The Center for Rural Affairs’ mission is to establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all, while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and the future of their communities. To do that, we need a farm bill which helps rural America. While a great deal of this work is done on the ground and in communities, the overarching influence of the farm bill on every facet of this work cannot be ignored.
The Center’s farm bill priorities continue our decades-long work of addressing the real needs of rural communities. These proposals will support family farms. They will preserve natural resources for our children and grandchildren. They will create opportunity for the next generation of beginning farmers. They will foster rural economic opportunity. Congress has a responsibility to serve rural citizens through the farm bill, and these proposals offer a path for them to do so.
We urge Congress to prioritize and support the needs of rural communities through these priorities, and to pass a new farm bill before the current one expires on Sept. 30, 2018.
