Thread: N.C. congressmen say they want to lower costs for farmers

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/local/article_ap?id=81846

Published on Tuesday, March 07, 2006

N.C. congressmen say they want to lower costs for farmers


RALEIGH, N.C.
The Associated Press
With the tobacco quota buyout finally complete, Congress must now focus on helping farmers survive the crush of high fuel and labor costs that threatens their livelihood, three North Carolina congressmen said Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that energy is costing farmers $5.2 billion more now than it was a year ago, said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C.

"If we're going to continue to feed ourselves, we need to keep the farmer on the farm," Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., said at the Congressional Farmers Breakfast at the State Fairgrounds.

Etheridge said he wants to examine how farmers can provide alternative sources of fuel and help draw up trade agreements to benefit farmers.

These and other pressing agriculture issues will get closer review in the coming months as Congress examines the renewal of a 2002 farm bill, the lawmakers said.

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., took aim at farm subsidy cuts in President Bush's budget proposal. Agriculture is often treated as a "scapegoat" for budget constraints that lately are more the result of national debt and the cost of the war in Iraq, he said.

"We're not going broke in this country because we're doing too much to support and sustain agriculture," said Price, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Miller added that comprehensive immigration reform is needed to ensure a dependable, affordable work force. Tobacco growers have said labor is their greatest cost, nearly twice as costly as machinery or fuel for curing the leaf.

Many of them employ immigrant laborers, and the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina's top resolutions include asking Congress to revise the guest worker program so that temporary visas for laborers are easier and cheaper to get. The fee to process visas and transport workers is nearly doubling to $900 for each worker, and the hourly wage is kicking up 30 cents to $8.58, tobacco farmers have said. Some believe they should be paying closer to $6.50 an hour.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is debating national immigration changes and has several competing bills before it. One, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would allow illegal workers now in the United States to obtain a three-year work visa that could be renewed one time for another three years.

Miller said he also supports a visa program that would provide temporary workers.

"I do not know what the right answer is," Miller said. "I know what the wrong answer is and it's what we have now."

Tobacco farmers need to read the writing on the wall and find another crop or business. It's a dieing business and we don't need to artificially prop it up with our tax dollars.