Blue
Print for Rural America 2001 Contains the Following:
 he National
Grange is the nation’s oldest rural public interest and general agricultural
organization. Founded on December 4, 1867, the Grange was formed to provide
a legislative voice for agriculture and to foster close community ties for rural
families. Today, 300,000 Grange members, located in 37 states, are leaders
in developing and implementing programs that benefit family farms and the extended
rural community.
In
keeping with the theme: “A New Century, A New Grange”,
the National Grange developed a 10-point program to revitalize Rural America and
return US agriculture to prosperity. Critical in the formation of this program
were the grassroots policy resolutions received from the nearly 3600 local, county
and State Grange chapters across the nation.
1. Address
The Financial Crisis Facing US Agriculture US
agriculture faces its worst financial crisis in more than a decade from a combination
of low prices, weak demand in export markets, increasing costs from rising fuel
prices and interest rates, new challenges regarding genetically modified
crops and the trends toward contract agriculture and corporate consolidations
sweeping the agricultural industry. Addressing this crisis will require
the enactment of short, medium and long term reforms of US agricultural policy. As new policies address these challenges, the goal of federal farm policy must
be to encourage the increased participation in the agricultural sector by the
largest number of individuals and families through the broadest practical distribution
of agricultural production assets.
Action Plan-
1. Support continued federal funding for credit programs, risk management
programs, income supplement programs and environmental stewardship programs that
are specifically targeted to benefit moderate sized family farmers and ranchers,
irregardless of the specific crop or livestock they produce. 2.
Support efforts to open foreign markets to increased exports of US agricultural
products by reducing domestic regulatory barriers to agricultural trade. 3.
Support initiatives to allow farmers to maintain identity preservation of their
crops and livestock products through loans and grants for on-farm storage facilities
and greater flexibility for individual farmers to designate appropriate non-profit
and farmer controlled cooperative commodity promotion organizations as recipients
of their federal and state mandated commodity promotion/check-off program payments. 4. Support interstate shipment of meat and poultry products inspected under state
inspection programs that meet or exceed federal meat and poultry inspection standards.
2. Reform
The Federal Tax System To Preserve Family Farms And Rural Businesses
Congress
should reform the federal tax system to preserve family farms and small rural
businesses. Within a decade, a majority of today’s farmers will be
over 65 years old. For most farmers and small business owners, their farms
and businesses represent the largest portion of their retirement assets. Current
tax laws penalize farm families and rural small businesses that seek to sell their
property to other families, to pass it on to their heirs through their estates
or to preserve the future use of their property in agricultural through the sale
of development or water rights. Tax consequences also make it difficult
for late career farmers to invest in long term soil and water conservation measures. New tax policies regarding the transfer of farm and small business assets are
required to assure that that our current generation of family farmers and rural
business owners are allowed to retire with dignity and that the productive resources
invested in rural America are transferred to a new generation of family farmers
and small business owners.
Action Plan-
1. Support the phase out and elimination of the federal estate tax.
2. Support extending the current $500,000 private residence sale capital gains
tax exclusion to the sale of family farms as well as to the sale of development
or water rights from agricultural land.
3. Support the enactment
of federal tax credits as incentives for environmental preservation, land use
preservation and stewardship of privately held farm land, grazing land and timber
land.
4. Support the enactment of Farm, Fishery and Ranch Risk
Management (FFARRM) Accounts.
3. Enact
Comprehensive Dairy Policy Reforms Since
1985, the National Grange has advocated for the adoption of regional dairy programs.
Since the enactment of the Northeast Dairy Compact, prices for milk in New England
have been stable, consumers have benefited from locally produced milk, and food
assistance programs have been unaffected. Congress should reauthorize the Northeast
Dairy Compact, and authorize additional regional dairy compacts. Congress
should authorize direct, permanent financial assistance targeted at all moderate
sized, family owned dairy operations during times of low prices. At the
same time, nationwide prices for manufacturing grades of milk (used in cheeses,
butter and non-fat powered milk) continue at their lowest point in a decade.
The federal support price of $9.90 per hundredweight is below the cost of production
for most family dairy farmers. Congress should raise the federal dairy support
price. Action
Plan-
1. Support dairy compact legislation at the state and federal
level, including: permanent authorization of the Northeast Dairy Compact and the
expansion of the Northeast Dairy Compact to include all other eligible states
in the Northeast region; creation of a Southern Dairy Compact to include all eligible
states in the Southern region; and explore the formation of dairy compacts among
states in other regions of the nation.
2. Support legislation
to once again make the federal dairy support price a permanent program and increase
the federal support price for manufacturing grade dairy products.
3. Support legislation authorizing direct federal financial assistance targeted
to moderate sized dairy farms when the average price of III milk falls below the
average cost of production
4. Support dairy industry
consensus solutions to supply/herd management, animal health, waste management,
research, and dairy product promotion challenges as reflected in the Principals
of Agreement from the National Dairy Producer Conclaves 2000.
4. Improve
The Quality Of Rural Education The
National Grange strongly supports public education and rural public schools.
In rural communities, the school is the focal point for community activities and
pride. Congress should provide increased federal funding to strengthen rural public
education. Pilot programs should also be started to expand charter schools
and voucher programs in rural communities that are too small to support a traditional
public school program or where student transportation creates excessive burdens.
Full federal funding for payment in lieu of taxes for school districts in counties
containing large federal land holdings must be preserved. Additionally,
we must commit to bring the Internet to every rural room by the year 2005. Action
Plan-
1. Support increased flexibility in federal funding, including
block grants and innovative capital financing programs, for small, rural public
schools.
2. Support pilot programs to expand charter public schools
and/or school voucher programs in rural communities that are too small to support
a traditional public school or where rural school consolidations have created
excessive burdens to transport rural students to and from school.
3. Support efforts to bring high speed Internet connections to every rural
room by 2005.
4. Support full federal funding for
payment in lieu of taxes to local school districts in counties containing National
Forest land, National Park land or other large federal land holdings.
5. Enhance
Public Safety In Rural Areas Grange
members cherish being secure in their homes, free of crime and fear. However,
crime is increasingly making its way into our rural communities. Urban street
gangs recruit new members in rural areas. Drug dealers use rural locations
to manufacture drugs to poison our youth and then leave deadly toxic waste sites
for private landowners to clean up. Existing laws and penalties for the
use of a firearm during the commission of a crime are not adequately applied.
Rural communities are ill-prepared to recognize, prevent and address domestic
violence. The basic rights of violent crime victims in rural areas go unprotected.
Rural law enforcement agencies, often under funded and under trained to deal with
these threats and challenges, strain to provide basic public safety. Action
Plan-
1. Enact strong federal legislation to combat the manufacture
and distribution of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs in rural areas.
2. Support new federal programs to provide state-of-the-art, high
speed Internet communications for every rural law enforcement agency in the United
States.
3. Support the strict enforcement of all existing laws
and penalties pertaining to the use of firearms during the commission of a crime
in lieu of additional restrictions on the right to bare arms.
4. Support programs that recognize, prevent and address domestic violence
in rural areas.
5. Support efforts to strengthen and protect the
rights of victims of violent crime in rural areas.
6. Improve
The Quality And Availability Of Rural Health Care It
is time to focus on the basic requirements for adequate health care in rural America.
We support policies that allow rural citizens to address their medical financial
responsibilities, such as tax deductions for health insurance premiums, Medical
Savings Accounts and long term care insurance. We support choices for medical
insurance that includes fee-for-service and HMO products in rural areas. But even
the best health insurance has no value if there are no local health care facilities
in rural areas to provide basic service. We must repeal the regulatory
barriers rural health care facilities face when they seek equitable reimbursement
for treatments provided under federal health care programs. We must increase
the use of telemedicine in every rural health care facility through high speed
access to the Internet. Action
Plan-
1. Support programs that allow rural residents greater
freedom and personal choice to address their medical financial responsibilities
such as full income tax deductions of health insurance premiums for farmers and
the self-employed, expanded use of Medical Savings Accounts, preservation of traditional
fee-for-service health insurance products, and tax deductibility for long term
care insurance.
2. Support repeal of inequitable regulatory barriers
that rural health care providers face when trying to receive reimbursement from
federal medical insurance programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
3. Support new federal programs to provide state-of-the-art, high speed Internet
communications for every rural health care facility in the United States to facilitate
rural telemedicine programs.
7. Reform
The Endangered Species Act And Other Resource Conservation Programs
The 1973
Endangered Species Act requires that species preservation must be the paramount
goal in any federal decision that affects the habitat or viability of an “endangered”
species. Species are included under the Act only on the basis of biological
conditions. The law does not allow economic impacts on communities or private
property to be a factor in placing a species on the endangered list. Other
far reaching environmental statues, regulations and international agreements create
broad authorities for the federal government to restrict normal, traditional and
customary activities on private and public lands in rural areas without due regard
for sound science or input from persons in the affected areas. The consequence
has been heavy handed federal regulatory programs to direct private and public
land use in many rural communities that create unnecessary animosity and that
fail to meet their conservation goals for a lack of constructive public/private
partnerships. Congress must act to provide better balance between the goals and
the impacts of federal resource conservation programs in rural areas. Action
Plan-
1. Oppose proposals to breach dams along
the lower Snake River for the benefit of Pacific Salmon. Support proposals to
restrict the quantity of fish that may be taken from rivers with threatened or
endangered fish species, as part of any comprehensive fish resource management
program.
2. Support proposals to require that all decisions to
list a species as threatened or endangered must be balanced against the economic
health of the local area, state or region. Allow state governments to manage and
regulate local habitats as part of any endangered species recovery plan, including
the authority to exempt any business, farmer, rancher or landowner who complies
with a state endangered species law from further compliance with federal endangered
species laws.
3.Oppose efforts to impose mandatory, unilateral
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on U.S. farmers and businesses until all
major nations agree to implement similar reductions. Support cost effective, voluntary
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through new energy saving technologies.
4. Oppose the arbitrary reification of farm and forest non-point source
run-off as point source pollution under the USEPA’s Total Maximum Daily Limit
(TMDL) regulations. Support increased funding for voluntary and cooperative measures
to control farm and forest run-off.
5. Support proposals
to preserve and enhance recreational hunting, fishing and trapping on private
and public lands.
8. Address
The Needs Of Foster Children And Foster Parents In Our Communities
The well
being of foster children and the dedicated families that accept these children
into their lives is important to our society. Children placed in foster
care have regularly experienced physical and mental abuse, been denied an adequate
education, and are at-risk for falling into a lifestyle that includes drugs, poverty
and violent crime. Foster parents are licensed professional caregivers and dedicated
volunteers who open their hearts and homes to children from broken families. The
National Grange Foster Parents Program is dedicated to restoring dignity, raising
self-esteem and creating a sense of belonging for all children in foster care
and their foster parents. The National Grange Foster Parent Program promotes this
mission through educational efforts, through advocacy, and by upholding family
values. Action
Plan-
1. Restore funding under Title XX of the Social
Security Act that are used to pay for social services to assist vulnerable children,
including children in foster care.
2. Support new programs to
give children who have received foster care special preferences in receiving federal
grants for education in order to reduce the financial burden on foster families
and adoptive families that are assisting these young persons to pursue a higher
education.
3. Support new initiatives to base each state’s
reimbursement rate for foster care on uniform rate guidelines that are developed
by the USDA that project the cost of raising a child in foster care in each region
of the nation.
4. Support federal tax exemptions for all forms
of foster care services provided to children.
9. Achieve
Energy Security For Rural America Rural
America faces a new and complex energy crisis. Our nation is more dependent on
imported energy than at any time in our history. Price increases for all
forms of energy threaten the viability of many farms and rural businesses.
New programs to promote domestically produced, environmentally friendly, energy
from our nation’s farms languish for lack of political leadership.
Proven reserves of domestically available energy can not be explored or developed.
Cost effective and voluntary energy conservation programs are under funded while
environmentally marginally proposals to increase the regulatory burden on the
agriculture, petroleum, electric utility, trucking and automobile industries will
increase energy costs for everyone. The partial deregulation of the electric
utility industry is causing anxiety in rural areas related to electricity prices
and service reliability. This is especially true in areas where rural electric
cooperative and public power electric utilities have served their rural customers
effectively for decades. For electricity deregulation to be successful,
rural consumers must share equally in the benefits of any electricity deregulation
programs with urban and suburban consumers. Action
Plan- 1. Support programs to promote the use of environmentally friendly alternative fuels,
such as ethanol and biodiesel, that are derived from renewable agricultural resources. 2.
Support opening restricted public lands and waterways (especially in economically
depressed rural areas) to the exploration and development of energy resources
in an environmentally sound manner. 3.
Support increased investments in voluntary energy conservation programs for farms,
homes and rural businesses such as telecommuting, public transportation and car/van
pooling in rural areas. 4.
Oppose any further releases from the National Strategic Petroleum Reserve short
of war or national emergency. 5. Oppose arbitrary energy conservation regulations that will increase costs to farmers
and consumers while providing nominal environmental benefits such as the USEPA’s
Final Diesel Fuel Sulfur regulations and proposals to increase Corporate Average
Fuel Economy standards. 6. Support electricity deregulation as a primary function of state governments, not
the federal government. Oppose electricity deregulation proposals that do
not treat rural consumers as equitably as urban and suburban consumers and that
do not preserve the special status and relationship that consumer-owned rural
electric cooperative utilities and rural public utility districts have with their
customers.
10. Expand
Telecommunications Services in Rural Areas Adequate
access to telecommunications services such as telephone, Internet, satellite and
cable is important to rural America. The Internet delivers services and
products efficiently, irrespective of geographic location. Today, workers who
telecommute can enjoy a rewarding career and a rural life style. Satellite technology
can bring new information to every farm in America. We must assure that
advanced, reliable, and high speed information technologies are available in every
rural community at affordable costs. We must also guard against the possibilities
for misuse. We must assure that children do not access inappropriate materials
through the casual use of these technologies. We must reduce the incident
of Internet fraud. We must protect the privacy of all individuals using
these technologies.
Action
Plan-
1. Support continued federal funding for
the E-rate and rural universal telephone service funds.
2. Support
programs to expand the number of commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
and high speed internet access technologies so that every rural community will
have a local or toll free call number ISPs as well as high speed internet access
technologies.
3. Develop public/private partnerships to assure
that every rural community has access to free over the air broadcast radio and
television services as well as cost competitive cable, fixed wireless, or satellite
dish technologies and services.
4. Support programs to guarantee
that all rural consumers have access to local telephone services, lifeline telephone
services, wireless telephone services and competitive long distance telephone
services.
5. Support programs to protect children from accessing
inappropriate materials from the Internet, to combat incidents of Internet fraud
and to protect the privacy of all individuals who use the Internet.
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