PANUPS: Subsidies Increase for Industrial Agriculture

[Guest guest]

" PANUPS " <panups

 

PANUPS: Subsidies Increase for Industrial Agriculture

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 15:18:24 -0800

 

===========================================

P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

===========================================

 

Subsidies Increase for Industrial Agriculture

November 11, 2004

 

Farm policies are squeezing small U.S. family farms out of business and

fail to support non-traditional practices such as organic farming. Even

though organic farming is one of the most promising and fastest growing

agricultural sectors, federal subsidies continue to promote

industrialized agriculture that places profit before sustainability

and relies on

pesticides and unproven genetically modified organisms.

 

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) most recent

agricultural census shows a drop in the total number of U.S. farms while

gross output remains stable, suggesting that production is

consolidating in

a smaller group of large farms. For example, in the past five years,

the number of farms producing rice has fallen by more than 16%, as more

than 1,500 farms have closed. Gross national rice production, meanwhile,

has increased by 14%.

 

USDA funding practices, meanwhile, place a greater percentage of

subsidies with a smaller percentage of farms. In 1995, the largest farms

received $3.98 billion, or 55% of all federal farm payments. In 2002,

their

portion increased to $7.8 billion, or 65% of all federal payments.

Almost 30% of agricultural subsidies go to the top 2% of farms and over

four-fifths of subsidies are awarded to the 30% largest farms in the

nation.

 

While traditional family farms are closing, sustainable and organic

farming practices are rapidly expanding with certified organic acreage

doubling between 1992 and 1997 and doubling again between 1997 and 2001.

Organic lettuce acreage now accounts for 5% of the nation's total, and

4% of carrot acreage is certified organic.

 

Yet the only government funding currently committed solely to organic

farming is a certification cost share program established in the 2002

Farm Bill to support growers, handlers, and retailers seeking organic

certification from the USDA. Five million dollars of the Farm Bill's

$248.6 billion budget is available through this program.

 

Other federal programs designed to support struggling farms or promote

environmental conservation often do not reach those most in need. Most

subsidies issued by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program

(EQIP), a Bush Administration initiative that directs 60% of its funds

towards helping livestock producers meet environmental regulations,

end up in

the hands of large-scale farms, because only operations with more than

1,000 animals are regulated.

 

The Conservation Security Program (CSP) in the 2002 Farm Bill provides

significant support for sustainable farming practices, however USDA has

waited two years to implement this program. According to the Land

Stewardship Project, USDA CSP draft regulations limit the program to

eligible watersheds, do not provide enough cost incentives for farmers

and

ranchers, require some farmers to wait eight years to apply, and

discriminate against farmers on smaller acreages engaged in highly

effective

conservation management.

 

Crop insurance and disaster payment programs are also biased against

non-traditional farming practices. Insurance companies generally use

pesticide-based farming as their best-practice standard to determine

premiums and reimbursements. A lack of research-based standards for

organic

yields and crop values makes it difficult to determine what constitutes

a disaster and just how much money the farmer lost. The emerging threat

to organic farms of contamination by nearby genetically modified crops

is also not covered.

 

While farming subsidies remain stagnant, funding for research into

organic and sustainable farming practices has shown modest gains. Two

competitive grant-making programs, the Organic Transitions Program and

the

Organic Research Extension initiative of the 2002 Farm Bill provide a

combined $5 million dollars per year while the USDA's Agricultural

Research Service has dedicated about $3 million per year to researching

organics. Still, the $3.5 million spent by the ARS in 2003 represents a

disproportionately small one third of one percent of its annual budget.

Based on relative market size, organic farming should receive at least

three times that, or 1.8% of the budget.

 

Sources: Organic Farming Research Foundation. Information Bulletin.

Winter 2004, and Fall 2004 Available at http://www.ofrf.org ; Common

Dreams. More Family Farmers Failing Under Bush Administration - Small

Farmers Struggle as Programs Benefit Corporate Agribusiness. 09/31/04,

http://www.commondreams.org ; Land Stewardship Project,

http://www.landstewardshipproject.org ; USDA National Agricultural

Statistics Service. 2002 Census of Agriculture,

http://www.nass.usda.gov/census .

 

Contact: PANNA

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and

reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the

mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North

America, a

non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance

sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and

all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate .

 

===========================================

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at:

http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

 

Please note: responses to this message will not be read.

To comment, send an email to:

panna

 

To , send a blank email to:

PANUPS-

 

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna

Web: http://www.panna.org

===========================================