Fix the Farm Bill

I was reading Crunchy Chicken this morning. Her latest post is about the U.S. Farm Bill. Quoting: "The op-ed piece recently published in the NY Times titled, My Forbidden Fruits and Vegetables, is really grinding my crackers.

It illustrates how completely short-sighted the commodity program in the Farm Bill is. In brief, farmers are not allowed to grow non-commodity produce (anything but corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and corn) on commodity land, limiting their ability to provide fresh produce to local markets."

Please read the above-linked NY Times op-ed piece for further information. This is written by a farmer, trying to grow produce for the local market, who was forced to pay a penalty of over $8,000 for growing vegetables on "corn land".

This is the USDA's answer to the Local Food movement: penalize the heck out of it, preserving the livelihood of the big commodity growers, destroying the livelihoods of local small farmers. We need to let them know in no uncertain terms that this is not acceptable, and we need to let Congress know right away.

Please, if you love local food, and want to see more of it, send a letter or make a phone call to your representatives right away. Crunchy Chicken's article has a suggested letter for you to send, or write your own. We need to let them hear from us.