Good luck. Like any major legislative tool - or celebrity scandal - the Farm Bill is almost impossible to figure out. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
There's lots of talk on the 2012 Farm Bill right now because:
- it's revised only once every 5 years
- serves as ideal battleground for food interests like food stamps, nutrition, government subsidies to Big Ag (i.e. megafarms producing monocultures like corn, wheat, rice, soy cotton - which primarily feed into our "junk" food), support to small and mid-sized farms.
Yesterday, Mark Bittman wrote on the secret farm bill. The secret is that four guys from Big Ag Country (Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota, and Kansas - square in the middle of the geo region that receives by far the most farm subsidies) have been put in charge of recommendations to Congress. Bittman fears this subcommittee will push through a behind-closed-doors deal even before we've sat down to Thanksgiving dinner.
To hear a balanced perspective on current Farm Bill dynamics, and historical context, listen to the well-mannered verbal sparring between Gary Williams of Texas A&M and Barry Popkin of UNC at the Harvard School of Public Health's Forum on Reforming the Farm Bill - an absolutely outstanding webinar recorded late last month. (I cannot recommend it highly enough.)
In simplest terms, the architecture of the Farm Bill is this:
- About 75% of the pie is nutrition - largely, SNAP (i.e. food stamps)
- Second biggest slice is subsidies. Historically, given almost entirely to Big Ag
- Third biggest is conservation programs
Consensus seems to be that subsidies will be the hardest hit piece in terms of cuts. This should make small and mid-sized farmers and farm advocates happy, however, as Williams points out, cutting from Big Ag will not translate to support for small and mid-sized farms. And, the SNAP program may be under threat as well. (Currently 15% of America is on food stamps.)
Ken Cook's TED Talk at TEDx Manhattan: Changing the Way We Eat in February dug into the 'man behind the curtain' as far as subsidies are concerned. Like Bittman, you'll be listening to a choir-to-choir talk- however, Cook and the Environmental Working Group unpacked data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act detailing precisely who receives farm subsidies. Many recipients are not actually farming. They live in places like Manhattan, LA, DC.
Cook's best line is a direct quote from the USDA in a follow-up study on their research. USDA assured the Environmental Working Group:
Very few dead farmers who are getting subsidies are getting them improperly.
If you identify with food reform in any way, this is a good time to pick up the telephone. Sure, you don't know that your call will make a difference, but without action, we can be sure nothing will change - especially in these dire economic times.
Food Democracy Now is currently running a campaign to flood Congress will phone calls and kill the secret farm bill.
It takes just one minute to do your part.
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