• Plans to ensure economic opportunity for family
farmers: Obama and vice-president elect Joe Biden will fight for farm programs
that provide family farmers with stability and predictability. They will
implement a $250,000 payment limitation so that will help family farmers - not
large corporate agribusiness.
• Regulate CAFOs (confined animal feeding
operations): In the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency
will strictly monitor and regulate pollution from large CAFOs, with fines for
those who violate tough air and water quality standards. Obama said he strongly
supports efforts to ensure meaningful local control.
• Limit EQIP
(Environmental Quality Incentives Program) Funding for CAFOs: Obama supports
reinstating a strict cap on the size of the livestock operations that can
receive EQIP funding so that the largest polluters have to pay for their own
environmental clean up.
• Encourage Organic and Sustainable Agriculture:
Obama said he will increase funding for the National Organic Certification
Cost-Share Program to help farmers afford the costs of compliance with national
organic certification standards. He will also reform the US Department of
Agriculture Risk Management Agency's crop insurance rates so that they do not
penalise organic farmers.
• Develop the Next Generation of Biofuels:
Obama plans to invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes
and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with
the goal of getting the first 2 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the
system by 2013. He will also work to improve the national supply of advanced
biodiesel. From here the Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Fund will speed
the deployment of multiple facilities, according to Obama.
• Invest in
Energy Efficiency: Improving energy efficiency is the fastest, cheapest, most
cost-effective method to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and it results in
significant savings for the US government, economy and consumers, Obama said.
Cost-effective energy efficiency should take priority over the construction of
new generation facilities. Obama will set a national goal of reducing the energy
intensity of our economy 50% by 2030.
• Support small business
development: Obama and Biden will provide capital for farmers to create
value-added enterprises, like cooperative marketing initiatives and farmer-owned
processing plants.
• Country of Origin Labelling: Obama said he supports
the Country of Origin Labelling law. He said American producers should be able
to distinguish their products from imported ones and that consumers deserve the
right to know where their food comes from.
• Improve Food Safety: The
USDA and Food and Drug Administration need more authority to issue and enforce
recalls for contaminated food, according to Obama. He supports efforts to
improve federal food-safety surveillance to better improve the country's ability
to identify, contain and prevent outbreaks. He said he is committed to expanding
resources to inform the public when an outbreak happens so that they can make
good decisions about food safety.
• To spur the development of small
business and value-added agriculture in rural America, Obama intends to help
develop value-added products: The Value Added Producer Grant Program provides
capital for farmers to create value-added enterprises, such as cooperative
marketing initiatives for high-value crops and livestock and farmer-owned
processing plans. These grants are the seeds of new rural business and provide
capital for farmers to create value-added enterprises and cooperatives, such as
onsite or farmer-owned processing plants. Obama said he will increase funding
for this important program.
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