Archive for the ‘Farm Bill’ Category
April 27th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Many people are deeply concerned about the world’s deepening food crisis. Food prices are soaring and the poor in impoverished countries are having to cut back and in some cases are starving. The situation in Haiti is so desperate riots have destablized the government and many have resorted to eating “mudcakes” or patties made of dirt.
This is a moral outrage, and estimates suggest 10 million people will die due to the crisis
If you haven’t already, please, take action alongside the 113,305 members of ONE demanding a response to the crisis.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of bad information going around about this issue. A lot of people are blaming U.S. farm subsidies which lower world prices and steal potential income from poor farmers. ONE has worked to eliminate this horrible practice–but the problem is that food prices too high. (Note: Biofuel subsidies are another story. They do contribute both to higher food prices and by some estimates to global warming.)
The real problems are both decreasing supply–because of droughts in Australia and other parts of the world and many rice-producing Asian economies closing off exports in a panic–and increasing demand, because the progress reducing poverty in Asia has added millions of new meat consumers and cows requires 8-13 lbs of grain for each pound of edible beef for example.
I found this interview with Research Fellow Peter Timmer enlightening.
This blog post from Nancy Birdsall and Arvind Subramanian details short-term and long term policy options. (Warning: It is filled with jargon. I was not a big fan of the presentation.)
And if you are done with finals and have plenty of spare time, you might want to check out this 2-page paper by Peter Timmer on who wins and who loses in the U.S. food aid system which needs desperate reform.
– Steve, ONE Tampa
P.S. One last reminder: Take Action. The initial surge in activism and media coverage led President Bush to allocate $200 million for emergency food aid. But he can be pressured to do more.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:31 am
First the good:
Reuters: Donors pledge $8.9 billion for AfDB loan fund
Wed 12 Dec 2007, 8:23 GMT
LONDON (Reuters) – Donor countries pledged $8.9 billion to the African Development Bank to be made available in loans to the continent’s poorest countries, the bank said on Monday, a more than 50 percent increase.
Representatives at a donor meeting in London said the focus would be on infrastructure, governance and regional integration promoting agriculture, gender equality, environmental sustainability, climate change adaptation and private sector development, a statement said.
“If we are serious about giving Africa a chance, then we have to be serious about backing African institutions,” said British development minister Shirti Vadera. “If not now, when?
The bank said the new pledges increased resources available to its African Development Fund, which provides loans for development projects and is replenished every three years, by 52 percent over the previous 2005 to 2007 period.
The bank said 7.5 percent of the resources would be put into a fund for fragile states recovering from conflict, 17.5 per cent on multinational operations promoting greater integration on the continent and 75 percent distributed based on the performance of African countries themselves, with the aim of promoting good governance and accountability in each country.
Now the bad:
This week the Senate rejected two amendments to the farm bill that would put caps on subsidies to large US farming operations: the Lugar-Lautenburg FRESH Amendment and the Grassley-Dorgan Payment Limits Amendment.
Farm bill subsidies hurt small farmers in developing countries across the world by causing US farmers to flood international markets with corn and other crops. This makes it difficult for small farmers to get a decent price for their crops so that they may earn a livable wage.
The Grassley-Dorgan Amendment came very close to the 60 votes it needed to pass. The final count was 56-43. While the amendment didn’t pass, a lot of momentum was gained. In five more years, when the farm bill is up for renewal again, we might just have enough momentum to finally reform subsidy payments. Keep the pressure on!
Go here to see if your senators supported the Grassley-Dorgan Amendment.
Nick Stevens, OCC Regional Outreach Ambassador
December 13th, 2007 at 10:56 am
The Senate voted this morning on the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment, and it didn’t go so well, we got 56 votes, but thanks to a threat to filibuster, we needed 60 votes instead of the normal 50.
Thanks for jumping into the fray and making a couple hundred calls. We got very close on this one, and you can bet your boots that the Senate hasn’t heard the last of us.
December 11th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
The Senate is voting on the Lugar-Lautenberg FRESH Amendment to the Farm Bill right now. Check out the action on C-SPAN2.
UPDATE: Lugar-Lautenberg failed 37 Yea – 58 Nay. Focus your calls on the Grassley-Dorgan amendment.
December 11th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
About a month ago, we asked you to call the Senate to help reform the Farm Bill. Thing is, they delayed the vote, and the amendments we want to see for the Farm Bill are just now coming up for a vote.
- You can help out by calling your Senators using the capitol switchboard:(202) 224-3121
- When you get through to the office, ask them to support the Lugar-Lautenberg Farm Ranch Equity Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Amendment and Grassley-Dorgan Payment Limits Amendment. You can use these talking points to help you with your call.
- Then, when you are done, report your phone calls here.
Our beef with the Farm Bill as it stands is that millions of dollars of subsidies go to big-business farms (small farmers get some too). These subsidies help the big farms sell their crops below cost. The result is that small farmers here and around the world simply can’t compete.
The Lugar-Lautenbern and Grassley-Dorgan amendments both help fight poverty by putting caps of the size of subsidy payments that can go to big-business farmer, and puts the savings into things like nutrition programs.
The Farm Bill only comes around for review and renewal every 5 years, so this is our last chance for a good while to fix this thing. I Hope that you find a moment during a study break to pick up the phone and make a couple of quick calls to your Senators.
UPDATE: Lugar-Lautenberg just failed 37 Yea – 58 Nay. focus your calls on the Grassley Dorgan amendment.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Today (and maybe tomorrow) the Senate will be voting on amendments to the Farm Bill, which includes subsidies to American farmers both large and small.
The problem with these subsidies is that when big-business farmers receive millions of dollars in subsidies they end up driving down prices of these crops around the world. As a result, small farmers around the world can’t compete. For small farmers in the developing world, this means they stay trapped in poverty, unable to compete because their government can’t afford to underwrite their production.
The Farm Bill only comes up for renewal every 5 years, so if we don’t change it now, we won’t get another shot until 2012. The status quo is a promise of 4 more years of extreme poverty to millions of people, so we are asking our Senators to vote YES on two amendments that put a limit on the cash handouts given to big-agribusiness.
- You can help out by calling your Senators using the capitol switchboard:
(202) 224-3121
- When you get through to the office, ask them to support the Lugar-Lautenberg Farm Ranch Equity Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Amendment and Grassley-Dorgan Payment Limits Amendment. You can use these talking points to help you with your call.
- Then, when you are done, report your phone calls here.
Keep reading for more on the amendments.
Read the rest of this entry »
TAGS: Action, Farm Bill