The partisan split between rural and urban America jeopardizes the future of the panoramic bills that meld farm supports, rural economic development, public nutrition and global food security programs into a single bill, says former agriculture secretary Dan Glickman. Traditionally, a broad coalition of lawmakers was assembled to enact the laws. “The last farm bill demonstrated how tenuous the nature of this coalition has become and the vulnerability of numerous important legislative initiatives on these issues. The future of American leadership on nutrition, farming and hunger is in jeopardy without positive action to rebuild and maintain these bipartisan coalitions,” wrote Glickman on Huffington Post.
Glickman suggested President Barack Obama should “make some personal farm and rural visits to the heartland early next year and listion to the concerns of these folks… Reaching out to rural America just might be a good first step to reinforce the bipartisan traditions of rural America.”