Star Tribune

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004

LETTERS

Factory Farms

The Nov. 30 Star Tribune story "Largest farms and firms get subsidies" reported that just 10 percent of the nation's farm operations that received government subsidies raked in 72 percent of all federal farm payments -- a whopping $11.8 billion.

For what? Primarily for massively overproducing five crops -- rice, corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat. According to USDA figures, tax dollars that subsidize commodity production added up to 70 percent of all payments in 2003, with the five favored commodities getting most of that.

Spend any time in rural America and you will see the result of this farm policy: long-term damage to our soil and water from subsidy-induced overproduction, continued farm consolidation as the big subsidy recipients take over more and more land and more factory farms, which get taxpayer-subsidized feed for their massive numbers of livestock. Meanwhile, family farmers get the short end of the stick.

It doesn't have to be this way. New farm policy can curb huge commodity subsidies, cut overall program costs and redirect resources to better conservation on working farms through policies like the Conservation Security Program. One good first step is simple: Set a limit on the amount of commodity subsidy any operation is eligible to get -- $50,000 per farm, for example, is still a help to farmers, but would stop this damaging incentive to overproduce a few crops.

Tell your U.S. senators and representatives that change is needed, now. This waste has got to stop.

Mark Schultz, Minneapolis;
policy director,
Land Stewardship Project.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/563/5114708-2.html

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