Final Farm Bill Falls Short of a Faithful Farm Bill
by Leslie Woods
On
February 7, President Obama signed into law the newest Farm Bill.
Unfortunately, the best I can say about the
overall bill is that it could have been worse. The PC(USA) has a long history of supporting a Farm Bill that
connects hungry people to what should be a sustainable food system. Last year,
both the PC(USA) Big Tent and Ecumenical Advocacy Days focused on Food Justice.
But this bill falls short of the justice we seek.
The Bad News: the bill
cuts $8 billion from SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program. In this economic
climate, it is unconscionable that we are cutting nutrition assistance to some
of the most vulnerable people in the country. Due to these cuts, some 850,000
households will lose an average of $90 per month. These
cuts are unacceptable.
Further, the Farm Bill fails to make reforms to Farm programs that benefit
corporate Ag, like commodity and crop insurance subsidies.
The Good News: the bill
invests over $1.2 billion in the innovative programs for beginning farmers,
local food, organic agriculture, rural development, and specialty crops that
were stranded when the Farm Bill expired in 2012. The bill also reconnects crop insurance subsidies
to basic conservation requirements. Furthermore, under this new law, U.S.
international humanitarian food aid becomes much more efficient and culturally
appropriate. These were all key requests of the faith community.
A Reason to be Relieved: I am not writing today about a $40 billion cut to SNAP and the
four million people who would be about to lose their benefits, as I would if
the House-passed Farm Bill had become law. Indeed, when thousands of
Presbyterians responded to frantic action alerts about that $40 billion cut in
September 2013, I could not have imagined that the final, comparable damage
would be so small.
So, the new Farm Bill is a mixed bag. The SNAP cuts are appalling,
but they are not nearly as bad as they could be – or even than we thought they
would be only a few months ago. The farm programs are investing in some new and
innovative ideas in agriculture, even while they fall short of real reform of
the system. In all, this is not a good bill, nor is it something the PC(USA)
can support, but it does do some good things.
