Ron Kind: “I represent over 10,600 family farmers in my congressional district alone. What we are proposing here should not be…”

“I represent over 10,600 family farmers in my congressional district alone. What we are proposing here should not be perceived for a second to be antifarmer. It is rather how can we help effectuate good farm policy for basically the next 10 years. There is one crucial aspect in regards to these subsidy payments that I think a lot of our colleagues have ignored or just overlooked, and that is the trade implications. I mean historically, a round of trade discussions have usually dealt their fatal blows over disputes over farm policy. Now we are starting to hear the rest of the world in a single chorus cry out against the tremendous amount of subsidies that we are piling on in this next farm bill and encouraging retaliation on their part, but even more than that, encouraging bad faith negotiation in the next round of trade discussions which are important to our family farmers, but also important for economic growth in this country.”