I have no illusions that it will pass, but if it could be brought to the floor for a debate, in such a way that the inevitable ADM/Cargill/etc response becomes obvious to all and sundry, that would be an incremental victory.

My first thought would be to ask the Organic Consumer's Association to pick it up and spread the word, and maybe mount an email campaign.  That isn't going to get alot of exposure in the mainstream media, but at least it would put the Congresscritters on notice that someone is paying attention.

J.S.

I teach environmental economics and blog at www.voicesofreason.info.

On the down side, the bill would nearly double EQIP funding to $2 billion per year. EQIP helps to clean up or prevent pollution from agriculture, but it's lately been used by huge Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to comply with laws they are currently breaking. EQIP should have limits to this kind of usage, but the DeLauro bill will have no change to its high payment limitation or CAFO production subsidy features, eliminate a current provision which prevents multi-millionaires from receiving conservation payments, and weaken current conservation features of the Farmland Protection Program. The bill also includes a controversial and expensive dairy title and other things that many really good farm groups oppose.

There are parts of this bill that will help farmers and consumers. There are other parts that hurt one or both of those groups, and we're all part of one or both of those groups. I think instead of asking legislators to support the whole bill, we should be asking them to support the concepts and ideas that make sense for farm and food policy.

Would you please elaborate on what you suggested in the last lines of your statement?   What "whole bill" would you propose?  What ag legislation would address sustainability and environment, etc., and be one all "greens" (of whatever shade or stripe) and supporters of small farmers could get behind?  Swing for the fences!  Be visionary and progressive!  

For so long we have been hoodwinked or browbeaten by ADM, Monsanto, Kraft, blah blah blah and their legislative slaves, what real progress is available?  I ask not out of frustration, but from a real interest in improving farming and the country, and with a strong interest in sustainability.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!  

David

I'll give some serious thought to your request, though obviously the Farm Bill is so big that I can't possibly have expertise on all of it. And maybe that's the first thing I would do...break it up! The Farm Bill, that is. Omnibus legislation is scary. It's too easy to hide things in the complexity, and too hard to get something out once it's in.

Broadly, I would want farm and food policy to reflect the profound respect I have for the Earth, the people who have anything to do with producing the food, and anything to do with eating the food. I have yet to see a marker bill that would do this, maybe because you can't legislate respect. Perhaps all we can do is provide people with the information they need to recognize respect when they see it, and the ability to access food that respects Earth, producers, and eaters.

Every morning, I drink from a mug that says "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" You've got me thinking about what kind of farm and food system I would create if I knew together we could make it happen. Thanks for offering the question, and I invite everyone to offer their expertise on what such a piece of legislation would look like.

Wow, I never even had the thought that "Steph" was anything but an unusual form of Stephen/Stephan.  My deepest apologies.  I was very thoughtless.

Hey, all:

I am extremely interested in the issues of farming politics, and would be very interested in knowing what the priorities are for environmental activists concerning farming.  I know little about it, and was hoping many others would venture their ideas, but from my neophyte perspective there are several things my farm bill would have in it (and I AM swinging for the fences):

*Give the USDA budget to the Pentagon and give the Pentagon's budget to the USDA. Just swap out. (How is that for a start?)

*Do what the EU has at least to some extent and outlaw all GMOs.  A-L-L  O-F  T-H-E-M.  

*Outlaw Monsanto.  (Well, I would want to.)

*Outlaw ADM.  (Well, ....)

*Outlaw Terminator technology.  

*Establish in perpetuity the right to save seed.

*Cap maximum payments to Big AgriBidness based on the size of the company, and reduce year by year until in 10 years conglomerates are forced to break up just to get payments.    

*Protect farms in suburban areas from property tax
increases and from pressure to sell out for more subdivisions, convenience stores, streets named for golfers and golf courses, and big box chain stores.

*Set up loan program for small farms to get better financing on materials, equipment, irrigation, transportation, insurance--everything.

*Increase by at least two magnitudes the number of food inspectors to reduce Escherichia coli, Salmonella, avian flu, pesticide potential in food.

*Put state-of-the-art irrigation technology to work to reduce irrigation demand, and its negative cascading effect on biodiversity.  Use some of the former Pentagon budget to push new research into sustainability in agriculture, starting with irrigation.  

*Outlaw CAFOs.

*Pay premiums to farmers who will raise/produce heritage species.  

*Put Public Service Announcements out everywhere you can possible look that say, "Your Mother was RIGHT--eat your vegetables!"  

*Support increases in organic farming.  

*Add, oh, I don't know, a 20% surcharge on every processed or fast food sold in the U.S., and use the proceeds to promote natural organic whole unprocessed slow foods.  

*Add a rating system to chicken eggs for the brightness of the yolks, based on how many leaves, flowers, seeds, and bugs the chicken ate.  

*Increase farm wages so Americans can and will work on farms again.   This one simple action will solve so many other problems, such as crime, the medically un- and under-insured, local economic recessions, education, etc.  

*Put a progressive fee on farm produce based on the distance it travels to the market.  Use that fee to finance local agriculture.  

Hey, call me a romantic, call me an optimist, but if we don't act to improve things, who will?   When?   Please feel free to add your own ideas to the bill, and modify those as needed, but I will filibuster any removals.  Got it?

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

*Do what the EU has at least to some extent and outlaw all GMOs.  A-L-L  O-F  T-H-E-M.  

Amen. Though I might argue that we can do this with our dollars. There are examples of consumers doing this with GMOs, like the GM potato. McDonald's was going to have all their fries come from GM spuds, and when consumers had a fit, they quietly canceled every contact they had to purchase GM. If you haven't heard of that story, it's probably because they kept a tight lid on it. Wouldn't want Americans to actually act on something, we might go the way of Europe. (Insert appropriate amount of snark, directed at the people who don't want you to hear the failure of GM potatoes).

*Outlaw Terminator technology.  

What's interesting is that from a practical standpoint, we did this already. There was such an outcry about Terminator genes that they were never developed. And just because you outlaw something doesn't mean it won't eventually pop up. Better to turn the public against it.    

*Protect farms in suburban areas from property tax
increases and from pressure to sell out for more subdivisions, convenience stores, streets named for golfers and golf courses, and big box chain stores.

I've been thinking a lot about encouraging mixed-use rural land, kind of an intentional community style, where the majority of the land is still farmed but a small amount goes to houses where people want to be close to farms or dabble in growing things.

*Set up loan program for small farms to get better financing on materials, equipment, irrigation, transportation, insurance--everything.

These already exist, but there's not a lot of money in them. Also, don't forget about how important beginning farmers are! The average age of a farmer is like 57 or more, we need to get young people interested in farming. Which means they need to earn a fair price for their products, yet another issue the FB needs to tackle in meaningful way.

*Increase by at least two magnitudes the number of food inspectors to reduce Escherichia coli, Salmonella, avian flu, pesticide potential in food.

How about instead of increasing inspectors, we make sure that animals are raised in conditions that aren't conducive to bacteria growth and don't need pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics? I would also make a friendly amendment to increase the number of inspectors delegated to small processing facilities, and outlaw ones that are big and dangerous and exploitative.

*Put state-of-the-art irrigation technology to work to reduce irrigation demand, and its negative cascading effect on biodiversity.  Use some of the former Pentagon budget to push new research into sustainability in agriculture, starting with irrigation.  

What about, instead of using technology, we use less water? Grow crops that work WITH the land, not against it. I think we get used to trying to fight the earth in so much of what we do. If lettuce can't grow in Arizona without ridiculous amounts of water, maybe we shouldn't grow it there. There are plenty of crops that work with Arizona's climate, and we know this because people have lived there for thousands of years and they didn't just eat sand. :)

*Outlaw CAFOs.

There is nothing good about CAFOs. Let's not buy our meat from them, and then they might cease to exist.

*Pay premiums to farmers who will raise/produce heritage species.  

Already happening in the private sector too. Nymen Ranch, for example. I'm sure there are other examples, and not sure this would be the role of the federal government.

*Support increases in organic farming.  

Especially with policy changes that help farmers transition and changes to the insurance market so that it's not a burden for farmers to insure their organic crop.

*Add, oh, I don't know, a 20% surcharge on every processed or fast food sold in the U.S., and use the proceeds to promote natural organic whole unprocessed slow foods.  

The sad thing is, consumers wouldn't even notice the increase on the 99 cent menu. I think that's a great idea.

*Add a rating system to chicken eggs for the brightness of the yolks, based on how many leaves, flowers, seeds, and bugs the chicken ate.

In fact, the entire livestock rating system is based on industrial agriculture. Marbling in meat is "good" according to USDA, except it only gets created when cows eat corn instead of grass. Let's toss it all out for all animals and start over, based on what they're supposed to eat.

*Increase farm wages so Americans can and will work on farms again.   This one simple action will solve so many other problems, such as crime, the medically un- and under-insured, local economic recessions, education, etc.  

Also encourage local ownership so that the money stays in the community. Oh, and universal health care, but that's not exactly a Farm Bill issue :)

*Put a progressive fee on farm produce based on the distance it travels to the market.  Use that fee to finance local agriculture.  

This one is a little dangerous in my opinion, because rural areas could be adversely affected if they don't have a high enough concentration of farmers to people, making their produce even more expensive. It could also adversely affect land prices near cities. Of course I love the support of local ag though, so don't filibuster me :)

I'm still thinking about my ideas, but this comment is way long already...