During a 1956 speech in Illinois, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the cornfield.” Those words still ring true 67 years later as my colleagues and I on the House Agriculture Committee negotiate the new farm bill .

We see it in our nation’s capital all the time: bureaucrats and big city politicians overregulating family farmers out of business. That’s why Eisenhower also got it right when he said, “The proper role of the government, however, is that of partner with a farmer — never his master.” There’s a reason rural citizens liked Ike.

Too often, the government has strayed from Eisenhower’s principle, and that’s bad for our farmers and country. That’s why I always try to meet our family farmers where they’re at: on their turf and in their fields. It helps me best understand how we can partner with them in strengthening America’s food security. That’s why I was excited to welcome House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA) to southern Illinois to hear from my farmers and producers directly. We held a farm bill listening session, toured a local horseradish farm, and met with pork producers. It provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the farm bill, and, after all, the farm bill should be, first and foremost, about our farmers and their needs.

Roughly every five years, Congress reevaluates the farm bill and renews an array of agricultural and food programs. No other bill in Congress gives a better return on investment. At only two-tenths of 1% of our federal spending, the agriculture industry creates 46 million jobs, $2.6 trillion in wages, $947 billion in tax revenue, $202 billion in exports, and $8.6 trillion in economic activity. As the representative of one of the most agriculturally diverse districts in the region, I can tell you this bill is absolutely vital to southern Illinois.

As I talked with farmers and producers across our 34 counties, three priorities kept reemerging: strengthening the farm safety net, ensuring new and beginning farmers have access to credit, and bolstering trade through funding the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program. I am committed to tackling these priorities in the farm bill and have already introduced stand-alone legislation, such as the Beginning Agriculturalist Lifetime Employment Act, to address my constituents’ needs.

Experience makes a big difference when negotiating important legislation such as the farm bill. I know that, personally, I’m that much better prepared because I served on the committee during the last farm bill. However, more than 200 members of Congress have never voted on a farm bill before. But I’m confident that if we hold true to Eisenhower’s words and partner with our farmers, we’ll end up with a farm bill that benefits us all.

Mike Bost represents Illinois’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.