by Rick Pearson
DES MOINES—Sen. Barack Obama touted his support of family farms against corporate agriculture this morning by taking a couple of shots at two very big Illinois businesses, ag processor ADM and food producer ConAgra.
Delivering a populist-themed speech to the Iowa Farmers Union, the Illinois senator slammed a Washington culture that he said paid heed to corporate agricultural lobbyists over individual farmers.
“It’s about time Washington started listening to rural America,” Obama said. “You can’t simply sit in Washington, talking to lobbyists. That’s why the Washington insiders who matter to me live in Washington County, Iowa, not Washington, D.C. That’s why as president, I’ll be listening to the LRV, not ADM.”
The LRV is the League of Rural Voters and ADM is Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland Corp., one of the world’s largest agricultural processors of soybeans and corn.
Obama also contended that $1.3 billion in federal farm subsidies is going to people “who aren’t even farmers.”
“You’ve got farm money going to Fortune 500 companies. Meanwhile, for an expensive steak, a small farmer gets less than a dollar. For a loaf of bread, it’s a dime. That’s what’s happens when rural policy gets made in the backrooms by lobbyists in Washington,” Obama said.
“We’ll tell ConAgra that it’s not the Department of Agribusiness,” the Illinois Democrat said. “It’s the Department of Agriculture. We’re going to put the people’s interests ahead of the special interests.”
ConAgra has a major headquarters in west suburban Chicago.