Importance Of Agriculture

Importance Of Agriculture

Congress is on a week long Martin Luther King holiday recess this week and the farm bill remains stalled. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke recently at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 95th annual convention and reiterated the importance of our nation’s farmers, who make up less than 2 percent of the population while providing food, fuel, and fiber for the other 98 percent. He went on to say that “there is no more important job than that”, and that those within the ag industry need to make those who aren’t understand the importance of what farmers and ranchers do. Vilsack joined millions of Americans in voicing his concerns that the passage of a farm bill is long overdue. He also pointed out that with the approval of the legislation several provisions of the farm bill that benefit rural America, farmers and ranchers will be restored, such as programs for disaster assistance, crop and conservation insurance, and trade promotion, along with new initiatives that will assist military veterans and beginning farmers interested in reconnecting with the land. His bottom line, “we need this farm bill and we need it now.”  

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