American Farmland Trust Releases 9 for 09 Farm, Food Policy Recommendations

American Farmland Trust has issued nine farm and food policy recommendations to help guide the Obama administration towards implementing a progressive farm, food, energy and environment agenda.

 

“At the start of a New Year and administration, American agriculture is facing both enormous challenges and opportunities. If employed, these recommendations will help reform those shortcomings and meet those opportunities in the years to come,” says Jon Scholl, AFT President.

 

“Protecting farmland, promoting sound stewardship and ensuring viable farms and ranches are important objectives in any strategy to improve agriculture’s capacity to be part of the solution to the issues that challenge our nation,” says AFT President Jon Scholl. “The new administration can play a vital role in ensuring that the agricultural spaces, which provide clean air, clean water and wildlife habitat across the country, remain in place.”

 

Toward that end, the recommendations are as follows: reduce the federal government’s role in farmland loss; protect and promote regional food system programs contained in the farm bill; prioritize agriculture’s role in reducing greenhouse gases; support efforts to engage farmers in improving water quality; properly implement and fully fund the Farmland Protection Program; mitigate against the loss of farm and ranchland in transportation legislation and create a green agriculture infrastructure; create a Farmer Corps; evaluate the impacts of farmland loss on national food and energy security; and, support local food in school cafeterias and access for low income consumers.

 

To reflect the needs of the entire agriculture community and the public, AFT constructed these ‘9 for 09’ policy recommendations, including the suggestions of thousands of participating members and supporters.

 

“The agricultural community contains many diverse voices and after receiving countless responses

we tried to incorporate everyone’s ideas into the process—we tried to capture the spirit even if not the exact language used by those that participated. We believe that these nine recommendations

encapsulate some of the best thinking from people around the country about the immediate future of agriculture,” says Dennis Nuxoll, AFT Senior Director of Government Relations. “Our outreach began after the Presidential election and ran until President Obama’s inauguration, to give everyone who wished a chance to participate.”

 

President Obama has demonstrated a clear concern for food and agriculture, and energy and environmental issues, and AFT is ready to provide the necessary leadership to ensure agriculture’s critical engagement in the process.

 

Descriptions of each recommendation can be found online.

 

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