Food Bill (Farm Bill) deadline pushed to April 25. Use easy links to write congress and protect your local bread, wine and cheese.
Posted by Sylvia Burgos at 4/19/2008 10:25 PM and is filed under artisan bread,Environment,Congress,Local Food,Farm Bill,Wine,industrial food,Cheese 
April 19 '08. Wrangling over the last $5 billion for the Farm Bill has given us another week, till April 25, to contact our legislators and let them know that the Farm Bill should not be signed. The Farm Bill is a five-year, $280 billion omnibus bill that determines everything you eat, and what most Americans are eating isn't healthy for the body, the environment or local economies.
The Farm Bill is really America's Food Bill. It's a huge network of regulations, legislation, and policies that control or influence:
- the use of fertilizers and pesticides that eventually end up in our water supply
- what foods are channeled to school lunches all over the country
- the food stamp program
- lack of dollars for research into organic agriculture
- the current system of food production - a system of policies and regulations that works to shut down opportunities for smaller-scale, diversified agriculture
- $$$ billions in subsidies for corn, wheat, rice, cotton and soybeans
- the production of highly-processed foods laden with these cheap commodities (high fructose corn syrup in beverages and everything else). It's a reason why highly processed, sugary foods tend to be cheaper than whole, fresh foods.
- fence-to-fence farming which tends to use high amounts of pesticides and fertilizers
- beef feed-lot system (you're aware of the recent beef recalls?)
Please understand that our farmers are not the culprits in this situation. What we're dealing with is a network of policies and practices that have been quietly built over time to promote a food production system that financially benefits a small handful of corporations.
Write your legislators and let them know that you want access to healthful food, healthful water, and an opportunity to support a local system. Let them know you want:
- A totally reformed Farm bill that exists to deliver healthful, whole foods to all residents, instead of functioning to benefit a few companies that control (and financially benefit) from the commodity subsidies, and from the sale of pesticides and fertilizers
- The Farm Bill to be renamed the Food Bill, so that the public can have a chance to know what's going on
- Policies that actively encourage diversified, small-scale agriculture and processing. This type of production would be sustainable and meet this country's food needs. It would also employ more people!
- A Farm Bill that works to protect our ground water, air and soil
Write today. Just use this link to find an e-mail address for your legislator. It'll take all of 5 minutes. Your food, your health are at stake. Want to know more? Visit Oxfam America, or the Environmental Defense Fund.
Or go to any of the links listed in the previous blog. Thanks.
Leave me a comment or write to me directly. Thanks.
Sylvia@artisanbreadcheeseandwine.com
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