Farm Bill 2, The Farm Crisis

The Farm Bill today is usually misunderstood, because people have forgotten it's history. Discussions of the 2007 farm bill/2008 farm bill almost always focused upon comparing proposals to the 2002 farm bill, and the 1996 farm bill. When references were made to farm bill history or "traditional farm bills," it was usually assumed that those farm bills were like 2002 & 1996, that they were farm subsidy bills. In fact, traditional farm bills (1930s-1961) had NO commodity subsidies (except for a few cotton subsidies a few years in the 30s). Instead they had price floors and supply management to guard agains low prices, and reserves to guard against occasional price spikes. These policies were reduced 1953-1995, and then ended. They have been left out of the discussion. At the same time, they provided solutions to many farm and food problems of farm programs today. This video looks back to the farm crisis of the 1980s in order to clarify and explain these issues for today. See more videos at Fireweed Farm's Playlist: "Farm Bill Food Bill:" http://www.youtube.com/user/FireweedFarm#p/c/A1E706EFA90D1767. Learn more, and find key links at: "Farm Bill Primer:" http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/bradwilson

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• farm program
• farm bill
• farm policy
• food bill
• food policy
• NFFC
• Brad Wilson
• farm subsidies
• corn subsidies
• farm crisis
• food sovereignty
• food security
• National Family Farm Coalition
• IATP