The big news this week in the farm bill debate was the release of Environmental Working Group's database,
and rightfully so. Yet again we were reminded of the vital need for
strong, effective farm program payment limitations. Earlier this week I
wrote about the King of Farm Programs, Maurice Wilder. The King
received $3,217,158 in farm program payments from 2003 to 2005. But it's important to remember that not everyone is like The King.
There are many family farmers who get upset every time the EWG
database is in the headlines. And one of them posted an excellent
comment on EWG's own blog, Mulch. It is reprinted, unedited, in full here:
Mr. Cook,
You forgot to state that also in this new database is the average
income in the area and how many children are in poverty. You have it on
my database page. I am a 25 year old farmer that started farming corn
and soybeans at age 19. Not with Dad or family or anyone. I have an
established business now but I own no real estate. Equipment payments
consume most of my income. My equipment loan would be the same as a new
business start-up loan to all you non-farm people.
I do not live a life of luxury, I work hard to keep the lifestyle I
have. Can you please put on my database page that I employ the father
of two poverty stricken kids. I give him a paycheck, food, money for
the kids'; Christmas. I also can't control where that paycheck gets
spent. I also utilize no-till practices and grow food-grade white corn.
Yes, remember farmers grow food, not grocery stores. So if you think I
make $50K a year and ignore the 5,900 kids in poverty in my area you
are wrong. So could you please post the information I gave you next to
my name in your database. I don't care if the world knows how much
subsidy payments I have received. I just don't like the personal attack
on every subsidy recipient you have done.
Respectfully,
Adam Michael Betzer Sleeth
I love this comment, and it goes to the heart of the issues around farm bill reform. Yes, farm programs have serious effects
that should be acknowledged, and if you ask me unlimited farm subsidy
checks are just all-around evil.
But farm programs play an important role in rural America and within
the agricultural economy, and the vast majority of farmers are decent,
hardworking people who are playing with the hand they're dealt.
Quite frankly, one of the reasons farm programs get such a bad rap
overall is that you can track the payments back to individuals (most of
the time). It's a lot harder to track back the benefits of all the other tax credits and subsidies that the government gives out.
Go take a look at the big energy bill the Senate is debating right now
- the whole damn thing appears to be a vast collection of corporate
subsidies, even if some of those subsidies are for things we should
support, such as wind energy. ExxonMobil receives enormous tax credits
for oil exploration, and Boeing receives sweetheart government backed
financing deals from the Export-Import bank. Government subsidy
examples are endless, and those who think farm programs are just the
worst example of corporate welfare ever should think again.
In my post earlier this week, I wrote:
Every time EWG updates their database, big commodity
groups claim that EWG somehow "distorts" the data for its own
purposes.... And when you hear organizations whine about how the King
is an aberration, a lone example of farm programs gone bad, don't
believe it.
I stand by those statements. I believe that the vast majority of
comments printed in the media are from those big organizations that
support unlimited farm program checks, like the 3.2 million dollars
Maurice Wilder has collected. As far as I am concerned, those
organizations do not represent family farmers.
When farmers like Adam Sleeth speaks up, everyone should listen. That
includes people out in rural America and people (usually concentrated
in Washington, DC) who endlessly criticize farm programs without
recognizing the farmers who contribute so much to this country. That
farm program check Adam receives is doing a lot more good for this
world than both Maurice Wilder's million dollar checks or tax credits
for Exxon.