Reap What We Sow: Farm Bill 2419

The Senate passed a new farm bill, a mammoth $289 billion proposal that President Bush has stated he will veto. The Senate vote easily reached the two-thirds of votes needed to override a veto (77-to-15).

Scott Stanzel, White House spokesman, regarding the Farm Bill, stating “it is just as bad for American taxpayers." President Bush already signaled his intention to veto the bill if it appeared before him, but that may mean very little.

The farm bill is being portrayed as a bill that would help the little guy, the family farmer. This bill does very little for the small farmer, and does not help those farmers that grow vegetables, fruits, and livestock.

As crop prices soar, American farm incomes are achieving record highs. Since 2002, key crop prices have grown as much as 281 percent, and total farm income has more than doubled. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that net farm income will reach a record $92.3 bil­lion in 2008--a 56 percent increase over 2006. The $89,434 average household income for farmers sig­nificantly exceeds the national average. Addition­ally, crop land values soared another 14 percent last year, bringing them to double their 2000 levels. Large farming operations are now wealthier than ever, and the 2008 Farm Bill does very little to help the struggling farmer.

Key Points Why This Farm Bill Should Be Vetoed:

• The true intend of any farm subsidies should be to raise farmer incomes by making up for low crop prices. Instead, subsidies encourage overproduction, which will in turn lower prices even more. Costly pro­grams to limit plantings are then imple­mented to help raise crop prices again. Any ethanol mandates will raise prices further.
• Farm subsidies should be designed to help struggling family farmers. Instead, they harm those farmers by excluding them from most subsidies; financ­ing the consolidation of small, individually owned farms into business conglomerates; and raising land values to levels that prevent young people from entering farming.
• The desired affect of farm subsidies is to alleviate farmer pov­erty, but the majority of subsidies go to commercial farms, which report an average income of $200,000 and a net worth of nearly $2 million.
• Historically 90 percent of all subsidies go to growers of just five crops (wheat, cotton, corn, soybeans, and rice). Farm subsidies are supposedly needed to keep farmers afloat, yet Farms producing the major­ity of farm products (including fruits, vegetables, beef, and poultry) survive without subsidies.
• Farm subsidies cost Americans billions of dollars each year in higher taxes and higher food costs.

I am for the small family farmer, but the Farm Bill of 2008 does very little to help those truly in need. But you are somehow labeled anti-farm if you oppose this bill. To be in opposition to this bill is to be anti-waste. The current farm bill should be scrapped, and a new bill that represents the needs of the struggling farmer, and the current food world crisis should be pursued.

Track HR 2419