Dean Unveils Rural Development Plan

Thursday August 14, 2003 6:09 AM


By AMY LORENTZEN

Associated Press Writer

DIKE, Iowa (AP) - Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said he hopes to strengthen the nation's rural economy with a plan that includes new venture capital investments and tax credits for farm-based businesses.

Dean, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, said Wednesday that the foundation of the nation's rural economy is crumbling under the Bush administration, which he said supports corporations and not family farmers who are tied directly to the success of rural economies.

``Opportunities are fewer. Poverty rates are shameful in rural America. The number of families living in poverty is 50 percent higher than everywhere else in this country,'' he said. ``Almost 500,000 rural Americans fell below the poverty line in George Bush's first year in the White House. We have to do better than that.''

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Dean said his goal is not only to revive rural economies through measures such as seeking a 50 percent boost in grants to aid businesses, but also to reward sound environmental stewardship and return the virtues of capitalism and competition to American agriculture.

The proposal includes restrictions on factory farms which would give local residents veto power over where giant livestock confinements are built. That idea received a loud round of applause from the group, which gathered on a graveled lot overlooking the lake.

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Dean's proposal includes prohibiting meat packer ownership of livestock, promoting renewable energy sources such as wind power and requiring a 10 percent mix of ethanol in gasoline.

He wants to force the disclosure of where products are grown by implementing country-of-origin labeling. The measure was included in the farm bill, but Dean said implementation has been delayed by Bush.

``American consumers should have the ability to buy American if they want to and farmers should be able to enjoy the premium that consumers are willing to pay for quality American products,'' he said.

The proposal also includes a labeling requirement which would tell consumers if they are buying genetically modified products.

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Dean referred to the president's Texas ranch when criticizing Bush's connection with rural America.

``We can't afford four more years of a president who treats rural America like it's nothing more than a campaign prop. We need a president who will make the investment in our rural communities that America deserves,'' he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3025403,00.html

Let's go after that usually Republican farmer vote by proposing bills that will benefit them.

heard any of the other candidates say. Maybe they have---I just haven't heard it. Dean is a very smart man and has a lot of good ideas. With luck, he'll have a chance to implement some of these plans. Gawd knows we need a president who actually has a brain and knows how to use it.

Now I wonder how long it will take for some Dean-bashers to rain on this parade? One, two, three and counting...

Rural America is really hurting. There was an NPR segment about a week ago on one of the senators' efforts to shore up opportunities and make it attractive to live there. The ideas sounded good but this sounds even better.

Re the corporate livestock, this would help those people who all of a sudden find a massive pig farm materializing next to their property. This story has been featured on 60 Minutes. My heart went out to the activists fighting on this one.

There is plenty of opportunity for rural America if we would just focus our efforts there. Why outsource jobs when people there would be happy to take that work and do it for a reasonable rate. At least keep the dollars/jobs in the country. Another area is wind farming. Sections of the north central plains would benefit greatly by this but noooo-oooo, we have to get our energy almost exclusively from petroleum.


Cher

Waht is the meat packing isue about though? Why is that a problem?

I believe the problem is that it helps the packers to control the prices they pay for the live animals. It's all part of the conglomeration in the ag industry -- which basically means lower prices for farmers while the costs keep rising and the risks (lousy weather, sick animals) don't lessen. Most smaller farmers can't make a decent living these days unless they specialize (e.g. organic) or work off the farm. I don't talk farming issues with my brother (grain farmer mostly), but I know he didn't clear more than 15K or so last year. If his wife didn't work a fairly good job off the farm...

Think I'll go write him another check. ;-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=20267

There's the whole speech from yesterday.

His call for environmental regulation, and local control of siting, of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (factory farms) may actually lose him some farm votes in Iowa's livestock areas. But he's doing the right thing for the right reasons.

And his Rural Development incentives remind me of a populist politician from the turn of the Last Century:


"...You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country."


William Jennings Bryant's, "Cross of Gold" speech July 7, 1896