November 1, 2007

Dear Colleague:

As we prepare for the Farm Bill debate, I want to be sure you are aware of the report released today by the Environmental Working Group.  As is, the Farm Bill delivers little to most farmers, taxpayers, rural communities, and U.S. prospects to export products.

Should we accept the status quo on direct payments, which were originally passed as temporary transition payments, farmers in just seven states will receive over 50 percent of direct payment funds for a grand total of over $13.1 billion.  Over the past ten years, farm subsidies have gone to just one out of three farmers with only six percent of farms receiving more than 70 percent of that money – namely $120 billion.

These policies are particularly irresponsible because the direct subsidies go out to farmers regardless of whether cash is flowing in or out of their farms, whether they farm at all, or, as the GAO has reported, whether those farmers are even alive.  Although many subsidized farmers are projected to receive record crop prices and earn record farm incomes over the next five years, the Senate Farm Bill, as agreed to by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week, doles out up to $26 billion in direct payments from taxpayers, much of which will go to some of the largest and wealthiest farming operations in America.  Even worse, while the top 1 percent of direct payment beneficiaries would collect over $3.3 billion under this system, existing programs do not provide support in times of crop loss when farmers need it the most.

Additionally, the Farm Bill we are about to debate both retains these payments and fails to remove the planting restrictions that violate our WTO trade commitments.

As you know, I have worked with Sen. Lautenberg and others to devise an alternative plan that would end out-of-date subsidies and provide for a more equitable and less expensive safety-net for all American agriculture.

I hope that you will join me in supporting a new way forward for rural America.

The Environmental Working Group Report.