Barack Obama and Agriculture

Barack Obama has represented a farm state in the U.S. Senate, and understands the challenges and opportunities facing American farmers. His plans include initiatives that would directly benefit Louisiana's farmers and major crops such as sugar cane:

Expand Locally-Owned Biofuel Refineries:  Less than 10 percent of new ethanol production today is from farmer owned refineries. New ethanol refineries help jumpstart rural economies. For example, it has been estimated that a 40 million gallon ethanol refinery will add up to 120 jobs, expand a local tax base by $70 million per year and boost local household income by $6.7 million annually...

Barack Obama believes we must ensure that local investment continues to play a significant role as the biofuels industry continues to expand and evolve. Obama will create a number of incentives for local communities to invest in their biofuels refineries, including expanding federal tax credit programs and providing technical advice to rural communities that are in a strong position to open their own refineries. Obama will also provide an additional subsidy per gallon of ethanol produced from new facilities that have a minimum of 25 percent local capital, and he will provide additional loan guarantees for advanced ethanol facilities with local investment.

Develop the Next Generation of Biofuels:  Barack Obama will work to ensure that advanced biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, are developed and incorporated into our national supply as soon as possible. Corn ethanol is the most successful alternative fuel commercially available in the U.S. today, and we should fight the efforts of big oil and big agri-business to undermine this emerging industry. But it represents only a drop in the bucket of our energy demands and making ethanol from corn has some significant limitations. Today we produce about 5 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol per year while we use about 140 billion gallons of gasoline. Even if we are able to double – or even triple – production of ethanol from corn this will still offset only about 10 percent of our gasoline demand. These constraints reveal the scope and scale of our energy and environmental challenges...

Obama will invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first two billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013. Obama will also work to improve the national supply of advanced biodiesel. From here the Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Fund will speed the deployment of multiple facilities.

View Obama's energy factsheet.

Ensure Economic Opportunity For Family Farmers

Strong Safety Net for Family Farmers:  Obama will fight for farm programs that provide family farmers with stability and predictability. Obama will implement a $250,000 payment limitation so that we help family farmers — not large corporate agribusiness. Obama will close the loopholes that allow mega farms to get around the limits by subdividing their operations into multiple paper corporations.

Encourage Organic and Local Agriculture:  Obama will help organic farmers afford to certify their crops and reform crop insurance to not penalize organic farmers. He also will promote regional food systems.

Encourage Young People to Become Farmers:  Obama will establish a new program to identify and train the next generation of farmers. He will also provide tax incentives to make it easier for new farmers to afford their first farm.

Partner with Landowners to Conserve Private Lands:  Obama will increase incentives for farmers and private landowners to conduct sustainable agriculture and protect wetlands, grasslands, and forests.

View the rural support plan.

John McCain, by contrast, has a long record of opposing agricultural support and the sugar support program in particular. He attempted to completely eliminate the sugar support program in 2000, and has spoken out against it on numerous occasions, equating the program with “pork-barrel politics:”

“We must end inequitable special-interest subsidies, such as [the] sugar, peanut and ethanol industries...” - Dayton Daily News, 3/7/00.

McCain Assaulted Sugar, Attempting To "Uproot" Government Support For Sugar Farmers. "Senators from sugar-producing states, including Louisiana, on Wednesday beat back another in a series of efforts to uproot the government system of price supports for sugar farmers. The assault this time came in the form of an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriations bill by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who called for a one-year suspension of the federal government's sugar program. His amendment was defeated 66-33, a margin only slightly more lopsided than a similar vote in the Senate two years ago….The program offers annual, low-interest loans to sugar farmers and sets strict import quotas. McCain and other opponents claim the program amounts to a generous subsidy for a small group of politically connected 'sugar barons' in South Florida and artificially keeps prices high." - Times Picayune, 8/5/99.

“John McCain and Louisiana's Farmers,” McCain Myth Buster, DNC

For more information visit:

"Obama Better on Agriculture," Nebraska Democratic Party

"Barack Obama for Rural America" Obama for America