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http://www.ewg.org/opening.html
| For Immediate Release |
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Environmental Group Praises Lugar's Farm Proposal
Legislation Would Hike Conservation and Nutrition Spending and "Dramatically Democratize" Farm and Ranch Aid
Washington, Oct. 17 - An environmental group that has long been critical of federal farm subsidy programs offered praise for a farm bill proposal outlined by Senator Richard Lugar and endorsed by the Bush Administration today.
"Senator Lugar has offered a courageous, principled alternative to the farm bill passed by the House," the Environmental Working Group (EWG) said. "The Lugar bill is a much fairer deal for taxpayers and family farmers and ranchers, and gives conservation and food assistance programs the prominence they deserve."
EWG noted that the priority given to conservation programs "is consistent with Sen. Lugar's long track record of standing up for investments in conservation."
EWG has produced dozens of analyses over the years showing that the bulk of current federal farm aid goes to a relative handful of very large farm operations growing a few favored crops in just ten states.
"The Lugar bill's innovative approach to agricultural aid addresses many of the very worst abuses of the current system," EWG said.
EWG highlighted several features of the Lugar proposal:
- The Lugar proposal would provide a substantial boost in federal support for conservation and food assistance programs, even though it proposes lower overall spending than the House-passed bill. If Congress opts to spend more overall than the Lugar bill contemplates, the share his bill allocates to conservation will translate into an even larger investment in water quality, wildlife habitat, and sprawl prevention.
- The bill increases investment in popular, established conservation programs like the Conservation Reserve, Environmental Quality Incentive Program, and Wetlands Reserve. It also builds on the innovative concepts in the Conservation Security Act introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, establishing a "Working Lands Improvement Option" that give preference for conservation bonus payments to farmers and ranchers who have been good stewards in the past.
- The bill would replace current subsidy programs that discriminate against the majority of the nation's family farmers and ranchers who happen to produce the "wrong" (previously unsubsidized) agricultural products. EWG said that under the dramatically democratic Lugar proposal, the vast majority of U.S. farmers, and as many as 40 states, would fare better overall than under current law or the House-passed bill.
- While extending an income safety net program to all farmers and ranchers who chose to enroll, the Lugar proposal would require all participants to abide by existing requirements to protect highly erodible soils and wetlands.
- The bill would make Fortune 500 corporations like Chevron, Caterpillar, Dupont and International Paper ineligible for federal farm subsidies. These companies would get hundreds of thousands of dollars under the House bill. Lugar's proposal would also end federal farm payments to public institutions like universities and prisons.
- The proposal adopts a "steeply progressive" approach to assistance that preferentially supports small to medium size farm operations while sharply reducing assistance to large operations. Lugar's approach reverses the mechanisms in current law that funnel two-thirds of federal subsidies to 10 percent of the very largest operations producing grains, rice, soybeans and cotton. Reducing subsidies to large operations would also curb taxpayer-supported crop surpluses that are depressing farm prices and incomes.
EWG did express strong concern about provisions in the Lugar proposal that would provide substantial government payments to help factory farms clean up pollution at taxpayers' expense. "We continue to believe that factory farms should clean up their own mess, and look forward to working with Senator Lugar and his staff on this point of disagreement," EWG said.
EWG said it looks forward to working with Senator Lugar, Chairman Harkin, the Agriculture Committee, and the entire Senate to craft a farm policy that is built around conservation, and gives a fair deal to taxpayers and all farmers.
EWG is a non-profit organization and advocacy group in Washington, DC and Oakland, CA.
