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The Sentinel was able to sit down with 1st District Representative and Republican Senate nominee Jerry Moran at the Kansas State Fair on Saturday for a short question and answer session. Moran is a long-time member of the House Agriculture Committee.
What’s new with the 2012 Farm Bill?
“Well, there hasn’t been much progress. In fact there’s no progress at all. There are conversations about the 2012 Farm Bill, which is fine, although so many of the things we’re hearing aren’t very appealing to me. In the last farm bill, much of the spending became spending for food stamps and nutrition programs, and not much left for the farm programs. That theme seems to be continuing. Our Secretary of Agriculture (Tom Vilsack) has said the safety net is no longer necessary, we want to create opportunities for jobs in cities and let people return home to their 100-acre farms. While hobby farming is a fine thing, it doesn’t feed or clothe the world. So, we have our work cut out for us once again, explaining this to a very urban and suburban congress, apparently without much help from USDA in that explanation, about the importance of production agriculture.
What other concerns do you have with changes proposed by President Obama in this area?
“We have to be very careful, because we’ve seen it already this year - crop insurance is one of the most important components of the safety net we provide for farmers. Once again, it’s under attack. There are those who want to spend the money that’s provided for crop insurance on other things. If we lose the federal support for crop insurance, we lose our ability for crop insurance companies to write policies for places like Kansas, where the risks are high. Our weather is not very helpful all the time. As a result, it will be impossible for banks to make a loan on agricultural operations. The other issue is direct payments. It’s a component of the farm bill that provides a payment to farmers, regardless of the price, and it’s been very useful to us - particularly young farmers, being able to their banker, saying ‘I know I’m going to get this payment,” This helps them get a loan to begin farming. That’s something that we’re missing - how do we get the next generation back into agriculture?”
The Sentinel was able to sit down with 1st District Representative and Republican Senate nominee Jerry Moran at the Kansas State Fair on Saturday for a short question and answer session. Moran is a long-time member of the House Agriculture Committee.
What’s new with the 2012 Farm Bill?
“Well, there hasn’t been much progress. In fact there’s no progress at all. There are conversations about the 2012 Farm Bill, which is fine, although so many of the things we’re hearing aren’t very appealing to me. In the last farm bill, much of the spending became spending for food stamps and nutrition programs, and not much left for the farm programs. That theme seems to be continuing. Our Secretary of Agriculture (Tom Vilsack) has said the safety net is no longer necessary, we want to create opportunities for jobs in cities and let people return home to their 100-acre farms. While hobby farming is a fine thing, it doesn’t feed or clothe the world. So, we have our work cut out for us once again, explaining this to a very urban and suburban congress, apparently without much help from USDA in that explanation, about the importance of production agriculture.
What other concerns do you have with changes proposed by President Obama in this area?
“We have to be very careful, because we’ve seen it already this year - crop insurance is one of the most important components of the safety net we provide for farmers. Once again, it’s under attack. There are those who want to spend the money that’s provided for crop insurance on other things. If we lose the federal support for crop insurance, we lose our ability for crop insurance companies to write policies for places like Kansas, where the risks are high. Our weather is not very helpful all the time. As a result, it will be impossible for banks to make a loan on agricultural operations. The other issue is direct payments. It’s a component of the farm bill that provides a payment to farmers, regardless of the price, and it’s been very useful to us - particularly young farmers, being able to their banker, saying ‘I know I’m going to get this payment,” This helps them get a loan to begin farming. That’s something that we’re missing - how do we get the next generation back into agriculture?”
Assuming you get to the Senate, how do you see your involvement with the farm bill and agriculture change?
“The advantage to the Senate, and I’m not taking anything for granted - I’ll work hard to get elected in November if the voters of Kansas give me the opportunity to serve - I will be very engaged as an advocate on behalf of production agriculture. I will strongly support family farms. I’ve been a member of the House Agriculture Committee for the last 14 years. I have chaired the sub-committee that deals with farm programs and crop insurance. I’ve developed an expertise and spent lots of time with farmers and ranchers in Kansas on these issues. I will make every effort to be a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and continue that battle on behalf of farm families in Kansas, and across the country.”
What are you thoughts on a new energy bill proposed by Sen. Harry Reid?
“I have not seen any details of what Sen. Reid is proposing. We’ve had a number of energy pieces of legislation over a long period of time. I’m a supporter of moving us in the direction of renewable fuels. I think it’s an important opportunity for Kansas, particularly rural Kansas, to generate income. Perhaps even more importantly, it reduces our reliance of foreign oil, which is a national security issue. If we want to create jobs in this country, we ought to spend some of that $800 billion we spend every year buying oil abroad in creating jobs and developing energy in the United States. I’ll take a look at energy proposals, but we want to do this in a way that encourages the free-market to work - not creating hurdles and mandates and rules and regulations that can’t be complied with, and have no basis in science or common-sense.”
