Rural America is in crisis.
Incomes for the farms that serve as the Heartland’s economic engine are down nearly 50 percent since 2012 and expected to plunge another 9 percent this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We haven’t seen a drop like that since the Great Depression.
There are fewer farms in America now than at any point since the 1800s. And expect the contraction to continue as the USDA says farm real estate debt is approaching a record set in the early ’80s, when America was in a full-blown farm crisis.
Worst of all, the next generation isn’t so sure it wants to call rural America home.
Today, the average age of the U.S. farmer is 58 years old, and the median adult age for rural America is 51 years – compared to the country average of 37 years.
So how do we reverse the trend? How does the current generation of rural Americans – the senior citizens who’ve enjoyed fulfilling and productive lives in small towns – pass the mantle to tomorrow’s leaders?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It will require a potpourri of sound policy solutions to boost the rural economy, reduce crippling regulatory oversight for businesses, and level the playing field for domestic producers in the world market.
Starting with infrastructure development, we cannot leave rural America cut off from the rest of the country. As a nation, we must invest in both physical and technological infrastructure networks.
We cannot expect Main Street businesses in small towns across the country to compete in a global market when they don’t have access to market channels. Similarly, we cannot encourage youth to create new opportunities in rural America, or to innovate, if it means they are isolated from the rest of society.
That means repairing roads, bridges, water systems, and other critical, but aging, projects. It also means bringing the same levels of internet and wireless services to rural America that the rest of us enjoy, and often take for granted.
We must also rein in the vast regulations that have had costly and devastating effects for rural America. How can we expect to strengthen our rural economy when we’ve tied the hands of farmers and business owners with mounds of paperwork and red tape?
The recent rollback of the Environmental Protection Agency’s egregious Waters of the United States rule was a great start.
I’m encouraged by the cabinet-level nominations of President Trump to help tackle deregulation, and I’m pleased to see the Senate approve the nomination of EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt. Secretary Pruitt’s leadership will play a critical role in walking back harmful environmental regulations, which have stifled rural economic growth.
I am equally eager to watch the Administration’s leadership as they tackle predatory players in the global market. We have too many foreign competitors who have manipulated global markets to the detriment of our domestic producers.
In Congress, I’ve seen leaders emerge on this important issue, including Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) who has proposed a free market “zero-for-zero” approach to global sugar subsidies. Simply, Rep. Yoho’s plan eliminates U.S. sugar policy when foreign entities eliminate their subsidies and unfair trading practices that have made sugar the world’s most distorted commodity market.
While Yoho’s plan is isolated to sugar, there’s no reason it cannot be expanded to other agricultural commodities to help tear down the unfair trading practices of Brazil, China, Thailand, India and others. This is a plan that free-market conservatives and our administration can support.
It is no secret that rural America turned out in a big way for President Trump on election night. And so far, it looks like President Trump is turning out in a big way for rural America.
Thank goodness, because continuing the current direction of things in the countryside would be a disaster for us all.
James L. Martin is the Founder and Chairman of the 60 Plus Association, a nonpartisan seniors advocacy group with a free enterprise, less government, and fewer taxes view towards issues important to seniors.
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