Equality:

Agriculture, A Better Farm and Food Policy

American agriculture traditionally relied on the family farm. In modern times, the agricultural system has been taken over by a few conglomerates. Serious economic, health and environmental problems have resulted, including: a decline in income for farmers, making them a major poverty group; production and processing methods that increase exposure of consumers to genetically altered, irradiated food containing harmful additives and preservatives; the deterioration of rural communities; large factory livestock farms concentrating thousands of animals into small spaces, causing serious air and water pollution; antibiotic use in animal production giving rise to bacteria resistant to human antibiotics; and agricultural research devoted primarily to technologies which tend to concentrate benefits in the hands of global agribusiness.

Mergers and acquisitions reach new highs each year. Sectors such as poultry, livestock, grain, and flour milling have seen control concentrated in four to six companies.

The Freedom to Farm Act of 1996, pushed by the Republican Congress and signed by Clinton, aimed to “get the government out of agriculture.” It took away every major tool of the Secretary of Agriculture, such as setting a floor on corn and wheat prices and compensating farmers for taking land out of production (thereby conserving marginal cropland). Exclusive reliance was placed on exporting commodities to increase demand and prices.

Freedom to Farm has resulted in historically low commodity prices, severe decline in farm income and the number of farmers, and grand profits for grain merchandisers. Congress responds to low farm income with direct payments to farmers. Thus, farm income which previously came from the marketplace now comes from taxpayers. Perversely, the biggest farms get the biggest payments.

Meanwhile, rural communities suffer depression because the profit in the food industry bypasses their main streets and causes young families to look elsewhere for jobs. Rural America has experienced massive poverty, declining school enrollments, shuttered main streets and withering civic institutions.

Our economic system operates best when it disperses ownership and decision-making broadly. A concentrated food system subordinates the diverse interests of consumers and society at large to those of a few conglomerates. A concentrated “supply chain” may produce relatively cheap food, but does not produce more healthy, natural, and ecologically sustainable food production.

To improve the agricultural system, federal policy must accord with consumer, environmental, worker and family farm standards of justice and sustainability. Like Europe and Japan, America should take a “multifunctional” view of agriculture, recognizing the value not only of economic and nutritional benefits, but also environmental stewardship, beautiful landscapes, and stable communities.

We must stop the misallocation of resources caused by the growing concentration of power over the food and fiber economy by agribusiness, chemical, biotechnology and financial corporations. This entails shifting government policy to provide research and information relevant to independent food producers; ensuring open and competitive markets; promoting new food infrastructures; and preventing pollution and degradation of natural resources.