The other day I looked at John McCain’s proposed agriculture policies. Today it’s Barack Obama’s turn under the microscope. Interestingly, Obama does not refer to his policies as agricultural – rather, they are classified under “rural” on his website. I’ll be skipping the policies which are relevant to rural voters but not particularly agricultural in focus. (Methamphetamine addiction and production in rural areas is a serious problem, but it doesn’t have much to do with farming.)

Obama’s policies seem to fall into the general category of increasing regulation and providing economic subsidies to rural areas (not necessarily specifically to farmers or farming communities). As the top issues in his “Rural” policy section, Obama names family farms being squeezed by price competition from larger operations, pollution problems caused by feedlot operations, and economic inequity between rural and urban communities.

To combat these problems, Obama proposes a limit on farm payments. In contrast to McCain’s plan, which takes an approach of setting income limits on farms that get subsidies, Obama wants to restrict the quantity of payments to $250,000 per year, an interesting approach but one that still puts significant sums into the hands of large farm operations.

In order to prevent “anticompetitive behavior” in the meat industry, Obama proposes making it illegal for meatpackers to own livestock. While I am sure that some small ranch operations like such an idea, I am not sure that barring people from making logical economic decisions is the right approach to take. When primary producers can afford to capitalize their own infrastructure, they gain greater control over their business – something every farmer aspires to.

Obama supports the Country of Origin Labeling law, which would mean each piece of produce in American grocery stores would be labeled as to its point of origin. This is a great idea which supports American farmers by making it possible for consumers who would rather patronize American farms to know what they are buying. Less compellingly, he also promises to make it easier for farmers to certify their crops as organic. Easier certification is more likely to water down the value of an “organic” label, although we should certainly encourage any farmers who want to pursue that path.

Obama says he wants to encourage young people to become farmers through a new federal program. I think that young farmers can probably make that decision on their own – we need to make it more attractive to become a farmer. Obama does offer to do that with a program to give tax incentives for new farmers to buy their first farm – something that could help young farmers get into the business with a lower debt load.

Obama also has a number of suggestions to boost rural economies, such as promoting renewable energy industries, providing access to loan capital for small business development, improving rural communication infrastructure, and other programs.

Overall, Obama’s policy ideas are focused on making it easier to farm (at least in certain ways), and making it more attractive to be in farming. That’s an important priority and one I support. However, he does not tie American farm policy to the global market and the world food situation, taking an approach that seems more like a list of what government will do for farmers, rather than what government will do about farming. As with McCain’s policy ideas, there is a definite sense that agricultural issues are not front-burner topics for the candidate.