SF 3645

2nd Engrossment - 81st Legislature (1999 - 2000) 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 and export tools 
  1.6             designed to protect small and mid-sized agricultural 
  1.7             producers from low commodity prices and 
  1.8             weather-related disasters.  
  1.9      
  1.10     WHEREAS, the 1996 Farm Bill, known as the Freedom to Farm 
  1.11  Act, reduced traditional safety nets designed to protect 
  1.12  agricultural producers during periods of low commodity prices 
  1.13  and weather-related disasters; and 
  1.14     WHEREAS, the Freedom to Farm Act limited the export tools 
  1.15  available to the United States Secretary of Agriculture to 
  1.16  reduce surplus agricultural commodity stocks, including capping 
  1.17  the Export Enhancement Program, Public Law Number 480, and 
  1.18  Section 16 purchases; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, the United States government has imposed over 120 
  1.20  unilateral trade sanctions during the past 60 years, half of 
  1.21  which occurred during the past five years, and these trade 
  1.22  sanctions cumulatively have cost United States farm families 
  1.23  more than $6.5 billion in lost market opportunity; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, since the passage of the Freedom to Farm act, 
  1.25  Minnesota has lost thousands of family farmers due to depressed 
  1.26  agricultural commodity prices, reduced agricultural exports, and 
  1.27  other factors, and the lost farms and depressed agricultural 
  2.1   commodity prices have had a negative social and economic impact 
  2.2   on all Minnesotans; and 
  2.3      WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture has 
  2.4   reported that grain and oilseed prices are expected to remain 
  2.5   below the cost of production for at least the next two years; 
  2.6   and 
  2.7      WHEREAS, because of depressed commodity prices and the lack 
  2.8   of an adequate financial safety net for agricultural producers, 
  2.9   the United States Congress has been forced to approve emergency 
  2.10  farm aid packages over the past two years totaling $14.6 billion 
  2.11  with the bulk of this emergency farm aid going to large farms; 
  2.12  NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.13     BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.14  that it memorializes the United States Congress to repeal the 
  2.15  Freedom to Farm Act.  
  2.16     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Congress 
  2.17  should begin the process of writing a new farm bill with 
  2.18  improved economic safety nets designed to protect small and 
  2.19  mid-sized agricultural producers from low commodity prices and 
  2.20  weather-related disasters. 
  2.21     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should also 
  2.22  contain provisions improving the marketing flexibility of 
  2.23  agricultural producers including the lifting of caps on 
  2.24  marketing loans; reforming federal crop insurance by making it 
  2.25  more affordable, accessible, and flexible; increasing 
  2.26  opportunities for on-farm commodity storage; and breaking up the 
  2.27  economic concentration of the agricultural commodity industry. 
  2.28     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new farm bill should 
  2.29  restore export tools available to the United States Secretary of 
  2.30  Agriculture to reduce surplus agricultural commodity stocks, 
  2.31  including removing the caps on the Export Enhancement Program, 
  2.32  Public Law Number 480, and Section 16 purchases.  The United 
  2.33  States Congress should also act to expand United States trade 
  2.34  law to allow the United States Trade Representative to identify 
  2.35  and take action against those nations that deny fair access to 
  2.36  American agricultural exports. 
  3.1      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States foreign 
  3.2   policy should not include the use of food as a weapon and that 
  3.3   all unilateral food sanctions should be immediately lifted. 
  3.4      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that because small family farms and 
  3.5   ranches are the economic backbone of rural Minnesota, the new 
  3.6   farm bill must target its protections and benefits to family 
  3.7   farmers and ranchers.  
  3.8      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  3.9   State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  3.10  memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
  3.11  States, the President and the Secretary of the United States 
  3.12  Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of 
  3.13  Representatives, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and 
  3.14  Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.