In the World of Farm Policy, the NCGA has no greater challenge than working with the federal government to develop policy that fulfills the needs of every one of our members. It's a difficult undertaking. Even internally, we must prioritize the needs of our members to develop policies that have the widest range of support – policies that provide adequate funding for farm programs at home and better market access for our products abroad.

We judge policy in three areas: First, does it help or hinder a farmer's ability to compete in the global marketplace? As our global competitors become more efficient, it's a matter of necessity that we do whatever we can to maintain competitive advantages.

Second, does the proposed legislation encourage market- driven agriculture?U.S. agriculture became a dominant force based upon the competitive pressures to increase productivity and improve efficiency – and we serve no one's best interest by enacting legislation that would undermine our free-market approach.

Finally, it is in the best interest of our membership, and our customers, that we support policy encouraging responsible environmental stewardship practices.

While the NCGA would like to see real progress in every policy adopted, we understand that legislation is often the result of negotiation and compromise. No policy is or has been perfect for U.S. agriculture. Nevertheless, you can be confident that we're giving you a voice with the House of Representatives, Senate and administration.

Working on your behalf, the NCGA worked to accomplish the following goals with the Farm Bill:

• Address the distortions in price, production and trade that accompany the marketing assis- tance loan program. Minimize the disparities in Loan Deficiency Payments (LDPs)across state and county lines and Posted County Prices between regions.
• Continue decoupled fixed payments from Freedom to Farm as a source of financial support that complies with our trade obligations.
• Strengthen the farm safety net with an effective counter cyclical program that provides payments when producers most need assistance. NCGA has worked hard to develop and promote a program that complies with our world trade obligations.
• Allow producers to update their base acreage and yields to more recent, practice-reflective yields and planting levels.