Why You Should Care About the 2007 Farm Bill
Midwestern corn field.
Are the wrong farmers getting all the money?
Cerebral, one of the editors of this site and being very knowledgeable about health and nutrition, has always told me that if you want to eat a healthful, nutritious diet, only shop the perimeters of the grocery store. I never really thought about it, but most of the processed food, junk food and empty calories is in the middle of the store, or the aisles. So, it makes sense. However, when you buy only fresh fruits and vegetables, it can be quite expensive. Have you ever really thought about why that is? If you are a fan of fresh produce or eating healthy, this article may just make you mad. And, it all has to do with the Farm Bill.
While out shopping at Whole Foods recently, I picked up one of their publications called Edible Austin which has a very informative article about Dan Imhoff. Dan Imhoff is the author of numerous books regarding agriculture and the food industry such as Farming with the Wild, Paper or Plastic, and Building with Vision. His most recent book called Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, is a comprehensive overview of what the Farm Bill is and what it means to all of us. And, one thing that I know we all have in common, regardless of political affiliation, ethnicity or religion, is that we all have to eat. So, food should be something with which we all should be concerned. But not many people really understand the government’s involvement with it and the impact it can have.
In reading the article, it first explains what the Farm Bill is which I never have taken the time to learn. I just thought it had to do with farmers who needed help with subsidies. Well, it turns out that it is a whole lot more than that. The Farm Bill according to Imhoff is “essentially a $90 billion tax bill for food, feed, fiber and more recently fuel. The Farm Bill has two primary thrusts and expenditures, which account for about 85 percent of its budget. This is how it breaks down:
Food stamps and Nutrition — $45.39 billion
Commodity and Foreign Agriculture — $31.10 billion
Conservation — $8.55 billion
Rural Development — $2.58 billion
Research — $2.54 billion
Marketing and Regulatory — $2.18 billion
Food Safety — $0.82 billion
Administration & Misc. — $0.54 billion
Why is it that fruits and vegetables, the most nutritious of produce, getting the shaft?
Food stamps and nutrition which includes school lunches and other nutrition programs, account for almost 50 percent of the current spending. Income and price supports for a number of storable commodity crops combine for another 35 percent of spending. Okay, so besides the fact that under 1% of the budget goes to FOOD SAFETY!, here is where the problem lies. For decades, Farm Bill negotiations have been dominated by two powerful interest groups. They are considered the “farm bloc” which are commodity state representatives along with the agribusiness lobby. According to Imhoff, as a result, ever-increasing payments have been directed toward surplus commodity production (corn, wheat, cotton) and the livestock feedlot industry.
According to Imhoff, 84 percent of commodity support spending goes to the production of just five crops: corn, cotton, wheat, rice, and soybeans. Only seven states produce most of these commodities to which about half the money is allocated. The sad truth (getting back to the case behind expensive fresh produce), is that most vegetables and fruits are not subsidized. And, what’s worse is that the richest ten percent of farm-subsidy recipients (many are corporations and absentee landowners), take in more than two-thirds of those payments. Here are some more disturbing realities of the Farm Bill:
Almost 50 percent of all commodity subsidies went to just 5 percent of eligible farmers in 2005.
Subsidies help the largest farms to acquire the best land and squeeze out the smaller growers.
The growth rate for jobs trailed the national average in nearly two-thirds of counties receiving heavy subsidies between 2000 and 2003.
74% of farmers who want to participate in environmental stewardship programs are turned away due to lack of funds.
So what does this do to those of us who are shopping for inexpensive, nutritious foods? Well, they don’t exist because very little of all the agriculture we subsidize is directly edible by humans. Unfortunately, the Farm Bill allocates subsidies to just four primary groups out of the thousands of plants and animal species cultivated for human use. They are food grains, feed grains, oilseeds and upland cotton in which most are fed to cattle or processed into oils, flours, starches, sugars, or other industrial food additives — that’s right, the middle of the grocery store territory. Imhoff goes on to say that “a dollar buys hundreds more calories in the snack food, cereal and soda aisles than it does in the produce section”. So there you have it again, more obvious failures of our government siding with profits over people. They would rather make a buck more than promote a healthy society.
So, what do we do about it? What you may not know is that our legislators outside the farm states, feel free to abandon the debate over the Farm Bill to trade votes on agriculture for votes on issues important to their constituents — you know, the old “horse trading” tradition on Capital Hill. Well, in this case, it’s your horse their trading. So, we as voters need to make our legislators know that we want this practice to stop. I think we all are beginning to realize that the era of massive giveaways to corporations and surplus commodity producers must stop.
Instead we all need to promote policies that offer subsidies to producers that can offer us healthy diets through inexpensive and quality fresh produce. In promoting these policies, we need to make sure our legislators know that they must stop trading their votes and start working to ensure a fair and balanced subsidy program that rewards smaller farms and food that we actually eat. If you, like many others, want to repair our nation’s out of control health care, start by forcing our government to promote healthier lifestyles instead of a fatter pocket book for the elite paid for by the poor. So, look for me in the perimeter of the grocery store. That’s where I will be, and I hope to see you there too, squeezing the tomatoes and thumping the watermelons.
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It may, more likely will, get worse with the commodity product of corn upsetting the entire picture. I have heard that now most all farmers are trying to grow more corn to be converted in ethanol. To the extent that farming land previously used for crops other than corn are now wholly used to plant corn. That means prices for animal feed and vegetables will increase greatly. The bottom line is that we will be adding our grocery money to that that the farmers get from the farm bill. Thanks P. Bush for over-promoting ethanol.
No shit, and the ethanol is pretty much a waste of time anyways. It will only help our energy crisis by about 1 to 2 percent. So the cons are going to heavily over-weight the pros. But I guess the only thing that matters is money.
Ethanol could be useful but probably won’t be. More importantly using corn to make ethanol is just asinine. I’m not going to get into why corn is one of the worst options for ethanol because I think that has been established here.
As for the rest of the Farm bill, well I honestly don’t know enough about it, but from what you’ve said it sounds typical big business/government. Subsidize the richest and the least healthy. If we ever get universal health care then maybe they would realize the cost benefits of being a healthier nation.
What a tangled web we weave.
Ethanol Second-Opinion. You can hear the cash register ching-la-ling just as you hear the corn growing. However. I keep receiving hints that the corn-to-ethanol bubble is about to burst, maybe in a year. Maybe in two years. Maybe sooner. Farmers are growing corn on every square inch of their farms, including, by Gawk! in their wife’s window flower boxes.
The two setbacks: What’s interesting is that it costs as much to grow and transport corn and turn it into ethanol than the at-the-pump costs of gasoline. And, I just heard on NPR in an interview that there’s no green advantage in growing corn and converting it into a fuel. In fact, it may be larger than that of a simple disadvantage ratio. //nix this second-opinion re ethanol if Bush starts war with Iran//
Say, $5 = $5 Still okay. But $5 = $7 Bubble bursts. It just may be the right thing to do now — get out of corn shares or whatever they’re called //corn futures?//I don’t know// Why? The two above reasons are why. Of course, in the long run, the farmer gets screwed, as usual.
And, by Gawk, a third unforeseen problem has surfaced from using ethanol made from corn to fuel your car. Rough starts in the cold mornings may lead to backfiring which can lead to your automobile corn-hole-ing you. Gawk!
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Water, Water, Water Everywhere And Not a Drop For BioFuel Crops. It never occurred to me that water would limit the amount of corn, say, that would be grown to make ethanol. And that it would steal away water needed for other crops, table food crops. Duh! It makes sense with little thought. This need of the precious ingredient didn’t come to light until I read an article by Michael Casey on how water shortages in India and China may have haltered plans for bioFuels, making the plans almost, well, almost a no-no.
Water shortages, by Gawk. Different areas of our country lack enough water just for residential use. And there’s old-fashioned water wars resurging between cities, between states. Interesting. For Michael Casey full article story, click on:
http://www.examiner.com/a-982638~Biofuels_Plans_May_Cause_Water_Shortages.html
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The Farm Bill ‘07 thru Farm Bill ‘13 is still being worked on by Congress and soon it…. What is of concern are the traditional subsidies may/probably will remain and that includes corn. Now how does this $286 billion deal work? How is it going to work for the next five years? I’m not sure. The votes aren’t in yet, compromises need to be made, of course. But let me try to get this clear in my mind about corn. Does the government pay the farmer not to grow corn, or does the farmer get a kickback from the government from taxpayers when he does grow corn? Does this mean I’ll be paying a hidden subsidy tax when I buy ethanol down the road to get down the road?
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I know you have heard about the big drought in the South and how Atlanta has only a 90-day supply of water. This just highlights the need for water everywhere: 1) for the city or 2) for the farm. Growing corn and only corn in other areas, which may have a water shortage problem as well some day, only makes one ponder the wisdom of diverting water to corn crops, away from the city, away from other needed crops. No one is going heed any words here, especially with the price of oil over $90 a barrel. I see the man crawling in the desert crying out for water, water, water. Some, however, see the same man crying out for ethanol, ethanol, ethanol. Can you drink ethanol? Can you clean your windshield with ethanol?
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Farmers growing more and more corn for ethanol use has started to result in the loss of jobs. Read on:
“EMPORIA, Kan. - Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat company, said Friday it would end beef slaughtering at its Emporia plant, cutting about 1,500 jobs, or more than half its work force at the facility…
“…Tyson also said the company didn’t see signs of growth in the fed cattle supply over the next two to three years, and THAT HIGH GRAIN PRICES SPURRED BY THE DEMAND FOR CORN-BASED ETHANOL ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR DECISION TO CUT JOBS IN EMPORIA.”
(from 1-26-08 news story from Associated Press)
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Why You Should Care About the 2008 Farm Bill. I don’t know why yet myself. But, I thought it was interesting that Congress overrode Bush’s veto. This latest farm bill (2008 ? for the next 5 years) must have beaucoup gimme attachments, money for lots of non-farm stuff, something for everybody. In fact, also interesting was that just before voting on the massive bill, it was discovered that a section had been left out (clerical error) which has to be reintroduced separately later. Some clerical error! Isn’t it a mystery why it’s still called the FARM bill. Why not the “Everything including the kitchen sink” bill?
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