Ending Subsidies
Winston-Salem Journal, Winston Salem, North Carolina
May 18, 2007

In the three quarters of a century since President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal, a great deal has changed on America's farms - and on the farm bills that New Dealers fashioned to rescue the American farmer from the depths of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.

The legislation that was designed to put American farm families back on their feet has now become massive giveaway programs to mega-corporations that manage factory farms. The Farm Bill - which must be renewed every five years - is hopelessly bloated and outdated.

The Farm Bill's subsidies have accelerated the growth of corporate farms. They dictate what crops are grown, and they aren't necessarily the crops we need or that will be support farm families. The Farm Bill is a burden on the American taxpayer and it puts the U.S. out of compliance with international trade agreements.

This country needs a new agricultural policy and a diverse group of congressmen are putting it together. A coalition of conservatives and liberals is supporting FARM 21, the Food and Agricultural Risk Management for the 21st Century Act. The Farm Bill is up for renewal this year.

The main Senate sponsor is Sen. Dick Lugar, Republican of Indiana. On the House side, where farm legislation will be considered in committee next week, Rep. Jeff Flake, a conservative Arizona Republican, and Rep. Joe Crowly, a New York liberal Democrat, are teaming with others of varied political stripes on the same idea.

The bill they are all supporting would move the United States away from today's monstrous farm subsidies that are counterproductive. Over the next five years, subsidies would be phased out. In their place, the government would create farm "risk management accounts." According to Rep. Ron Kind, a Wisconsin Democrat, these accounts would help farmers "weather the ups and downs, make investments and plan for the future."

For the taxpayers, there'd be some $5 billion saved over the next five years and $20 billion saved by 2017. That's real money, and the bill's sponsors propose to direct it to other farm and food-related programs.

American farm policy is enormously inefficient and, in some ways, self-defeating. It encourages the growth of crops we do not need and cannot sell at a good price. It discourages other crops that we could use. The current Farm Bill also limits the international selling options of American farmers.

Change comes slow in Washington. That's why America still has a Great Depression-era farm policy. It needs to be replaced, in favor of something more modern, and FARM 21 looks like a good approach.