John Edwards for President: ARCHIVAL MIRROR-On Day One Of "Barnstorm For Rural America," Edwards Outlines Plan To Restore Hope To Rural America

On Day One Of "Barnstorm For Rural America," Edwards Outlines Plan To Restore Hope To Rural America

Oct 16, 2007 9:07 AM

Discusses Specific Plans To Ensure Fairness For Family Farmers, Strengthen Rural Education, And Revitalize the Rural Economy

Dunlap, Iowa – Today, Senator John Edwards kicks off a two-day, nine-county "Barnstorm for Rural America" across Western Iowa to highlight the families and communities that are too often forgotten in Washington and to discuss his specific solutions to revitalize and restore hope to rural America. Former Congressman Ben "Cooter" Jones, who played Cooter Davenport on the successful television series The Dukes of Hazzard, is joining Edwards on the Barnstorm.

Edwards was born and raised in a small rural town and understands the values and struggles of rural America. He saw what happened when the mill where his father had worked was closed down and jobs were shipped overseas, and has made rural revitalization a cornerstone of his campaign.

"People in Washington think of rural America as a place you fly over when you're going from New York to California - but not me," said Edwards. "I will never forget rural America - it's part of who I am. I am running for president on behalf of my father and the people he worked with at the mill and the millions of hard-working families like the ones I grew up with. This Barnstorm is about bringing attention to the struggles of rural America, which are too often ignored by Washington. As president, I will restore hope and opportunity to small towns and rural communities."

Edwards begins Day One of the "Barnstorm for Rural America" in Dunlap, Iowa, where he will tour the Dunlap Auction House and discuss agricultural issues, including country-of-origin labeling. Edwards will then travel to Harlan to discuss how we can protect family farms. As president, Edwards will stand up to the big agricultural conglomerates and ensure fairness for family farmers by enacting a national packer ban, enforcing country-of-origin labeling, imposing a moratorium on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and targeting farm subsidies to family farmers instead of corporations by limiting payments to $250,000 per person.

Edwards will then travel to Exira, Iowa to hold a community meeting at Exira High School to discuss his plan to strengthen rural schools. Rural schools in Iowa enroll 38 percent of the state's children but receive only 28 percent of education funding. Edwards went to rural public schools and believes we need to do more to make sure young people in rural communities get the same great education he did. As president, he will strengthen rural schools by improving pay for teachers in rural schools to help attract quality new and experienced teachers, creating digital learning opportunities, increasing high school graduation and college enrollment rates and putting Washington on a path to fully funding its share of special education costs. In support of the "Speed Matters" campaign, a project of the Communications Workers of America, Edwards also discussed the importance of high speed Internet access at schools like Exira High School.

In Greenfield and Waukee, Iowa, Edwards will discuss his plans to bring good jobs and economic opportunities back to small towns. Rural manufacturing has been hit particularly hard by unfair trade practices that privilege multinational corporations over workers. Under President Bush, Iowa has lost more than 16,000 manufacturing jobs. Edwards will restore economic fairness to rural America by helping small businesses thrive and grow. He will create the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund, which will provide $1 billion over five years to jumpstart small businesses in rural areas. The REACH Fund will bring capital and management expertise to small town America and connect investors with entrepreneurs in small towns to provide training and support.

For more information on Edwards' plans to ensure fairness for family farmers, strengthen rural education, and revitalize the rural economy, please see the attached fact sheets. For more information on Edwards' full plan to restore hope to rural America, please visit www.JohnEdwards.com/Iowa/Issues

Fairness for Iowa's Family Farmers and Farm Communities

"I don't talk about family farming because of nostalgia. I talk about it because the corporate greed that's killing the family farm is hurting America. These farms and the men and women who work them don't have a hundred lobbyists in Washington. They depend on what small towns in America have always depended on - Americans standing up for each other." − John Edwards

While American family farmers are being forced out of business at an alarming rate, our nation's food supply is increasingly at risk from under-regulated imports. The concentration of corporate farms with destructive land use practices has been slowly killing smaller and medium-sized farms, only the pace is no longer so slow. The connection that Iowa's family farmers have to the communities in which they live, the soil they tend and the crops and livestock they raise benefits all Americans. Just as we need our family farms more than ever, two farmers leave their land every hour. [USDA, 2004]

John Edwards grew up in a small town in farm state. Family-owned farms were a part of the America in which he grew up. America's future - protecting a safe and abundant food supply and achieving energy independence - depends on the survival of our farming communities. To protect family farms and farming communities, Edwards has introduced policies that ensure Iowa family farmers can compete against big agribusiness, protect the food we eat and preserve the land in rural communities.

Ensuring Fairness and Opportunity for Family Farmers

Big corporate farms use their economic power to squeeze struggling family farmers, just as they use their political power to pressure Washington for special treatment. To defend family farming, Edwards will:

Restore Economic Fairness to the Farm Bill: The law today is stacked against family farmers. Unlimited subsidy checks for agribusiness increase the price of land and disadvantage family farms. To ensure a strong safety net for family farmers, while preventing windfalls for agribusiness, Edwards will limit farm subsidy payments to $250,000 per person and close loopholes in payment limits.
Enforce Antitrust Laws: American food production is concentrated in the hands of a small number of very large conglomerates. For example, three companies process 71 percent of the soybean market. Mergers and predatory pricing by big agribusiness are hurting farmers in Iowa. Edwards supports the strict enforcement of laws against anticompetitive mergers and unfair pricing. [Hendrickson and Heffernan, 2007]
Impose a Packer Ban: Large corporate meat packers are driving small and medium-size farmers out of business by influencing livestock prices and restricting access to markets for independent producers. Industrial agriculture fosters a concentration in market power where today just four corporations control approximately 66 percent of the pork market and 84 percent of the beef market. Communities with laws that discourage corporate farming have lower poverty levels, lower unemployment, and more farms with cash gains. Edwards will enact a strong national ban on packer ownership to stop the spread of large corporate hog interests. [Hendrickson and Heffernan, 2007; Cattle Buyer's Weekly, 2003; Welsh & Lyson, 2001]
Boost Biofuel Production: Edwards will create a New Economy Energy Fund - financed by pollution permits and an end to oil industry giveaways - will help develop new methods of producing and using corn and cellulosic ethanol, support loan guarantees to new refineries, and support making the renewable production tax credit permanent. It will also support locally-owned biorefineries with start-up capital, skills training to make sure the jobs go to local residents and investments in public-private research partnerships to develop ways to maximize America's biofuel ouput while minimizing pollution, soil erosion, and water, land and energy use. He will also require oil companies to install biofuel pumps at 25 percent of their gas stations and require all new cars sold after 2010 to be "flex fuel" cars running on either gasoline or biofuel.
Encourage Young Farmers: Senior citizens own half of Iowa's farmland, and young farmers are getting priced out of farming by land prices that have risen 77 percent in real terms over the past decade. Edwards will devote new resources to rural youth development programs and beginning farmer initiatives that connect young people with retiring farmers as well as offering grants, loans, and business advice.

Protecting America's Food Supply and the Communities that Provide It

Degrading and unsafe environmental practices threaten the well-being of our food supply and the rural communities that produce it. As president, Edwards will:

Provide Consumers with Country-of-Origin Information: Despite increasing concern about the safety of imports from countries like China and interest in buying local produce, mandatory country-of-origin labels have been twice blocked by large meat packers, agribusiness lobbyists and retailers like Wal-Mart. Consumers continue to be left in the dark as to where these categories of food come from. Edwards will end the delays and start enforcing mandatory country-of-origin labeling, giving Americans the information they need to choose the best food for their families. This will also help domestic farmers and ranchers by giving consumers the option of choosing safe, American-raised meat and motivate foreign producers to make safety a priority and move our food supply system toward fuller accountability for the safety of what we eat. [USDA, 2007; The Hill, 4/7/05; National Family Farm Coalition, 2007]
Clean Up Cattle and Hog CAFOs: Since 1978, the number of hog farms in Iowa has declined from 59,000 to 8,900 as large-scale livestock operations have displaced family farms. Large-scale lagoons concentrate thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of animals in one location, producing billions of pounds of untreated waste. These concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) leave the odor, health risks, water pollution and long-term costs to be borne by local communities while the farm's profits are exported to corporate shareholders around the world. Due to the enormous amounts of waste and corrosive effects on rural environments, Edwards is calling for a national moratorium on the expansion of existing and the construction of new CAFOs, with an exception for local communities to opt out. Edwards has also proposed new environmental legislation to regulate pollution from existing lagoons and impose tough penalties on polluters. [Honeyman and Duffy, 2006]
Expand Conservation Programs: Farm groups, hunters and anglers, and environmentalists can all agree on one thing: conservation is an incredibly important component of modern farm and land management policy. Edwards supports expanding agricultural conservation programs and simplifying access so more farmers can benefit from them.

Strengthening Iowa's Rural Schools

"Rural America has been ignored for too long, but we are all in this together. We all pay a price when young people who could someday find the cure for AIDS or make a fuel cell work end up getting shut out of the workforce because they didn't get the education they needed." - John Edwards

In America today, children who live in the right zip code get the best education our country can offer, but children in rural and low-income communities face an uphill battle. They see some of the highest dropout rates, lowest college enrollment rates, lowest average teacher salaries and often large school transportation and special education costs that make it next to impossible to invest more resources in raising student achievement. Rural schools in Iowa enroll 38 percent of the state's children but receive only 28 percent of education funding. [U.S. Department of Education, 2007; RSCT, 2005]

Born and raised in a small town, John Edwards knows the struggles of rural Iowa families and believes that America cannot turn its back on the rural communities that are the keepers of American values like family, work, community, and freedom. He believes that no matter where they live, every child should have the same chance to get a great education. As president, Edwards will:

Prepare Every Child to Succeed: Edwards will lead the way toward quality universal preschool by helping Iowa offer "Great Promise" programs for four-year-olds. The first priority will be children in rural and low-income neighborhoods with struggling schools. He also supports Smart Start to promote affordable, quality child care and family health for children under the age of five.
Reward Rural Teachers: Iowa's schools are facing teacher shortages in critical areas such as science and math. Rural schools have particular difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers. Edwards will raise pay for teachers in many successful rural schools by up to $15,000 a year and offer college scholarships for students who commit to teach in rural schools. He will also create a National Teacher University to train excellent teachers to serve in rural schools and other places they are needed most. [Iowa Department of Education, 2007]
Invest in Rural Broadband: While half of urban and suburban children have access to broadband for homework, less than a third of rural children do. Just as FDR's rural electrification initiative brought power to every corner of the country, Edwards will set a national broadband policy with a goal of giving all U.S. homes, schools, and businesses access to real high-speed internet by 2010.
Break Down Educational Barriers: About one in seven rural students in Iowa receives special education services. The federal government's failure to fulfill its obligation to special education and unique funding challenges facing rural schools mean that even a few students with significant special needs can force a rural school to make unbearable tradeoffs. This must change. Edwards will reverse the proposed Bush cuts to IDEA grants and get Washington on a path to fully funding its share of special education costs. [RSCT, 2005]
Create College for Everyone: College enrollment rates in rural areas are the lowest in the country. Two years ago, Edwards helped start a College for Everyone program in Greene County, North Carolina that has increased the college-going rate from 54 percent to 74 percent. As president, Edwards will create a similar national plan to pay one year of public-college tuition, fees and books for more than 2 million students. In return, students will be required to work part-time in college, take a college-prep curriculum in high school, and stay out of trouble. [U.S. Department of Education]
Raise Graduation Rates: Rural teenagers are more likely than suburban teens to drop out of school and to be both out of school and out of work. Edwards will create multiple paths to graduation such as Second Chance schools for former dropouts and smaller alternative schools for at-risk students. He will keep at-risk students in school with the Striving Readers literacy program and one-on-one tutoring. [U.S. Department of Education, 2007]
Support Education Technology: Distance learning through the Internet can bring the content of the world's best universities, libraries, and museums to rural and remote areas. Software programs incorporating virtual reality, digital modeling, and intelligent one-on-one tutoring systems are proven to dramatically accelerate learning. Edwards will invest in cutting-edge research to integrate these new teaching tools and test them in rural America. [Digital Promise, 2003]

Supporting Main Street Businesses and Restoring the Rural Economy

"Rural America's economic potential is enormous. The ingenuity of America's farmers and small town entrepreneurs creates new ideas and new opportunities every day. But when rural communities are shut out of the capital markets, good ideas can't be harvested for good jobs." - John Edwards

Too often, politicians in Washington look out for big businesses in urban centers and ignore the challenges facing rural America. Many small towns in Iowa are struggling: rural workers in the state earn 23 percent less than urban workers. Rural manufacturing has been hit particularly hard by unfair trade practices that privilege multinational corporations over workers. Under George Bush, Iowa has lost more than 16,000 manufacturing jobs. [USDA, 2007; BLS, 2007]

Capital for Small Businesses Is Scarce: Cultivating local small businesses is a promising economic development strategy for rural areas, but less than 1 percent of venture capital goes to rural areas. Only 6 percent of investments supported by New Market Tax Credits program are going to ventures outside of metropolitan areas and none are in rural Iowa. Only 1 percent of state economic development funds support local entrepreneurs. [CDVAC, 2002; Treasury Department, 2006; RUPRI, 2007]
Young People Are Leaving Rural Areas: As young people move away, small towns are turning into ghost towns. Over the 1990s, Iowa lost a third of its college graduates and ranked number two in the out-migration of single college-educated youth nationwide. [Census, 2003; NY Times, 8/8/07]

Born and raised in a small town, John Edwards knows the struggles of rural families. America cannot turn its back on the rural areas that are the keepers of American values like family, work, community and freedom. Today, Edwards explained how his Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund will create new jobs and businesses in rural Iowa and rural areas across America.

Ensure that Rural Areas Have Access to Investment Capital: The REACH Fund will provide $1 billion over five years to jumpstart small businesses in rural areas. It will work with non-profit and for-profit organizations to leverage private-sector dollars by identifying promising investment opportunities for businesses unfamiliar with rural communities.
Bring Management Expertise to Small Town America: The REACH Fund will bring investors from big cities together with entrepreneurs in small towns to provide training and support.
Organize Businesses Into Networks: Rural firms need quick access to the store of informal knowledge and experience that can be found among suppliers, customers, competitors, schools, research institutions, and in the labor force. The REACH Fund will connect businesses that might struggle alone into networks that can succeed together. [Regional Technology Strategies]
Help Young Entrepreneurs: To create opportunities for young Americans in rural areas, Edwards will target 20 percent of his REACH fund for rural entrepreneurs to young adults under 30.
Build on Successful Models: Regional programs like those run by the Rural Center in North Carolina, Coastal Enterprises in northern New England and Kentucky Highlands have proven how small investments in small businesses, combined with technical support, can create good jobs and revitalize struggling small towns. [CSG, Undated]