Jerry Hagstom’s February 9 “Outside Influences’ column for National Journal begins with:
“It’s unusual for a politician to tell his allies at the beginning of a debate that they are unlikely to achieve all their goals. But that’s what Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey did Tuesday at the Food Not Feed Summit, a Washington gathering of several hundred small farmers, ranchers, food-system workers, conservationists, and public-health and animal-welfare advocates. The summit was organized by Farm Action, a group whose website says its members believe that “monopolistic corporate control” lies at the root of problems ranging from unfair agriculture markets and worker abuses to inhumane animal conditions and environmental degradation. The group is determined to use this year’s farm bill to move the government away from subsidizing industrial-scale meat production and toward helping fruits and vegetables, cereals, and regeneratively raised livestock …”
Read more here: Farm Bill has an atypical player. Author Jerry Hagstrom, National Journal and The Hagstrom Report.
Readers will remember that more than 150 organizations have joined together to ask President Biden to stick to his values, and help them accomplish seven priorities in the upcoming rewrite of the Farm Bill. The priorities are:
- Center Racial Justice.
- End Hunger
- Meet the Climate Crisis Head-On.
- Increase Access to Healthy Food.
- Ensure Safety and Dignity for Food and Farm Workers.
- Protect Farmers and Consumers
- Ensure the Safety of Our Food Supply.
Certainly Senator Booker would agree with all these priorities. But meeting the above seven priorities and making additional changes as outlined by Senator Booker will mean making some fairly dramatic changes, including changing the direction some of the money flows.
The current farm bill has four titles that account for 99% of the mandatory outlays. They are Nutrition, Crop Insurance, Farm Commodities, and Conservation. 76% of these outlays funded the Nutrition title whose funding primarily went to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP … formerly food stamps).
This week The Food Not Feed conference was held in Washington. There were many speakers but Senator Booker seemed most prominent.
One issue that grabbed our attention was the emphasis on how the U.S. is fast moving toward needing to import food, that although we grow lots of crops, we do not grow enough food to feed ourselves. Watch the video to see this issue explained in detail.