People of faith want farm bill to benefit all, not just a few

John Gehring, Senior Writer
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

For people of faith, the farmers who cultivate the lands that feed our families are more than cogs in the big business of global capitalism. They are part of a sacred story stretching from biblical times.

God calls his people to care for the gift of creation and to be good stewards of the Earth. The tradition of a "Jubilee Year" included the forgiveness of debts and letting the land lay fallow as a means of redistributive justice for those who labored in the fields.

As Congress debates reauthorization of the farm bill - the expansive legislation that affects the lives of all Americans by setting a broad range of agricultural and nutritional policies - religious organizations are leading the call for bold reforms that will help struggling farmers, strengthen rural communities and promote sustainable agriculture.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Bread for the World, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other prominent leaders in the faith community have actively lobbied lawmakers to recognize the moral failings of our nation's dysfunctional farming policies.

In the 1930s, New Deal legislation helped provide a safety net for poor family farmers decimated by the volatile market forces during the Great Depression. This progressive vision has been replaced by a rigged system that generously rewards a handful of huge corporate farms with hefty crop subsidies. While agribusinesses like ConAgra and Archer Daniels Midland earn soaring profits, independent and family farmers here and across the globe are left behind.

In the first three years under the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act, for example, the Washington-based Environmental Working Group found that half of all subsidies in Iowa - $1 billion - went to only 12 percent of farm operators.

Heavily subsidized U.S. crops dumped into developing countries also mean small farmers in Latin America and Africa can no longer compete with the flow of cheap goods entering their country. Many of these farmers end up joining the steady stream of immigrants searching for better lives in the United States. If we ever hope to escape the quagmire of simplistic solutions and ugly rhetoric that has characterized our polarized debate over immigration, lawmakers must address the connections between agricultural policies, trade and migration.

The House version of the farm bill that passed in July does little to seriously address the unbalanced commodity system. The Senate now has the opportunity to restore a measure of fairness to the legislation. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan have offered an amendment to establish meaningful payment limitations to farm operations and to close loopholes that allow some corporate farms to collect seven-figure government checks each year.

The legislation, known as the Rural America Preservation Act, would set a limit of $250,000 for farm payments in an attempt to better distribute farm program payments to family farmers. Reasonable adjustments to payment limits are about restoring basic fairness to farming.

While the politics of farm-bill reform are formidable, it's time to put the common good before special interests and build a new covenant with farmers and rural America.

The faith community will continue to raise an uncompromising voice for the poor and working class until farm policies reflect a concern for the dignity of work and social justice, not simply the profits of a privileged few.


JOHN GEHRING is senior writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good: www.catholicsinalliance.org