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Vaden: Farm aid needed, but work continues to boost commodity prices

The deputy secretary at the USDA says another round of financial assistance is needed to support America’s farmers and ranchers.

Stephen Vaden says the $12 billion in farm aid included in the $95 billion budget resolution passed by the U.S. House is critical to agriculture.

“We think it strikes the right balance between the aid farmers need now, while not losing focus on opening up new markets overseas and creating new domestic opportunities for our farmers,” he says.

He tells Brownfield that commodity markets are already responding to steps taken to spur domestic biofuels production.

“You are seeing those large volumes for ethanol and biodiesel show up in the commodity numbers.”  He says, “Those numbers have come up from where they were a year ago.”

Vaden says export demand also continues to be strong.

“Particularly on the corn side.”  He says, “China is buying. There were people earlier this year lobbing questions at me claiming China wasn’t going to buy, but China has commenced purchasing.”

While positive steps, Vaden says more work is needed to ensure further domestic biofuels expansion and global trade market access for American goods.

AUDIO: Stephen Vaden – USDA