MeFi thread on same article.

Thanks desjardins, I didn't see that over there since I don't read MeFi much anymore.

One thing that gets me about this is I remember how the farm bill was sold to us as something to save the family farm. It's no surprise that it turns out to be a way to pump taxpayers money into big business, and working against the small guy. This is what makes me cynical about our government in general, and I don't see any change any time soon.

Good link, eek - I'll post this on my Slow Food blog.

the farm bill was sold to us as something to save the family farm

It's got a complicated history; it actually began right after World War II, and it's not really a single bill - it's an omnibus bill that contains hundreds of separate pieces of legislation about farming and food. Food stamps and school lunch programs are part of the Farm Bill, as are crop subsidies, environmental incentive programs, and all sorts of other stuff. It's decorated like a Christmas tree, and it needs to be newly written and authorized every time it expires. So what's in the Farm Bill changes each time it comes up for re-authorization - it may be that legislation aiming at saving the family farms was an important part of it at one point, but at the same time, agribusiness (in response to the consumer climate and with other sets of legislative help) continued to grow and prosper.

Slow Food worked pretty hard this past year to raise public awareness and action on the Farm Bill before the new version was passed. There was some mild success, but it really needs to be a much louder and stronger public demand next time around. Our food system is in desperate shape.

Meh, farm bill - I'm used to it being a boatload of ethanol subsidies and protectionism, so this is hardly shocking.

Well pie, it can be changed -- it's American legislation. If you want to sign off and let your reps in Congress do whatever they want with it for their agribusiness and fuel industry lobbyist friends, you certainly can, but there's nothing wrong with others working to share information about it and actively advocating changes in the legislation. This article is a part of that gradually developing movement, which has been growing little by little as long as I've been paying attention. Why settle for the status quo? It's inaction that allows it to continue and to grow.

I can't say 'meh,' about it, because the more I've learned about our food system in the US, the more dangerous and damaging the present situation is. Maybe it's because I know a lot of small local farmers like this one, but it means something to them and to the people who want to choose better food, keep agriculture and agritourism in the state, and keep more open space in their communities. Here's a guy trying to expand production in response to market demand, but the growth of his enterprise is limited by legislation designed to favor the big guy. We can change it and I believe we should.

I posted in the MeFi thread and added some links to resources.

I know Miko, but I'm felling kinda depressed this evening. I might be more motivated if the drugs were working better. What I want is for people to pay attention to the goddamn numbers when it comes to nonsense like ethanol and other biofuels. George Monbiot had done a great job of taking down the arguments for those products over the last year or two.

What I want is for people to pay attention to the goddamn numbers when it comes to nonsense like ethanol and other biofuels.

Absolutely. I do sort of think that ethanol had its 'day in the sun' when it (at first) appeared like a renewable, environmentally friendly replacement for petroleum. But a lot of people wised up about it in the last couple of years. It is going to be hard to fight the corn agribusiness lobby on this, but ethanol is definitely not the solution to our energy problem (I wish the Dem candidates would stop saying that it is.)

So it goes something like this: Agribusiness lobbies for massive subsidies, and protectionist tariffs for corn. Corn is developed into three major, highly profitable classes of goods in the US: Fuel, Red Meat, and High Fructose Corn Syrup. These goods are, I'd argue, overconsumed because the price is artificially low in the market because of subsidies which mask the true costs and externalities of consumption. On the consumer end, there's a massive market failure because 1) there aren't mass market, viable alternatives available, and 2) these goods should by rights be far more expensive.

Here's a thought: let's tax HFC (we tax tobacco under the same principle, right?) and use the cash to fund healthcare!

Miko, I realize the history and breadth of the farm bill (including the famous mohair subsidy), but I was thinking back to the '70's and '80's when it was marketed to us as a savior for the family farm. When I was in college I would argue that there were better things that we could be doing with that money. I grew up in an agricultural area, and there were a lot of successful small and independent farmers in the region. Nowadays, my brother works with a lot of farmers with his business, and it's amazing to see how they operate their farms to maximize their subsidies, and there are even consultants that earn their living telling them how to do just that. I don't blame them, but that's just a silly business model for the farmer. Then, when you look at the state by state report as to where the money goes, and it's just a huge farce.

it's amazing to see how they operate their farms to maximize their subsidies, and there are even consultants that earn their living telling them how to do just that.

I know, and this crappy legislation makes that possible, even sensible for them to do. Why are we setting up a system like that?

pie, good idea. I'm all for taxing anything containing HFCS...it wouldn't affect me much, and if those products were more expensive than healthy foods, we might just see changes in diabetes and obesity rates. But as long as Little Debbie cakes cost less per pound than green peppers, I don't think we're going to get terribly far.

High Fructose Corn Syrup, the white man's poison!
(wait for it...)