FARM POLICY SUGAR FACTS

A new podcast by Farm Policy Facts focuses on agriculture policy at a time when farmers are facing a fifth straight year of low commodity prices. The podcast, titled Groundwork, brings agriculture policies such as those in the 2018 Farm Bill to the spotlight. In the first installment, Farm Policy Facts caught up with two sugarbeet farmers, including sugarbeet farmer John Snyder who recently traveled to Washington to make the case for smart farm policies: "On one hand we were saying thank you to those that have voted for us. And to those that didn't know a lot about sugar policy, we were you trying to give my real quick sugar 101. And how important sugar policy is to rural America. We had a first generation farmer that went to Capitol Hill with us and it's important to him like it is to all of us that we have good strong sugar policy. Our bankers are very pleased that we have good strong sugar policy. A lot of these guys couldn't get loans if we didn't have good strong sugar policy and wouldn't be able to continue in raising sugar beets."

 

The sugar industry supports 142,000 jobs in 22 states and is huge in Idaho. The Farm Bill's sugar policy keeps the industry competitive with countries that subsidize sugar on the world market.