| The big policy matter that gained movement and mainstream attention in the fight over the last farm bill was farm subsidies, or as Michael Pollan often emphasizes, "subsidized corn." If you go to the Farm Subsidy Database online at the site of the Environmental Working Group, you can see charts and statistics documenting the size and scope of farm subsidies. Without question, it clearly APPEARS that farm subsidies are the huge policy cause. It APPEARS that subsidy reform, (caps, greening, elimination,) is the true policy solution.
In stark contrast, the actual evidence from econometric studies and the real world, proves a very counterintuitive point: subsidies are just another problem caused by the real policy cause.
In a nutshell, farm prices have usually been low for well over 100 years for a basic economic reason. The main crops, (and these are mostly government "program crops,") as a group (and the group varies somewhat from region to region (ie. corn/soybeans vs. wheat/cotton/rice), lack "price reponsiveness" on both supply and demand sides. They don't self correct. You don't eat 4, 5, 6 meals if grain prices are low. Likewise, low prices don't lead farmers to plant only part of their farms. They still need to try to get money to pay taxes and interest on long term debt, for example.
Ok, that's an economic matter. Policy came in with the nonsubsidy farm programs started in the New Deal. A policy solution to the long term economic problem was enacted: price floors with supply management (acreage reduction) on the low side of price, and reserve supplies, with price ceilings to trigger their release, on the top side, for occasional price spikes (1970s, 2007-8, to a certain extent, and again now).
These policies brought farmers fair trade, living wage prices by the traditional standard of parity (100% of parity) from 1942-1952, as price floors were set at 90% of parity for each crop. Price floors and the other provisions were then reduced 1953-1995, and then ended in 1996. On rice, for example, compensatory subsidies for farmers were not added until 1977, (contrary to widespread false information).
We see then, that, in focusing only on subsidies during work on the last farm bill, most of the food movement advocated for policy packages that create cheap corn, policies that have been long sought and defended by agribusiness grain buyers.
It makes no sense, therefore, to directly petition Congress and the President to go it alone and work for the needed policies. First we need to build a base of support at the grassroots level. We have a huge movement. We need to first petition it's leaders to change course, to actually reverse course, and advocate against agribusiness special interests and for fair priced corn and other farm program crops.
That's exactly what my new petition at change.org does. It calls for Michael Pollan to use his bully pulpit to call on food movement leaders and together to lead this change.
You can find the petition here (http://www.change.org/petitions/view/michael_pollan_lead_the_food_movement_to_corn_price_floors). I have also attached a video to the petition. The video sets out four proofs to back up my claims. You can see part 2 of the video at my YouTube channel, here (http://www.youtube.com/user/FireweedFarm#p/c/A1E706EFA90D1767/5/feTeT45iWnc), (and also part 1, here: ).
This is a vitally serious matter for our movement, as I've tried to make clear in the petition and in these videos. The failure of the movement last time is shocking. It must somehow be prevented this time. Please learn about it and take a stand, with me, at change.org. And then help to spread the word, far and wide, until we can fruitfully confront Congress about the policy causes of cheap corn.
This petition can serve as a bellwether of how well the food movement understands the Commodity Title of the Farm Bill. It is starting very slowly, to be sure, but so far, it has been signed by persons from 12 states and 3 foreign countries. The word is seeping out, far and wide. May the waters soon flow forth vigorously toward a major farm policy victory. |
