San Francisco Lawmaker Could Be Key to Compromise that Favors Environment & Better Nutrition
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Hon. Nancy Pelosi
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On July 6, AFT Trustee Richard Rominger, California State Director Ed Thompson, and farm policy consultant Tim Frank were among a delegation of agricultural and environmental representatives to meet with the district staff of Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), urging the Speaker to push hard for a farm bill that balances the needs of the environment, nutrition and California’s fruit and vegetable growers with those of Midwest and Southern commodity producers. The meeting followed a letter sent to the Speaker by AFT and 12 other organizations and agencies.
The farm bill is approaching a critical vote in the House Agriculture committee on July 17 over the issue of whether to continue current farm subsidies to corn, wheat, soybean, cotton and rice farmers, or shift more funding to the protection of farmland, wildlife habitat, air and water quality, and to expanding the consumption of healthy, fresh foods through local farmers markets, school lunches and low-income feeding programs. Right now, subsidies account for the majority of federal farm spending, with conservation programs receiving only a fraction. And most subsidies go, not to small family farmers, but to large producers – including some who have quit farming and have sold their land for subdivisions!
AFT is urging Congress to reform the commodity subsidy programs so they operate more like an insurance policy, helping farmers when the market is bad or a crop disaster hits, rather than cutting them a check every year whether they need it or not. This would enable Congress to invest more money to help farmers safeguard the environment, improve nutrition and meet the challenges of emerging local and global markets.
More than 200 members of the House of Representatives have signed onto various bills that would shift funding to achieve this kind of balance in farm programs. One that would especially benefit California is H.R. 1600, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Modesto) and 38 other members of the state Congressional delegation. Governor Schwarzenegger and his counterparts in Texas, Florida and New York – other states that are given short shrift by current farm programs – have also joined in urging Congress to pass a more balanced farm bill [View their letter]. Speaker Pelosi will be a key player in brokering a deal between Midwestern and Southern farm state representatives and members from East and West Coast states that have large farm economies and an even larger number of Congressional seats. Hopefully, what will emerge is a more balanced bill that addresses the broad needs of agriculture and consumers all across the country, rather than just a few large producers in a handful of states.
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