Issue Position: Agriculture and Rural Development

Issue Position

Some of my favorite childhood memories are the days I spent visiting my grandparents' farm. Milking cows and helping around the farm was often the highlight of the summer.

I am committed to all of Iowa's communities and that is why I visited all 99 counties, listening to the concerns of thousands of Iowans and learning about their daily lives. I know that whether it is in an urban or a rural school district, parents want their children to have the best skills possible to work in the modern workplace. That is why, without ever holding an elected office, I have secured one of the largest single investments in schools across the state, $60 million to close the digital divide and ensure that our students have computers, and the skills they need whether they are educated in our largest schools or in our smallest.

Iowa's farmers produce the best food in the world. We need to expand the global market for our products. We can do that by reducing tariffs, and export subsidies and making our trading partners live up to their end of the bargain. We also need to expand local markets for our foods as promoted by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Our rural communities can make America safer by producing homegrown energy alternatives like biodiesel and ethanol. As a member of the United States Senate, I will work to expand the bio-economy by improving access to bio-based products grown in the Heartland. Through targeted tax credits, I will work to create unprecedented expansion in Iowa's wind and solar energy markets. We must stop sending $1 billion a day to the Middle East to purchase oil from countries that harbor those wishing to harm us. Additionally, I will work to create a smart grid so that the wind on our prairie can light the skyline of Chicago and other big cities. A smart grid will be laid across our state by well trained and well paid workers. These kinds of green jobs cannot be sent overseas.

Our livestock producers need access to competitive, transparent, and fair markets. We must protect farmers from fraud, abuse, and market manipulation. We must assure that the anti-trust laws are vigorously enforced to prevent the creation and misuse of monopolies in agri- business. We must also strengthen the Packers and Stockyards Act.

While I support farm subsidies, I would limit the amount to no more than $250,000 per farm and assure that the subsidies go only to independent farmers and not to corporate farms. While Senator Grassley has been in the United States Senate, the number of farms in Iowa has decreased dramatically from 121,339 to 92,856. While he has given lip service to the family farm, he has done precious little to preserve it.

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