LEAH HOROWITZ & AIMEE WITTEMAN - Tufts University
The U.S. Farm Bill as a Visionary Document

It’s no wonder that so many activists invest their time and money in the U.S. Farm Bill process. The billions of dollars in expenditures authorized by Congress every five years set the farm, food, and rural policy goals and priorities of this country. We’ve been around the political block– after all, we’ve been interns in Washington. We know about the incrementalism– the making of small changes to the status quo– and the horse trading that are norms in Washington. But we believe that advocates for change are best served by entering the contested sphere with a clearness of purpose and a coherent vision of the food and agriculture system they seek to create. If we allow ourselves to imagine a clean slate and the use of several billion unclaimed dollars sitting in the federal treasury, what do we understand to be the true goals of U.S. farm and food policy?

First, we believe that the agrarian tradition in this country is a cherished part of our American identity and thus worth protecting. The image of a rural America replete with vibrant small towns knit together by successful, family-oriented agricultural entrepreneurs resonates with all of us. To the extent that this story rings true for today’s rural residents, it rests on the hard work of small- and mid-sized farm owners/operators. Thus we believe that the federal government should safeguard the incomes of vulnerable farmers– those not benefiting from economies of scale or from easy access to credit, beginning farmers, farmers struggling to stay in farming, or those wanting to invest in new environmental or social practices. Government policy should prioritize this social welfare goal, which may entail moving away from farm support based on current or historical production levels.

At the same time, we must acknowledge the way that rural America is changing and work to spread the benefits and the costs of structural transformations equally. Large-scale commercial farms garner an increasingly large share of agricultural profit. National and transnational agribusiness corporations also wield enormous power in shaping farm economies. We all benefit from the security of the abundant food supply they produce and we must acknowledge that as employers, businesses, and community-members, these actors play an influential role in American agriculture. However, large and powerful agribusinesses must commit to fair practices both in home communities and internationally. Most intimately, the men and women hired to work in American fields, whether American citizens or not, deserve the fair wages and labor protections granted to the rest of the U.S. workforce. More generally, we believe that the government must act to regulate and enforce the competitiveness of the farm sector so that both large and small farmers engage on a level playing field. In addition to regulation, government policies must foster the competitiveness of the best-positioned producers rather than allow them to rely on trade barriers, export subsidies, and payments for inefficient commodity overproduction. And U.S. agricultural policy must respect the food sovereignty of people throughout the world.

Current policy that encourages overproduction of monocultures also leads to unacceptable environmental externalities that impact this country and our neighbors in the form of nutrient loading, loss of biodiversity, overuse of fossil fuels, and soil erosion. We view agriculture as the most fundamental connection between the land and ourselves. As such, this awe and respect for the natural environment must motivate all agricultural decisions. Government policy should reward farmers for their stewardship of the land and encourage their adoption of new environmentally sustainable techniques. A public policy that rewards conservation practices on working lands supports the ability of our land to continue to nourish us today and in the years to come. This is also consistent with our commitment to being a fair player in the world market since financial support for conservation is not considered a barrier to international trade.

Finally, we believe that U.S. farm and food policy must regain its commitment to the nation’s nutritional well-being. The fundamental goal of any country’s food system is to make high quality food and fiber accessible to all of its citizens. Moreover, food production, marketing, and distribution systems should promote (and certainly not impede) healthful eating in a nation’s population. With both an obesity epidemic and the increasing prevalence of food insecurity battling for press attention, it seems, at times, that the U.S. food system fails on both accounts. We must maintain and strengthen the nutritional safety net. The Food Stamp Program, WIC, and the National School Lunch and School Breakfast should be generously funded and made consistently available to all eligible families in this country, including new residents. We must also think carefully about what foods government dollars are promoting. Right now, the major commodity programs result in a glut of grain-fed beef, corn syrup, and soybean and cotton oil– central inputs for the processed food industry. We advocate that federal spending prioritize the production, promotion, and consumption of healthful foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. Enabling resource-strapped families to afford high quality fruits, vegetables, and other healthy ingredients should also be a special emphasis in this farm bill.

The way we choose to support our U.S. food and agriculture sector is more than a federal budgetary process. The Farm Bill is a visionary document that represents our commitment to ensuring the ability of producers and consumers to enjoy abundant foods and vibrant landscapes for years to come. As young people just entering the field of food and agriculture policy, we have hope that the next Farm Bill will reflect the ideas presented here of a just and sustainable food system.

Leah Horowitz and Aimee Witteman are graduate students at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and lead coordinators of the Tufts student activist initiative, FOOD. Visit http://nutrition.tufts.edu.


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This article was published in the Winter 2005 issue of Catholic Rural Life©. No portion of this article may be reproduced without written permission from The National Catholic Rural Life Conference. To purchase the Winter 2005 issue of Catholic Rural Life, please contact The National Catholic Rural Life Conference office at 4625 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50310-2199, call (515) 270-2634, or e-mail ncrlc@mchsi.com. The cost is $2.50 an issue plus postage and handling.