What are leaders doing for farmers: not much.

From our perspective, every candidate needs to get out into rural agricultural areas and listen and learn. And while there are alternate policies preferred by different farmers and farm organizations, there is virtually no dissension on identifying the problem. At the same time, farmers from left, right, and center agree that the current low prices are disastrous. Some see echoes of the 1980s in the rising level of farm bankruptcies. The candidates need to understand that the current low-price situation is no anomaly; agriculture is characterized by long periods of low prices punctuated by single years and short periods of higher prices.So, what are our political leaders doing to maintain a balance between our nation’s agricultural capacity and the utilization of that capacity in a way that allows farmers receive prices that enable them to remain on the land?From our perspective: not much.