This year, Congress will debate a new Farm Bill, which for five years will set policies that could either help small farmers at home and abroador keep them struggling.
The current Farm Bill represents a broken promise to America's farmers and rural communities, and it falls short of meeting its obligations to families that depend on food stamps and conservation programs that protect rivers and streams. To make things worse, the current Farm Bill actually hurts poor farmers in developing countries.
Please sign this petition to contact your members of Congress today and ask them to create a Farm Bill that reduces misguided subsidies and shifts those resources to support the programs that really need the money.
Members of Congress listen to their constituents. Your voice could make all the difference! Use it now to tell Congress to put your tax money to work for farmers, families, and our future.
Dear Senator / Representative:
As your constituent, I feel very strongly that you should reform the 2007 Farm Bill.
[Your personal comment here.]
Devised during the Great Depression, the Farm Bill was designed to give American farmers a safety net when the market bottomed out. Today's Farm Bill gives out large government payments to producers of a small number of crops. Most American farmers get little or none of these commodity subsidies. Meanwhile, these subsidies don't alleviate the biggest problems in rural communities: lack of medical services, poor schools, population loss, and environmental degradation.
While the Farm Bill underperforms in the US, it also hurts farmers in developing countries. By encouraging the overproduction of crops such as cotton and rice, commodity subsidies create a glut that drives down world prices, undermining the livelihoods of millions of small farmers around the world.
All in all, a revamped 2007 Farm Bill can help poor people and rural communities in the US and abroad lift themselves out of poverty. Together with your other constituents, I urge you to reduce misguided agriculture subsidies and redirect the money to the programs that need it most: conservation, nutrition, rural development, and the research and development of renewable sources of energy.
Your vote could help Americans-and even poor farmers abroad.
Thank you for your time.
