First the good news....Richard Pombo is gone!
And so are such other "unlamented industrial-agriculture enthusiasts [as] Sens. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), George Allen (R-Va.), Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.), and James Talent (R-Mo.)."
But as Tom Philpott, that sensible and articulate voice of sustainable agriculture, points out in Grist, "for every bought-and-paid-for Republican that the public sent packing, the agribusiness lobby has a reliable Democrat waiting at the gate. "
And this Congress will be entrusted with writing a Farm Bill.
Says Philpott, "Since the Nixon era, Farm Bills have essentially become five- or six-year plans for using government power to extract wealth from farmers and deposit it on the bottom lines of the agribusiness giants -- sustainability and environmental concerns be damned. Unhappily, prospects for reforming the 2007 version look bleak."
First at the trough will be "the Exxon of corn," Archer Daniels Midland, the world's biggest corn buyer and the No. 1 U.S. ethanol producer. "ADM has managed over the last 25 years to rig up lucrative markets for two related products that would never have gained traction in a free market: corn-based ethanol and high-fructose corn syrup. Both thrive by grace of a baroque and related set of government subsidies and quotas. "
Nancy Pelosi has already stumped through Minnesota pledging allegiance to ethanol subsidies--er, I mean, the limitless potential of the fuel of the future. And in the Senate Tom Harkin looks to take over the ag committee. "This is the man who, facing down critics who dared question ethanol's environmental value, once took a swig of the corn-based fuel on the Senate floor, evidently to demonstrate its salubrious qualities."
And in the White House, well, let's not go there....
All of this is tremendously disheartening, yet it must not be allowed to forestall political action. Indeed, on several fronts, pro-sustainable agriculture forces are rolling out Farm Bill agendas that challenge the agribusiness chokehold on farm policy. These efforts reassert farming not as an industrial process geared to the needs of conglomerates, but rather as a way to build community, feed people, and regenerate soil.
From the heartland, the Iowa-based National Family Farm Coalition has come out with a farmer-oriented agenda [PDF] that demands the end of the direct-payment subsidies so beloved by ADM and other large corn buyers. In Washington, D.C., American Farmland Trust has released a comprehensive Farm Bill plan that makes a powerful case for replacing commodity subsidies with "green payments" that would reward farmers for environmental stewardship.
Meanwhile, the Farm and Food Policy Project, a broad coalition of environmental, sustainable-agriculture, and anti-hunger groups, plans to release its Farm Bill proposal sometime this month.
These efforts are critically important. Any citizen interested in creating a sane food system should study them and pressure their representatives to vote accordingly during the Farm Bill debates.
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1 comment:
I am from Central Illinois, where ADM is based, and I must that not only is your post alarmingly narrow minded, but it shows just how little a lot of people know about agribusiness and what it means to America.
Yes, in a perfect world, taxes would be low and subsidies would be nonexistent. But we don't live in a perfect world. As long as the government is going to confiscate our tax dollars and dole them out to who they see fit, than big agribusiness is just as worthy of a recipient as any. In fact, the argument could be made that since agribusinesses like ADM create good jobs and grow the economy, that they should be first in line if the government is going to be handing out money. Because at least that way, that money goes back into the economy and the community here in Decatur instead of getting squandered up in Chicago.
Do you and people like you have any idea just how much good ADM does?
A lot of politicians, especially Democrat politicians like to carry on about raising the minimum wage, which is outright economic stupidity. But that is an issue for a different day. The fact of the matter is that at companies like ADM, even the lowest paid employees often earn well more than the minimum wage. Not only that, but ADM drives the local demand for literally thousands of skilled workers and professionals - everything from welders to biotech researchers and lawyers. Those are jobs that enable people to live at least somewhat comfortably (depending on what you do) and provide for their families. And that's just the people that work for ADM. That doesn't even include all the farmers, contractors, retailers and entrepreneurs who benefit from ADM's presence in the region and make up much of its supporting infrastructure.
Contrast that with southern Illinois, where the big deal there is the Vandalia prison. Oh boy! Maybe if you work really hard and get really good grades and always go the extra mile, you too could be a prison guard. Which is not to put anybody down. We need good prison guards to watch all our long term visitors from the Chicago area. But all in all, that doesn't provide a lot of opportunity for an entire region.
I will be blunt. When ADM is smiling, so am I. Because when ADM is smiling, people's lives and futures are that much brighter. Sure, ripping on big business if a favorite pass time for some. But for everyone than bemoans ADM today, if ADM suddenly closed tomorrow, than those very same people would be mad at the company for laying off somewhere on the order of 23,000 plus. And of course, a government solution would be demanded to save the day.
John @ Holstein Grove
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