USDA and the National Agricultural Statistics Service have just published “Farms and Land in Farms: 2017 Summary.”
Here’s the bottom line:
Earl Butz, USDA Secretary under presidents Nixon and Ford, was infamous for, among other things, telling farmers to “get big or get out.” And so it came to pass….
Government agricultural policies have a lot to do with this, no?
I reviewed an earlier draft of this report, and was impressed by its comprehensiveness and attention to detail. If you are interested in understanding how our current agricultural system came about, what problems it causes, and what to do about them, this report is an excellent place to start.
It’s “new vision for farm and food policy” calls for:
Its conclusion:
It is time for a change in our agricultural policies and priorities, away from a near absolute emphasis on maximizing production and toward ameliorating the problems caused by the intensification and specialization of farming. Developing a more balanced agricultural system will require extensive changes throughout our food production system. Those reforms will threaten established interests and reshape farming in the U.S., but also create opportunities to build more vibrant rural communities. Accepting those challenges is essential because the
threats generated by current farming practices cannot be ignored any longer.
Secretary Sonny Perdue has released his blueprint for the 2018 farm bill.
Its goal is to “improve services while reducing regulatory burdens on USDA customers” [translation: Big Ag].
USDA, he says, supports legislation that will do a great many things for farm production, conservation, trade, food and nutrition services, marketing, food safety, research and education, and natural resources.
There are a lot of words here and it’s hard to know what they mean, even reading between the lines.
For example, here are USDA’s principles for SNAP (food stamps), with my [translations and questions]:
• Harness America’s agricultural abundance to support nutrition assistance for those truly in need. [This sounds like a food distribution program, but I’m wondering how “truly in need” will be defined.]
• Support work as the pathway to self-sufficiency, well-being, and economic mobility for individuals and families receiving supplemental nutrition assistance. [This means work requirements, but where will the jobs come from?]
• Strengthen the integrity and efficiency of food and nutrition programs to better serve our participants and protect American taxpayers by reducing waste, fraud and abuse through shared data, innovation, and technology modernization. [This means spending hundreds of millions a year on fraud prevention].
• Encourage state and local innovations in training, case management, and program design that promote self-sufficiency and achieve long-term, stability in employment. [The jobs?]
• Assure the scientific integrity of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans process through greater transparency and reliance on the most robust body of scientific evidence. [Weren’t they always based on the available science? This sounds like a way to prevent the guidelines from suggesting eating less of junk foods].
• Support nutrition policies and programs that are science based and data driven with clear and measurable outcomes for policies and programs. [This one translates to you can’t set nutrition policies unless you can demonstrate beneficial outcomes—fine in theory, but policy-blocking in practice].
Reading through the other sections is equally non-reassuring. Where is a vision for a farm bill that promotes health, sustainable agriculture, and small or mid-size farms, protects farm workers, and reduces greenhouse gases?
Maybe the next one?
Crop insurance is the big issue in the forthcoming farm bill. The American Enterprise Institute doesn’t like it much, and for good reason. On the theory that one picture is worth a thousand words, here’s why
The blue bars are the percentages of total farm bill subsidies. The yellow bars are subsidies per acre. If you thought that subsidies helped small or medium farms, think again.
Whether you agree with the AEI or not, its American Boondoggle reports are always worth reading for their remarkably clear explanation of the hugely complicated farm bill issues.
This one, for example, tells you everything you need to know about how crop insurance really works—and at taxpayer expense.
How about some good news for a change?
I. Politico reports on on a new report, Feeding the Economy, on the importance of agriculture for the US economy (you can search the site for your own state and congressional district).
The findings are impressive:
As Politico puts it, “more than a fifth of the U.S. economy and a quarter of American jobs are either directly or indirectly tied to the food and agriculture sectors.”
That’s more than 43 million jobs and $1.9 trillion in wages, and $894 billion in taxes. That’s $6.7 trillion for the impact..
Who paid for the study? 22 food and agriculture groups, including the Corn Refiners Association, the American Bakers Association and the United Fresh Produce Association.
II. The Washington Post writes:
For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population.
The implications for public policy are obvious: promote farming opportunities for young people.
III. Here’s what The National Young Farmers Coalition says in its new report:
Its agenda:
Now, to make that happen…
I. The Environmental Working Group
It just released its farm subsidy database for 2015 and 2016.
The new information reflects the demands of the 2014 farm bill.
The findings:
The website is interactive. You can click on states and counties.
Tomkins County, New York, where Ithaca is, got $25 million in federal subsidies.
It’s fun. Check it out.
EWG also released it’s Double-Dipping report on how taxpayers are subsidizing farmers twice for crop losses.
II. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
It organized dozens of farm organizations to sign a letter calling for greater investment in agriculture through the farm bill education-and-research title.
It also released An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill. This focuses on investing in:
III. Representative Chellie Pingree (Dem-Maine) is also working on farm bill issues.
Her particular focus is the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act:
Many people are working on farm bill reform. It needs it.
When I taught a course on the farm bill some years ago, students were stunned by how crop insurance works. They wondered how they could break into that business.
Sixteen insurance companies write policies for farmers. The federal government pays 62% of the premiums to the tune of about $8 billion per year. Farmers pay 38%.
The lucky insurance companies make out like bandits under this system—an average rate of return of 24.8%. The Government Accountability Office, no surprise, thinks this exceeds market rates and needs to be readjusted.
Farmers need crop insurance, no question.
But in the wake of Hurricane Irma, we learned that farmers who grow fruits, vegetables, and nuts—in USDA jargon, “specialty crops”—feel that they cannot afford it.
Historically, the program has covered corn, soybean, and other large-scale commodities—about 85% of such acres are covered.
But crop insurance now covers 73% of fruit and tree nut acreage but only 32% percent of vegetable crops, accounting for 8% of premiums.
According to a Risk Management report on specialty crops, insurance covers virtually all of Florida’s sugarcane, cotton, and citrus, but only about half of fresh tomatoes, sweet corn, and bell peppers, and none of fresh beans.
Obviously, plenty is wrong with the crop insurance program. Will the 2018 farm bill do anything to fix it?
According to Politico Pro Agriculture, Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters that the he favors restructuring the program but that the crop insurance program should not promise farmers profitability.
What about profitability for the crop insurers? The GAO recommends reducing this industry’s profits to market rates. That should leave plenty of money to help specialty crop farmers.
Representative Earl Blumenauer (Dem-OR), whose portfolio addresses many issues of concern to his constituents, is doing something particularly courageous: taking on the farm bill.
As part of a “sing your own farm bill” initiative, he has produced Growing Opportunities: Reforming the Farm Bill for Every American.
This should be required reading for anyone interested in trying to understand the farm bill and get it to do more to promote agricultural systems that improve health, the conditions of everyone who works in it, and protect the environment.
Here’s how it starts:
The Farm Bill is the most important yet underappreciated piece of federal legislation Congress regularly
considers. Hopelessly complex, it sets national priorities for federal investment while undermining human
health, nutrition, carbon reduction, economic development, land conservation, and animal welfare. Even
the name is a lost opportunity. At a minimum, it should be called the Food and Farm Bill.
Not only is the Farm Bill costly and expensive, its resources are misdirected. The legislation gives too much
to the wrong people to grow the wrong food in the wrong places. This misallocation is tragic because of the
power and reach of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs authorized by this legislation
every five years. The USDA is the only agency in the federal government that can build a community from
the ground up, and tackle issues like housing and infrastructure as well as all aspects of America’s farms and
ranches.
Check out its guiding principles and let’s get to work.
