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As one of the anti-hunger/anti-poverty activists referred to in the June 18Rocky Mountain News editorial, “Fat of the land,” I am happy to see the Rocky highlighting some of the problems with the commodity subsidy title of the current Farm Bill.
The largest 10 percent of U.S. agriculture producers receive 75 percent of the commodity subsidies. Our tax money is not helping many Colorado family farms; in fact, it is helping drive our family farmers out of business.
In addition to neglecting America’s family farmers, the misguided commodity subsidies threaten the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers in developing countries. Twenty million African farmers depend on cotton farming for their income, compared to the 25,000 American cotton farmers who receive up to $4 billion a year in subsidies. This $4 billion is greater than the gross domestic product of Benin, Burkina Faso or Chad.
We have an amazing opportunity right now to urge our representatives and senators to support a Farm Bill that would redirect misguided commodity subsidies into other, underfunded programs. Conservation, nutrition and rural development programs are all funded through the Farm Bill, through direct competition with commodity subsidy money.
By shifting money from commodity subsidies to these other programs, the 2007 Farm Bill can create a system that rewards more of America’s family farmers and gives poor farmers in developing countries a fighting chance to pull themselves out of poverty.
READER COMMENTS
it`s not welfare when a corporations name is on the check.
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