KEY FARM POLICY REFORMS BREWING IN CONGRESS

Last October, agribusiness lobbyists barely beat back a reform amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives that came close to passing in a 226-200 showdown vote. Since the House passed a status-quo Farm Bill last October, EWG has unveiled the searchable farm subsidy database showing ever taxpayer check written to every farmer under the last five years of federal commodity price support programs.

The results are stunning. Since its inception, more than 450,000 people have conducted over 21 million searches on the Farm Subsidies Database. Dozens of news accounts and editorials have concluded that the subsidies are wasteful and hurt struggling family farmers by over-stimulating production and driving down market prices. The Bush Administration has repeatedly criticized these programs for helping the farmers who need assistance the least and encouraging overproduction.

The database now puts dollars behind what farmers, taxpayers and Congress has known but couldn’t quantify that farm subsidies benefit few at the expense of many. And, they leave behind 60 percent of American farmers just because they don’t grow the right crops.

In just 3 months, farmers, voters and members of Congress have rallied behind two key reforms — substantial increases to farmland conservation programs that reach all farmers no matter what they grow and real limits on farm subsidy payments to large agribusiness and wealthy landowners.

During the final negotiations on the Farm Bill, Congress has a clear choice between status quo policies that largely to serve the needs of agribusiness lobbyists or reforms that will make this fairest farm bill yet that finally helps all farmers and the most important environmental legislation in decades. With new concerns about government spending and the deficit, shouldn’t they choose to use the $173 billion of taxpayer money on the table for this Farm Bill more wisely?

Related links:

• Members negotiating the final farm bill
• Key reforms at stake during the negotiations
• Key farmland conservation programs