Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry: A 50-Year Farm Bill | NYT
January 05, 2009 03:27PM
For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. That is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy. ...
[R]esearch in Canada, Australia, China and the United States over the last 30 years suggests that perennialization of the major grain crops like wheat, rice, sorghum and sunflowers can be developed in the foreseeable future. By increasing the use of mixtures of grain-bearing perennials, we can better protect the soil and substantially reduce greenhouse gases, fossil-fuel use and toxic pollution.
Source: NYT
First things first
Before we recommend extending the life of a HORRIFIC farm bill, we need to change the farm bill. Perhaps the very first step is in media coverage in order to avoid people stigmatizing the bill as unrelated to their lives, also labeling it what it really is: a Food Bill. Do we want our tax money spend on promoting AgriCorps bottom line, or promoting health foods people eat, and improving/preserving our environment? The very first action with the bill itself is to REMOVE the corporate welfare of subsidies. It is senseless to give taxpayer money to the very rich to grow GMO non-organic corn (among a couple other things) to produce corn breaded corn oil fried corn fed chicken served with a corn-sweetened soda. We're SUBSIDIZING factory farms, McDonald's. And Obesity. Enough! End ALL subsidies.
Find other ways to support sustainable organic farming.