Ag & Rural Life

Agriculture is the economic lifeblood of Nebraska. Not only do I have a deep personal desire to see rural Nebraska succeed, I have unmatched experience fighting for and standing with family ranchers and farmers in the biggest legal battles and financial struggles of their lives. I understand what is at stake because I have been there with you.

Background:

I was born in a midwife’s home at Laurel, NE and raised on a crop and livestock farm south of Coleridge, NE (pop. 467), in Cedar County. I grew up in production agriculture and the bulk of my professional life has been dedicated to work on behalf of farmers, ranchers, producers throughout Nebraska and across the country. I understand how to protect your way of life. In 2010, I was selected to speak on behalf of producers and serve on a panel at a joint USDA – USDOJ meeting attended by the Attorney General of the United States and the Secretary of Agriculture.

I have taken on the biggest and most powerful who seek to control and destroy family farmers and family ranchers and have beat them. It’s not time to send an experiment to Washington D.C. – send someone who understands your way of life and who has stood with you for decades – even when you didn’t know I was there.

Our Challenge:

Nothing is more vital to a Nation’s security than agriculture.  I agree with much of the Agriculture Act of 2014 which states no government can survive with a hungry population. In the United States, 16 million jobs depend on the strength and continued success of American agriculture. Our farmers grow the safest and most abundant supply of food, fiber and energy in the world.

Innovations in agriculture allow families to put healthy, nutritious food on their tables at a lower cost than in most other countries.   Few, if any, areas are more complex and diverse than the multifaceted functions of producing, safely processing, labeling, distributing, and assuring delivery of safe, adequate food for a Nation as diverse and enormous as ours.

Ranchers & Cattlemen for Domina

If you don’t like substance, ideas, and insight learned from a career of standing with family farmers and ranchers DO NOT watch this video. However, if you care about issues affecting the future of family farming and family ranching, some I bet you aren’t even thinking about, watch:

Read what The Daily Yonder said about the above video: HERE

Farm Bill:

I recognize the Farm Bill touches the life of every single Nebraskan – either as a producer in agriculture, or as a consumer of food. Every Nebraska resident is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. I will not accept campaign support from organizations committed to refusing to support or pass a new Farm Bill. The current one, passed in 2014, will expire before the upcoming term of service for Nebraska’s new U.S. Senator is completed. This makes the Farm Bill an immediate issue, right now. Our state’s most recently elected U.S. Senator took large sums of financial support from persons and organizations committed to never again passing a Farm Bill. We cannot stand for this and we must protect Nebraskans and the engine of our State’s economy.

Infrastructure Improvement:

As noted in the Agriculture Act of 2014 through the USDA’s Broadband Program, the Department provides funds for the construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in rural communities. The program will target funds to rural communities that currently do not have broadband service. Expansion of quality broadband access is critical for the preservation and growth of rural communities. I support these programs in the Farm Bill:

Rural Energy Savings Program:

I support a new loan program, administered by the Department of Agriculture, which will issue zero-interest loans to any electric cooperative or coordinated group of electric cooperatives for the purpose of lending the funds to their customers to make energy saving retrofit and structural improvements.

Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program

We must continue the Beginning Farmer program, which develops and offers education, training, outreach and mentoring programs to ensure the success of the next generation of farmers. The current Farm Bill expands eligibility to include military veterans who wish to begin a career in agriculture and provides $100 million in mandatory funding for this program.

Crop Insurance:

I support strengthening and improving the following coverages:

• Improved Crop Insurance for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers

Beginning farmers and ranchers are eligible for a 10 percentage point discount for all crop insurance premiums. This also provides beginning farmers and ranchers with an improved production history when they have previous farming experience or when they face natural disasters.

• The Supplemental Coverage Option

The Supplemental Coverage Option allows producers to purchase additional coverage on a county basis . This insurance program establishes coverage levels beginning when losses exceed 14 percent and has a premium assistance of 65 percent.

•  Expanded Crop Insurance for Fruit and Vegetable Producers

Crop insurance coverage is expanded for crops including fruit and vegetable. The bill provides additional assistance for crop and vegetable producers to partner with private developers of crop insurance to create improved insurance products. The bill also allows the Risk Management Agency (RMA) to conduct research and development on new or improved crop insurance products. It also creates a new partnership to expand access of index- based weather insurance products for fruit and vegetable growers who don’t have sufficient price or yield data for traditional insurance.

For More Read: Dave’s May 2014 Overview of the Agriculture Act of 2014