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| National Farmland applauds new president-elect Obama |
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“This week we have witnessed a historic moment in American politics with the election of Sen. Barack Obama as the next president of the United States,” says Jon Scholl, president of American Farmland Trust (AFT). “The public has voted to send to Washington an administration that is open to change and has fresh ideas for solving our nation’s most pressing problems. That means we can strike at the opportunity to elevate the significance and impact of American agriculture.”
AFT notes that President-elect Obama is inheriting a daunting set of domestic and global challenges. “Given the recent fluctuation in global food and fuel prices, a shaken economy, and growing domestic and world hunger, American farmers are under enormous pressure to produce food, fiber and fuel while minimizing their impact on the environment,” says Scholl. “But with the right policy tools and funding in hand, farmers and farmland can play a huge role in solving our nation’s greatest economic, environmental, nutrition and energy problems.”
“The Obama administration has many agricultural options to help solve what I call the big ‘Three-E’s’: economy, environment and energy,” says Scholl. “There are exciting opportunities to promote the economic viability of our farms at the same time we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint, and enhance our nation’s water quality.”
AFT says building on the hard-won successes in the 2008 Farm Bill will also help solve these national issues, but only if the bill is implemented and funded properly. AFT stands ready to work with the new administration to continue its efforts to shape the future for positive farm and food policy for producers, consumers and communities, and recommends these strategic goals to achieve positive change and a competitive agricultural policy for the future:
Focus greater attention on protecting farmland and improving the economic viability of farms; increase the availability of fresh, local foods; give farmers incentives to protect the environment; and strengthen the connection between local farms and consumers.
“We’re asking producers and consumers to help AFT finalize its transition message to President-elect Obama and his staff by ranking eight key issues that connect our work in farm policy work with our nation’s greatest challenges,” Scholl says. “We encourage people to make their voices heard again at www.farmland.org, and to become engaged in helping the next administration carry out a new direction for the future of farming and food in our country.”
American Farmland Trust |
| 11/12/2008 |
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