Robin Carnahan: “Yesterday this House passed a bipartisan, veto-proof farm bill strengthening American agriculture. We successfully voted…”

“Yesterday this House passed a bipartisan, veto-proof farm bill strengthening American agriculture. We successfully voted to ease the strain of rising food prices and to make a substantial commitment to land conservation and to our farmers. I want to give special recognition to Chairman Collin Peterson for his leadership and for his visit to Missouri to hold an agricultural forum where we have over 100,000 farms, the second most of any State in the country. Since first being elected, I have been working with local schools and parents to implement a Healthy Kids Initiative. I'm proud that this farm bill helps schools provide healthy snacks to students, with over $1 billion for more nutritious, locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. And for the first time, fruit and vegetable producers, including the wine producers of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, will benefit from more than $1.3 billion for new programs that support research, pest management, and trade promotion. To make the transition from home-grown biofuels from the Midwest and away from dependence on fossil fuels from the Middle East, the bill creates new tax credits to promote the production of cellulosic biofuels. Thank you, Chairman Peterson, and all those who supported this new direction for American agriculture.”