.S. Senate today following a 79-14 vote in support
of the 2007 Farm Bill. The Senate-passed Farm Bill will benefit the state’s
farmers, ranchers and rural citizens.
NEFU praises Sen. Ben Nelson for his leadership on the Senate Ag
Committee for bringing positive amendments in the mark up of the Senate Ag
Committee and helping build the broad based bipartisan support with a 79 to 14
final Farm Bill vote.
NEFU
also expressed disappointment with Sen. Hagel’s no vote. “This Farm Bill made many positive reforms,
including ag market reforms, more funding for renewable energy, conservation,
rural development funding, and nutrition program in addition to improving the
income safety net with the addition of permanent emergency disaster assistance,
a long time priority issue for NEFU.
Progress was also progress made on payment limit reforms, while not as
much as NEFU supported. Some is still more than none. The best way to limit subsidies is to eliminate the need for the
subsidies in the first place by raising ag commodity prices to profitable levels. This Farm Bill will help create new and
profitable renewable energy based ag markets,” said NEFU State President John
Hansen.
NEFU
President, John Hansen commented from Washington, D.C. where he has been this
week to urge Senate passage of the Senate Farm Bill and Energy Bill. He described the passage of the Senate Farm
Bill as a extremely long and difficult struggle. Hansen said, “Overall, the positives in the Senate Farm Bill far
outweigh the negatives. Given the
tremendous pressure from the CBO 40% budget baseline reductions for the
commodity title and the newly established Pay Go budget provisions, we were
able to maintain a strong income safety net for producers when prices fall, as
they always do.”
Hansen
said, “For the western part of our state, permanent emergency disaster
assistance represents a major positive.
When a farmer or rancher is hit by adverse weather, instead of praying
Congress eventually gets around to authorizing ad hoc disaster assistance, they
will not visit their local FSA office to get the appropriate and timely help
they need. That is a major
progress.”
Hansen
noted another Senate Farm Bill provision included the resolution of an idea
Nebraska Farmers Union first pioneered in 1984, Country of Origin Labeling for
domestically produced food products.
The Senate language mirrored the House language, but also included the
labeling of chicken products. “We are
thrilled to see the thousands of hours Farmers Union members have invested in
getting mandatory COOL implemented headed towards success. I am so proud of our members and their
determination.”
NEFU President John Hansen said the Senate
Farm Bill also includes a ban on packer ownership, establishment of an Office
of Special Council, voluntary arbitration, and protection for growers from
packer retaliation. “We sought
additional ag market reforms, but the meat packers with the help of the
national pork and cattle organizations successfully opposed our market reform
measures,” Hansen said.
The
Senate Farm Bill also contains additional funding for nutrition, conservation,
renewable energy, rural development and specialty crop programs. “Today’s vote allows the Farm Bill to move
forward. We strongly urge members of
the House and Senate leadership to come together quickly and work out the
differences between the House and Senate Farm Bills so the President can sign a
Farm Bill into law as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of January.”
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