Farm Issues in Campaigns

AMERICAN FARMERS EACH produce enough food to feed themselves and more than 79 other people, making them the most efficient producers of food in the world. While it is true that farmers and agriculturalists represent less than two percent of the U.S. population, farmers have influenced politics greatly. For the most part, farmers become involved in issues that directly pertain to them, largely due to their support of special interest groups.

There are hundreds of special interest groups for all types of agricultural commodities, including honeybee, wool, pork, and almond producers. The Florida Citrus Council, the American Dairy Association, the Peanut Growers Group, and the National Soybean Association are all examples of special interest groups associated with agriculture.

Each of these special interest groups engage and lobby candidates to get their issues on the local campaign agenda of incumbents and aspiring politicians. While most agricultural special interest groups lobby at the local and state level, several groups lobby at the national level. They include the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Agriculture Movement, and the National Farmers Union.

The American Farm Bureau Federation or American Farm Bureau was established in 1919, and has more than five million members. It is viewed as conservative in ideology, and was instrumental in the establishment of “fair” prices during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The American Farm Bureau Federation has developed a political platform pertaining to the renewal of the 2002 Farm Bill, due for renewal in 2007. This platform, in addition to maintaining balance and benefits to all farm sectors, while remaining fiscally responsible, addresses such issues as standing catastrophic assistance, milk income-loss contracts, the establishment of the Office of Special Counsel for Competition at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the expansion of the School Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program in every state. The American Farm Bureau hopes to make these issues salient in the 2008 election.

The American Agriculture Movement (AAM) started in 1979 at a time when agriculture was in trouble. To get the attention of those seeking elected office, farmers joined together and drove their tractors to Washington, D.C., threatening to go on strike.

Farmers learned to tell their story in front of television cameras, radio talk shows, and other local and national media outlets. When Congress reconvened on January 18, 1978, 50,000 farmers were in Washington, D.C. to greet them. On March 15, 1978, 30,000 farmers marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in one of the [Page 231]largest farm demonstrations ever. Since its inception in 1985, AAM has been a major participant in the passage of the 1987 Farm Credit Act, which made it possible for thousands of farmers to avoid foreclosure by restructuring their debt. AAM has helped to make the public aware that farmers have not been responsible for food price inflation and has worked to expose the role agribusiness plays in shaping agriculture policy. AAM plans to expand its base to include not only agricultural issues, but also rural issues. AAM is working on the problems of rural healthcare, property rights, and other problems facing rural neighbors. In so doing, AAM places key issues on the campaign agenda for the electorate to consider.

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