Labor and estate tax are two areas where the two presidential candidates hold differing views in issues important to agriculture, according to results of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) questionnaire released yesterday.

“If there’s an area where they diverge in their approach, it would be helping to solve agriculture’s labor shortage,” said Linda Johnson, AFBF Director of Policy Research. President Obama says a system to hire foreign workers should “only be used when U.S. workers are not available” while Governor Romney believes the “current system for issuing visas to temporary, seasonal workers is broken.”

While both candidates agree the estate tax system needs reform, Linda says there was clear distinction between the two on how that should be done. “Romney said he would eliminate the estate tax as president,” she said. “Obama wants to return the top tax rate on estates to 45% but said he would reinstate the $7 million per couple tax exemption.”

Listen to or download my interview with Linda about the questionnaire here: Linda Johnson, AFBF