Our friends at Harvest Public Media have noted a dramatic uptick in campaigning from both local and national campaigns this year owing both to the devastating drought that has hit much of the Midwest, as well as the perennial debate over farm subsidies.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced his “ Farmers and Ranchers for Romney” coalition on Wednesday. A few days earlier, President Barack Obama spoke to constituents in Iowa about passing the farm bill.
“The best way to help these states is for the folks in Congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natural disasters but also makes some necessary reforms and gives farmers and ranchers some long-term certainty,” President Obama said.
Political scientists and agricultural economists agree all elected officials campaign for farmers' votes during election years. But this is the most attention they’ve seen farmers get in decades.
“This isn’t really a new phenomenon but it’s probably more intense now,” said Dr. Neil Harl, who's been teaching economics and agriculture at Iowa State University for more than 40 years. “At least I can’t remember an election cycle (like it) and I’ve been watching it since the 1936 election when (Alf) Landon ran against (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt.”
Dr. Darryl Ray, who heads up the University of Tennessee Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, says two things have made this election cycle so focused on farm policy: the farm bill, which is the $960 billion piece of agricultural legislation set to expire on Sept. 30, and the drought that’s dried up so much of the Midwest.
“What we’re looking at this time around is a tremendous increase in the amount of money that’s going to go to farmers from insurance,” Ray said.
The drought and July’s searing heat, which has ruined many farmers’ corn and soybean crops and has put a severe strain on livestock producers, could mean up to $20 billion will be paid out to grain farmers in crop insurance subsidies, according to Ray. Insurance companies will be footing most of that bill, but not all of it.
“There will be a significant amount that will come from the federal government,” Ray said. “And this is, you know, not a good time for talking about additional expenditures for any group of folks. So it’s a tense time for lots of politicians.”
Read the rest of this piece, which details the way local campaigns are incorporating the narrative, at Harvest Public Media.
