08/01/06 Farm Policy Must Provide Opportunity

Farm Policy must provide opportunity. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The Senate Ag Committee continued its series of farm bill field hearings in Ankeny, Iowa last week. During the Iowa field hearing Chairman Saxby Chambliss made a point about the high cost of farming - and the need for long-term farm policy that will give young people the opportunity to farm. CHAMBLISS: We sure don't have a lot of incentives to bring young folks back to the farm. I go back to this engine that was made here that was put in this John Deere cotton-picker manufactured right down the road by Deere right here in Ankeny; in the article in the Des Moine Register on June 7th it says that the cotton farmer who purchased this machine paid $340,000 for it. That's one cotton picker and that's all that machine can do is pick cotton. You can't as a young farmer jump in buy land, buy tractors and buy a $340,000 cotton picker. And I'm not sure what the answer to it is but I look for to working with Senator Harkin and Senator Grassley to make sure that we establish some policy that will be long term policy so that when Chuck's grandchildren and my grandchildren decide they want to come back to the farm, at least they will have the option of doing that. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. Whether it's a new winery, innovative growing technology or beef promotion there is an urgency to promote brand recognition. Navigating beef section in the supermarket today means we now can opt for breed type, how the animal was raised, (grass grain, organic, and even choose from oodles of packaging selections; fresh, frozen, precooked or pre-seasoned. Unlike any other time in history consumer's echoic memory (memory of things we hear) and iconic memory (memory of things we've seen) is on overdrive. When it comes to branding, niche marketing has been great for our farmers, giving them a leg up in domestic markets and abroad. When South America under cut us by price, classical marketing dictates competing on factors, like Quality, Image and Safety. In my opinion the outlook's rosy for our farmers because they produce food in a country that knows how to pay premium for a product, and it's all thanks to a rich cup of coffee named Starbucks that paved the way. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.