LITTLE ROCK — Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas’ senior United States senator, has been named winner of the American Farm Bureau Golden Plow Award.

Lincoln was nominated for the award, given annually to one Senate and one House member, by Arkansas Farm Bureau president Stanley Reed, who serves on the board of the American Farm Bureau. She will officially be presented the award in February during Arkansas Farm Bureau’s County President’s Tour to Washington, D.C.

“I am honored to receive the American Farm Bureau's Golden Plow Award,” Sen. Lincoln said. “As part of a seventh-generation Arkansas farm family, I know firsthand the challenges our producers face each and every day.  I am committed to working with the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau Federation to ensure that our government stands behind our farmers so that they can continue to produce the safest, most abundant, and most affordable supply of food and fiber in the world.”

Lincoln has five times been awarded the Friend of Farm Bureau Award by the Arkansas Farm Bureau. She is the second Arkansan to receive the Golden Plow Award, which was initiated in 1988. Former Sen. David Pryor earned the award in 1989.

“The objectives of the Golden Plow are to award those members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation, whose philosophy and voting records demonstrate their commitment to the private enterprise system, sound agricultural policies, fiscal conservatism and reduced federal regulation of business and individuals,” said Reed, a cotton farmer from Marianna.

“Sen. Lincoln is a strong proponent of family farms, and is an active supporter of several Farm Bureau priority issues, including the 2007 Farm Bill, foreign trade promotion, permanent repeal of the death tax, and capital gains tax cuts. Additionally, she has been a leader in development of legislation that exempts natural agricultural waste from improper regulation under the false cover of current Super Fund/CERCLA laws.”

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Representative Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) earned the Golden Plow last year.

Lincoln serves on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; the Senate Finance Committee; the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and the Senate Special Committee on Aging. She also chairs the Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection, and Price Support within the Senate Agriculture Committee. She is chairperson of the Democratic Caucus of Rural Outreach, and was a founding member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate House Democrats, after being elected to Congress in 1992.

“Sen. Lincoln is dedicated to agriculture and the rural way of life,” said Reed. “She is a diligent advocate for Arkansas’ farmers and ranchers, and she has used her committee assignments to help educate other members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, on the importance of the U.S. having sound farm policy and the benefits that our farm programs provide the citizens of this great country.

“She is a proponent of leveling the playing field through free trade, and supported the passage of NAFTA, CAFTA and the Peru Free Trade Agreement. She is also outspoken in her support of lifting the trading embargo with Cuba, which would have a huge impact on Arkansas agriculture.

“We are proud that her efforts in support of agriculture are being recognized by the American Farm Bureau.”