Republican Platform Defends Freedom to Farm

July 31, 2000

As the Republican Party gathers in Philadelphia to nominate George W. Bush and Richard Cheney as their standard bearers for the presidential race, the party faithful will be called on to approve a platform that defends the 1996 farm act. The so-called Freedom to Farm law "ends the command-and-control policies that have choked the entrepreneurial spirit of rural America."

The law "permits experimentation with new crops and new markets, just in time to meet an explosion in worldwide demand for food, fiber, fuels and industrial products. We reaffirm our historical and continuing support for the expanded use of biodiesel and ethanol to improve the rural economy and reduce our dependence on imported oil," according to the platform statement on agriculture.

Republicans "see a very bright future for agriculture and rural America," the statement continues. "Our program to strengthen rural America will benefit every sector of the economy and every part of the nation."

The GOP wants to "reduce the tax burden - both the estate tax and the capital gains levy - on those who produce America's food and fiber. This is essential to preserve production agriculture. Just like urban small businesses, rural producers need full deductibility of health insurance premiums and an overall tax structure that is simpler and fairer."

Deficit spending by government is "death by strangulation for agriculture." Farms are major users of capital with more than $150 billion in current borrowing. "Interest payments are one of their heaviest burdens." The Republican balanced budget of last year, vetoed by President Clinton, "would have saved farmers more than $15 billion in interest costs by the year 2000," the platform statement says.

"For the new century, as in the days of Lincoln, farming must look ahead to innovation and constant improvement, especially biotechnology and precision farming techniques," according to the Republican Party.

The entire statement on agriculture and related topics can be found on the Internet at http://www.yologop.org/plat7.htm#ag.