| Farm Bill
October 22, 2007
Forwarded from the USCCB.
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you all for your continued efforts to shape a more just U.S. agriculture and food policy. The 2007 Farm Bill is moving through the Senate. The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to mark up on October 23rd . We will be sending out more specific alerts as we learn what provisions will be taken up on the Senate floor.
Our priorities in the 2007 Farm Bill are:
1) helping hungry people here and abroad;
2) targeting agricultural assistance to those family farmers who need it most rather than large, powerful enterprises that need it least; and
3) ensuring that our farm subsidies do not hurt poor farmers in developing countries.
Please join with USCCB, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities USA, and our religious and other allies in sending a strong message to Congress that our farm and food policies must reflect our values, reducing hunger and poverty, providing a safety net to smaller and moderate size farmers and helping farmers in developing countries to feed their families and make a decent living. Agriculture policies should not hurt or displace smaller family farmers and ranchers out of the marketplace, nor threaten the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries.
Remember that our common Catholic work on the Farm Bill in the weeks ahead send a unique, influential and indispensable message to Congress. We are not another interest group with narrow agendas and self-interests. We are a community of faith made up of farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, social service providers and consumers; we serve and stand with children, seniors, working adults and families struggling with hunger in our own land and in the poorest places on earth; we are called to feed the hungry and care for the earth. We are compelled to speak for the weak and the voiceless.
We need your help in sending a clear message to your Senator(s) that we must build on what was accomplished in the House, while also bring about real targeting and reform for those in greatest need. We are always happy to help in whatever way we can. Please don’t hesitate to call on us.
For more information, please contact:
Roxana Barillas at USCCB (202) 541-3445, rbarillas@usccb.org; Fr. Andrew Small OMI at USCCB (202) 541-3153, asmall@usccb.org; or Bob Gronski at the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (515) 270-2634, ncrlcg@mchsi.com; Lucreda Cobbs at Catholic Charities USA, (703) 236-6243, lcobbs@catholiccharitiesusa.org; and Brendan Cavanagh at Catholic Relief Services, (410) 951-7462, bcavanag@crs.org.
Call your Senators Urging Fairness for Farmers and Justice for the Poor and Hungry in the 2007 Farm Bill
October 2007
Last July, when the House of Representatives approved its version of the Farm Bill, several significant improvements were made to the nutrition and rural development programs. However, the familiar old system of channeling billions of dollars to mostly large producers and neglecting those most in need remained for the most part in place. It is vital that you urge your Senator(s) to not vote for business as usual on the 2007 Farm Bill.
BACKGROUND: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Relief Services have been working together to seek a new kind of Farm Bill that reflects a commitment to feed the hungry at home and abroad, to offer effective support for those who till the land, while promoting fairness and equity for farmers and ranchers. We especially support efforts to target agriculture resources to those who need help the most rather than those who need it least. Starting next week, the Senate will take important steps towards completing a new Farm Bill, which is written every 5-7 years and sets the nation’s agriculture and food policies.
ACTION REQUESTED: Please call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to reach your Senator’s office. Ask to speak with the staff person who deals with nutrition and agriculture policy. While the Farm Bill deals with many issues, the concerns outlined below need priority attention as the Senate moves forward in writing the next Farm Bill.
Urge your Senator(s) to support a Farm Bill that promotes development at home and abroad. Tell them that limited public resources should be targeted to those who need it most. The next Farm Bill should redirect funds away from large agro-enterprises that need the least support. The U.S. Farm Bill is the principle means of feeding the hungry at home and abroad, promoting rural development, and caring for the land.
As the Senate Committee on Agriculture meets next week to shape a new Farm Bill, tell every Senator that the Catholic and the broader religious community expect greater fairness in agriculture policy.
To make the Farm Bill more fair, ask your Senator(s) to:
· Support the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment that establishes strong and meaningful payment limits in order to target farm supports to struggling family farmers, particularly beginning (start-up) and limited-resource farmers who often lack access to these programs;
· Make Title I of the Farm Bill more equitable and just, by offering support where and when it is needed regardless of crop grown. Tell your Senator(s) that a real farm safety net should tie support to a farmer’s income rather than crop prices. This approach would reduce trade distortions, better prepare U.S. farmers to compete fairly in a global marketplace and reduce undue harm to the most vulnerable farmers around the world.
To make the Farm Bill fair for the hungry at home, ask your Senator(s) to:
- Increase funding for all nutrition programs under Title IV of the Farm Bill.
- Increase the food stamp minimum monthly benefit of $10, increase standard deductions to make the program more accessible to the working poor, and increase funding for emergency food assistance.
- Restore food stamp eligibility to such vulnerable groups as adult legal immigrants and parents with a past drug conviction. These provisions unfairly penalize the children in these low-income households.
- Allow poor families and seniors to access food stamps during times of hardship and crisis, regardless of modest savings that should serve as a safety net during difficult times.
- To do this, urge the Senator(s) to revise the restrictive resource limits of $3,000 for households with seniors or persons with disabilities, and $2,000 for all other households so that families suffering from unemployment, lack of full-time employment, illnesses, or other financial emergencies may access food stamp benefits without exhausting critical resources.
To make the Farm Bill fair for the hungry overseas, ask your Senator(s) to:
- Establish a $600-million “safebox,” containing food aid that is dedicated exclusively to address chronic hunger and longer term food security.
- Allow the use of cash to purchase food locally when appropriate to address food insecurity.
- Provide greater flexibility in the use of monetary funds under Sec. 202(e) of Title III of the Farm Bill; and increased resources for Title II and McGovern-Dole education-nutrition programs.
To keep rural communities vibrant and help care for the land, ask you Senator(s) to:
· Provide $2 billion in funding for rural development and $5 billion for conservation programs, including initiatives to promote sustainable practices on working lands.
USCCB POSITION: The U.S. Bishops have stated that “the primary goals of agricultural policies should be providing food for all people and reducing poverty among farmers and farmworkers in this country and abroad.” (For I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food: Catholic Reflections on Food, Farmers and Farmworkers, 2003).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND RESOURCES: To read more about USCCB’s 2007 Farm Bill priorities, go to: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/agric.shtml
To take the Food Stamp Challenge, visit the Catholic Charities USA’s web site:
http://povertyinamerica.typepad.com/campaign/hunger/index.html
Join NCRLC’s efforts to promote a local and national conversation on food, farming and sustainable communities, Keep the Faith in Rural America, at www.ncrlc.com
For CRS’ educational resource on international food aid, go to: http://donate.crs.org/site/DocServer/Final_Farm_Bill_Backgrounder.pdf?docID=1541&AddInterest=1101&JServSessionIdr009=3dt13vqg78.app13a
CONTACTS: Roxana Barillas at USCCB (202) 541-3445, rbarillas@usccb.org; Fr. Andrew Small OMI at USCCB (202) 541-3153, asmall@usccb.org; Bob Gronski at the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (515) 270-2634, ncrlcg@mchsi.com; Lucreda Cobbs at Catholic Charities USA, (703) 236-6243, lcobbs@catholiccharitiesusa.org; and Brendan Cavanagh at Catholic Relief Services, (410) 951-7462, bcavanag@crs.org.
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