| Members of Minnesota's congressional contingent in Washington
stopped Thursday in East Grand Forks to hear from their agricultural
constituents.
The farmers -- many of them sugar beet or potato growers -- cited
federal farm laws and trade-related issues as ongoing areas of
concern.
"Everyone in this room has a concern over farm policy --
whether it's risk management, exports, taxes. We all share these
concerns," said Duane Maatz, president of the Red River Valley
Potato Growers Association.
Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said that he hopes the opportunity
to alter Freedom to Farm will materialize in the coming year.
"Maybe I'm too optimistic but, on the House side at least, I
think we have a 50-50 chance of rewriting the farm bill,"
Peterson said. "We don't want to get rid of the flexibility it
gives, but there are parts of it where we just need to be more
realistic."
'United front'
Being able to put forward a strong base of bipartisan support
from areas sharing common agricultural roots -- particularly on the
Senate and House Agriculture Committees -- could be a deciding
factor in in revising Freedom to Farm, said Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn.
"I think having a strong Upper Midwest contingent in
Congress -- ourselves, Senator Dorgan from North Dakota, Senator
Daschle from South Dakota, people on both sides and from other
states as well, is going to be the key," Dayton said.
A united stance among lawmakers in Washington won't, however, be
the only factor at work when it comes to improving federal farm
policy, said East Grand Forks-area farmer Paul Driscoll.
"Being on the same page is important for us farmers,"
Driscoll said. "We can't have one organization going to in (to
Washington) one week, another coming in the next week and not
knowing what each other are up to. We need a united front."
Realistic solutions
To strengthen the U.S. agriculture industry, Congress needs to
pass pertinent laws, Maatz said, but it also needs to step up to the
plate and legislate solutions to bureaucratic hangups that threaten
farmers' livelihoods.
"Take risk management, for example -- we have to have a way
to do that," Maatz said. "But sometimes their hands are
tied and we need to go the other way and deal with some of these
things legislatively."
On the world trade side, both Peterson and Dayton said the United
States needs to legislate itself into a more proactive stance and
essentially play hardball with its competitors.
"Everybody puts up trade policies in their interest -- I
wouldn't expect them to do otherwise," Dayton said. "But
we should, too. I say we have to flip the coin around so on either
side, either way, we gain." |