“Agriculture is not just a business, it’s a way of life for many people around our country”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, spoke on the Senate floor about the 2018 Farm Bill, which is currently being considered by the U.S. Senate.
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Highlights:
Farm Bill Is A Jobs Bill: “One thing is very clear: this Farm Bill is indeed a jobs bill. Getting this across the finish line is simply a must for rural communities in Georgia and around the country.”
Prioritizes People: “I grew up working on the land and learned many hard lessons. At an early age, I learned that agriculture is not just a business, it’s a way of life for many people around our country. This Farm Bill is an investment in those people, in our ag industry, and indeed in our country.”
Provides Certainty: “Over the long term, this will bring certainty to the American agriculture community. The last thing family farms need from Washington is more burdens, more regulations, and more intrusion.”
Achieves The Objective: “We have cracked down on fraud within the food stamps program. We have advanced turf grass and timber research. We have included provisions important to land grant universities. Now, this Farm Bill is not perfect, but it is a great compromise that achieves the objective.”
Competing Globally: “One provision that was eliminated would have helped ensure American textile mills have the tools they need to compete with other countries. I hope we can find a way to fix that.”
One-Size-Fits-All Doesn’t Work: “Farms across our country have considerable differences based on things from region to crops to climate conditions. Given these differences, one-size-fits-all measurements clearly don’t work. It’s unfortunate there is now an amendment on this Farm Bill that would measure contributions to the family farm by applying a single manual threshold for farms across the country. I think this is just wrong.”
Family Effort Should Be Recognized: “The opportunity to qualify as an ‘active contributor’ to the farm through management, bookkeeping, and other activities is important because it recognizes the contributions of all family members and individuals who actually participate in farming operations. I can tell you from personal experience that if it were not for my aunts, my cousins, my uncles, our farms would not have been successful. The point is even if an individual never drives a tractor, never plows a field, never milks a cow, he or she can still provide an important contribution to the vitality of the farm operation. It’s a business, after all. Between now and when this Farm Bill reaches President Trump’s desk, I hope this problem with the bill gets fixed.”
Backbone Of Agriculture: “I can tell you nobody gets 100% of everything they want in any deal. That’s what we are here talking about today. While the current Farm Bill is not perfect, I encourage every member to support it and vote for it. It provides certainty in a very uncertain world for our agriculture community and the families who are the backbone of this industry.”