Seth Wispelwey from Bread for the world is up now talking about fair trade.

While the individual choices that we make to buy products like fair trade coffee, product (RED), and EDUN shirts help, there need to be larger structural changes to make trade fair for people in the developing world.

One of the changes that needs to happen is to reduce farm subsidies in the developed world.  These subsidies come from the Farm Bill, which first came about during the Great Depression when farmers needed help to stay afloat.

The bill now distorts commodity prices around the world by allowing large farms in the U.S. sell their products at lower than the cost of production.  Most of farms that are receiving these subsidies are not small farmers, but major agribusinesses.  If this were changed, the Farm Bill would not only help small farmers in the U.S., but help reduce the negative impact that U.S. farm subsidies have on the developing world.

The Farm Bill comes up for re-authorization every 5 years, and it is up again this year.  This is a big chance for us to change the Farm Bill so that it no longer contributes to depressing commodity prices.

We have already taken action once this year on the Farm Bill, so keep your eyes on the ONE Blog and your ONE e-mails about chances to take action on this bill again.

To learn more about the Farm Bill check out this doc from Oxfam.