Mar 13 2008
Farm Bill Deadline Extended
The deadline for passing a bill that will determine farm policy for the next 10 years has been extended one month to April 18. I have been reading documents trying to teach myself about the farm bill for months now, and have little to show for the effort besides a list of websites. American Farmland Trust has a coherent set of recommendations, including more funds for conservation and reform of the commodity program. Ken Cook has scads of information about who gets the money at Farm Subsidy Database, but it is somewhat difficult to use to find overall patterns. Oxfam America has a great pdf overview of the farm bill, and I’m going to read it carefully as soon as I finish this post.
Bottom line: Most of the Farm Bill funds are intended to support the kind of industrial agriculture favored over the past few decades. Increasing numbers of people would like to see a change in the vision of what US agriculture should look like; however the subsidy funds are controlled mainly by farm state senators and representatives who have plenty of incentives to preserve the status quo.
Bottom line: Most of the Farm Bill funds are intended to support the kind of industrial agriculture favored over the past few decades. Increasing numbers of people would like to see a change in the vision of what US agriculture should look like; however the subsidy funds are controlled mainly by farm state senators and representatives who have plenty of incentives to preserve the status quo.