[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens: Farm Bill must help small farmers, not giant agribusinesses

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008



Greens urge defeat of current Farm Bill, urge
legislation to assist small local farms instead
of big agribusiness

• Main Street, not Wall Street: Green Party calls
for bill to assist local economies, promote local
production of nutritious food, and end hunger in
the US and around the world


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called for
national defeat of the $300 billion Farm Bill,
calling it a capitulation to major agribusiness
interests and a blow to small farmers.

"While the bill contains a funding for nutrition
and some environmental reforms, the bill would
provide huge subsidies for powerful agricultural
corporations, giving them greater power to crush
and absorb family farms," said Rodger Jennings,
Green candidate for Congress
(http://www.rodgerjennings.org) in District 12 of
Illinois, a large part of which is farm land.
"Corporate welfare will not solve the world food
crisis."

The bill, which comes up for renewal every five
years, is the result of a House-Senate compromise
and has strong bipartisan support, especially
from Democratic leadership.  Congress is expected
to vote on it in July.

Greens drew attention to several problems with
the current bill:

• The bill provides no real relief for US
counties with the highest rates of poverty, since
subsidies mainly benefit the wealthy owners of
corporate farms.

• The bill grants subsidies for crops like corn,
wheat, cotton, rice and soybeans -- US imports
dumped into poorer countries, hurting subsistence
farmers in these countries and hindering farmers
in other countries from competing in
international markets.  When prices for food
plummet as a result, local farms fail and are
replaced by giant agribusinesses, and poverty
increases.

• The bill does not support cultivation of fruits
and vegetables, and instead promotes an economy
that encourages cheap calories and drives up the
price of nutritious foods, aggravating obesity
and other health problems.

• The bill encourages production of sugar and
corn to be used for ethanol, which Greens call an
inefficient replacement for fossil fuels; the
rise in ethanol-based energy has converted land
that could be used for food production into a
source of fuel.  This conversion has caused
economic and food supply crises in several
African countries, as agricultural land now
benefits the high energy-consumption demands of
the US and other western nations.

• The richest 5% of US farm owners would win more
than half of the bill's federal subsidies.  Black
farmers complain that they would be excluded from
the subsidies program.

"The Green Party urges passage of legislation
that would strengthen small, locally owned farms
and give them protection against the takeover of
land by giant agricultural corporations.  We
support strong local economies, with farms that
provide nutritious food and numerous financial
benefits for the surrounding community," said
Carol Brouillet, California Green candidate for
the US House in District 14
(http://www.communitycurrency.org).

"The current bill favors Wall Street.  Greens
support Main Street.  We need a farm bill that
will replace hunger with abundant nutritious
organic food, help family farms, and promote
locally based economic development and
self-reliance," added Jason Wallace, Green
Candidate for Congress in Illinois' largely
agricultural 11th District
(http://www.electwallace.us).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Links to Green Presidential Candidates' web
sites
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other
campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
• 2008 Green National Convention: Live Green,
Vote Green
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/forms/media

Bread for the World: "How to Improve the Farm
Bill"
http://www.bread.org/take-action/farm-bill-ol2007/how-to-improve-the-farm-bill.html


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