Farm Bill 101- Know the Basics

     Despite America’s free market economy and its valuing of free enterprise, there exists a piece of legislation that reaches with sticky government fingers from the offices of big government, right into the homes of everyday Americans. It’s currently powering one of the biggest industries in the world, and yet still determines something as local as what shows up on our children’s lunch trays.
The Farm Bill originally started in the early to mid 1900’s, during the time of the Great Depression. Its purpose at that time was to create stability for farmers and their families, during a period when the farming industry was growing to become an extremely unprofitable and unstable way of life. Throughout the course of American industrialization, “increased global trade, the call for less government spending, the concentration of distribution and processing capabilities, and low commodity prices took their toll on the farm sector and rural communities.” (Daniel Imhoff, Food Fight). Large corporations took control of the agricultural world and terms like “agribusinesses” and “mega-farms” were needed to describe the new type of economy that existed around agriculture. The money once meant for America’s everyday farmers and their families now only benefited two out of five farmers, with the richest five percent receiving on average $470,000 each.
     Because of the overhead prices that are required to start farming in modern society, and the annual costs to keep a farm running, farmers make little money without off farm jobs and government subsidies. When the Farm Bill was passed in 1996, most American’s thought it would affect little beyond the people that farmed. But the farm bill has a farther reaching impact than first anticipated.   The farm bill started to pay farmers to produce only certain crops. When you look at the Farm Bill’s numerous sections, you will notice a substantial section titled “Commodity programs”. This section addresses what commodity crops the government will pay farmers to produce, and produce in excess. Some of the crops covered in this section are corn, cotton, soybeans, sugar, and wheat. Foods such as corn and soybeans are then turned into the cheapest fats, oils, and sugars on the market. Food engineers started using the surplus to create harmful additives like hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. They feed some of the surplus to the cows in beef plants, causing the cows to acquire new diseases and illness because of the unnatural diet. Imhoff states it most simply when he says, “…the Farm Bill determines what crops the government will support- and, in turn, which kinds of foods will be plentiful and cheap” (Daniel Imhoff, Food Fight). It rewards farmers for producing crops that are government supported, giving little incentive to produce crops that are not government supported—like fruits and vegetables. In the industrial agriculture’s quest to profit off consumers, corporations have created a system in which the food that is cheapest is also the food that is the worst for us nutritionally.
    The graph below shows the change in food prices in the United States between 1985- 2000. Foods such as dairy, red meats, sugar and sweets, and fats and oils all decreased in price from five to fifteen percent between 1985 and 2000.  Soft drinks decreased an astounding twenty three percent in that time period, while the costs of fresh fruits and vegetables rose thirty eight percent in price during that same time.  We’ve made the highest calorie foods the most accessible, decreasing the opportunities we have to choose the healthier alternatives that help avoid the serious risks involved with a lifestyle full of high sugar/high calorie foods. Americans are in danger, and it is obvious the risks are much greater within low-income families.
  

Graph from Daniel Imhoff's Food Fight

     It is crucial we recognize the Farm Bill is a symptom of the lack of food culture at work in America.