In defense of America's food supply.

by Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer

Here in America, we are blessed with the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world. It has always been this way for most of us, so it’s easy for us to take for granted that it will always be this way.

But the fact is that any number of conditions could affect the availability and affordability of food in Kentucky and America, for better and for worse. For one thing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled scientific reviews for atrazine and for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter – here in Kentucky, we call it “dust” – that could make it more difficult and more expensive for Kentucky farmers to make a living.

That’s why I felt it was necessary to stand up for Kentucky family farmers and question the necessity of these reviews in letters to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Atrazine is a critical tool in weed control for Kentucky farmers, and thousands of scientific studies have show it to have little, if any, risk to the environment and to public health. Further, there is no scientific basis for more stringent dust standards that would be the toughest in our nation’s history.

We all want to protect the environment. But if Washington tightens restrictions on atrazine and dust, it will do very little good for our air and water while raising costs for Kentucky farmers. Those costs inevitably will find their way to consumers, many of whom are strapped for cash as it is.