Amy Klobuchar: “America's farm safety net was created during the Great Depression as an essential reform to help support rural…”

“America's farm safety net was created during the Great Depression as an essential reform to help support rural communities and protect struggling family farmers from the financial shocks of volatile weather and equally volatile commodity prices. Almost 75 years later the reasons for maintaining that strong safety net are still there. The weather is still volatile, as we have seen this year. Crops are still subject to blight and disease. Farming is still a very risk-intensive business. We have seen prices going up and down--recently down in Asia--as we have seen investment and speculation in the farm market. I think it is very important that we have a safety net as we look at our food security so we don't get in the same place as we are with our lack of energy security.”