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Move
farms off the dole
Subsidies
are going to large, wealthy farms and distorting global markets.
Congress can change that.
The Christian Science
Monitor
Every five years,
Congress must reconsider billions of dollars in farm subsidies. This is
one of those years. Perhaps this time, though, it will realize that what
began as a New Deal program has since become an old deal that needs an
overhaul.
Originally, federal
payments were meant to protect millions of small, poor farms from sudden
economic ruin. Today, they go disproportionately to large farms and
wealthy farmers. Just five crops (corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, and
wheat) receive 93 percent of payments for commodities, which have
averaged about $20 billion a year.
The subsidies have
encouraged farm consolidation. That has its benefits (especially
technological ones) – when determined by market forces. This
artificial "gigantification," though, has encouraged
dependency, pushed out small farmers, and raised land prices such that
new farmers are finding it hard to get started.
The subsidies also
distort global agricultural markets, putting the
Certain farm interests in
a few states have traditionally held great sway over key lawmakers in
Congress, blocking attempts at reform. But several forces are now
converging that could change that.
For starters, farm wealth
has increased substantially since the 2002 farm bill was being debated.
In the years preceding that bill,
The income picture looks
good for the near term, too. Climate change and energy security concerns
have sparked a demand for biofuels (helped by government support for
ethanol). As a result, corn prices are as high as an elephant's eye, and
profitability in corn and other commodities has surged.
Meanwhile, groups outside
the traditional agriculture lobby are pressing for change. Growers of
fruits, vegetables, and nuts – i.e., the folks who don't get subsidies
– are arguing for equal treatment. Environmentalists are demanding a
greater emphasis on conservation. Latinos, the fastest-growing group of
new farmers, are mobilizing.
Pressure is coming from
outside the
The
Congress has a good place
to start in the Bush administration's proposed 2007 farm bill. It moves
in the right directions: cutting subsidies, spending more on
conservation, encouraging renewable fuels, and assisting small farms and
young farmers. One of its most promising ideas is to shift part of the
farm "safety net" from price-related subsidies (which distort
markets) to less distorting income supports. It would eliminate
subsidies for farmers earning more than $200,000 – taking about 80,000
farmers off the agri-welfare roles.
Some suggest this is the
year for Congress to do for agriculture what it did for welfare reform
in 1996. The reasons are there, if it can find the courage to stand up
for them.
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