![\"\"](\"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Rally2018-300x225.jpg\")
(West Fargo)\u00a0 \u2013 Leaders of state farm organizations and hunger advocates led a rally Wednesday at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo to show support for agriculture amid ongoing issues with trade, ethanol production, nutrition programs and the farm bill.<\/p>\n
(Photo courtesy NDFU)<\/p>\n
North Dakota Farmers Union president, Mark Watne says,\u201cProjections indicate that we\u2019ll lose another 30 percent in farm income this year.\u00a0 Trade has a direct impact on every farmer\u2019s bottom line, and if efforts to lower ethanol production benchmarks in the Renewable Fuel Standard are successful, it will be a double whammy for North Dakota producers. More than ever, we need a strong crop insurance program, safety net and laser focus on issues that impact farm income.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryan Klabunde, vice president of Minnesota Farmers Union, agreed,\u00a0 saying \u201cWith a depressed agricultural economy, it\u2019s crucial for our family farmers to have good trade agreements and a farm bill. The current uncertainty has put downward pressure on market prices.\u00a0 We call on our elected officials to come to solutions soon that will benefit family farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Dakota Dairy Coalition President Russell Edgar echoed support for equitable trade agreements. In a statement he said, 18.8 percent of all U.S. milk production is exported, some $1.3 billion in milk products to Mexico and $636 million to Canada.\u00a0 U.S. dairy has a $628 billion impact to the U.S. economy.in a statement, noting that a viable guest-worker program is needed in the dairy industry with a streamlined application process for visas. He also called North Dakota a \u201cmilk deficit state,\u201d saying investment in dairy cows and processing is badly needed.<\/p>\n
Melissa Sobolik, director of the Great Plains Food Bank\u2019s Ending Hunger 2.0 program Hunger relief advocates addressed rallygoers, as well, saying,the farm bill is about more than farming; it\u2019s about the entire life cycle of food, from growing to eating.\u00a0\u00a0 As the only food bank in the state of North Dakota, we work with many of the federal nutrition programs in the farm bill and are proud to stand beside farmers, ranchers, commodity groups and rural organizations to ensure we have a strong safety net for those growing the food and for those eating it. Together, we can ensure a strong, bipartisan farm bill is passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sobolik noted that 54,000 North Dakotans rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits to put food on their tables, including farmers, ranchers and rural families.\u00a0 She adds, \u201cSNAP is our nation\u2019s first line of defense to end hunger and we can\u2019t turn our backs on our hungry neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(West Fargo)\u00a0 \u2013 Leaders of state farm organizations and hunger advocates led a rally Wednesday at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo to show support for agriculture amid ongoing issues with trade, ethanol production, nutrition programs and the farm bill. (Photo courtesy NDFU) North Dakota Farmers Union president, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148093"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148124,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148093\/revisions\/148124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}