Obama and Agriculture
By Cindy Posted: November 5, 2008

How will agriculture fare under an Obama presidency? In an interview during the campaign with farm broadcaster Stewart Doan of Agri-Pulse, Obama talked about his agricultural policies.
“Number one, I come from an agricultural state,” Obama said. “As you know, Illinois has a lot of corn and a lot of beans and that means that during the time I was in the state legislature as well as in the United States Senate I’ve gotten familiar with agricultural issues and I have consistently been a strong supporter of agricultural issues.”
Obama says he supported the 2008 Farm Bill, “because I think that its important for us to have a strong safety net, food security requires it.” He also supports more reliable disaster relief for farmers and has been a strong supporter of biofuels.
When it comes to trade, Obama says his administration will be different than the Bush administration. “I want to see us move forward on a new round of agricultural trade agreements,” Obama said. “But I am going to be a tougher negotiator when it comes to trade than the Bush administration has been.”