LINCOLN, NE – Agricultural advocates in rural America, including Nebraska, are calling on the Trump administration to continue investing in small communities. They propose that new federal investments in agriculture wind up in hands of ranchers and farmers in rural communities.
Nebraska Farmer’s Union President John Hansen is cautiously optimistic about how rural policy will look in the new administration, but says it will start with fair competition in the agriculture markets.
Hansen and other rural ranch and farm advocates are calling for increased competition in the supply chain and food processing sectors of the agriculture economy, and for more federal investments at the local level, where he says farmers are facing unprecedented financial stress.
Hansen adds that markets are far more consolidated today than they were when lawmakers created the Packers and Stockyards Act in 1921, especially in beef and pork.
He says consolidation and a lack of market competition have put unprecedented pressure and financial stress on ranchers and farmers, and he says no matter what policies are set in Washington, most solutions happen at the local level.
