Goodlatte calls Obama out on ag policy

From Rep. Bob Goodlatte yesterday afternoon:

Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte adamantly opposes Senator Barack Obama’s newly revealed stance on agriculture policy calling it outrageous and irresponsible. In a recent interview published in Time magazine, Senator Obama blamed American farmers for high food prices, high energy costs, high healthcare costs, and global warming.

In the article Obama said “our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they're contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs.”

Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte says “blaming the agriculture community for our nation’s health and energy problems is nonsensical and irresponsible. Our American farmers are some of the hardest working people in the U.S. They’re trying to make a living like all other Americans. They do so by growing food, which enables us to provide for our families. It’s grossly unfair to blame them for rising healthcare and energy costs. Is Senator Obama really suggesting that farmers are causing obesity? Is he really suggesting the agriculture community is more of a problem than the transportation sector when it comes to energy? This kind of thinking seems out of touch with the agriculture community and any policies that stem from these ideas will invariably be detrimental to U.S. agriculture. In stark contrast, John McCain understands the value of our farmers and how important rural communities are to our nation’s economy.”