Obama On Ag

Obama On Ag. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

President Barak Obama has some thoughts about a new report on the rural economy and farm policy which talks about the strength of that economy and its resilience. And the President talks about what sets this economy apart from the general U.S. economy.

OBAMA: A couple of things. Obviously we have seen an enormous boost in agricultural exports and one of my top priorities is to open up new markets for the best farmers and ranchers in the world and as a consequence we have seen a real boost in agricultural exports and we’ve also seen solid commodity prices so that’s contributed to it. But that’s only part of the story.

The President says that rural communities have incredible work ethics.

OBAMA: I think you are seeing a lot of small businesses and medium sized businesses that recognize and investment in rural America is a smart investment. What we need to do is make sure there’s financing available for those small businesses and so we’re very proud that the Rural Summit that we had last year where we set a goal of getting more financing and investment in small businesses in rural communities that we actually exceeded our goals.

He goes on to say that building the rural infrastructure is very important.

OBAMA: Things like ready broadband access for example that makes big difference in whether companies are willing to locate in these regions. Making sure that our roads, our ports and so forth are continually developed. But ultimately what makes rural communities strong are the people there and nobody works harder than folks who are farming or ranching or grew up in rural communities. They know what hard work is and that’s part of the reason they are incredibly productive.

The question is how are we going to make sure our future food supply is safe and secure.

OBAMA: Part of the key here is making sure that what is a huge strength for us, our agricultural sector, is one that allows us to sell goods overseas and make solid profits for the growers of these food sources. But we’ve also got to recognize that the populations around the world are booming and we’ve got make sure food prices here in the United States are affordable for the average family and so increased productivity in the agricultural sector obviously makes a big difference. One of the things that we want to do is to make sure that smaller farmers are able to benefit from some of these high commodity prices. And that we are also creating more links between family farmers and users here in the United States.

More tomorrow with the President on agriculture.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.