Today Farm Action released policy priorities for a Fair Farm Bill in 2023. The anti-monopoly farm group’s recommendations would begin to transform our food system into one that pays farmers and workers a fair price for delivering nutritious, affordable food.
Among the organization’s list of recommendations are calls to implement policies in the farm bill that:
- Massively scale up funding for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) to at least $350 million and implement procurement rules that ensure these dollars go towards local and regional producers.
- Include S.557, the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act, which would ensure checkoff programs are transparent and accountable and stop their engagement with lobbying organizations.
- Increase funding for technical assistance and grants directed towards farmers of color, specifically to universities and organizations with relationships in these communities.
- Increase and improve access to risk management tools for diverse, organic, specialty crop, and limited-resource producers by improving the Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and Micro Farm programs.
- Fully fund voluntary programs that incentivize farmers to meet basic conservation practice requirements, specifically via the Conservation Opportunity and Voluntary Environment Resilience Program (COVER) Act, and explore the effect of requiring any farmer, rancher, or producer to meet those requirements in order to receive any federal subsidies.
“We’re putting this straightforward guide of concise, concrete, and actionable recommendations into the hands of every decision-maker in Washington,” said Joseph Van Wye, Farm Action’s policy and outreach director. “This is a blueprint for a pro-competition farm bill, one that empowers farmers to grow healthy food for their communities, treats people fairly, respects our land, and revitalizes rural America.”
Farm Action has also planned a series of webinars to illustrate how these policy recommendations would impact farmers, workers, and eaters.
The first webinar, slated for April 4 at 5:00 p.m. ET, is titled “Justice for All: Centering Equity in the Farm Bill.” Speakers include Adam Zipkin of Senator Booker’s office; Lorette Picciano, Executive Director at Rural Coalition; Tambra Stevenson, Founder and CEO at WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture; Amy Tamayo, National Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at Alianza Nacional de Campesinas; and Web Davis, farmer and Senior Policy Advisor at Farm Action.
The webinars and policy priorities are part of Farm Action’s Fair Farm Bill campaign, which launched in 2022 with the publication of the “Fair Farm Bill Policy Handbook,” a broader policy platform for both the 2023 and 2028 Farm Bill cycles.
Kicking off the movement for the first pillar of this campaign, in February of 2023 Farm Action held the Food Not Feed Summit along with a broad coalition of co-hosts. This event, and related polling, revealed the appetite on the Hill and among the American people for these reforms.
Media Contact: Dee Laninga, dlaninga@farmaction.us, 202-450-0094
