Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002
Encyclopedia
The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, also known as the 2002 Farm Bill
, includes ten titles, addressing a great variety of issues related to agriculture
, ecology
, energy
, trade
, and nutrition
.
The act directs approximately 16.5 billion dollars of funding toward agricultural subsidies each year. These subsidies have a dramatic effect on the production of grains, oilseeds, and upland cotton. The specialized nature of the farm bill, as well as the size and timing of the bill, made its passage highly contentious.
Debated in the U.S. House of Representatives during the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks in 2001, the bill drew criticism from the White House and was nearly amended. The amendment, which failed by a close margin, was proposed by Rep. Ron Kind
(D-WI) and would have shifted money away from grain subsidies to conservation measures. Public debate over the farm bill continued, and the Senate proposed sweeping amendments to the bill, leading to a series of meetings from February through April. As a result, the current farm bill was not passed until May 2002, after the 1996 farm bill had already expired.
Source USDA
2006 Fiscal Year Budget
opposed the new farm bill. On September 19, her office issued a report criticizing traditional agricultural policies and calling for a shift from subsidies to conservation. According to her assessments, commodity subsidies would lead to overproduction and expensive land. Her position was supported by various other groups and legislators.
Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-VT) saw the opportunity for what he considered to be a more fair and equitable farm bill, and sought to unite over 20 senators from states with less powerful farming interests in support of subsidies for specialty crops and conservation. Active members of the Eggplant Caucus included:
This was the first time the farm bill was shaped directly by senators from outside the major farm states.
September 11: September 11, 2001 attacks
September 19: Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman
criticizes traditional farm policy, calls for a shift from commodity subsidies to conservation measures
September 27: Secretary Veneman criticizes the new bill as expensive in post-9/11 budget, claims it will lead to overproduction and expensive land.
October 2: Rep. Ron Kind
(D-WI) introduces an amendment to shift $19 billion (approx. 15%) of commodity subsides to conservation measures.
October 2: Rep. Larry Combest
(R-TX), farm bill sponsor, threatens to pull the bill if it is amended.
October 3: Rep. Leonard Boswell
(D-IA), proposes shifting $650 million to ethanol, amendment fails.
October 4: Kind amendment falls 26 votes short, fails.
October 5: 10 year, $73 billion farm bill increase passes in the House of Representatives.
(D-NE) and Tom Harkin
(D-IA) reject Sec. Veneman's request that the Senate delay consideration of the farm bill to focus on war effort.
December 14: Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-VT) and his Eggplant Caucus add dramatic increases in conservation spending ($21.3 billion). Co-sponsors Nelson and Harkin cut the House version in half (5 year life, $45 billion in new spending).
January 17, 2002: Spurred by a website listing absentee landlords of huge farms, Sen. Chuck Grassley
(R-IA) supports an amendment to cap subsidy payments at $225,000. Amendment passes, shifting $1.3 billion to programs for beginning farmers.
February 14: Senate passes a 5 year version of the bill, with a $45 billion spending increase, by a 58:40 vote.
April 19: House passes non-binding resolution capping subsidies at $275,000 per farm (a $50,000 increase from the Senate bill).
April 26: Final version agreed upon: $360,000 subsidy cap, $17.1 billion for conservation. Expected to cost a total of $190 billion over ten years, an increase of over $90 billion (expires in September, 2007, six years later)
May 13: The
Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 signed into law by President Bush
(video)
agreements, asserting that domestic subsidies may be considered to be a non-tariff trade barrier. Others, including the Cato Institute
's Center for Trade Policy Studies, the Union of Concerned Scientists
, the Iowa Corn Growers Association, and Oxfam America, argue that subsidizing domestic grains leads to overproduction that is harmful both for farmers and for the general public. They claim that subsidies depress market prices while increasing land values. Many farmers do not own their land, and as a result, the subsidies they receive are capitalized into the value of the land they farm, and therefore provide little benefit to the farmers themselves.
Author Michael Pollan
's recent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma
suggests that corn subsidies in particular have led to the success of the feedlots or CAFO
s that he and journalist Eric Schlosser
have blamed for the emergence of e. coli as a major health concern. Subsidized corn is so inexpensive that beef companies find it profitable to build large facilities to feed corn to their cattle. Cows do not normally live in enclosed areas or consume corn, so these CAFOs generate large amounts of waste and require antibiotics and other drugs to keep the animals healthy.
Others have criticised the balance of subsidies on nutritional grounds, saying that oilseed crops (used to make vegetable oil) and corn should be subsidized less (because it can be made into high fructose corn syrup
) and that fruits and vegetables should be subsidized more.
U.S. farm bill
In the United States, the farm bill is the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government. The comprehensive omnibus bill is passed every 5 years or so by the United States Congress and deals with both agriculture and all other affairs under the purview of the United States...
, includes ten titles, addressing a great variety of issues related to agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
, trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
, and nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
.
The act directs approximately 16.5 billion dollars of funding toward agricultural subsidies each year. These subsidies have a dramatic effect on the production of grains, oilseeds, and upland cotton. The specialized nature of the farm bill, as well as the size and timing of the bill, made its passage highly contentious.
Debated in the U.S. House of Representatives during the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks in 2001, the bill drew criticism from the White House and was nearly amended. The amendment, which failed by a close margin, was proposed by Rep. Ron Kind
Ron Kind
Ronald James "Ron" Kind is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district is located in the western portion of the state and is anchored by La Crosse and Eau Claire and Platteville....
(D-WI) and would have shifted money away from grain subsidies to conservation measures. Public debate over the farm bill continued, and the Senate proposed sweeping amendments to the bill, leading to a series of meetings from February through April. As a result, the current farm bill was not passed until May 2002, after the 1996 farm bill had already expired.
Summary
This act has been superseded by the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill.Spending tables
The following is the subsidies by crop in 2004 in the United States.| Commodity | US Dollars (in Millions) | Percentage of Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feed Grains | 2,841 | 35.4 | |
| Wheat Wheat Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice... | 1,173 | 14.6 | |
| Rice Rice Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies... | 1,130 | 14.1 | |
| Upland and ElS Cotton Cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal.... | 1,420 | 17.7 | |
| Tobacco Tobacco Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines... | 18 | 0.2 | |
| Dairy Dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned... | 295 | 3.7 | |
| Soybeans and products | 610 | 7.6 | |
| Minor Oilseeds Minor oilseeds Minor oilseeds are oilseed crops other than soybeans and peanuts.In United States agriculture regulation, these are the “other oilseeds” eligible for marketing assistance loans under the 2002 farm bill :*sunflower seed*rapeseed... | 29 | 0.4 | |
| Peanuts Peanuts Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward... | 259 | 3.2 | |
| Sugar Sugar Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet... | 61 | 0.8 | |
| Honey Honey Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans... | 3 | 0.0 | |
| Wool Wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits.... and Mohair Mohair Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. The word "mohair" was adopted into English before 1570 from the Arabic: mukhayyar, a type of haircloth, literally 'choice', from khayyara, 'he chose'. Mohair fiber is approximately 25-45 microns in... | 12 | 0.1 | |
| Vegetable Oil Vegetable fats and oils Vegetable fats and oils are lipid materials derived from plants. Physically, oils are liquid at room temperature, and fats are solid. Chemically, both fats and oils are composed of triglycerides, as contrasted with waxes which lack glycerin in their structure... products | 11 | 0.1 | |
| Other Crops | 160 | 2.0 | |
| Total | 8,022 | 100 | |
Source USDA
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
2006 Fiscal Year Budget
Titles
Passage of the bill
Proponents of subsidy expansion
- Rep. Larry CombestLarry CombestLarry Ed Combest is a retired Texas Republican U.S. politician who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2003.-Early life:...
(R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, drafts and sponsors initial house farm bill. His proposal would spend the equivalent of the entire federal budget surplus for FY2001, and included $76 billion in new spending on top of the previous bill's spending, for a total of $171 billion.
- Rep. Terry EverettTerry EverettRobert Terry Everett is an American politician, who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing ....
(R-AL), owner of 400 acres (1.6 km²) of peanut crops, drafted $3.5 billion peanut provision in Title I
- Sen. Tom DaschleTom DaschleThomas Andrew "Tom" Daschle is a former U.S. Senator from South Dakota and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
(D-SD), Majority Leader, reassured South Dakotans that commodity subsidies would not be diminished as a result of heightened national security concerns. Credited with prioritizing the Senate version of the farm bill.
Shifting subsidies to conservation
- Rep. Ron KindRon KindRonald James "Ron" Kind is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district is located in the western portion of the state and is anchored by La Crosse and Eau Claire and Platteville....
(D-WI) brought an amendment to shift $19 billion from commodities (Title I) to conservation (Title II) (amendment fails 10/4/2001, 200-226)- Kind plans to re-introduce the content of his failed amendment in the next farm bill, with his Healthy Farms and Forests Act of 2006. This is the first farm bill to be proposed in the current cycle, and may form the foundation of the 2008 farm bill.
- Rep. Sherwood BoehlertSherwood BoehlertSherwood "Sherry" Louis Boehlert is a retired American politician from New York. He represented upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republican, was considered to be a member of the party's moderate wing. In 2003, Utica Union Station was...
(R-NY) co-sponsored the Kind amendment. He looked to Florida fruit and vegetable growers for support, because they received no subsidies in 2001. "The inability to persuade more Florida members to vote yes was a key to its defeat."
- Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-MD) also co-sponsored the Kind amendment.
- Rep. Leonard BoswellLeonard BoswellLeonard L. Boswell is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district is based in Des Moines.-Early life, education and career:...
(D-IA) brought an amendment to put $650 million into renewable energy, which failed (10/3/2001)
- Sen. Tom HarkinTom HarkinThomas Richard "Tom" Harkin is the junior United States Senator from Iowa and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives ....
(D-IA), senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, revised the House bill (H.R.2646) for passage in the Senate. After the passage of the House version, he told reporters about his ideas for "green" payments rewarding conservation methods.
- Rep. Gil GutknechtGil GutknechtGilbert William "Gil" Gutknecht, Jr. is an American politician. Gutknecht was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives first elected in 1994 to represent Minnesota's 1st congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota...
(R-MN) spoke for many legislators who complained that this was a "farm bill not an environmental bill" (10/4)
Subsidy caps
The largest difference between the House bill and its Senate counterpart was that the total amount of subsidies received by an individual farmer was capped by the Senate. Voicing concerns that "millionaire farmers" were reaping all the benefits of the farm bill legislation, a coalition of farm-state Senators pushed for these limits.- Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) was vehement about lowering subsidy caps from $500,000 to $225,000 "we don't want 10 percent of the farmers getting 60 percent of the farm bill."
- Sen. Byron DorganByron DorganByron Leslie Dorgan is a former United States Senator from North Dakota and is now a senior policy advisor for a Washington, DC law firm. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, the North Dakota affiliate of the Democratic Party. In the Senate, he was Chairman of the Democratic...
(D-ND) cosponsored the subsidy cap amendment.
- Sen. Ben NelsonBen NelsonEarl Benjamin "Ben" Nelson is the senior U.S. Senator from Nebraska. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000....
(D-NE) supported subsidy caps "I believe, along with most Nebraskans, that our farm program should discourage consolidation in agriculture... These enormous payments do exactly the opposite."
- Sen. Blanche LincolnBlanche LincolnBlanche Meyers Lambert Lincoln is a former U.S. Senator from Arkansas and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1998, she was the first woman elected to the Senate from Arkansas since Hattie Caraway in 1932 and, at age 38, was the youngest woman ever elected to the...
(D-AR) and Sen. Thad CochranThad CochranWilliam Thad Cochran is the senior United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1978, he is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and was its chairman and 2005 to 2007.-Early life:He was born in Pontotoc,...
(R-MS) opposed capping subidies. Lincoln was the only Democrat in opposition. Cochran said the caps would be "catastrophic for southern farm interests"
Opposing overproduction
After September 11, the farm bill was considered problematic for three reasons. First, it would neither receive nor deserve the careful attention necessary during the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Second, its expenditures would consume the entire budget surplus, money that could be necessary for the American invasion of Afghanistan. Finally, Secretary of Agriculture Ann VenemanAnn Veneman
Ann Margaret Veneman is the former Executive Director of UNICEF, a position she held from 2005 to 2010. Her appointment was announced on January 18, 2005 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Previously, Veneman was the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the first and only woman to hold that...
opposed the new farm bill. On September 19, her office issued a report criticizing traditional agricultural policies and calling for a shift from subsidies to conservation. According to her assessments, commodity subsidies would lead to overproduction and expensive land. Her position was supported by various other groups and legislators.
- The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a formal manifesto (10/3) opposing the initial farm bill, calling it expensive and unresponsive to changes in agriculture.
- Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), a farmer with a modest operation, was outraged that the farm bill remained on Congressional agendas after the terrorist attacks. (Omaha Herald 9/27/01)
- Agreeing with Secretary Veneman and the White House, he argued that the farm bill causes overproduction so bad "we've got it coming out of our ears."
- Proposed 6 percent payment to cover premium on crop insurance instead of guaranteeing income. (1/21)
- Sen. Chuck HagelChuck HagelCharles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel is a former United States Senator from Nebraska. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002...
(R-NE) and Rep. Earl PomeroyEarl PomeroyEarl Pomeroy is a lobbyist and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 until 2011. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party.- Early life, education and career :...
(D-ND) also opposed the revised bill, concerned that it will continue to subsidize overproduction.
Eggplant Caucus
With mounting opposition from both sides of the aisle, the fate of the farm bill was unclear in early 2002. Anxious farmers were frustrated by the gridlocked Senate, which had promised a quick resolution to the impending expiration of the previous bill. The emergence of the Eggplant Caucus, so named for a major New Jersey crop, was a major factor in the passage of the bill.Sen. Patrick Leahy
Patrick Leahy
Patrick Joseph Leahy is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic United States Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator,...
(D-VT) saw the opportunity for what he considered to be a more fair and equitable farm bill, and sought to unite over 20 senators from states with less powerful farming interests in support of subsidies for specialty crops and conservation. Active members of the Eggplant Caucus included:
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
- Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
- Sen. Harry ReidHarry ReidHarry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...
(D-NV)
This was the first time the farm bill was shaped directly by senators from outside the major farm states.
The House of Representatives
September 10, 2001: $171 billion, 10-year farm bill (with $73 billion in new spending) reported out of committee, to be considered by the full House of Representatives.September 11: September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
September 19: Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman
Ann Veneman
Ann Margaret Veneman is the former Executive Director of UNICEF, a position she held from 2005 to 2010. Her appointment was announced on January 18, 2005 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Previously, Veneman was the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the first and only woman to hold that...
criticizes traditional farm policy, calls for a shift from commodity subsidies to conservation measures
September 27: Secretary Veneman criticizes the new bill as expensive in post-9/11 budget, claims it will lead to overproduction and expensive land.
October 2: Rep. Ron Kind
Ron Kind
Ronald James "Ron" Kind is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district is located in the western portion of the state and is anchored by La Crosse and Eau Claire and Platteville....
(D-WI) introduces an amendment to shift $19 billion (approx. 15%) of commodity subsides to conservation measures.
October 2: Rep. Larry Combest
Larry Combest
Larry Ed Combest is a retired Texas Republican U.S. politician who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2003.-Early life:...
(R-TX), farm bill sponsor, threatens to pull the bill if it is amended.
October 3: Rep. Leonard Boswell
Leonard Boswell
Leonard L. Boswell is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district is based in Des Moines.-Early life, education and career:...
(D-IA), proposes shifting $650 million to ethanol, amendment fails.
October 4: Kind amendment falls 26 votes short, fails.
October 5: 10 year, $73 billion farm bill increase passes in the House of Representatives.
- Source: (H.R.2646)
The Senate
October 24: Senators Ben NelsonBen Nelson
Earl Benjamin "Ben" Nelson is the senior U.S. Senator from Nebraska. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000....
(D-NE) and Tom Harkin
Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard "Tom" Harkin is the junior United States Senator from Iowa and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives ....
(D-IA) reject Sec. Veneman's request that the Senate delay consideration of the farm bill to focus on war effort.
December 14: Sen. Patrick Leahy
Patrick Leahy
Patrick Joseph Leahy is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic United States Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator,...
(D-VT) and his Eggplant Caucus add dramatic increases in conservation spending ($21.3 billion). Co-sponsors Nelson and Harkin cut the House version in half (5 year life, $45 billion in new spending).
January 17, 2002: Spurred by a website listing absentee landlords of huge farms, Sen. Chuck Grassley
Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest "Chuck" Grassley is the senior United States Senator from Iowa . A member of Republican Party, he previously served in the served in the United States House of Representatives and the Iowa state legislature...
(R-IA) supports an amendment to cap subsidy payments at $225,000. Amendment passes, shifting $1.3 billion to programs for beginning farmers.
February 14: Senate passes a 5 year version of the bill, with a $45 billion spending increase, by a 58:40 vote.
- Source: (S. 1731)
Reconciling the bills
March 19: After two weeks of closed door negotiations, House agrees to $17 billion for conservation.April 19: House passes non-binding resolution capping subsidies at $275,000 per farm (a $50,000 increase from the Senate bill).
April 26: Final version agreed upon: $360,000 subsidy cap, $17.1 billion for conservation. Expected to cost a total of $190 billion over ten years, an increase of over $90 billion (expires in September, 2007, six years later)
May 13: The
Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 signed into law by President Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
(video)
Criticism
Critics of U.S. agricultural policy claim that it may be in violation of World Trade OrganizationWorld Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
agreements, asserting that domestic subsidies may be considered to be a non-tariff trade barrier. Others, including the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
's Center for Trade Policy Studies, the Union of Concerned Scientists
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit science advocacy group based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. James J...
, the Iowa Corn Growers Association, and Oxfam America, argue that subsidizing domestic grains leads to overproduction that is harmful both for farmers and for the general public. They claim that subsidies depress market prices while increasing land values. Many farmers do not own their land, and as a result, the subsidies they receive are capitalized into the value of the land they farm, and therefore provide little benefit to the farmers themselves.
Author Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. A 2006 New York Times book review describes him as a "liberal foodie intellectual."...
's recent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma
The Omnivore's Dilemma
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is a nonfiction book by Michael Pollan published in 2006. In the book, Pollan asks the seemingly straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. As omnivores – the most unselective eaters – we humans are faced with a...
suggests that corn subsidies in particular have led to the success of the feedlots or CAFO
CAFO
A Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation is a term that was first coined by the United States' Environmental Protection Agency to describe animal agricultural facilities that have a potential pollution profile...
s that he and journalist Eric Schlosser
Eric Schlosser
Eric Schlosser is an American journalist and author known for investigative journalism, such as in his books Fast Food Nation, Reefer Madness and Chew On This.- Personal History :...
have blamed for the emergence of e. coli as a major health concern. Subsidized corn is so inexpensive that beef companies find it profitable to build large facilities to feed corn to their cattle. Cows do not normally live in enclosed areas or consume corn, so these CAFOs generate large amounts of waste and require antibiotics and other drugs to keep the animals healthy.
Others have criticised the balance of subsidies on nutritional grounds, saying that oilseed crops (used to make vegetable oil) and corn should be subsidized less (because it can be made into high fructose corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup
High-fructose corn syrup — also called glucose-fructose syrup in the UK, glucose/fructose in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce...
) and that fruits and vegetables should be subsidized more.
See also
- Conservation Reserve ProgramConservation Reserve ProgramThe Conservation Reserve Program is a cost-share and rental payment program under the United States Department of Agriculture , and is administered by the USDA Farm Service Agency . Technical assistance for CRP is provided by the USDA Forest Service and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation...
- Conservation Security ProgramConservation security programThe Conservation Security Program is a voluntary conservation program in the United States that supports ongoing stewardship of private agricultural lands by providing payments and technical assistance for maintaining and enhancing natural resources...
- Triple base planTriple base planIn United States agricultural policy, the triple base plan -- also called the flexible base plan -- is a proposal under which farmers who raise program crops would receive program payments only on a certain percentage of their permitted acreage. A producer participating in a federal price support...