Colorado Farm in Winter (photo by Jany Lee, courtesy of morguefile.com)

Ellen Mahoney of Boulder Weekly has penned a terrific article on the upcoming Farm Bill in Washington, D.C. She’s done a beautiful job of writing about a complex piece of legislation, citing its historic roots and explaining its impact on all of us, especially the community farmers who produce the freshest and most healthful foods available.

Ms. Mahoney writes, “Everyone is affected by the bill in terms of the nutrition, cost and availability of what we eat, how food is farmed, produced and distributed, the conservation of land and waterways, as well as clothing, fuel and fuel costs.”

More Americans than ever seem concerned about U.S. food policy and its impact on our health, our environment, our communities, and our children. Small farmers with little time to spare are making time to speak with elected officials about the importance of a Farm Bill that supports small farms and healthful foods. Large corporations have their well-paid lobbyists, ordinary citizens have to speak up for themselves.

In her article, Ms. Mahoney quotes Dan Imhoff, the author of Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill. He says the current legislation pits large industrial corporations against small farmers here and abroad and needs a major overhaul:

The Farm Bill’s broken because the process is now dominated by huge, corporate lobbying interests and commodity state politics rather than what’s best for the entire country and taxpayers…Its policies are stuck in the past, while we’re facing real threats to agriculture, such as climate change, dwindling energy supplies and the need for conservation incentives.

Mr. Imhoff is further quoted as saying:

While many people equate the Farm Bill with economic assistance for struggling family farmers — millionaire mega farms and mega feedlots, absentee landlords, large industrial food giants, ethanol producers, and international grain traders are the primary beneficiaries of current commodity subsidies…The top 10 percent of agribusiness operations receive over two-thirds of all commodity payments, and three out of five farmers currently receive no Farm Bill subsidies at all.

To read Ellen Mahoney’s fine article in the Boulder Weekly go to: Roots of change

To visit the non-profit Farm Bill Action Center & help change food policy go to: Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

To view a previous post on this topic go to: It’s Time to Change Food Policy