On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the 2013 Farm Bill. Today, the Philanthropy Journal featured a blog article written by RAFI Executive Director Scott Marlow. In it, Scott details the history of the Farm Bill, why the huge piece of legislation has become so polarizing and why all that matters.
“This divergence in political debate results in demonizing each side. […] Through all the talk, the untold story is that this is a fight that neither side wins. The winners are the multinational companies that have manipulated all of these programs to benefit them first, and people second.
In our view, the balance is now off. Farmers deserve protection in highly concentrated markets and the opportunity to farm another day after a bad year. But we can’t ignore that current program structure gives companies the power to draw resources out of rural communities, and that the decisions that farmers make to stay in business, when aggregated, have negative implications for our communities, our planet and our economy.”
To read the full article, special to the Philanthropy Journal, click here.
