Farm Action Responds to USDA’s Farmer Bailout: Relief Welcome, Structural Reform Still Urgent
Farmers are hurting, and relief is welcome — but without fixing the policies that perpetuate this crisis, the bailout cycle will continue.
Farmers are hurting, and relief is welcome — but without fixing the policies that perpetuate this crisis, the bailout cycle will continue.
Beneath the headlines about trade wars and bailouts lies a deeper truth: America’s agricultural system is structurally flawed.
Corporations have transformed the farmer safety net into something entirely different: a hamster wheel that keeps farmers stuck, no matter how hard they run.
Farm Action’s Angela Huffman sounded the alarm on CNBC news that America’s family farmers are struggling under harmful government policies that put the largest corporations first.
Offering more federal support to America’s fruit and vegetable farmers will secure our food supply, said Farm Action.
USDA should be using its federal food procurement dollars to jump-start the local food systems that were decimated by decades of industry consolidation.
This month’s announcements from the USDA that it will support farmers producing specialty crops show the department is succumbing to our collective pressure.
Major corporations and the largest farms are gearing up to take advantage of our farm safety net programs in the next farm bill.
As the U.S. ag trade deficit is forecast to increase by 45%, our research shows we could balance it by converting less than .5% of farmland to high-value crops.
Crop insurance is a major driver of consolidation in our food system. It leads to fewer, larger farms that degrade the land and hollow out rural communities.