Center for Rural Affairs' Newsletter

We spent a lot of time fighting for the corporate farming ban in the Nebraska legislature, and we issued strong warnings on what could happen now that Nebraska’s had disappeared. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any really good concrete examples at the time. Now we do.

Over the last two years we fought together for a better farm bill for rural America. It was a long and hard fight, and we finally have a 2008 farm bill. The final bill is not everything we hoped for, lacking payment limits and a ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock. While the bill is not perfect, there is no question that your work made it better. And on the fronts where we did not prevail, your action brought unprecedented attention to the injustices present in farm policy.

Peggy Korth wrote from Texas about our “questions for candidates,” presented in the May Newsletter. We suggested they be used in seeking commitments from future elected officials to support critical rural policy reforms. She shared the questions with a gubernatorial candidate – except one.

Iowa: Increases in shipping demands have prompted Iowa railroads to upgrade. Iowa Interstate Railroad, after spending $22 million to upgrade its track system, will be adding 12 new locomotives for a price of $2.2 million apiece. Iowa Northern Railway is also upgrading as it is a partner in the opening of a 100-acre rail terminal at Manly.

Change is hard and is often viewed with negativity and disdain. At times, those in small rural communities suffer from this type of thinking. Today’s economy is challenging the power of small rural communities to adapt and, in some cases, thrive.

Despite our displeasure with the passage of a farm bill that lacks real payment limitations and other crucial reforms, there is a clear victory in gaining passage and dedicated funding for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program in the 2008 farm bill.

The Center for Rural Affairs is planning an Energy Fair at the Hartington, Nebraska, Fairgrounds. Workshops and demonstrations are planned for a wide range of topics including energy conservation, small-scale wind turbines, Nebraska’s C-BED Project (community-owned wind energy), solar collectors, photo voltaics, bio-fuels, methane, composting, grass-fed beef and hogs, crop rotations, and the farm bill’s energy title.

Norma Hall of Elmwood, Neb. and Tony Vrana of Seward, Neb. – with combined service totaling more than three decades – have retired from the Center Board.

The Center for Rural Affairs opposed passage of the new farm bill because it commits the federal government to subsidizing the destruction of family farming for another five years and invests little in the future of rural communities.