Farm Bureau gives board leverage on farm bill, endorses immigration reform proposal
January 15, 2013 | 09:26 PM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
NASHVILLE — The American Farm Bureau Federation today gave its board full leverage to take positions on the farm bill and also endorsed an immigration reform proposal that has been worked out by a coalition Farm Bureau has joined.
Last year Farm Bureau wanted a “deep loss” program to provide benefits to crop farmers in case of catastrophic loss, but Congress never showed much interest in the proposal. Farm Bureau's position has been that if the “deep loss” program would not be enacted, it wanted a choice between the “shallow loss” program proposed by corn and soybean growers and the “reference price” program favored by rice and peanut growers.
But today delegates voted instead to delete those specifics and instead say that farmers should have a “choice of program options.” Southern delegates said they wanted to keep the reference price in the platform, but they lost, with 54 percent of the delegates voting for a more vague policy.
At a news conference, Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman noted that the delegates had endorsed the policies of the immigration coalition that the organization has joined. That coalition favors provisions that would allow foreigners to enter the United States through contracts and also to be employed on an “at will” basis.
The coalition has said that the policy must work for both the fruit and vegetable industry, which needs seasonal labor, and the dairy industry, which needs workers year-round.
NASHVILLE — The American Farm Bureau Federation today gave its board full leverage to take positions on the farm bill and also endorsed an immigration reform proposal that has been worked out by a coalition Farm Bureau has joined.
Last year Farm Bureau wanted a “deep loss” program to provide benefits to crop farmers in case of catastrophic loss, but Congress never showed much interest in the proposal. Farm Bureau's position has been that if the “deep loss” program would not be enacted, it wanted a choice between the “shallow loss” program proposed by corn and soybean growers and the “reference price” program favored by rice and peanut growers.
But today delegates voted instead to delete those specifics and instead say that farmers should have a “choice of program options.” Southern delegates said they wanted to keep the reference price in the platform, but they lost, with 54 percent of the delegates voting for a more vague policy.
At a news conference, Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman noted that the delegates had endorsed the policies of the immigration coalition that the organization has joined. That coalition favors provisions that would allow foreigners to enter the United States through contracts and also to be employed on an “at will” basis.
The coalition has said that the policy must work for both the fruit and vegetable industry, which needs seasonal labor, and the dairy industry, which needs workers year-round.
