On the Obama Agenda: A Sane Farm Policy

I was so impressed with this piece from the most recent issue of TIME magazine that I am copying and pasting it in full. I never thought I'd see the day when a mainstream magazine like TIME would take a strong position on the Farm Bill. I give a lot of credit to the food activists out there who are so vigilant in their efforts to recast the whole spectrum of issues around agriculture, ecology, and food.

TIME Magazine, Commemorative Edition Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2008

A Sane Farm Policy, by Michael Grunwald

U.S. agriculture policy is a jumble, but the basic goal is simple: redistribute money to big commodity farmers. The median farmer's net worth is five times the median American's, and the top one-tenth of farmers get three-fourths of the subsidies. It's a welfare program for the megafarms that use the most fuel, water and pesticides; emit the most greenhouse gases; grow the most fattening crops; hire the most illegals; and depopulate rural America.

Antiobesity, antipoverty, free-trade, balanced-budget and environmental activists have clamored for reform, but nobody works farm policy harder than the farm lobby, and farm-state politicians — including Obama — have protected the status quo. Still, Obama's agri-pandering didn't win him the Farm Bureau endorsement, even though McCain opposed farm giveaways. And Obama has suggested that he's open to more sensible policies that would promote less energy-intensive agriculture.

How about repealing the $307 billion farm bill and slashing subsidies — especially the for-no-apparent-reason "direct payments" we send to commodity farmers in good times and bad. Farm lobbyists will squeal, but 60% of U.S. farmers receive no subsidies. Instead, Obama can increase conservation subsidies for farmers who adopt green practices. He should also repeal the counterproductive mandates that will require the production of 36 billion gal. (136 billion L) of biofuels by 2022. Biofuels like corn ethanol sound great, and Obama supports them, but they accelerate global warming because shifting production from food to fuel leads to massive emissions from deforestation when farmers expand to grow more food. The biofuel boom is also jacking up the price of grain, which is increasing food prices and triggering food riots in countries like Yemen, Haiti and Pakistan.

The farm lobby and its water carriers in Congress are long overdue for a smackdown. But sensible farm policies could still include goodies for farmers. For example, Obama should ditch the preposterous ban on subsidized farmers' growing healthy fruits and vegetables. He should expand purchases for the successful school-lunch program while shifting the menus away from fattening crud. And he can expand markets for farmers and other American exporters by ending the humiliatingly futile Cuban embargo, which has been forcing the Castros out of power for 46 years now.

Sweet Sunday

I usually log on early in the morning, but today I slept in..and slept..and slept. (Which is funny, because I had gone to bed reading Roddy Doyle's story "Sleep" in The New Yorker.) Then I read the New York Times, eagerly consuming all the election coverage – and marveling at the paper cut-out images of the Oval Office in the Sunday Magazine: would we have known if they hadn't told us? (I do see a cut mark on the edge of that table..)

There was also a sweet piece on root cellars, one of my favorite topics: "Food Storage as Grandma Knew It." I'm hoping that we now have a president who will think ahead with respect to food, consulting our great public intellectual, Michael Pollan, and others who know how to draw the link between what we eat and the potential for a vastly improved environment.

I found myself wondering how many other people were relaxed and homebound this week-end (like the Obamas in Chicago), regrouping and recovering from the excitement of this long political contest. It has suddenly turned cold here in Indiana, too, so it was a perfect day to roast vegetables, bake, and make a barley, beef, and vegetable soup.

I ventured out with Sav in mid-afternoon to an open house for two women in town who have renovated an old schoolhouse as home to their businesses. I feel very proud and happy because years ago I had the strong intuition that they would be able to share a space together, and I encouraged them to meet. (Those who know me well know how much pleasure I take in matchmaking of all kinds.)

One thing led to another, and these two entrepreneurial women did for several years share two – make that three – temporary spaces, before finally settling into this beautiful brick building, a former schoolhouse.

Beth Lodge-Rigal started Women Writing for (a) Change Bloomington, while working under the guidance of Mary Pierce Brosmer, of WWf(a)C Cincinnati. Beth is a singer-songwriter, too – you can click on the link on the left to go to her most recent CD, Children on a Ride.

Jo Wohlfeld founded Associates of Integrative Health, an independent healing arts center and massage school. I used to go to AIH once a week, enjoying the $25 an hour (!) massages offered by the students there, and it was at AIH that I met my wonderful massage therapist Anne, who now has her own business.

It was a fun, very crowded, jubilant reception. Alexandra the Extraordinary Seamstress was there, wearing a gorgeous royal blue silk shirt. "I know we are all supposed to be bipartisan now," she confessed, "but I couldn't resist." Beth was wearing red velvet, so there you have it: balance and the momentum to move ahead. Dotty was wearing a bright pink jacket, sporting her "Hot Chicks Dig Obama" button. "Did you get that jacket at Neiman Marcus?" I asked. "No, half-price at Opportunity House!" I think (but can this really be true?) she said it cost only $1.99.