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Editorial: Farm subsidies unnecessary as prices rise
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, April 28, 2008
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B4
Retail food prices have climbed more than 4 percent in the last year, and a similar hike is projected for next year. Riots have broken out in developing countries over food shortages. Schools are being forced to change their lunch menus.
Some consumers, reacting to a rise in the price of rice, have made a run on stores – prompting Costco, Sam's Club and other retailers to limit how many bags they sell to individuals.
Consumers are hurting, yes, but growers of corn, wheat, rice, cotton and other crops are loving life these days. Corn has hit a record $6 per bushel. As University of California, Berkeley, economics professor David Zilberman recently noted in The Bee, these higher prices are the result of booming demand in Asia, higher oil prices and, to some extent, the impact of ethanol production on the markets of corn and other crops.
Given that big growers and commodity corporations are enjoying the windfall – and experts say these price spikes are not just a temporary "blip" – you might think that Congress would want to pass a farm bill that reflects current realities.
Nope.
Congress is close to approving another five-year farm bill that would cost the treasury about $300 billion. A good chunk of this funding – about $5.2 billion a year – will be in the form of "direct payment" subsidies to growers of corn and other crops, including some growers who are millionaires.
The farm bill is an outgrowth of the 1930s, when the nation wanted to protect farmers from the uncertainties of weather, markets and speculators. There's still a need for some form of agricultural security blanket, but one that advances 21st century goals – including fiscal sanity and environmental protection.
Will Congress ever reform the farm bill? Possibly, but not while powerful commodity interests have a lock on leaders of both parties, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Until that changes, Amercians will continue to pay twice for their food – once at the grocery store and once in their federal tax returns.
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