[Theyve turned the food system into a cash cow for the powerful
few by undermining small farmers and encouraging operators to “get
big or get out.” ]
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BIG AGRICULTURE DOESN’T WANT A FAIR FARM BILL  
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Rebecca Wolf
September 12, 2023
The Progressive
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_ They've turned the food system into a cash cow for the powerful few
by undermining small farmers and encouraging operators to “get big
or get out.” _

, (shutterstock)

 

The United States’ food system is facing a crisis eerily similar to
what we experienced almost 100 years ago: A corporate-dominated
marketplace, strangled by an elite few, that holds farmers and
consumers hostage to greed.

At the time, lawmakers responded by creating
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first Farm Bill, establishing federal policies to level the playing
field. This fall, Congress has an opportunity to tackle these issues
anew as it negotiates the 19th Farm Bill.

Since the last Farm Bill in 2018, the cost to feed a family of four on
a thrifty food plan has increased 51 percent
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top meat and poultry companies have raked in skyrocketing profits.
This is not inevitable—and it is not a mistake. 

Big Agriculture has turned the food system into a cash cow for the
powerful few by undermining small farmers and encouraging
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to “get big or get out.” The Farm Bill, which began
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seminal New Deal social safety net legislation, has become corporate
welfare, plain and simple.

If bad policy decisions got us into this mess, good policies will get
us out. America’s farmers, consumers and the environment need a
fair Farm Bill for all
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A fair Farm Bill stops mega-mergers
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Decades of lax antitrust enforcement has created a food system defined
by consolidation. In 2022, the largest four companies in each
sector controlled
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than 85 percent of the market for beef, 70 percent for pork, 69
percent
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groceries, and 54 percent for poultry. Just three dairy cooperatives
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for 83 percent of all milk sales. This level of control gives
companies the power to decide the standards, prices and values under
which our food is produced. 

Thankfully, there is substantial political pushback; in a rare display
of bipartisanship, support for reining in Big Ag’s power has united
the Biden Administration
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Congressmembers on both sides of the aisle.

A fair Farm Bill gives sustainable, humane farmers a fair shot
by halting new and expanding factory farms
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Factory farms are the instrument of Big Ag’s control; a single
operation can displace dozens of smaller farms. There are at
least 1,157
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factory farms today than when the last Farm Bill was passed just five
years ago (and this is likely an underestimate). In Iowa, home
to more than double
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number of large factory farms of the next highest state, nearly 90
percent
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the state’s hog farms shuttered in the thirty-five years prior to
the 2018 Farm Bill due to being unable to compete.

A fair Farm Bill cuts the flow
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taxpayer dollars toward Big Ag lobbying. Checkoff programs wherein
farmers pay into a fund designed to market their agricultural products
have funneled billions into bolstering the biggest players. The
majority of the roughly $4 billion
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into the Dairy Checkoff program from 2005 to 2018 promoted export
policies that benefited enormous producers but sent milk prices
plummeting in volatile international markets. Since 2000, the average
U.S. dairy farm has managed to turn a profit just twice.

A fair Farm Bill ensures that federal programs support small and
medium-sized farms
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has hijacked programs, like the Environmental Quality Incentives
Program, that pay farmers for climate-friendly practices. Grants from
the program include a misguided requirement that 50 percent
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projects fund livestock operations, diverting taxpayer money towards
dirty boondoggles like factory farm biogas
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The biggest players win while tens of thousands of smaller farmers are
sent packing. Instigating funding caps and removing the livestock
requirement can help.

The first Farm Bill was crafted to respond
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a crisis of corporate consolidation and influence—today’s
lawmakers must heed the same call. It’s time to pass a fair Farm
Bill for all.

_Rebecca Wolf is the Food Policy Analyst at the national advocacy
group Food & Water Watch._

_Since 1909, The Progressive has aimed to amplify voices of dissent
and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of
championing grassroots progressive politics. Our bedrock values are
nonviolence and freedom of speech._

_Based in Madison, Wisconsin, we publish on national politics,
culture, and events including U.S. foreign policy; we also focus on
issues of particular importance to the heartland. Two flagship
projects of The Progressive include Public School Shakedown
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to resist the privatization of public education, and The Progressive
Media Project [[link removed]], aiming to diversify our
nation’s op-ed pages. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. _

_This column was produced [[link removed]] for
Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and
distributed by Tribune News Service._

* Farm Bill
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* agribusiness
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* small farmers
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