As many of you know from a recent post by mcjoan or from the BlogAds that have been running on a number of sites (including this one), last week I laid out a Food and Farm Bill of Rights – a set of ten principles of reform I believe we in Congress should adhere to as we take up this year’s Farm Bill.
The cause of reform takes a large step forward this week with the introduction of FARM 21 – The Food & Agriculture Risk Management for the 21st Century Act. I am an original cosponsor of this bipartisan piece of legislation, which was introduced by U.S. Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ).
FARM 21 is consistent with the spirit of the Food and Farm Bill of Rights. If enacted into law, it would move America away from the type of special interest politics that have guided the subsidy system in the current Farm Bill towards a system that helps promote sustainable agricultural policies that allow small family farmers to continue working their land. In this way it supports all farmers, not just the few in a few states who are most served by the current agriculture policy.
Current federal farm policy encourages and incentivizes the overproduction of a few commodities like corn, which leads to negative consequences upon the land and the environment, as well as on trade, healthcare and energy policies. What’s more, it leaves too many of those in rural America behind. Nine out of every ten dollars in payments go to producers of just five crops. More than half of all farm support is concentrated in just 22 congressional districts. Two-thirds of farmers receive no subsidies whatsoever while the top 10 percent of recipients get more than 70 percent of all payments.
FARM 21 would transition away from this skewed current subsidy system to a system that is more cost-effective and responsive, one that empowers farmers by helping them build assets, and gives them control over their own business decisions. It does this by establishing "risk management accounts" that the government contributes to in lieu of direct subsidies, that farmers could use like a pension and that, like an IRA, farmers could contribute to tax-free.
The savings from this transition away from subsidies, estimated at $55 billion over 10 years, would enable investments in other important areas, including: expansion of rural development programs, protection of the environment, production of energy on farms, promoting healthy food choices, investments in domestic and international anti-hunger programs, and reduction the national debt.
If we are successful with FARM 21, it will be the most significant advance in the history of farm legislation. Indeed, this is the reason why such an ideologically diverse coalition – which includes organizations from across the political spectrum, from Oxfam and the Environmental Working Group to the National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste – is supporting FARM 21. And with the passage of this bill, we can ensure that the tenets of the Food and Farm Bill of Rights are largely put in place as the guiding principles of federal agriculture policy.
To show your support for these principles, head on over to FoodandFarmBillofRights.com and make your voice heard. And contact your Representative in the House and your two Senators and let them know that you think federal food and farm policy should be brought into to the 21st century through the passage of FARM 21.