2012 Farm Bill

2012 Farm Bill Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack along with other ag leaders have begun the long and arduous process of trying to piece together the 2012 Farm Bill. It took an extra year to put together the last one. Vilsack spent some time last week chatting with reporters about the first meeting and laying the groundwork by saying that rural incomes are lower than metropolitan areas as well as education levels are lower. VILSACK: As is the case with farmers, rural America is aging at a more rapid rate than the rest of the country and a result of all of that is that we've seen significant reduction in population and an increase in poverty. 90% of the persistent poverty counties in this country are located in rural counties and we see a substantial reduction in population where over 56, almost 57% of rural counties have lost population in the last 8 years and I'm sure the new census will confirm that. Vilsack believes that due to certain government programs that we are beginning to see a bit of a turnaround. VILSACK: Fortunately the good news is I think a framework has been put into place by virtue of the 2008 Farm Bill and by virtue of investments the Obama Administration is making under the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create a rural renaissance, a new rural economy. And that framework includes expansion of broadband, significant increase in energy production both renewable and biofuels and the corresponding job growth created and connected to it. He also says that using our conservation dollars more wisely to create hunting, fishing and other recreation opportunities in rural areas will be a plus. VILSACK: I think folks in economic development circles understand and appreciate that in rural communities that small towns by themselves are probably not capable by themselves without help in developing the kind of resources and the kind of momentum to substantially change the economy of their area. But if these communities band together in a regional effort and if they are supported by state and local government and in turn USDA has the flexibility to use many of its programs to invest in creative ways in developing job growth and leveraging the state and local resources, we can actually get a bigger bang for our buck. He also says it may be possible to piggy back their resources with other departments like transportation and energy they may be able to redirect some of those into areas that show great promise in developing jobs for rural areas. Again, this was only a preliminary meeting on the next farm bill and there will be a long, uphill road to travel before getting there. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg martin on the Ag Information Network.