It looks like the Bush administration might finally do something good - something amazing. Maybe I should know better, but I think there has got to be some good in him somewhere just like any other person. Could this be it?
The New York Times reported this weekend that the president will "seek deep cuts" in farm subsidies and commodity programs in his upcoming budget. Yet his proposal amounts to more than cuts: it is much-needed reform.
Bush is finally taking action regarding massive spending deficits, and wants to cut $587 million in aid to farmers next year and $5.7 billion over the next 10 years. More importantly, he wants to close a subsidy limit loophole consistently exploited by wealthy corporate farmers.
Anyone connected to agriculture will tell you that government subsidies are an essential part of the business. As one Iowa farmer told me this summer, "For a lot of farmers, government payments make the difference between being in the red or being in the black."
Agricultural subsidies in the past, however, have done perhaps as much harm as good by becoming "America's largest corporate welfare program," as Brian Reidl of the Heritage Foundation puts it. A new kind of big business - big agribusiness - has begun taking over farming and the lion's share of farming subsidies. Currently, the richest 10 percent of farmers - agribusiness owners operating massive factory-style farms - collect 60 percent of farm subsidies. These farms have Donald Trump-style wealth compared to the dire straits of most family farms. They are large enough to afford selling their product at prices their smaller competitors cannot afford when prices are high, and can create artificial scarcity when prices are low by simply letting their extra product rot.
Instead of fostering competition, the subsidies make rich farmers richer and poor farmers poorer. They have quickened the death of farming as a way of life, turning it into just another business.
How did this happen? Rich farmers with the resources to do so found loopholes in the previous subsidy collection limit of $360,000. They exploited the loopholes repeatedly in order to collect far more than was intended - J.G. Boswell Company, a California cotton operation, collected $5.6 million in 2002 alone. The Environmental Working Group estimates that such devious exploitation added up to $1.7 billion in unnecessary subsidies in both 2001 and 2002.
President Bush's proposal would fully close this loophole. If it sounds to you like President Bush might stand up against powerful, wealthy interests, you heard correctly. As EWG President Kenneth Cook told the Times, "I am stunned and impressed. The Bush administration is opening the door to reform on the most contested issue in agriculture policy today. Taxpayers will no longer have to subsidize the demise of the family farm." Cook thinks these cuts will also reduce pressure on Congress to make cuts to soil and water conservation programs, which are in need of greater funding as it is.
What remains to be seen is whether the president has the intestinal fortitude to actually go through with his proposal. Personally, I doubt it - over 100 farm groups have indicated their readiness to lobby hard against it, and I'm having some difficulty recalling a single instance when Bush stood up for the little guy. But here's to hoping he's had a change of heart and will stick to his guns to close this loophole.
It would be even more impressive if Bush made a commitment to pushing radically decentralized agricultural production. Locally-grown foods bring greater diversity to local economies, use fewer herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, and necessitate only minimal transportation from the vine to your plate. This means not only tastier food, but more economically sustainable farming that vastly reduces the health and environmental costs associated with pollution from agricultural chemicals and commodity transportation.
Yes, expecting such a commitment from President Bush is laughable. But then again, until just a few days ago, so was the idea that he would attempt to close a corporate welfare loophole. While every one of his past actions gives me reason to doubt that Bush will indeed stand up to wealthy interests, let's cross our fingers that one cowboy has come to his senses.
Rob Sand '05.5 can shuck corn faster than you.
