Tom Harkin: “It would be a huge mistake to walk away from this bill--for farmers all over the upper Midwest. It would be a mistake…”

“It would be a huge mistake to walk away from this bill--for farmers all over the upper Midwest. It would be a mistake for farmers in Michigan, and especially in New England. In New England, the dairy farmers have been helped immensely: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island--all of the dairy States. One other group has been helped immensely, and that is the small specialty crop farmers, those who grow blueberries, potatoes, and other kinds of vegetables, including apples, and there are many in New England. They will be helped immensely. As the Senator from Michigan stated, we have a $200 million annual floor on purchases of specialty crops. That is what the farmers in New England grow. They have never had anything like this. It wasn't in the Freedom to Farm bill. If this conference report is defeated, that means New England farmers will not have anything. They will have nothing. Under this farm bill, they are going to be a part of our agricultural structure for the future. It would be a shame to walk away from this today--walk away from the farmers in New England, the farmers in Michigan, or in the upper Northwest. It would be a shame to walk away from the great strides we have made in nutrition.”