Political action is embedded in everyday happenings, and a vote for change can take many forms. Whether you write-in, call-in, send e-mail or just talk to your neighbors about political change, YOU VOTE EVERY TIME YOU MAKE A PURCHASE. Tell your local store managers that you want to see more local products for sale.
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The Farm Bill and Beyond
Dan Morgan
January 13, 2010
More than a year after the U.S. Congress enacted a new multi-year farm bill (the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008), the politics of agriculture in Washington have been substantially reshuffled. Proposed climate change legislation has confronted the farm bloc with issues that received scant attention in the farm bill itself. At the same time, the congressional energy committees and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-not the traditional guardians of agriculture-have taken the lead in shaping climate and biofuels policies that could have long-term impacts on farmers. At the White House, President Obama has proposed cutting some key subsidies, and he has signaled interest in aligning himself-at least symbolically-with a grass roots movement that supports "sustainable agriculture" and "healthy foods." These developments have moved long-standing tensions over agriculture policy to center stage.
This paper by agricultural commentator and former GMF Transatlantic Fellow Dan Morgan examines these tensions in the context of the 2008 farm bill, with a view to setting the stage for the next phase of the debate in the United States and Europe over climate, energy, farm subsidies, food safety, trade, and agricultural aid to farmers in developing countries.
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See also:
| Prodding the Liberal Agenda With a Pitchfork (August, 2009) http://www.gmfus.org/publications/article.cfm?id=638 ** Excerpt: In the case of the food safety bill passed by the House on Thursday, Peterson worked behind the scenes to limit new FDA powers to make farmers keep records to help trace food-borne illnesses. And in regulating small growers and organic farmers, the FDA will now have to consider the impact the new rules will have on them. All this shows that the Agracrats are a force to be reckoned with. When the Obama administration proposed phasing out a principal farm subsidy over three years for all except the smallest farmers, Peterson pronounced it "dead on arrival," then said, "We might cremate it." Spoken like a true Agracrat. ## |
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