Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Farm Bill questions

I'm still musing about the Farm Bill, reflecting on the materials I have gathered. I know the current Farm Bill does little to support the directions in which I think we should be going to promote sustainable food security in this country, and even less to foster food sovereignty in countries which we currently aid. But I'm also wondering if the changes advocated by faith groups are going far enough, particularly from the perspective of the big environmental picture. I need to read more and think more.

You might like to, too. The Episcopal Public Policy Network is posting an item on some aspect of the Farm Bill every week during Lent. You can find them here:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3654_82673_ENG_HTM.htm

It did please me that the statement by the religious working group on the farm bill recognizes the need for a strategy of transition. No matter how deplorable I think industrial farming is, many farmers have felt trapped in a cycle that has that has them beholden to the current subsidy system (and the multi-nationals it supports). Moving out of that dependency mode can't be done abruptly without causing even more damage to farmers and communities.

The link to the Oxfam America resource on the EPPN site seems defective. Try this if you would like to read their platform for the 2007 Farm Bill.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/campaigns/agriculture/resources/OA-Fairness_in_the_Fields.pdf%20/?searchterm=fairness%20in%20the%20fields

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