Chuck Grassley: “I rise to speak about agriculture because it is a very important industry in my State. The legislation that I am…”

“I rise to speak about agriculture because it is a very important industry in my State. The legislation that I am introducing today, with Senators Pressler and Baucus, is bipartisan in sponsorship and changes the treatment of what are referred to as the aggie bond provisions of our tax statutes. We call this the Aggie Bond Improvement Act. This legislation is important because of the changing scene of agriculture, the inability of young farmers to get started in farming, and particularly because today the average age of farmers. In my State of Iowa, and I think in most agricultural States, farmers average in their upper fifties. In 5 to 6 years we will have 25 percent of the farmers retiring. Hence, the necessity for improving programs to encourage young people to go into farming is clear. We introduce this bill today for with this purpose in mind. This legislation will recondition and strengthen the popular first-time farmer programs administered by various State authorities.”