The US Farm Bill and the Global Food Crisis |
by Joe Bialek |
|
|
The 2007 US Farm Bill currently being considered by the United States Congress is a multi-billion dollar, farm subsidy bill renewed every five years. It is a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill.
The bill first became law in 1933 as a means of preventing farmers from taking a loss on their annual production of crops—corn, wheat, cotton, rice, and soybeans. The government paid farmers the difference between what they sold and what it cost to produce. At the time it was a brilliant means of “priming the pump” so that farmers could be temporarily shielded from the effects of the Great Depression on their industry.
Today’s Farm Bill is a clear example of a government program being continued way beyond its original intention. Essentially, the government now pays farmers to under-produce crops in order to charge higher prices. Adding to the controversy is that it gives two-thirds of the subsidy to the top 10 percent of farmers. As with most government programs, bureaucratic self-perpetuation has allowed for this subsidy to become corrupted.
Not surprisingly, the government has it backwards. Why not let the farmers produce as much crops as possible, sell what they can on the world market, and give their surplus to the poor. Whatever they don’t sell, the government should pay them for and distribute it among those in poverty. In a world facing a food crisis never before seen in the history of humankind, we should never halt the production of food under any circumstances.
Joe Bialek
Cleveland
Reader Comments
Brad Wilson
03 Mar 2009, 19:26
There's a lot of false info out there on the farm bill, but here are some new ones. 1. USDA didn't pay farmers "the difference," 1933-1961. 2. Farm commodities lack "price responsiveness" on both supply and demand sides. Prices are usually below cost. Farm Bills manage this (1933-1995) (with price floors/supply management and price ceilings/grain reserves) or don't (pre 1933, post 1995). The need is ongoing, not temporary. 3. The present farm bill has no price floors, etc., it's not "continued." 4. It's overproduce, not "under produce" due to lack of price responsiveness. 5. You have it backwards. Overproduction and dumping exports below cost for a quarter century and (below a fair trade price for many more years) caused massive poverty in Least Developed Countries (70%+ rural). This is the true cause of the food crisis, not out temporary lack of dumping 2007-8). The hungry need good jobs, and the economic engines in LDCs are farms. Food should be bought from LDC farmers at fair trade prices to feed all the hungry. We must not dump on them more as a "solution" to the food crisis. 6. We've almost always had a surplus of food, and we should 1st build up reserves, then manage supply to "halt" some production to help raise prices to end LDC poverty. 7. Subsidies are not what's corrupt. They're for massive losses, as USDA Economic Research Data clearly show with some economies of scale. What's corrupt is that the US lost money for a quarter century, subsidizing foreign and domestic CAFOs and processors causing massive poverty and starvation in LDCs.
Leave a Comment:
|
|
Issue Navigation> Issue Index > v7n19: Blockheads (5/8/08) > Letters to Artvoice > The US Farm Bill and the Global Food Crisis This Week's Issue • Artvoice Daily • Artvoice TV • Events Calendar • Classifieds |
