Every five years the farm bill comes through Congress for revision and reauthorization. Most people living in cities across the country don’t think twice about the farm bill. Why? Because many think, what does a piece of federal legislation concerning the farm policy of the country have to do with their lives? Well the answer is A LOT. The farm bill determines all aspects of the food system in America, all the way from seed to plate. The bill determines everything from food stamps for low-income families to renewable energy incentives for farmers and everything in between.
Our current food system is broken; it’s not working for most Americans. Rather, it works for an ever-increasing small number of large multinational corporations at the expense of small farmers and consumers. What consumers find in supermarkets is not the healthy, nutritious food we would expect from a world leader in food production. Instead, the options range from cheap processed food to meat from factory farms raised with antibiotics and hormones to vegetables grown with excessive pesticide use, often times grown half a world away.
This did not happen by accident. It is the result of decades of poor food policy that has been deliberately written to favor large-scale agriculture, which has caused our system to be dominated by mega factory farms and massive corporate mergers. While these huge corporations have been able to flourish, our small-scale family farmers have suffered. From 2002 to 2007, 27,000 independent farmers went out a business nationally, while the Monsantos of the world made record profits.
Food & Water Watch’s Fair Farm Bill campaign is working to fix these abuses and make the system work for everyone.
Only four companies own nearly 85 percent of the entire beef market. Having so much control over the market allows these corporations to set unfair prices and contracts for small and midsized livestock farmers. These independent operations are then slowly squeezed out of the marketplace as they lose their ability to compete. This also harms the consumer, because instead of buying healthy meat from a cow raised eating grass, they have no choice but to buy a corn-fed, hormone injected beef. Similar stories abound in other agricultural industries: four companies own 66 percent of the pork industry, four companies own nearly 60 percent of the poultry market, and in the dairy industry, one company, Dean Foods, controls over 40 percent of the milk market.
The emergence of the local food movement over the last five to 10 years has educated and empowered consumers to respond to our broken system. Consumers have stood up and demanded that their food be locally and sustainably produced, and above all else, healthy. However, this is a problem that we cannot solve at the grocery store alone. If we are going to make the system work for everyone, we must tackle the issue head on. We must stand up and fix the federal food policies that got us into this situation. We need to take control away from large agri-business and rebuild our local and regional food systems in a way that protects our farmers and consumers.
Fortunately this year’s farm bill presents us with that opportunity. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sits on the Agricultural Committee in the Senate. This means that he will be a leading figure in determining what protections the farm bill will include for small farmers, consumers, and the environment. He has the chance to support a farm bill that begins to solve anti-competitive practices and re-builds our regional food systems by leveling the playing field for small and midsized farmers. In the past, Senator Brown has taken a strong stand for farmers and consumers, but its critical that he is hearing from constituents across Ohio that we want him to continue to stand up against the millions of corporate dollars being poured into lobbying on the farm bill to prevent these reforms. Food & Water Watch believes that with the backing of thousands of Ohioans, Senator Brown will continue to do the right thing and make sure that food is safe, healthy, and fair for everyone.
More information can be found online at www.FoodAndWaterWatch.org.
