In the waning hours of 2012, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden negotiated a nine-month extension of the Farm Bill that the Center for Rural Affairs has criticized heavily. Center for Rural Affairs Executive Director Chuck Hassebrook said many smaller, targeted programs that invest in proven strategies to create rural jobs, revitalize rural communities and initiatives to foster a new generation of family farmers and ranchers were completely left out of the extension. Hassebrook joined Dakota Midday host Karl Gehrke Monday.