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Backing agriculture and the rural economy |
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August 14, 2017 |
By U.S. Senator Mike Crapo
“Today, we need to feed some 7 billion people.
By the year 2050, that population will swell to
9.5 billion ... To put the demand for food into
perspective, we are going to have to double our
production between now and 2050. We will have to
produce more food in the next 30 years than has
been produced in the last 8,000 years — a daunting
task, to say the least ... we cannot feed the
world if we continue to place obstacle after
obstacle in front of those who produce our food
and fiber,” U.S. Department of Agriculture
Secretary Sonny Perdue explained in testimony
before Congress.
He also noted the difficult agricultural
economic climate, in which “we have seen a 50
percent drop in net farm income from the
all-time record highs farmers experienced in
2013.”
America’s farmers and ranchers are expected to
meet this enormous challenge while more and more
burdens — high input costs, excessive paperwork
and regulations, uncertain labor availability,
credit and tax variables to name a few — have
accumulated.
Secretary Perdue stressed the Administration’s
objective to reverse this trend, an effort
reinforced by President Donald Trump’s earlier
“Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity In
America” Executive Order.
This directive created a task force to look for
federal actions that can be taken to reduce the
federal regulatory and economic burdens on rural
America, an objective that will better enable
American agriculture to meet the growing demand
for food and fiber within a more productive and
fair environment.
The Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and
Rural Prosperity focuses a broad scope of
federal agencies, including the Departments of
Treasury, Interior, Commerce, Labor and others,
on conducting a needed, comprehensive review of
federal policies affecting agriculture.
The USDA-led task force is required to “identify
legislative, regulatory and policy changes to
promote in rural America agriculture, economic
development, job growth, infrastructure
improvements, technological innovation, energy
security, and quality of life ...”
A swath of issues important to producers,
including reliance on sound-science for review
of crop protection tools, workforce
improvements, preservation of family farms
considering estate tax law, water rights and
access to public lands for grazing and timber
harvests, are to be considered.
Local input on legislative, regulatory and
policy changes is required. The task force must
report its recommendations to the President.
I look forward to the task force’s report and
advancing federal policy changes that better
back American agricultural producers. This
effort includes the following
agriculture-related legislation I have sponsored
or co-sponsored so far this Congress:
* S. 1090, Water and Agriculture Tax Reform Act of 2017;
* S. 487, Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act;
* S. 407, Building Rail Access for Customers and the Economy Act;
* S. 1230, Water Rights Protection Act of 2017;
* S. 205, Death Tax Repeal Act of 2017;
* S. 69, Regulatory Responsibility for our Economy Act of 2017; and
* S. 340, Sensible Environmental Protection Act.
These are just a few of the efforts underway.
Information about these and other legislative
efforts can be found on my website, at
www.crapo.senate.gov or
www.congress.gov.
Many Idaho farmers and ranchers have
understandably felt like they have been under
assault by the federal government in recent
years, as burdensome regulations have been
implemented that deeply affect their operations.
Now, under President Trump, executive branch
agencies have been specifically directed to seek
policy and regulatory reforms to make it easier
to do business—a productive course change. With
the input of Idaho farmers and ranchers, I will
continue to advocate for needed changes that
will improve our footing to meet the challenge
ahead. |
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