Enriching America's heartland: trade is just one of the many pieces of a very large and complex portfolio that comprises American farm policy.

• Author: Johanns, Mike
• Position: Economics

THERE ARE FEWER people contributing to the rural economy than when I grew up on a dairy farm in Iowa. There was a day when five families lived on one section and agricultural producers really built the economy of the rural communities. Now, it is not five families per section; in some areas, it is one or two families farming five sections or more. So, the portion of the farm economy that contributes to our rural economy is dramatically different than it was not all that long ago.

Today, about 160,000 farm households are responsible for 75% of all cash receipts. In 1987, that number was nearly double, with about 295,000 farm households in that category. Today, those 160,000 account for 33% of "land in farms," as the agricultural census refers to it. In other words, only about one-third of agricultural land generates the vast majority of farm revenue.

What does that tell us about what is occurring on the majority of ag land and the income source for the majority of those producers? Reality is that 92% of producers, those who manage about two-thirds of ag land, rely heavily on off-farm income. They choose to carry on the great tradition of American agriculture, but they do not depend on it as their sole source of income or, in many cases, even as their primary source.

I want to assure all those individuals who attended and spoke out at the nationwide series of USDA Farm Bill Forums over the past several months that I was listening. While I am not yet prepared to present a detailed piece of legislation, I can tell you that I believe future policy must acknowledge what I have just laid out in terms of the changing face of our rural economy. We must provide greater economic opportunity for people to choose a rural quality of life, a lifestyle that upholds the values and principles upon which this nation was built.

If most agricultural producers are dependent on off-farm income, then we must pay special attention to our support of rural economies and beyond agriculture. To quote from a report released by the American Farm Bureau Federation: "Farmers are more dependent on rural communities than rural communities are dependent on farmers."

Federal programs should enable farmers and ranchers to come together with rural communities to create economic opportunity, I have said many times that I believe the 2002 Farm Bill was the right policy for the times, but times do change. That brings me to a question some have raised about the possibility of...