Supporters tout Obama farming policy

LIMA — Former Sen. Tom Daschle and former Ohio Farmers Union President Joe Logan touted Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's farming and rural agenda Wednesday.

Obama's economic policies would target small and medium-sized family farms, Logan said. Obama supports country-of-origin labeling, creating a level trading field, and places importance of new fields of economic development for "food, feed, fiber and fuel," said Daschle a South Dakota Democrat and former Senate majority leader.

"I'm enthusiastic about what an Obama administration would mean for economic development in rural America and family farmers," Daschle said.

Obama would limit subsidy payments to $250,000 and close a loophole allowing large farms to divide operations into multiple paper corporations, according to a policy paper on his Web site. Obama also supports tougher environmental restrictions for concentrated animal feeding operations, or megafarms, which raise more than 40 percent of livestock in the United States.