Sen. Obama supports a robust safety net that targets assistance appropriately and provides farmers with risk mitigation tools that protect them from weather and market conditions that are beyond their control. This includes traditional farm programs, crop insurance and disaster assistance. He supported the 2008 Farm Bill and both the bill’s permanent disaster program and ad hoc disaster assistance and the new revenue counter-cyclical program, the Average Crop Revenue Program (ACRE). “This program should provide farmers with new tools to mitigate risk, and I hope that the U.S. Department of Agriculture implements it in keeping with the intent of Congress, so that it works for farmers,” Obama says.

Long an opponent of subsidies, Sen. McCain would work with farmers to develop a market-driven risk management system for farmers to sustain them during natural disasters. Rapidly-rising input costs and fluctuating commodity prices pose real threats to the financial stability of American agriculture, McCain says. To counteract those threats, he would enact fundamental reforms to the crop insurance program and other agricultural policies. A market-based system of risk management will eliminate the influence of special interests on America’s agricultural policy and allow individual farmers and ranchers to determine for themselves the scale and structure of their operations, McCain says.

Sen. Obama cites several steps that are needed to remain competitive and expand farmers’ access to markets, including market promotion programs that enhance our access to important international markets, breaking down trade and investment barriers that restrict our access to markets and efforts to lift Korea’s and Japan’s bans on American beef. “It’s also important that we ensure that our trade agreements create a level playing field for American businesses and workers and that our farmers and businesses secure robust market access as a result of these agreements,” he says. Trade agreements must contain strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards so that American farmers are able to compete on a level playing field.

A central focus of Sen. McCain’s policy is to expand international trade to bring American products to more foreign markets and boost the profitability of American farms. He is committed to uphold current international commitments, such as NAFTA, while looking for new opportunities like the pending trade deals with countries like Colombia, Panama and South Korea. “As president, I will provide energetic leadership to get our global trade negotiations back on track. Trade Promotion Authority is essential to making progress toward these important goals,” McCain says.

Sen. Obama has established a goal to have 60 billion gallons of our fuel come from sustainable biofuels by 2022 and would invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in the green energy sector. In the interim, he supports responsible development of domestic oil and gas resources. “I have been one of the strongest proponents in Congress for increasing the national supply of home-grown American renewable fuels,” Obama says. He co-sponsored and actively campaigned to establish the nation’s first federal Renewable Fuel Standard, and he introduced a proposal to create the first national Renewable Diesel Standard. “I plan to continue that tradition as president,” he says.

Sen. McCain says the next president must lead a great national campaign to achieve energy security for America. In the short term, he says, this will require more domestic production, especially in the Outer Continental Shelf to help reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and lower the prices at the pump. In the long term, McCain says that solving America’s energy crisis requires an “all of the above” approach. It will require aggressive development of alternative energies like wind, solar, tidal and biofuels, he says. It will also require expanding traditional sources of energy by developing clean-coal technologies, promoting nuclear power and permitting offshore drilling, McCain added.

Sen. Obama supports an estate tax policy that would exempt all estates under $7 million per couple, effectively repealing the tax for 99.7 percent of estates. For the remaining estates, he would retain a rate of 45 percent. Obama’s plan for capital gains is to maintain the current rate for families with incomes below $250,000. Those in the top two income brackets would pay a new rate of 20 percent. He would also provide a capital gains tax break for landowners selling to beginning family farmers, and a first-time buyers’ tax credit for new farmers.

Sen. McCain says this election presents a stark choice on these important issues of taxation. He pledges to lower the estate tax to 15 percent and raise the exemption to estates valued at $10 million. He would keep capital gains and dividend taxes at current levels. These policies, he says, will help small businesses thrive and keep farms within the family.

Sen. Obama says his administration would make it a priority to bring stakeholders to the table when important public policy decisions impacting agriculture are considered, whether it is at the USDA or EPA. He would work to ensure that government decisions should be based on the best available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on the ideological predispositions of agency officials or political appointees. More broadly, Obama says his administration will take into consideration the economic consequences, along with science, when making regulatory decisions.

Sen. McCain plans to launch what he terms an aggressive research agenda—a 21st Century Green Revolution—to enable farmers to make better use of natural resources, cutting costs and making farms more productive, while promoting responsible stewardship of our environment. By developing new agricultural techniques and technologies, America’s agricultural industry can be rejuvenated while, at the same time, conserving natural resources and combating climate change, McCain says.

Sen. Obama supports the implementation of an economy-wide cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. He notes that the market mechanism has worked before and will give all American consumers and businesses the incentives to use their ingenuity to develop economically effective solutions to climate change. He would use some of the revenue generated from this cap-and-trade permit auction to invest in climate-friendly energy development and deployment. He would also develop domestic incentives that reward forest owners, farmers and ranchers when they plant trees, restore grasslands or undertake farming practices that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Sen. McCain believes that global climate change demands urgent attention, especially in Washington. To dramatically reduce carbon emissions, he has proposed a new cap-and-trade system to change the dynamic of our energy economy. Under his plan, emissions would be capped according to specific goals, measuring progress by reference to past carbon emissions. By the year 2050, McCain estimates an emissions reduction of 60 percent below 1990 levels. The agricultural community would not be subject to greenhouse gas emissions caps, but would be able to develop verifiable carbon credits to sell to other sectors subject to the caps.

Click here to see the 2008 Friends of Agriculture