A news release yesterday from Rep. Antonio Delgado (D, N.Y.) stated that, “Today, [Rep. Delgado] responded to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s comments Tuesday that there is no guarantee small farms will survive. This is the latest in dismissive comments from USDA Secretary Perdue about small, family farms that make up the backbone of the upstate New York community.
“‘Secretary Perdue, Upstate New York is home to thousands of small family farms. These farms are a critical part of the fabric of our community, they have been passed down from generation to generation, overcoming volatile market conditions and years of operating in the red.’ Delgado continued, ‘The demise of these operations is not an inevitability, it is a choice informed by misguided policies entrenching the interests of big/corporate agriculture at the expense of small family farms. I urge USDA to work with me and my colleagues in Congress on thoughtful and proactive policies to reverse the alarming industry consolidation we’re seeing today. As with passage of my bipartisan Family Farmer Relief Act and my proposal to make farmers eligible for student loan forgiveness, there are important steps Congress and USDA can take to alleviate the struggles of these hard-working families.'”
The release added that, “This August, President Trump signed Representative Antonio Delgado’s bipartisan legislation, the Family Farmer Relief Act—which eases the process of reorganizing debt through Chapter 12 bankruptcy rules, a tool created specifically to help family farmers during tough economic times. This flexibility will allow more farmers to remain operational during this down farm economy. Delgado also helped introduce the bipartisan Young Farmer Success Act which would incentivize careers in agriculture by adding farmers and ranchers to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, an existing program that currently includes teachers, nurses, first responders, and other public service professions. Additionally, Delgado is a cosponsor of legislation to remove unnecessary regulation barring schools from offering whole milk to students.”
