///Rapid Response 10/31/07
Farm Bill

Disciples at the 2007 Fort Worth General Assembly adopted a sense-of-the assembly resolution that urges all Disciples, as a people of the table, to recognize the importance of their connection with the source of their food and begin participating in sustainable, local food systems. (To read the full resolution, visit http://www.disciples.org/ga/resolutions/0720/.) Disciples now have an opportunity to weigh in on the issue.

Every five to seven years or so, Congress debates and the President signs what is known as the Farm Bill. One could argue that this one piece of legislation has more direct impact on our day-to-day lives than any other legislation drafted by the U.S. government. The Farm Bill determines what our children eat for lunch, how meat is produced, and what crops the government supports, thus what foods will be cheap and plentiful. It might be more accurately referred to as the "Food Bill."

According to Fred Kirschenmann, Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Iowa State University), "an enlightened food and farm policy is of considerable consequence to every citizen ..."

Kirschenmann, in an introduction to the book, Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, says that an enlightened food and farm policy contributes to:

• Stable societies. We cannot have stable, secure societies without a food production and distribution system that supplies a safe and adequate diet to every person. Malnutrition and starvation breed terrorism and social unrest.
• An ecologically restorative food and fiber system. We cannot meet present and future food needs if we continue to undermine the health of the land, pollute and overuse our water, and destroy our biological and genetic diversity.
• An economically and ecologically efficient food and fiber system. True efficiency must address the use of energy, capital, soil and water, and community, as well as labor. Our policies must move us toward a system based on renewable energy, recycled wastes, and diverse farming systems and ecosystems.
• A food and fiber system that encourages independent entrepreneurship. Human capital is critical to a sustainable food system. Without an influx of young, entrepreneurial, creative, dedicated, wise, and imaginative farmers, we will have trouble facing the challenges ahead.
• Regional food sufficiency and food sovereignty. We need food and farming systems that share our limited planetary resources so that citizens in every region of the planet can become food self-reliant. (Editor note: CARE, one of the world's largest charities, recently announced it would no longer sell tons of subsidized food produced by American agribusinesses in African countries because that food competes with and undermines the crops of struggling local farmers, thus hurting the people CARE aims to help. See New York Times article, "CARE Turns Down Federal Funds for Food Aid" August 16, 2007).

A major feature of the 2007 Farm Bill is the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). The intent of CSP is to support ongoing conservation stewardship of agricultural lands by providing assistance to producers to maintain and enhance natural resources. The CSP secures conservation on farms and rewards results through incentives. Rewarding farmers who are protecting God's soil and water quality through good farming practices makes sense while helping to protect creation.

Many conservation and farm advocates agree that the CSP needs to be a central theme in the 2007 Farm Bill. The Bill offers the CSP on a nationwide basis and a mandatory sign up of at least 13 million acres a year; nearly 80,000 acres over the life of the Farm Bill. The Bill also provides an easy crosswalk for organic farmers allowing them to simultaneously establish eligibility for the CSP and organic certification.

The full Senate is expected to debate and vote on the 2007 Farm Bill the week of November 5. A sample letter is included below. Consider personalizing your message to Congress by including a story about your connections to farming, how important local foods are to you, or how your faith informs your values on agriculture issues.

Sample letter/talking points:

Few human activities have the kind of far-reaching impacts on Earth as does the production of food. As a person of faith and conscience, I am writing to invite you to make decisions on the Farm Bill that allow us to be mindful stewards of creation, and to treat the land, air, water, and our fellow creatures with reverence and respect.

On July 27th, the House passed its version of the Farm Bill that, instead of strengthening the Conservation Title, weakened it by putting it on hold for four years and allowing fewer farmers to participate. This is not a Farm Bill I can support.

Instead, I invite you to support a Farm Bill that:

• Provides all farmers who wish to be good stewards of the land access to working lands conservation programs, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program;
• Fosters the growth of local/community-based food systems, reducing the use of global warming-causing carbon emissions from food transport; supporting smaller farms; and providing more nutritious food options for consumers;
• Includes funding for the continuation of the Wetlands Reserve Program;
• Includes provisions for making sure that the increase in biofuels production is accomplished sustainably and without negative environmental impacts;
• Sets the payment limit for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program at its pre-2002 level and reinstates the prohibition on funding for animal waste storage and handling facilities for large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations; and
• Targets safety net payments to those farmers who need them most.

Strong conservation programs that provide for the health of the land, water, and air for generations to come are the best investment in a real, long-term safety net for America's farmers. A Farm Bill that delivers justice to God's creation is incumbent upon us as stewards of the creation--and it is achievable with your leadership.

Your name here
Your address here

If you support the provisions outlined above, contact your Senator as soon as possible. Calls and faxes can be more effective than e-mail messages. You can call your Senator's office through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (just ask for your Senator's office): (202) 224-3121 or visit congressmerge.com/onlinedb.

To learn more about the Farm Bill, read the book Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Billby Daniel Imhoff, and/or Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

Sincerely,