{"id":1628,"date":"2008-11-13T11:28:21","date_gmt":"2008-11-13T19:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angrypirate.com\/wordpress\/?p=1628"},"modified":"2008-11-13T11:28:21","modified_gmt":"2008-11-13T19:28:21","slug":"obamas-views-on-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/obamas-views-on-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama's views on agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kathyrn McConnell, America.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON – The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates
\nboth supported lowering farm payment limits and limiting such
\nassistance to family farmers.<\/p>\n

Payment limits were a focal point of debates in Congress on the 2008
\nFarm Bill, passed in June over President Bush’s veto. President-Elect
\nBarak Obama voted for the 2008 Farm Bill, saying it had more good
\nprovisions such as support for hunger and conservation programs, than
\nbad provisions. His opponent Senator John McCain opposed the bill.<\/p>\n

Now that Obama has been elected, here’s a look at his views on
\nagriculture as stated during the presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

Obama wants to make a disaster assistance program permanent so
\nfarmers would not have to wait for Congress to decide whether aid is
\nneeded in the wake of individual natural disasters.<\/p>\n

The Democrat supports country-of-origin labeling, which requires meat
\nand perishable farm products to indicate from where they came. The
\nFarm Bill expanded the list of products covered by the law effective
\nSept. 30.<\/p>\n

Obama would increase funding for a cost-sharing program for organic
\ncertification to help farmers afford the costs of complying with
\nnational standards for organic food, a fast-growing sector of the
\nAmerican food market.<\/p>\n

There are not enough young people entering farming, according to
\nObama, so he would help the public university system and farm
\nextension service work with youth groups to identify and prepare
\nfuture farmers. He also favors tax breaks for landowners selling to
\nbeginning family farmers and for people going into farming.<\/p>\n

Obama wants to work to break down trade and investment barriers to
\nmaintain American farmers’ competitiveness around the world. He would
\nbroaden export promotion programs with training and through new
\nelectronic transaction systems to help producers develop global
\nmarketing networks. He also would work to ensure all trade agreements
\ncontain strong and enforceable labor, environmental and safety
\nstandards.
\nThe Illinois senator says he supports efforts to improve food safety
\nby boosting America’s ability to identify, contain and prevent
\noutbreaks and to inform the public when an outbreak happens. He says
\nhe wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug
\nAdministration to have more authority to issue and enforce recalls of
\ncontaminated food.<\/p>\n

Obama would encourage the use of technologies to produce power from
\nanimal wastes, and farming practices that reduce energy use and
\nmaintain soil health. He also pledges to expand federal energy
\nefficiency and conservation projects and support for industries that
\nproduce new value-added agricultural products.<\/p>\n

The Democrat wants to use some of the revenue from carbon dioxide
\nemissions permits for investments in clean-energy development and
\ndeployment. This would create jobs and stimulate economic growth,
\nespecially in rural America, he says.<\/p>\n

Incorporating more biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, into the
\nnational supply is another Obama goal – 7.57 billion litres (2
\nbillion gallons) of cellulosic ethanol in the system by 2013 and a
\nrequirement of at least 227 billion litres (60 billion gallons) of
\nbiofuels, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel, by 2030.<\/p>\n

Obama would create incentives for communities to invest in biofuel
\nrefineries and also would provide a subsidy for ethanol produced from
\nnew facilities.<\/p>\n

Obama also wants incentives for forest owners, farmers and ranchers
\nto plant trees, restore grasslands, and use farming practices that
\ncapture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or engage in no-till
\npractices that retain carbon dioxide currently stored in the soil.<\/p>\n

America.gov is a function of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of
\nInternational Information Programs.
\n________________________________________
\nThis message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American
\nBeekeeping, www.BeeCulture.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kathyrn McConnell, America.gov WASHINGTON – The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates both supported lowering farm payment limits and limiting such assistance to family farmers. Payment limits were a focal point of debates in Congress on the 2008 Farm Bill, passed in June over President Bush’s veto. President-Elect Barak Obama voted for the 2008 Farm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alannarisse.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}