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Iowa farmer seeks reforms & fewer consolidations

An Iowa farmer says small farms and communities need fewer ag consolidations and less farm program money going into large corporate farm accounts.  

Jerry Rosman from southwestern Iowa is a farmer and a feed commodities hauler.  He’s concerned about the disappearance of rural farms and communities because of consolidation. Rosman says, “As agriculture consolidates down tighter and tighter, and the farms get bigger and bigger, then all of a sudden the school is gone, the grocery store is gone, the local ag supply? Well, they don’t need that anymore because they deal direct.”

Rosman says large corporate farms are using farm program dollars to get even bigger. “The county that I’m from, there’s been two farms sold here in the last two weeks and both of them were bought by the number one and number two recipients of farm subsidies for the county and they paid an exorbitant amount and no one else could touch them. They got enough in that that was their down payment for the year, just what they got out of the FSA office on the thing.”

Rosman knows program subsidy reform and more competition for farm products will be hard to get. “The lid is popped open a long time ago and there’s no getting the jeanie back in there unless there’s some huge reforms done.”

Rosman spoke to Brownfield at the National Farmers Union convention in Bellevue, Washington

Listen to the entire interview with Jerry Rosman here: