Food and Farm Caucus Priorities -

The Kansas Democratic Party Platform

“Kansas Democrats believe what brings us together is far stronger than what divides us. We strive to protect the freedom of the individual, while working together to actively contribute to the vibrancy and vitality of our communities.”

These are the opening words of the 2021 Kansas Democratic Party Platform - a visionary document that speaks to our shared values and commitment to progress. The Food and Farm Caucus of the KDP gives particular priority to policies that Support our Agricultural Economy and Strengthen our Rural Communities. We share these key sections of the Platform:

KDP Platform Section #16:

Supporting Our Agricultural Economy

The foundation of any society is the ability to grow food, feed its people, and maintain agriculture as an economic generator. Kansas Democrats believe farmers and rural economies should be protected and sustained for the good of all Kansans. We believe in celebrating and promoting the products that are grown and produced in Kansas.

Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and culture. Utilizing smart farming and ranching practices and encouraging environmental stewardship, while expanding markets for our products, will ensure that Kansas agriculture will continue to grow and thrive for the foreseeable future.

The Right to Fair Capital

Many Kansas farmers struggle to pay high prices for seed, chemicals, and other crop inputs. We believe there should be an assurance of a fair return for farmers achieved by development of U.S. export markets, expansion of world trade under conditions which promote fair tariff and subsidy practices, and restoration of fair market pricing in the marketplace to meet the cost of production, plus a fair return for labor and investment. Kansas Democrats want to ensure that family farmers and small businesses can equally access fair credit, too.

Kansas Democrats recognize that Black and minority farmers and ranchers face systemic challenges in the agricultural economy and support funding and resources specific to under-represented populations to ensure equity.

The Right to a Brighter Future

High costs and low prices have forced many of our farmers to work two or more off-the-farm jobs, while others have left farming entirely. Kansas Democrats strongly believe that the next generation of farmers need us to invest in new economic opportunities and access to basic services. This should happen regardless of location, education funding, health care, mental health services, hospitals, and the proper public funding of extension offices so that the best and wide array of agricultural policies are available to all Kansans.

Kansas Democrats understand the need to protect our soil and water as a habitat for pollinators, for wildlife, and for future generations of farmers, ranchers, and hunters. This is best accomplished by research, education, and keeping the land in the hands of family farmers. Protecting soil and water resources from non-point source pollution leaching into the ground from rain and farm runoff cannot be overlooked.

Kansas agriculture requires adequate crop insurance, good land use planning that protects prime agricultural land, and continuation and enhancement of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to meet multiple national goals for environmental, emergency, energy, wildlife, and other uses. Kansas Democrats support publicly sponsored agricultural research including responsible biotechnological research to enable the reduction of the use of farm chemicals and other expensive production aids.

We support sustainable food production that includes local production and adequate infrastructure for production and delivery to market. We support local food production and processing, farmers markets, community gardens, and the elimination of food deserts in both rural and urban areas.

We support helping farmers use organic, or sustainable production methods and diversifying crop production, including industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity for a wide range of products. Kansas Democrats support promotion of crops that require less water, such as cotton and new crop varieties like perennial wheat.

The Right to Fair and Open Markets

Kansas Democrats support strong antitrust safeguards, competition between buyers of farm products and those selling to farmers, and protections of contract farmers from multinational corporations.

The Right to Protect Our Natural Resources and Local Control of Our Land

Kansas Democrats believe that a thriving local and regional food system is an important security issue, not only for our state, but also for our nation. We believe that country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) and fully-transparent food labeling are important components of a safer food system, one that will especially benefit consumers. We support the termination and prevention of any corporate “stacking” and capturing of government agencies. We also support implementing meaningful regulations that curb corporate overreach and unchecked control of Kansas agriculture, which includes terminating foreign corporate ownership of farmland, protecting our communities’ right to establish standards for “mega farms,” and limiting the influence of corporate agribusiness.

Right to Repair

Kansas Democrats support farmer’s rights to repair their own tractors and equipment, free from predatory contracts that increase operating costs and stifle competition in the equipment service market.

KDP Platform Section #15:

Developing Strong Rural Communities

Kansas Democrats recognize both the challenges and possibilities of our state’s rural communities. We believe we must do more to address these challenges and restore opportunity to all rural Kansans, including immigrant communities and to support policies that give our young people a reason to return and to stop the “outmigration” from rural areas.

Rural Kansas shares many of the same challenges as many parts of urban Kansas, including a lack of access to fresh foods, minimal or non-existent public transportation, a shortage of affordable and quality housing, aging infrastructure, and spotty broadband. The economic engine of rural Kansas has been hollowed out by consolidation. The opportunity to restart that engine with a sustainable, local economy in a place with a slower pace of life is something Kansas needs to capitalize on. Kansas Democrats believe that with specific investments in rural communities, they can be competitive and vibrant places to live, to work, and to raise a family.

Broadband Access

Kansas Democrats support continued expansion of affordable and high-quality broadband internet access to maintain and improve the quality of education available in rural schools, improve access to telemedicine and mental health access resources, and open new paths for remote workers.

Creating an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Many jobs now require access to the internet. With greater access to broadband, rural communities and counties could set up remote worker recruitment programs. With Rural Opportunity Zones, rural communities could promote opportunities in rural areas, and help those communities diversify by providing additional incentives and capital to entrepreneurs who are planning to start a business in one of the many sectors that are needed, such as childcare, building trades, healthcare, technology, retail, and hospitality.

Childcare is Investing in Families

The lack of quality childcare is keeping young people in rural Kansas from taking jobs or having children. Kansas Democrats believe that this is not just an issue for parents, but for an entire community, as it undermines economic development efforts that focus on job growth, and it compromises the viability and appeal of rural life.

Healthcare Access

Kansas Democrats will continue to fight to make healthcare, including dental care and mental health services, accessible and affordable to our most remote rural communities. Kansas Democrats recognize the crisis caused by not passing Medicaid expansion has forced many rural hospitals and health care facilities to close. The closure of a rural hospital does not just mean the loss of well-paying hospital jobs; it is the loss of one of the cornerstones of a community. Like good schools, having a hospital is a sign to businesses, residents, and potential transplants that this is a community with a future.

We encourage skilled medical professionals to establish their practices in rural communities and to promote tele-medicine, so rural residents can have the same access to specialists as those living in cities.

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