The Fruit Growers News

Critics of the new Farm Bill remind me of the old adage, “When you complain about agriculture, don’t do it with your mouth full.” It’s interesting that U.S. citizens enjoy the most affordable, abundant and safe food supply of any country in the world, yet far too many seem to overlook that fact by labeling U.S. farm program spending as pork-barrel spending. Less than 11% of our average disposable household income is spent on food purchases. Compare that to Japan where consumers spend almost 18% or Mexico which spends nearly 25%, or worse yet India, where consumers spend 51% of their disposable income to purchase food. The percentage of disposable income spent for food purchases in the United States has steadily declined for more than 30 years now. While that’s extremely good news for consumers, it has not been good news for U.S. farmers. For every dollar U.S. consumers spend on food purchases, only 20 cents ultimately goes to the farmer who grew the crop. Ironically, this country just celebrated “Tax Freedom Day,” on April 27. Most people don’t realize that we already celebrated “Food Check-Out Day” on Feb. 8. That’s right - in just 38 days most Americans had earned enough money to pay for their annual food supply. The Farm Security Act of 2001 was developed over a two-year period by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. It is, by far, the greenest Farm Bill ever written by Congress, expanding conservation programs to all farmers - big and small. Current agriculture conservation spending, at $2.1 billion per year, will increase by 75% providing an additional $1.6 billion each year. A grand total of $37 billion will be spent on agriculture conservation over the next 10 years! The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) will provide $12.85 billion in cost share and incentive payments to producers of all crops and livestock to help provide the cleanest soil, air and water possible. The Farm Bill package also fully maintains the market-oriented features of the 1996 Farm Bill, having minimal impact on price and production according to economic analysis. It also maintains the planting flexibility of the 1996 Farm Bill. Coincidentally, when Congress passed the 1996 Farm Bill, it also pledged to reduce the regulatory burdens placed on production agriculture and to expand trade opportunities. It has done neither. In fact, the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that the regulatory burdens cost American agriculture $22 billion annually. Meanwhile, U.S. agricultural exports have actually declined. Since 1996, U.S. agricultural exports have plummeted 20% from a high of $60.5 billion to a low of $48.4 billion in 1999. Even today, Congress has yet to approve Trade Promotion Authority to further expand trade opportunities for U.S. agriculture. Foreign tariffs on U.S.-produced agricultural products average 62%, compared to an average U.S. tariff of just 12%. Foreign agricultural subsidies are also nine times greater than U.S. subsidies - $342 per acre for European farmers, compared to $43 per acre for U.S. farmers. Finally, and most importantly, most critics fail to acknowledge that farm program payments are a public investment in the nation’s food, environmental, and economic security. Suffice it to say that U.S. consumers have become accustomed to being supplied with the safest and most affordable food supply in the world.