Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
nature of the produce industry makes it impossible for farmers that want to transition into growing more
fruits and vegetables to compete with the large concentrated produce packers. These large players can do
more than just undersell smaller growers—they can submit to the various demands of large retailers, in-
cluding paying fees for shelf space.
However, even a reformed food system, with plenty of fruits and vegetables available, cannot ultimately
address the problems related to poverty and lack of access to adequate food resources. Fixing the dysfunc-
tional food system must be part of a larger, broad-based strategy for dealing with the economic inequities of
our society. A 2011 Congressional Budget Office study documented the stratification in the United States,
which has increased dramatically since the 1970s: “As a result of that uneven income growth, the distri-
bution of after-tax household income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in
1979. . . . [T]he after-tax income received by the 20 percent of the population with the highest income ex-
ceeded the after-tax income of the remaining 80 percent.”
3
Noted author Mark Winne, an expert on food security, observed on his blog, “Food insecurity has cast
a dark shadow across our national landscape for decades, primarily because we cannot bring ourselves to
confront its root cause, poverty. Our elaborate and not inexpensive network of private and public food pro-
grams make a noble effort to mitigate the worst aspects of poverty, namely hunger, but even on their best
days, they only succeed in managing poverty, never ending it.”
4
In an earlier post on his blog, he wrote:
Until our public policies once again take on the task of ending poverty, and private industry is forced or shamed
into paying a living wage to all its workers, hunger and food insecurity will be business as usual for tens of
millions of Americans. The recent flare ups in our stressed food system may remind us how vulnerable we all
are to economic and natural forces, but for the poor and those now joining their ranks, it's just another bad day
in the food line.
5
Even Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, is among the people arguing
for reforming economic policy. Buffett is advocating for the superrich to pay their fair share of taxes and to
lower the rate for the poor and middle class, an important component in fixing income disparity and having
an adequate federal budget. Buffett wrote in a
New York Times
opinion piece: “These and other blessings
are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were
spotted owls or some other endangered species. It's nice to have friends in high places. . . . My friends and
I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get
serious about shared sacrifice.”
6
Organic Agriculture and Environmental Stewardship
Organic agriculture has seen incredible growth in the past several decades, yet farm policy has not kept
up with the pace. The Farm Bill needs to include provisions targeted to organic production throughout the
legislation, including the research, conservation, credit, and insurance titles. The USDA research agenda
should increase the proportion of time and resources it devotes to organic agriculture.
Certified organic farmers should have easier access to conservation programs, since organic operations
are already using practices intended to be better for the environment. The 2008 Farm Bill contained a cost-
sharing provision that gave money to farmers to offset the cost of becoming organically certified. This
helps conventional farmers who want to make the transition to organic farming and should not just be
maintained but expanded.
A major portion of spending generated by Farm Bills goes to conservation programs that either en-
courage farmers to take vulnerable land out of production, require certain environmentally preferable farm
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