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Religious reformers target farm bill

Posted by Editor • October 2nd, 2007 • Printer-friendly

UPDATED OCT. 29, 2007 – Religious groups bolted into the debate over U.S. farm policy this year, linking it with poverty, nutrition and environmentalism. They are pushing for reforms as Congress hammers out a hotly debated farm bill, as it does every five years or so. The House passed a farm bill in July, and the Senate version has just been approved in committee.

The far-reaching farm bill is politically sensitive and sets national policy on food stamps, nutrition programs, farm subsidies and conservation. Religious groups have frequently weighed in on food stamp and nutrition programs, but this time a wider range of religious voices are active in the debate on a wider range of issues. They are working in diverse alliances – often with secular groups – to link farm policy to the issues of hunger, obesity, food integrity, poverty, justice and environmentalism in the United States and around the world.

A key discussion is whether the current farm subsidies program is working, or whether it unfairly benefits the wealthy while slighting small farmers and rural communities. Groups such as Bread for the World that advocate reforming commodities distribution were disappointed with the House bill – though pleased with its nutrition and conservation programs – and are working hard to lobby the Senate.

The attention to the farm bill is also part of the growing movement toward sustainable agriculture, which addresses a range of farm issues, including: environmental concerns, the decline of family farms, farm laborers’ working conditions, increasing production costs, and economic and social problems in rural communities. It promotes practices that address these issues and encourages the participation of farmers, laborers, policy-makers and consumers.

Why it matters

U.S. farm policy includes issues important to religious communities concerned with poverty, justice and the environment. While it’s set nationally, the policy plays out at the grass-roots level, in communities and rural areas around the country.

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Background
 

National sources

GOVERNMENT

• Charles Conner is acting U.S. secretary of agriculture. See the Agriculture Department’s farm bill Web site and media kit. Contact through Terri Teuber, director of communications, 202-720-4623, terri.teuber@usda.gov.

In the U.S. Senate:

In the U.S. House:

MAJOR AGRICULTURAL GROUPS


RELIGIOUS

• The Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill includes several Christian denominations and groups, with Bread for the World taking a leading role. Other member organizations are the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, Church World Service, the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, and Oxfam America. Read the group’s legislative principles. Contacts include:


 


OTHER PLAYERS

• The Alliance for Sensible Agriculture Policies, which is working to reform U.S. farm policy with the farm bill, is a coalition of diverse groups that includes Citizens Against Government Waste, the National Taxpayers Union, the Cato Institute, Environmental Defense, Oxfam America and Bread for the World. Alliance contacts include:


 
  • Rick Swartz, president of Strategic Solutions Washington, coordinates the alliance; contact 202-328-1313, rs@sswdc.com.
  • Leslie Paige is media director of Citizens Against Government Waste, 202-467-5334, lpaige@cagw.org.
  • Laura Rusu is press officer with Oxfam America, 202-496-1169, lrusu@oxfamamerica.org.
  • Donald Carr is press secretary of the Environmental Working Group, 202-939-9141, don@ewg.org;
  • Demian Moore is senior policy analyst, Taxpayers for Common Sense, 202-546-8500 ext. 118, demian@taxpayer.net.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

WRITERS

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