Obama on Food

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Nov 09, 2008 at 01:10:01 AM PST

1. Payment limits: Obama says he'll implement a $250,000 payment limit and "close the loopholes that allow mega farms to get around the limits by subdividing their operations into multiple paper corporations."

     "I would have liked to have seen some additional reforms in the bill," Obama says in an American Farm Bureau Federation report. "I would like to see some tighter payment limits for example, but on balance the bill did a lot more good than bad because it dramatically increased the funding to fight hunger, it increased funding for conservation and it provided farmers with at least some stability in an increasing volatile market."

2. Packer ban: President-elect Obama supports a ban on packer ownership of livestock. "Obama and Biden will strengthen anti-monopoly laws and strengthen producer protections to ensure independent farmers have fair access to markets, control over their production decisions and transparency in prices.

3. Local control: Under Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will "strictly regulate pollution from large CAFOs, with fines for those that violate tough standards." This includes "meaningful local control," according to Obama's Web site.

4. Country-of-origin labeling (COOL): Country-of-origin labeling will be moved toward implementation by President Obama, "so that American producers can distinguish their products from imported ones," according to his Web site.

5. Organic, local production: The new administration will take steps to promote organic farm production, including helping organic farmers "afford to certify their crops and reform crop insurance to not penalize organic farmers." In addition, the Obama administration will "promote regional food systems."

6. Young and beginning farmers: Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden will, according to Obama's Web site, "establish a new program to identify and train the next generation of farmers," as well as provide tax incentives to "make it easier for new farmers to afford their first farm.

7. Conservation: The new administration, Obama says, will boost incentives for landowners to "conduct sustainable agriculture and protect wetlands, grasslands and forests."

This alone is not enough but it is certainly all moving in the right direction. More below.

The packer ban is something we've worked for for a long time. Right now, the beef industry is almost entirely controlled by 4 beef packing companies, and as a result anyone with a slaughter weight steer to sell gets a very low price for it because these 4 corporations totally run the show. The packer ban would add SOME additional competition to this market - although it wouldn't solve the problem of 4 companies owning 90% of the market.

The $250,000 cap on subsidies with a closing of loopholes looks to me like what was referred to as the Grassley-Dorgan amendment to the farm bill this past year. As an amendment, it was defeated. If this can be passed - and if the money saved by capping subsidies can all go to pay for conservation programs - I would be very happy.

Regarding conservation, currently we have some great conservation programs but they are underfunded. And even the best program counts for little if it isn't funded. I hope when Obama says he's for conservation, he also means he's for actually funding it. What I am truly for is a replacing of current subsidy programs that reward maximum yield with conservation programs that reward maximum sustainability.

For COOL, as of September 30, COOL is now required by law on many foods - produce, meat, and seafood. The USDA implemented it with an unacceptable number of loopholes, so hopefully an Obama administration can close some of these loopholes up.

Last, it's encouraging to see a president calling for strict regulation of CAFOs. About freaking time. Factory farms commit such crimes by their mere existence in my opinion. I truly do not understand why they are legal. And - I was thinking today - that if anyone were to argue that without factory farms we would not have enough meat, they should look at hog production pre-1990's. During the first decade of my life, I do not recall a shortage of pork, yet a large percent of hogs were still raised on family farms back then.

This is just a short list of what needs to be done overall, and in some cases no doubt he doesn't go far enough, but at least he's not going in the wrong direction!