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Since the House of Representatives passed their 2007 Farm Bill, the Center for Rural Affairs has roundly criticized its flawed provisions – especially regarding payment limits – while praising the good ones. In turn, we have been criticized ourselves for being too “confrontational” and not understanding the need for farm bill “compromise.” Evidently, we’re supposed to put in our two cents early in the farm bill process, and then sit back and be pleased with whatever crumbs our elected representatives feel like tossing our way.

That isn’t going to happen, and I can tell you why – because we live and work in rural America. So do most of our supporters. We see the effects of poorly designed rural policy every day. Our hometown of Lyons, Nebraska suffers because of misplaced priorities and decades of rural policy that has had the effect of decimating rural communities.

Today, I’m eating lunch from the Depot, a local restaurant operated by a retired couple, who are obviously not all that retired. They’ve had a for sale sign in their window for at least a year, since I moved here. They just got a new realtor and a new for sale sign, so perhaps they will close soon, for good.

In the next few weeks, I’ll watch the Senate farm bill proceedings over the Internet. I’m lucky that I can do so. Many rural areas don’t have broadband, and the USDA broadband loan program has spent a whole lot of money subsidizing Internet access in not-so-rural places already being served. Recent news articles detailing how rural broadband money has been sent to suburban areas has generated outrage in Congress – but little discussion of how to make sure every community has access to the most crucial utility of the 21st century.

Many citizens of Lyons are trying to save our Opera House, the most architecturally significant building in Lyons and the visual anchor of our downtown. It has been vacant for more than 20 years, and the roof is falling in. Recently, a large chunk of one of the walls fell in a storm, and we have some barricades around the building to protect passersby.

During our annual community festival (Bluegrass Days) in July, the population of Lyons went up at least 25 percent for a couple days. It was something to see. I’ve only lived here for a little over a year, and for the first time I could envision a thriving, prosperous Lyons. Most of those who came used to live here. Now they don’t, because there are no jobs.

During the House farm bill debate in July, several lawmakers said this farm bill is about supporting rural America. Maybe they really believe it. And several said that this farm bill is a “first step” towards some sort of nebulous reform, so everyone should vote for it.

It appears to me we’ve taken that “first step” many times. When is the last step taken? Farm bills only come around once every five years. How many farm bills do we have to go through to get real payment limits and a serious investment in rural economic development? When will we stop investing in mega-farms and start investing in the future of Lyons, Nebraska?

The Center for Rural Affairs has been fighting for legislation that could help revitalize rural America for decades. We have been fighting to say, once and for all, that the farm bill is about helping small and mid-sized farms and rural communities. Period. You can’t do that while you’re sending million dollar subsidy checks out the door to mega-farms that drive their neighbors out of business.

The farm bill that came out of the House of Representatives will keep those checks flowing, and there are those in the Senate who will fight to keep those checks as well. So don’t tell me about “necessary” compromises, or about “keeping agriculture united.” Of all the constituent groups involved in the farm bill process, rural Americans and family farmers are the ones most often invoked by legislators to justify their actions, yet it appears to me they are the least heard.

This is why we get angry and “emotional.” These legislators get up and talk about how the farm bill is about supporting rural America and family farmers, and there are provisions in the farm bill that do so. But we need more policy designed to support rural communities, and the values they hold. A lot more.

Those rural values are the backbone of this country. But the principle of supporting true family farms and rural communities is lost in the “compromises” that always occur come farm bill time. We will not sit back and be silent while those compromises occur. We are not compromising on our principles. And we never will.

Contact: Dan Owens, dano@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1017 to share your comments and questions. Dan is our rural organizer.