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    A Farm Bill For Consumers

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    Food and Water Watch
    Our food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident. Rampant consolidation in the food industry has left control of much of our food in the hands of a few large firms which serve as a bottleneck between 2 million farmers and more than 300 million consumers. Farmers receive lower prices for their products while consumers face higher prices at the grocery store. As more farms bow to the economic pressure to “get big or get out,” intensive production practices, like raising livestock on factory farms, put public health and the environment at risk.

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    A Farm Bill For Consumers

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    Food and Water Watch
    596 views2 pages
    Our food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident. Rampant consolidation in the food industry has left control of much of our food in the hands of a few large firms which serve as a bottleneck between 2 million farmers and more than 300 million consumers. Farmers receive lower prices for their products while consumers face higher prices at the grocery store. As more farms bow to the economic pressure to “get big or get out,” intensive production practices, like raising livestock on factory farms, put public health and the environment at risk.

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    A Farm Bill for Consumers

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    Our food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident. Rampant consolidation in the food industry has left control of much of our food in the hands of a few large firms which serve as a bottleneck between 2 million farmers and more than 300 million consumers. Farmers receive lower prices for their products while consumers face higher prices at the grocery store. As more farms bow to the economic pressure to “get big or get out,” intensive production practices, like raising livestock on factory farms, put public health and the environment at risk.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    596 views2 pages

    A Farm Bill For Consumers

    Uploaded by

    Food and Water Watch
    Our food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident. Rampant consolidation in the food industry has left control of much of our food in the hands of a few large firms which serve as a bottleneck between 2 million farmers and more than 300 million consumers. Farmers receive lower prices for their products while consumers face higher prices at the grocery store. As more farms bow to the economic pressure to “get big or get out,” intensive production practices, like raising livestock on factory farms, put public health and the environment at risk.

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    FOOD

    A Farm Bill for Consumers


    Fact Sheet • February 2011

    O ur food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident. Rampant


    consolidation in the food industry has left control of much of our food in the
    hands of a few large firms which serve as a bottleneck between 2 million farmers and
    more than 300 million consumers. Farmers receive lower prices for their products
    while consumers face higher prices at the grocery store. As more farms bow to the
    economic pressure to “get big or get out,” intensive production practices, like raising
    livestock on factory farms, put public health and the environment at risk.

    Consumers are increasingly seeking alternatives to the Supporting Family Farmers


    industrial food system. Sales of organic foods have skyrock-
    eted in recent years, and new farmers markets are sprouting Independent family farmers — those that are smaller than
    up across the country. We can’t just shop our way out of industrialized operators producing one crop for giant
    this problem. While we work to restore links in our local agribusiness and larger than very small niche farms direct-
    food systems that bring farms and consumers together, we marketing produce — should be the backbone of American
    must fix our broken food policy at the federal level. Our agriculture, but they have become increasingly rare over
    next farm bill should ensure fair markets for farmers and re- the last three decades. It’s no surprise that many farms have
    build regional food systems that consumers need to recon- failed: According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
    nect with healthy, fair food. most recent Census of Agriculture, less than half of all farms
    in the United States break even. The rest rely on off-farm
    Here are three ways the next farm bill can help. income to cover their expenses.

    Over the last three decades, farm policy has emphasized


    tools that work well for big agribusiness corporations but
    not for farmers. Independent family farmers have been sold
    out by an agriculture policy that favors the overproduction
    of commodity crops like corn and soybeans. The resulting
    low commodity prices hurt farmers and benefit agribusiness
    buyers of these crops, including factory farm feedlots that
    feed corn and soybeans to livestock and to processed food
    manufacturers.

    The right farm bill policies are critical to providing fair mar-
    kets and a safety net for family farmers.

    Prioritizing Environmental
    Stewardship
    Factory farms shift many of the costs associated with
    their production methods on to taxpayers, particularly
    the residents of nearby communities. These operations
    commonly use antibiotics and growth hormones to boost
    production and they produce excessive amounts of waste
    that can harm the environment. Such production methods
    drive air and water pollution and antibiotic resistance and
    increase food safety risks. Mid-sized livestock operations
    producing meat and milk in responsible ways can deliver
    environmental, economic and social benefits to rural com-
    munities, if they can survive in markets dominated by large
    factory farms.

    Family farms can play an important role in promoting clean


    energy and mitigating climate change. Sustainable agricul-
    ture can sequester carbon in the soil, proliferate on-farm
    windmills and produce bioenergy from crop wastes for on-
    farm energy consumption.

    Instead of propping up factory farms with cheap feed and


    subsidies for dealing with their pollution, the farm bill
    should instead encourage sustainable agricultural practices
    that help small and mid-sized farmers stay in business and
    protect the environment.

    Rebuilding Local Food Systems


    Consolidation in the food system has eliminated the local
    butchers, independent dairies, produce wholesale mar-
    ketplaces and regional grain milling operations that used
    to be found in every region of the country. Small farmers
    are increasingly able to sell direct to consumers, but it is
    harder for medium-scale farms or those who raise livestock
    or grains to get their products to market without access to
    independently owned infrastructure like meat plants, grain
    mills and distributors. Rebuilding the missing links in the suitable to their region, season and climate, while
    food chain could revitalize communities, create jobs and supplementing their winter pantry with produce from
    offer consumers more choices than they currently have in a warmer parts of the United States, or with imports from
    system where a few companies dominate the supply chain places with adequate safety, labor and environmental
    for most foods. rules.

    Farm bill programs should be targeted to support the • Safe workplaces and fair wages: The food system needs
    rebuilding of local and regional food production infrastruc- to be fair to everyone that labors to bring food from the
    ture and distribution chains. farm to the fork.

    How to Get There Take Action


    The farm bill is crucial for creating a more fair, safe and Shopping well isn’t enough. We also need good food policy
    sustainable food system. We need to work to make sure the to drive the change we want in our food system, so that
    2012 Farm Bill includes: everyone has access to good food. This won’t happen by
    itself. We need to organize in our communities, hold our
    • Fair markets: There need to be enough buyers for crops elected officials accountable, and make sure they get the
    and livestock to give producers a fighting chance to message loud and clear that we need a fair farm bill.
    receive a fair price.
    To join the campaign for a fair farm bill and take action, go
    • Sustainable livestock: Independent, family-scale live- to www.foodandwaterwatch.org/fairfarmbill.
    stock operations producing meat and milk in responsi-
    ble ways should replace industrial livestock operations.

    • Diversity: We need more than one kind of farmer rais-


    ing more than one kind of crop or animal, and oppor- For more information:
    tunities for beginning and minority farmers to thrive in web: www.foodandwaterwatch.org
    agriculture. email: [email protected]
    phone: (202) 683-2500 (DC) • (415) 293-9900 (CA)
    • Regional and seasonal markets: Our food policy should
    encourage farmers to grow and consumers to eat crops Copyright © February 2011 Food & Water Watch

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