62: The Farm Bill Congressional Dish

On February 7, President Obama signed the Farm Bill into law, which will govern our food policy for the next five years. In the new law are cuts to food stamps, an expansion of an extremely generous crop insurance program, bailouts for livestock producers, a big favor for chemical companies, and much more. Music in This Episode: Intro and Exit Music: by , by   by Farming in the United States We often hear that most United States farms are "family farms", which is true; in 2011, 96 percent of U.S. crop farms were family farms, and they accounted for 87 percent of the value of crop production. The term is misleading, however, because family farms can be sole proprietorships, partnerships or corporations. Using the term 'family farm' implies a small farm like the one Auntie Em owned in the Wizard of Oz. In reality, ; 86 percent of farms with at least 10,000 acres of cropland are family operations. The way these large farms qualify as 'family farms' but actually produce the products of giant corporations is through the use of contracts. The farms themselves are owned and operated by individuals, but their crops belong to and are sold by a corporation. For example, Dole Foods leases 14,000 acres in Arizona and California from landowners who purchased the land from Dole Foods. Most of that land is now farmed by independent growers, most of which are family operations, under contract arrangements with Dole. , larger operations are more likely to use contracts, which can reduce the price and marketing risks faced by farmers. Large farms now dominate crop production in the United States. From 1987-2007, consolidation lead to larger farms for every major crop except for cantaloupe and plums. Between 1950 and 1997, consolidation caused the number of farms in the U.S. to decline dramatically—f. concluded that this consolidation is due in part to the expansion of crop insurance in the United States. By reducing risk to farmers, crop insurance encourages farmers to invest more in labor-reducing equipment and to specialize in specific crops instead of diversifying crops and livestock as had been traditional in the past. Crop insurance also guarantees a certain amount of income to farmers which allows the large farms with only one crop to survive even if their product is devastated by drought, fire, or other national disaster. This guaranteed financial return has allowed larger farms to gobble up smaller farms, leading to the rapid consolidation of the last 60 years. Wealthy farmers' ability to buy vast amounts of land and huge equipment has increased production so much that now very few people are needed to do the actual work. In 1945, it took 14 labor hours to produce 100 bushels of corn on 2 acres of land; on less than half the amount of land. That increased productivity resulted from bigger, more powerful machines, commercial fertilizers, genetically modified seeds, and other technologies. As a consequence of the substitution of equipment and chemicals for human labor, for a living today. The Farm Bill was signed into law on Friday, February 7, 2014. It will govern food policy in the United States for the next five years. Cuts to SNAP: Food Assistance for Needy Families The farm bill cuts $8 billion from SNAP (which is less than ); the cut from a typical poor family. The law kept the mean, unnecessary, and probably unenforceable provision that prevents food stamp recipients from recycling for cash the bottles and cans they bought with food stamps (Section 4001). Stores and restaurants that accept food stamps will be forced to pay for 100% of the electronic equipment and supplies needed to process food stamp cards while the law also prohibits manual vouchers (Section 4002). Murderers and sex offenders will not be eligible for food stamps (Section 4008). Government sponsored advertisements for the food stamp program will be prohibited (Section 4018). Direct Payments Direct payments - tax money given to food manufacturers