National Farmers Union

WASHINGTON (August 16, 2006) – Ohio Farmers Union members gathered for National Farmers Union’s fourth Farm Bill Listening Session Wednesday, focusing largely on the need for policy that helps farmers get a fair price from the marketplace.

The Farmers Union Listening Sessions are part of a nationwide effort to gather opinions and concerns from farmers, ranchers and rural residents about the impact of federal polices on their communities, including but not limited to the current farm bill. NFU is holding more than 15 nationwide sessions and will bring the information gathered at the sessions directly to policymakers in Washington, D.C. in early September as part of their annual fall fly-in.

“In Ohio, the farmers that joined us for our Listening Session told us that they felt it was imperative that Congress draft policy that helps farmers adequately distribute and market their high quality products,” NFU President Tom Buis said. “They expressed a tremendous amount of hope in the potential for direct producer-to-consumer marketing to help farmers get a fair price for their products.”

To illustrate how little of the food retail dollar farmers actually receive, Ohio Farmers Union hosted a “farmer’s share” lunch following the listening session. The lunch retailed at $10, but only 59 cents of that sum go to the farmers and ranchers who produce it.

Many attendees at the forum expressed a strong preference toward a competition title in the farm bill. They expressed a very strong concern that current antitrust laws are not being enforced, and said that ensuring fair and open markets should be a top priority for Congress.

“Once again, we heard a strong preference for extending the 2002 Farm Bill for a year or two until the economic, political and international trade climates change and allow Congress to write a good piece of legislation,” Buis said.

NFU says that it is essential that Congress acts deliberately in drafting the next farm bill, having gathered the input of food and fiber producers in Ohio and throughout the nation. The next of the listening sessions will occur Saturday in Wisconsin and South Dakota. Click here for a full listing of scheduled farm bill listening sessions.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Agriculture Programs, Rural America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.