HF 1450

as introduced - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the United States Congress to 
  1.3             immediately begin the process of repealing and 
  1.4             rewriting the Freedom to Farm Act, putting in place 
  1.5             improved economic safety nets designed to protect 
  1.6             small and mid-sized agricultural producers from low 
  1.7             commodity prices and weather-related disasters. 
  1.8      
  1.9      WHEREAS, the 1996 Farm Bill, known as the Freedom to Farm 
  1.10  Act, reduced traditional safety nets designed to protect 
  1.11  agricultural producers during periods of low commodity prices 
  1.12  and weather-related disasters; and 
  1.13     WHEREAS, the Freedom to Farm Act eliminated production 
  1.14  controls available to the United States Secretary of Agriculture 
  1.15  to reduce surplus agricultural commodity stocks and has had the 
  1.16  effect of increasing surpluses in farm commodities and thereby 
  1.17  depressing prices; and 
  1.18     WHEREAS, the Freedom to Farm Act has encouraged further 
  1.19  concentration of agribusiness including the processing, meat 
  1.20  packing, and retail food industries; and 
  1.21     WHEREAS, small and mid-sized producers have found market 
  1.22  access increasingly limited since the passage of the Freedom to 
  1.23  Farm Act; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, the United States government has maintained a milk 
  1.25  marketing order system that is archaic and based on antiquated 
  1.26  technology and is partially responsible for reducing the price 
  2.1   paid Midwestern producers of raw milk; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, since the passage of the Freedom to Farm Act in 
  2.3   1996, Minnesota has lost 1,000 family farmers per year due to 
  2.4   depressed agricultural commodity prices and other factors, and 
  2.5   the lost farms and depressed agricultural commodity prices have 
  2.6   had a negative social and economic impact on all Minnesotans; 
  2.7   and 
  2.8      WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture has 
  2.9   reported that grain and oilseed prices are expected to remain 
  2.10  below the cost of production for at least the next two years; 
  2.11  and 
  2.12     WHEREAS, farm income is projected to drop an additional 20 
  2.13  percent, or $9 billion over the next two years, unless there is 
  2.14  a fresh outpouring of federal aid, according to the 
  2.15  congressionally funded Food and Agricultural Policy Research 
  2.16  Institute, based at the University of Missouri; and 
  2.17     WHEREAS, because of depressed commodity prices and the lack 
  2.18  of an adequate financial safety net for agricultural producers, 
  2.19  the United States Congress has been forced to approve annual 
  2.20  emergency farm aid packages as farm incomes continue to decline, 
  2.21  and in 2000 alone sent out payments exceeding $22 billion with 
  2.22  much of this money going to large farms; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.23     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.24  that it memorializes the United States Congress to repeal the 
  2.25  Freedom to Farm Act. 
  2.26     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Congress 
  2.27  should begin the process of writing a new farm bill with 
  2.28  improved economic safety nets designed to protect small and 
  2.29  mid-sized agricultural producers from low commodity prices and 
  2.30  weather-related disasters.  
  2.31     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should also 
  2.32  contain provisions improving the marketing flexibility of 
  2.33  agricultural producers, including the lifting of caps on 
  2.34  marketing loans to per-bushel rates of corn to $3, soybeans to 
  2.35  $6.50, wheat to $5, and barley to $3. 
  2.36     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should 
  3.1   increase opportunities for on-farm commodity storage. 
  3.2      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should 
  3.3   provide legal tools for breaking up the economic concentration 
  3.4   of the agricultural business, including grain handling, 
  3.5   processing, meat packing, and retail sales industries and ensure 
  3.6   free, fair, and open markets for farmers, regardless of size. 
  3.7      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should 
  3.8   control foreign imports that negatively impact the beef, hog, 
  3.9   sugar, dairy, and grain prices paid United States farmers. 
  3.10     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should 
  3.11  eliminate price disparities between regions created by the 
  3.12  federal milk marketing order system. 
  3.13     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that because family farms and 
  3.14  ranches are the economic and moral backbone of rural Minnesota, 
  3.15  the new farm bill must target its protections and benefits to 
  3.16  small and mid-sized family farmers and ranchers. 
  3.17     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.18  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  3.19  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  3.20  States, the President and the Secretary of the United States 
  3.21  Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  3.22  Representatives, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and 
  3.23  Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.