Sugar Growers Say Farm Bill Is Key to Stability

Sugar Growers Say Farm Bill Is Key to Stability

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Leaders from the U.S. sugar industry are meeting in Colorado this week for the 37th annual International Sweetener Symposium. Dr. Rob Johansson, Director of Economics and Policy Analysis for the American Sugar Alliance, says high input costs are at the top of everyone’s minds.

Johansson… “High prices for fertilizer, fuel, pesticides, labor, and transportation have hit our producers in the field and at the factories they own. Our farmers are worried about their bottom line as we head into harvest.”

The Farm Bill, Johansson says, is key to providing stability to sugar producers.

Johansson… “U.S. sugar policy enables our farmers to more effectively compete against imported, heavily subsidized foreign sugar. And it costs taxpayers nothing. Maintaining a strong safety net in the next Farm Bill is going to be critical to our farm economy and our national food security. Our family farmers are resilient, but they need sound federal farm policies to survive.”

Johansson emphasized that the domestic sugar industry provides a boost to the American economy.

Johansson… “America’s sugar industry supports family farms and good American jobs. A new study from the ag economists at Texas A&M University found that the U.S. sugar industry supports more than 151,000 jobs and contributes more than $23 billion to the economy each year. Sugar is a backbone to both rural and urban communities – including several right here in Colorado.”

Follow the symposium on Twitter by following SugarAlliance.

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