Opinion: Budget Hawk Finds Favor With Farm Bill

I’ve often railed against our growing national debt and made the argument that we are heading down an unsustainable path fueled by mad government spending. In fact, back in January 2011, I used this page to lament the massive snowball the debt has become. Back then, the debt was nearing $14 trillion. As this issue went to the printer, it was just shy of $16 trillion.
So with all my hawkishness on our national debt, why in the world would I come out in support of the U.S. Farm Bill? After all, the Farm Bill has been a popular punching bag among many in the media as an example of all things wrong with the government. The Atlantic reported “The Farm Bill Props Up The Wrong People” — meaning those evil corporate farmers. The Wall Street Journal proclaimed “Farm Bill Holds Windfall For Insurers.”

Often the media and various think-tanks throw out the huge price tag of the 10-year legislation and many get the impression that all that money is going to farmers. The current legislation that passed the Senate comes in at just under $1 trillion. (As of presstime, the bill was in consideration in the U.S. House.) In that bill, 78% or $768.2 billion of its budget is dedicated to food stamps and nutrition programs. Commodity programs, which the so-called fat cat farmers get, make up less than 1% or $43.2 billion.

The Senate bill sought to cut feeding program spending by $4 billion. The House will seek more cuts. Cuts to nutrition programs have been called out for ridicule by the left and some in the media. Food stamps are very important, especially given the times in which we live.

We in agriculture should be very careful about beating the drum to sacrifice dollars out of nutrition programs. Don’t forget our age-old adage: “We feed and clothe the world.” However, there’s a lot of waste and fraud in feeding programs that should be examined, but you don’t need a Farm Bill to do that.

While nutrition programs are important, without the food, they don’t do much good. I guess that gets at the heart of why I support the Farm Bill. Sure, it has its faults and there is no doubt waste in it. There is a little boondoggle in every bill. But, at the end of the day, those farm programs, which make up a small portion of the bill’s overall price tag, help support the viability of agriculture in this country. And, let’s be honest that the trillion-pound gorilla in the room is that not one thing about the debt will improve until we take on Social Security and Medicare. Consider that most of government’s revenues taken in each year cover only defense, Social Security, and health care programs. Everything else the government does is deficit spending.

There are improvements in the new bill, which puts more focus on insurance. It does away with direct payments to commodity growers, which has long been a target to critics. Specialty crop producers appear to have retained much of the research funding of the previous Farm Bill.
In my years of ag journalism, I’ve seen family farms go out of business. The sad fact is when they go out, they don’t come back. With that in mind, anything that supports agricultural and food security — Farm Bill included — I support.