Farmland Preservation was a key topic of discussion at the 142 nd Annual National Grange Convention. Speaking before Grange members from 35 states, Mr. Terry Jones, Chairman of the Connecticut Working Lands Alliance (CWLA) and Henry Talmage, Executive Director of the Connecticut Farmland Trust, (CFT) spoke about the challenges of harmonizing farmland preservation and urban sprawl in a small, relatively populated state.

As chairman of the CWLA, a statewide coalition dedicated to preserving Connecticut’s diminishing farmlands, Terry Jones advocated programs and policies to better the environment and financially support farmland protection. “Farmland is our foundation,” Jones stated, “Family farms are the solid bedrock of our nation.” CWLA members include a broad base of groups including agricultural advocates, environmentalists, state and federal agencies, land trusts, nature conservancies, and other supporters. “We must work together to move forward with land use in the U.S. and make sure we don’t fritter away that most precious of resources, which is the land that feeds us,” Jones said.

Henry N. Talmage is the Executive Director of the Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT), the only private statewide conservation organization dedicated to protecting Connecticut’s working farmland. The Trust works with Connecticut’s farmers to acquire conservation easements, which prohibit development on farmland in perpetuity. “We are losing farmland at a rate of 8,000 acres per year,” Talmage noted. “Our rural character is at risk and agriculture is an important piece of our state’s character and economy.” Because of intense land use pressure, Connecticut has the highest percentage rate of lost farmland in the country. As a result, the state General Assembly has increased funding for farmland preservation allowing over 32,000 acres to be protected. The CFT’s goal is to obtain conservation easements for 130,000 Connecticut acres.

The National Grange policy supports state and federal farmland preservation programs to strengthen, expand, and enforce farmland protection and to save land for food and fiber production.

After a brief history on the start of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, which opened in 1875, Dr. Anderson explained the station’s motto, “Putting Science to Work for Society.” Initially, the station analyzed fertilizer, but quickly branched into other important agricultural fields. Today, the station still studies urban and rural agricultural practices. “The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and the Connecticut State Grange have had a wonderful working relationship for the past 133 years and that camaraderie between the Grange and the Station has been beneficial to both of us,” Anderson stated.

Recognizing the importance of understanding tick borne diseases, Dr. Anderson currently conducts research on microbial pathogens carried by ticks and mosquitoes and the animal and humans they parasitize. His research especially focuses on the microorganisms that cause Lyme disease, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and West Nile fever in humans, horses, and birds. “The Connecticut Experimental Station conducted one of the first blood tests to diagnose Lyme disease,” Anderson told the Grangers. “We were the first to isolate the West Nile Virus in the United States back in 1999 when the disease was affecting people in New York City.”

Anderson stated that every state has an agricultural experiment station connected to an institution of higher learning. “These stations,” Anderson concluded, “produce discoveries where theory and practice march together to further the betterment of mankind.”

Their mission is to effectively advocate for public policies that encourage discovery of important new medicines for patients in the U.S. and around the world. Mr. Gierer attended the National Grange Convention in order to share news about PhRMA’s new health reform initiative entitled “Platform for a Healthy America.”

Mr. Gierer pointed out that our society has made tremendous strides over the past several decades in reducing the burden of disease, extending life, overcoming disability, and advancing new medical treatments to improve the health and quality of life for millions of Americans but he also noted that the U.S. health care system faces serious challenges if it is going to remain the finest health care system in the world. The U.S. health care system suffers from uneven quality, which results in serious disparities in both the quality of health care and health outcomes depending on where they live and what their economic circumstances might be.

According to Mr. Gierer, millions of Americans lack any health insurance coverage. Millions more Americans are underinsured and are at-risk of being unable to address their personal medical responsibilities or foregoing needed medical care due to high out-of-pocket costs and less comprehensive coverage. Health care costs are also rising faster than inflation, making health insurance coverage increasingly unaffordable for businesses, employers, and individual families. The average cost of employer-provided health insurance premiums increased by 5.0% last year and now the average cost of family health insurance is $12,680 annually. Since 1999, average premiums for employer-provided health insurance have increased 119%, far outpacing increases in workers wages (34%) and general inflation (29%).

PhRMA believes, Mr. Gierer told the Grange officers, delegates and members, that all Americans should have access to high-quality, affordable health insurance coverage. Reforms should build on a public/private approach that expand access to private health insurance options coupled with strengthening the safety government’s medical safety net programs such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in

order to fill any gaps that remain. Among the innovative public/private approaches to expand access to health insurance cover age, Mr. Gierer cited: 1) improve access to public health insurance coverage and support states’ efforts to fill-in-the-gaps that remain by automatically covering those who are eligible but not currently enrolled in public health insurance or employer plans; 2) expand private coverage through credits for small businesses, such as family farmers and/or for their low/moderate income employees and families; 3) assure comprehensive coverage, including coverage for generic and brand prescription medicines; 4) support administrative insurance reforms to promote enhanced choice, access, and affordability of coverage; and 5) ensure guaranteed availability of private health insurance to everyone, regardless of health-status.

Mr. Gierer also stressed that health insurance reform, alone, was not enough to address the problems facing the U.S. health care system. Comprehensive health system reforms are also needed to assure all health care consumers greater affordability, value, and quality regardless of the type of insurance or other financial means they have to pay for their health care. He pointed out that health care costs could be substantially reduced through greater efforts at prevention and better managing chronic conditions. He also noted that other systematic reforms could pay great dividends for both patients and those who pay health insurance premiums. These reforms include: 1) education efforts to reduce obesity and promote wellness/prevention; 2) reduce and eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population, such as among those living in rural communities; 3) encourage greater use of evidence-based medicine and comparative clinical effectiveness research so that we can close the gap between what we know works and what kind of care is actually provided; 4) promote greater adoption of health information technology, including electronic medical records and e-prescribing; 5) accelerate the development of new medical advances, including new and more effective pharmaceutical products, which are needed to improve lives and address the cost of conditions that do not yet have effective or optimal treatments; and 6) reduce reliance on lawsuits as a primary means of policing the quality of service provided by the medical profession, without sacrificing strong patient protections.

Mr. Gierer concluded his remarks by sharing with the Grange members some of the efforts that PhRMA has already taken to promote health care reform. He explained that PhRMA created the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), a private industry funded program, a free service, which brings together many partners to help uninsured, financially struggling patients. He thanked the National Grange for being an original and continuing member organization of the PPA. Over 5 million people have been connected to patient assistance programs that provide access to free or nearly free prescription medicines. He cited PhRMA’s strong support for reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, with a focus assuring coverage for those eligible but not yet enrolled. He spoke about the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), a national coalition of over 100 leading organizations committed to advocating for effective strategies to prevent and better coordinate care for the millions of Americans that suffer from chronic medical conditions. Finally, he talked about PhRMA’s leadership role in the Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured (HCCU), a leading coalition of patient, provider, consumer, insurer, and employer organizations committed to developing consensus proposals to cover the uninsured. In conclusion, he encouraged Grange members to take an active role in the upcoming debate on national health care reform to assure that the interests of family farmers and rural residents are heard during the debate. He also pledged PhRMA’s cooperation with the National Grange and all other organizations seeking effective and sensible health care reform.

Acting Assistant U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Hon. Meredith Attwell Baker spoke before delegates and guests at the 142 nd National Grange Convention in Cromwell, CT on Friday, November 14 concerning digital television transition.