WHAT IS THE FARM BILL AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

The Farm Bill is legislation authorized by the Federal Government every five years. The last one was in 2007.

The Farm Bill covers a wide range of topics, including payments to farmers to support the prices for crops, nutrition programs such as food stamps, international trade, conservation, energy—

so many different issues that one person said it covers & “everything we eat, wear, and drive”! The Farm Bill isn’t the only legislation to address these issues, but it is one time when we have an opportunity to speak out on things that concern so many parts of our lives. We should be heard!
TAKE ACTIONwho to call | additional info | updates

FARM BILL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE BEGINS MEETING TODAY!
TIME FOR CALIFORNIANS TO CALL IN SUPPORT OF:

CONGRESS PASSES FARM BILL: OVER-RIDES VETO BY PRESIDENT BUSH: GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
WHAT’S HAPPENING?

The Farm Bill has finally passed after a comedy of errors in which the President vetoed the bill: Congress over-rode the veto but it was discovered that they had left out a section of the bill they submitted to the president: Congress re-submitted the bill, the President vetoed it again, and Congress over-rode the veto again.
 
The following is based largely on California Food and Justice Coalition's (CFJC)statement on the passing of the 2008 Farm Bill. Hunger Action LA is a member of the CFJC.  

The good news came about as a result of the activity of food justice, anti-hunger and sustainable agriculture advocates. as well as the entrenched power of the agri-business lobby The highlights include:

Closing the loop hole that allow farmers to collect multiple payments for one farm The bad news is that this Farm Bill continues the high payments for certain crops (mostly corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice) benefitting the huge agri-business companies that own most of our farmland and process most of our food.

This includes:



It also allows the U.S. to keep dumping its subsidized products on the world market and economically destroy farmers in other countries, especially poor countries that need to boost their own agriculture.Finally, the incentives to grow crops for bio-fuel instead of food contribute to the rise in food prices affecting everyone in the world including the U.S. As CFJC states: "We thank those members of Congress who lead the fight for meaningful reform, and call on those who were forced to compromise to help find the path around politics, to good policy so they can stand with their colleagues in the future. "

The final ray of hope is that this year, more environmental, anti-hunger and faith based organizations were involved in the Farm Bill than ever before. The public has received a tremendous amount of information about how the food system works, and who it benefits (and who loses.) We have a good head start on fighting for more reforms, even between now and the next Farm Bill in 2012. The current food price crisis will be the spark for more activism for a food system that feeds everyone sufficiently, with food that's not bad for their health, grown in ways that don't hurt the environment, without hurting farmers in other countries, with respect and good working conditions for those who work on the farms.

Farm Bill in the News A Disgraceful Farm Bill New York Times Editorial:
The enemy of my enemy:
Why a Bush veto of the Farm Bill is bad
for the food movement (and the world)

More Farm Bill info:
http://www.ethicurean.com/2008/05/12/bush-vet
/ Maybe God Hates the Farm Bill, too

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/
news/politics/blog/2008/05/
maybe_god_hates_farm_bill_too.html Congress Overrides
Bush Veto to Pass Farm Bill:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/19189349.html


 
After a long delay, the first meeting of House/Senate Conferees on the Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) was scheduled to occur this morning.  (This is a committee set up to reconcile the differences between the House’s Farm Bill passed last summer and the Senate’s Farm Bill passed over the winter.)
 
House negotiators reportedly proposed a package with $6 billion in new ten-year funding overall and $9.5 billion in new ten-year funding for the nutrition title. That nutrition title level is a strong start but still $2 billion below that approved by the House in July 2007.
 
Senate negotiators reportedly were cool to the latest House offer because it omits funding for disaster relief for farmers. See this editorial in the LA Times today about some of the environmentally harmful, wasteful practices that need to be removed from the Farm Bill.
 
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-imhoff10apr10,0,4134558.story
 
(“More than $4 billion in permanent disaster assistance to growers in the Northern Plains. The brainchild of Montana Democrat and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, this is essentially a trust fund to guarantee income to farmers plowing up prairies and grasslands -- lands prone to drought and erosion -- to plant corn and wheat. Many observers fear a second Dust Bowl.”)
 
WHO TO CALL
 
California has been very fortunate---we have seven representatives from our state on the conference committee. If you live in the following districts, your rep is on that committee and can be held accountable for their decisions:
 
Rep Maxine Waters ( South LA )
Rep Henry Waxman ( West LA )
Rep Brad Sherman ( San Fernando Valley )
Rep Howard Berman
Rep Joe Baca ( San Bernardino )
Rep George Miller
Rep Dennis Cardoza
 
If Your Rep is Not on the Committee:
 
Ask to speak to your own Representative: and then ask that Representative to urge the conferees and their leaders to support the message below.
 
....AND CALL YOUR SENATORS TOO
 
This means Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein.
 
The Number To Call:
 
Call the toll-free line to the U.S. Capitol (1-800-826-9624) made available by AARP. You can use this line to connect to your representatives and the senators.
 
WHO TO ASK FOR:
 
When you call, ask to be transferred to your representative. Then, ask to speak to the person covering the Farm Bill.
 
WHAT TO SAY:
 
"My name is __________ and I am from _________ [your home town]. I am concerned about the Farm Bill which is in Conference Committee now.
 
"We need to pass a Farm Bill Nutrition Title that includes at least $11 billion of new funding over the next ten years of the farm bill, to improve food stamp benefits and increase emergency food purchases.  The new food stamp funds will allow more families to sign up for food stamps and to increase the amount each family receives.  The conferees are currently considering supporting a lower amount, which is insufficient for our community.”
 
 
“At an average of three dollars a day food stamp benefits have not kept up with inflation and food prices are up 5% overall from last year, with some items like a carton of eggs a dollar more than last year. In the current recession more Americans need food stamps than ever before. We must increase these benefits. And many food banks are running out of food.”
 
“Also, the farm bill is benefiting mostly large corporations to the detriment of small farms, the environment and people. We urge Representative __________ to Oppose the Permanent Disaster Relief funding proposal that will pay farmers to plant in areas that are prone to drought and support the effort to reduce the huge ag subsidies being lead by Senators Dorgan and Grassley that would eliminate payments to people who are not farmers . These subsidies promote unhealthy food like corn syrup and hurt family farmers in the U.S. and abroad..”
 
“We need to increase funding for small, local, and organic agriculture and more fruits and vegetables”.
 
 
OTHER FARM BILL PRIORITIES
 
Please pick 1-2 additional points that are important to you to address on your call:
 
    * Include $10 million in annual mandatory funding for the Community Food Projects Grants program---this is helping people in low income areas develop systems to get affordable healthy food such as fruits and vegetables
 
    * Adopt Senate provision that creates a Healthy Food Urban Enterprise Development Center with mandatory funding to develop enterprises focused on increasing access to healthy food in underserved urban areas
 
    * Adopt Senate funding level of $15 million mandatory annually for the Outreach for Minority Farmers and Ranchers program;
 
    * Include language from the House Farm Bill that allows Food Stamp Nutrition Education to support public health approaches;
 
 
BEFORE YOU HANG UP REMEMBER:
 


 

WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES IN THE 2007 FARM BILL?

 

Food Stamps: 25 Million Americans get food stamps, which are the biggest money item in the Farm Bill. It's easy for this important program to get overlooked in all the controversy around big farm payments. Hunger Action Los Angeles supports the following improvements in the food stamp program:

 

1.Increase benefits, which have not been tied to the cost of living for years. Food stamp participants report the benefits are not adequate for their needs.

2. Remove "assets tests"---did you know that if you have $2,000 in the bank you can't get food stamps, even if you have zero income? People cannot escape poverty if they can't save money. HALA supports proposals to eliminate these assets tests.

3. Remove restrictions on single adults, immigrants, and persons with past drug felony convictions----the program should provide for anyone who is hungry to get food they need.

4. Don't punish participants if the food stamp administration makes an overpayment due to computer error----many participants are made to pay back benefits when they didn't even realize they were being overpaid.

 

______________________________________

OTHER FARM BILL ISSUES :

Commodity Payments: "Big" farmers receive payments for certain important crops called “commodities” including corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, sorghum, barley, cotton and oats. Legislators from states where these crops are a huge industry like these billion-dollar payments. But there is opposition:

  1. The payments allow the U.S. to produce corn, for example, at extremely cheap prices and “dump” it in Third World countries—where the low price puts their local farmers out of business. Recently World Trade Organization talks broke down over the issue of these subsidies.
  2. The payments have resulted over the years in large production of non-nutritious foods like corn syrup, which has been linked to diabetes.
  3. The government is encouraging us to eat more fruits and vegetables but fruit and vegetable farmers get almost no support. The Farm Bill priorities do not reflect good health standards.
  4. Some people receiving big payments aren’t even farmers! Some people who are already very wealthy are getting thousands of dollars a year in payments authorized by the Farm Bill.

 

Energy: As oil prices go up there is a demand for the production of ethanol made chiefly from corn. Will U.S. corn producers be subsidized for producing ethanol? Will the production of ethanol actually create more pollution than refining gasoline? And if many farmers turn acres over to the production of ethanol will prices of food go up?

There are many other issues that can be addressed, and many groups are already assembling their recommendations.

For More information:

Hunger Action Los Angeles

frank@hungeractionla.org

213 388 8228

click here for the farm bill sample letter.