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US58 - Support NFFC's Food from Family Farms Act (FFFA)
| FFFA eliminates farm subsidies by forcing agribusiness to pay fair trade prices to farmers. Mere subsidy reforms don't. | |
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Description
Agribusiness is mainly subsidized by the low farm commodity market prices that come from unregulated free markets and free trade. By 1942-1952 this was fixed by the progressive farm bill of the New Deal, without any farm commodity subsidies. In "An Adaptive Program for Agriculture" (CED) and other corporate reports, Congress was pressured to weaken progressive market management for farmers, by lowering price floors and reducing supply management. Congress did, reducing (1953-1995) and eliminating (1996-) the New Deal programs, in order to secretly subsidize giant corporate buyers (and expand markets, "fence row to fence row," for corps. selling to farmers). The farm justice movement fought back, but lacked adequate consumer side support, and lost ground in successive farm bills. All they got were expensive subsidies to compensate for some of the market reductions, as agribusiness benefits expanded.
FFFA fixes this, by making agribusiness pay fair trade prices, with no subsiidies.
Arguments
Ok, I see that some people are clicking the red button, but not making any counter arguments. I think Bob Dylan said it best: "Don't criticize what you can't understand." Over the decades, farmers have often had a negative share of the food dollar. (ie. below full costs, 1981-2006, USDA-ERS). If you remove the input share (Monsanto, John Deere and others selling to farmers,) then the 2006 farm share was only 29% of the 1950 farm share, while the agribusiness share rose by 90% and consumers paid 50% more. We need to stop agribusiness from destroying our food system by exploiting farmers, and add on my other proposals (ie. antitrust) to bust up Mega Agribusiness. This proposal also, in contrast to the mere subsidy reforms of the food movement, (which preserve AgBiz exploitation,) calls for price ceilings and reserve supplies to protect consumers. As African American farmers have argued, we need "living wage" price floors instead of subsidies, just as we need living wages for all.
Today we have a great new consumer side "Food Movement to support farmers in the fight against agribusiness exploitation. Unfortunately, many in the Food Movement mistakenly believe that the political cause of the problem is the PRESENCE of farm subsidies. Really the problem is the ABSENCE of progressive Price Floors and Supply Reductions (as needed). The Food from Family Farms Act of the National Family Farm Coalition brings back this solution.
It also protects consumers and other buyers with Price Ceilings and Reserve Supplies.
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