Printed in Daily Journal

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070621/OPINION03/706210326/1014/NEWS17

In South Jersey we’re surrounded by family farms, though there are fewer each year as farming becomes less profitable.  This fall Congress will vote on a new farm bill, without which many small farms would go bankrupt, although 60 percent of farmers and ranchers receive no support, while the top 10 ten percent, the agribusinesses, receive 70 percent of subsidy payments. 

Tyson and Cargill are just two of many huge conglomerates, receiving corporate welfare, which purchase cheap subsidized grain, pay low wages, have unhealthy working conditions, and cause environmental damage.  They ship their products long distances, negatively impacting America’s food chain and dump surplus commodities on foreign lands which displace local workers, forcing millions of peasants off their land.

We deserve a policy that supports local farmers with local markets, providing jobs for local people. The bill must also continue to provide in-school meals to children who may not be receiving nutritious meals at home, since there are hundreds of thousands unable to purchase the healthy food their families need. 

Corn-based ethanol, the least economically and environmentally feasible choice for replacing fossil fuels, receives massive subsidies due to agribusiness funded lobbying. Corn for fuel drives up costs, pricing small ranchers and producers of cereals and breads out of the market.  Perennial grasses like switch grass, cheaply produced and converted, could be processed locally guaranteeing fair prices for farmers and ranchers who also could produce renewable energy through wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. 

The only winners under the present bill are the agribusinesses, so please contact your representative in Washington to demand that the new bill be more economically and environmentally fair to all of our people.