Bush says farm bill won't lower food prices, threatens veto

House and Senate negotiators late Tuesday scrambled to meet President Bush's demands on a multibillion-dollar farm bill, considering cutting subsidies for wealthy farmers.

[Harvey Edwards]

Hallelujah. I have sent out thousands of letters and e-mails to this affect. Several articles, one here.
Researching Poverty in Delta, Community Gardens is the Solution
I am doing an article Based on Why there is such Poverty in the 240 counties of the Delta. And where is the Delta Regional Authority

As you know the (DRA) Delta Regional Authority is the agency established by Presidential order and administered by the US Congress. If the DRA is so concerned with educating folks on diabetes awareness, where are they in the prevention phase. I want to talk about the best and most logical way to distribute funds that will benefit all the folks who need it. OK it can still go through local and state government, although that involves more waste. I would like to see every town in the affected area put their small gardening talents to work and grow Community funded gardens . There are many people in every town that is capable to produce vegetables and other produce to feed a whole community.The retiree pool is sufficient. I know Wal-Mart would be down on it but it would also be a test of who is actually running this Country. Wal-Mart or Congress. Fresh Vegetables, Canned Vegetables fresh cheese and meats sold this way to a community would bring back the pride of Made in the USA while feeding folks affordably. I also know that you can raise and sell tomatoes this way much cheaper than the Mexican grown $3.00 a pound variety.The same with all produce that is trucked in. If the DRA doesn’t want to fund this then I think it is past time for us to tell every representative we have that we want this type of program (since it is our tax dollars used) rather than flushing a Billion dollars down the proverbial commode for awareness to people who are getting diabetes because they can’t afford proper nutrition. After all it is cheaper to buy a moon pie (pure junk) then it is to have home grown fruit or vegetable. I do need other peoples help in my research and for putting it to Congress as clearly as possible and in realistic examples. My first question to you comes from an observation I have made. Why is it that the Richest producing Agriculture counties are part of the poorest economic region? Why do we also have the Richest Congressmen and Senators. Example Congressman Marion Berry (D) 1st dist Ar. Richest farmer politician in the State. His district is in the very center of the Delta Regional Authority. I want to know from every county from economically disadvantaged folks who their representatives are and what in your view are they the politicians doing or not doing for you.. I want to hear from folks who like to Garden. I want to hear from folks who are just plain tired of how their tax dollars are being spent. I want to hear from retirees on fixed incomes but want to work. For me , I am upset with the Billions that go to subsidize (welfare) the Richest Biggest Farms and Corporations, while they look down their noses at us. WE THE PEOPLE made them. Maybe it time WE THE PEOPLE pulled in their reigns. I will be most happy to forward your comments on to Congress. That is why I want to know what you feel about your Congressmen and Senators efforts. Some I may cut some slack, but as far as My own Congressman Berry. NO SLACK.

[Harvey Edwards]

Hallelujah, I have sent out thousands of correspondences and written articles about the SUPER FLAWED Farm Bill, or as I call it (A welfare Check) since WE THE PEOPLE Pay the Tab.

Here is one of my research points. A lot of fact from the Environmental Working group http://farm.ewg.org/farm/index.php... Go here to see exactly to the penny your Farmer politician got from you.

Researching Poverty in Delta, Community Gardens the Solution.
I am doing an article Based on Why there is such Poverty in the 240 counties of the Delta. And where is the Delta Regional Authority

As you know the (DRA) Delta Regional Authority is the agency established by Presidential order and administered by the US Congress. If the DRA is so concerned with educating folks on diabetes awareness, where are they in the prevention phase. I want to talk about the best and most logical way to distribute funds that will benefit all the folks who need it. OK it can still go through local and state government, although that involves more waste. I would like to see every town in the affected area put their small gardening talents to work and grow Community funded gardens . There are many people in every town that is capable to produce vegetables and other produce to feed a whole community.The retiree pool is sufficient. I know Wal-Mart would be down on it but it would also be a test of who is actually running this Country. Wal-Mart or Congress. Fresh Vegetables, Canned Vegetables fresh cheese and meats sold this way to a community would bring back the pride of Made in the USA while feeding folks affordably. I also know that you can raise and sell tomatoes this way much cheaper than the Mexican grown $3.00 a pound variety.The same with all produce that is trucked in. If the DRA doesn’t want to fund this then I think it is past time for us to tell every representative we have that we want this type of program (since it is our tax dollars used) rather than flushing a Billion dollars down the proverbial commode for awareness to people who are getting diabetes because they can’t afford proper nutrition. After all it is cheaper to buy a moon pie (pure junk) then it is to have home grown fruit or vegetable. I do need other peoples help in my research and for putting it to Congress as clearly as possible and in realistic examples. My first question to you comes from an observation I have made. Why is it that the Richest producing Agriculture counties are part of the poorest economic region? Why do we also have the Richest Congressmen and Senators. Example Congressman Marion Berry (D) 1st dist Ar. Richest farmer politician in the State. His district is in the very center of the Delta Regional Authority. I want to know from every county from economically disadvantaged folks who their representatives are and what in your view are they the politicians doing or not doing for you.. I want to hear from folks who like to Garden. I want to hear from folks who are just plain tired of how their tax dollars are being spent. I want to hear from retirees on fixed incomes but want to work. For me , I am upset with the Billions that go to subsidize (welfare) the Richest Biggest Farms and Corporations, while they look down their noses at us. WE THE PEOPLE made them. Maybe it time WE THE PEOPLE pulled in their reigns. I will be most happy to forward your comments on to Congress. That is why I want to know what you feel about your Congressmen and Senators efforts. Some I may cut some slack, but as far as My own Congressman Berry. NO SLACK.

[Harvey Edwards]

Arkansas

•$7.67 billion in subsidies 1995-2006.
• Arkansas ranking: 7 of 50
• 84 percent of all farmers and ranchers do not collect government subsidy payments in Arkansas, according to USDA.
• Among subsidy recipients, ten percent collected 81 percent of all subsidies amounting to $6.22 billion over 12 years.
• Recipients in the top 10% averaged $83,524 in annual payments between 1995 and 2006. The bottom 80 percent of the recipients saw only $952 on average per year.

Enough said, the Greatest amount of our tax dollars goes to the top 10% and they sure arent family farmers. I praise small farms.

[real information]

Actually, the Greatest amount (2/3 of the dollars) goes to food stamps and WIC. I would gladly throw this bill out, but I think folks would be mighty upset.

[Harvey Edwards]

They have taught you well. 84% goes to the largest 10% of corporate farmers. I can tell you exactly to the penny where it goes.
http://farm.ewg.org/farm/

[Harvey Edwards]

Its like political buzzwords of the month, or to suit a purpose. I have heard from many who throw the same argument up. Its for the poor and food stamps and wic. IT IS FOR THE CORPORATE WEALTHY.
I have been battling this . My Congressman Marion Berry (D) Ar. is the Richest Farmer Politician in the State living in the Poorest economic district of the Delta. It is for a well regulated cheap workforce. We have 20 % poverty in the Delta. If it was managed to where agri programs helped the economies there would be a lot less food stamps.

[reason]

Harvey ... go look at the USDA budget. The farm bill has always been about FOOD. Most (two thirds) of your tax money spent through this program has been to purchase food for the poor in this country. The rest is divided between foriegn aid, conservation, and production subsidy.
Congratulations! you have found the environmental working group's website. This is public information and has been available through this site for several years. Everyone knows this.
Yes, your congressman is out-of-bounds here. Also, in some areas large pharmacutical companies and large grain processors are getting federal payments. But I can tell you that some of the 10% of the largest recipients are bonafide family farms.
Tell me, what is done, and what has been done over the years to earn these payments? How has this policy been used to make the US the nation where the least percentage of one's income is spent on food. Tell me how the cooperation that this policy has forced on ag producers has made this nation the most powerful nation in the world. Is national defense important to you?
If it weren't for this program, there would be ten or twenty 'farmers' in this country. If they wanted $20 per bushel for corn, they could manipulate the market and would get it. We would then go through a messy/costly de-regulation process and the american consumer would be the loser.
If you have an axe to grind against Marion Berry, go nutz ... but leave the farm program alone.

[real information]

Harvey Edwards wrote:

They have taught you well. 84% goes to the largest 10% of corporate farmers. I can tell you exactly to the penny where it goes.
http://farm.ewg.org/farm/

"They" havn't taught me anything, the bill's budget is published. Are you aware that the bill's provision for direct payments to farm commodity producers has been slashed dramatically this year? This bill also reduces the funding for disaster payments which has the potential to hurt small farmers much more than the larger ones. See, this is how it is with public policy ... you get what you ask for (be careful what you ask for.)

[real information]

btw Harvey ... ewg.org only tracks the farm and commodity subsidy payments made to producers, which accounts for about 15% of the budget.

[Harvey Edwards]

As far as National Defense. I spent 22 years in the Service. I returned to Gillett Where Berry Lives. Conditions are worse than ever. I didn't get on this kick overnight, I have followed it for a few years. I see first hand what the Farm Bill as I see it and as the Economists see it is doing to maintain a Poverty State in Arkansas And the 240 Counties of the Delta Regional authority where there is a 20% poverty rate. Now to get cheap labor. Illegals (unregulated on farms) are taking even the jobs that us folks living in Poverty would take. Yes I am in the Poverty range. I will continue my fight to help my Delta and its folks.

[real information]

Very good Harvey ... and a sincere Thank You for your service to our country.
I do not see how the farm bill has caused the poverty in rural America.
Very few illegals are working on Minnesota farms. There are however, many illegals taking jobs in processing plants ... jobs that residents would do, and if it weren't for the glut of workers who are satisfied with a lower wage (because they forgo frivilous spending on things like insurance) These jobs would pay more.

[Harvey Edwards]

http://www.topix.net/us-house/marion-berry/20...

How the farm Bill survived intact. An article I placed on the Marion Berry page. I am his editor. If there is any redeeming value to the Farm Bill, I would suggest reigning in Marion. It could work if it were managed with the people in mind rather than to pay back special interests that get you elected. I am trying to say. WE THE PEOPLE Need to see a clear benefit and return on our tax dollars. WE don't see that now. People talk about food prices, even us here who make the food. see also my article that poses a solution. Community Gardens in each affected community of poverty. It would take only a pittance from the farm Bill to do this.

[ter mater]

Government programs that guarantee farmers a "fair price" in the marketplace involve only ten commodities — feed grains, wheat, field corn, soybeans, rice, tobacco, sugar, peanuts, cotton, and dairy products. Since these are the most commonly produced commodities — and since their production involves the majority of farmers in the U.S.— people naturally assume that all farmers are subsidized by the national government.

Over two hundred other crops do not receive any direct government support. These crops include fruits, vegetables, essential oils, herbs, meats, poultry, grass seed, Christmas trees, and flowers. Unlike so many farmers who produce the top ten commodities, the farmers who produce these crops do not spend their time traveling to Washington and asking for special favors, privileges, and subsidies. They take care of their own land, water, and produce without Washington's assistance.

Government programs create far more problems than they solve. As Ludwig von Mises said: "Government intervention always breeds economic dislocations that necessitate more government intervention." For example, the government guarantees dairy farmers a certain price for their milk. As a result, huge stockpiles of milk and cheese developed during the early 1980s, creating enormous storage costs to taxpayers.

I wished I could get me some of that thare cheese and Government milk.

[ter mater]

I been trying to get a piece of land here where land is a plenty and it is good fertile land heres the catch.

The government created a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) similar to the Soil Bank years ago to take land out of production — land that probably would not even had been plowed in the first place in the absence of the initial government subsidy! The government now pays these farmers "rent" for CRP land. This has created additional economic dislocations. Many younger farmers looking for land to rent could not find it because it was enrolled in this "set-aside."

When the Government rents this land , it is then illegal to put as much as a termater plant or a chicken on it.

[ter mater]

Another example: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented a dairy-herd buyout program to decrease the amount of milk produced. They bought entire dairy herds and sold them for meat in direct competition with livestock producers. This flooded the livestock market. Meat prices dropped below the cost of production. Many livestock producers went out of business.

[reason]

Ter ... it's not that the subsidies on essential oils and christmas trees havn't been asked for, it's that these items are not crucial for national security and defense. We are a world power because of the small farmers dedication to a greater purpose. While his brothers and cousins were overseas in olive drab, my grandpa fought WWII from the seat of a John Deere B.

[Harvey Edwards]

reason wrote:

We are a world power because of the small farmers dedication to a greater purpose. While his brothers and cousins were overseas in olive drab, my grandpa fought WWII from the seat of a John Deere B.

Small farmers dont fit into the farm Bill. That has been one of my gripes. We are a Strong power because men and women have fought and died. But watch how we are fast giving away our strength to International Business. They know we dont even have the stomach to defend our own Borders inside our own country.
I look at common sense when I see acres unlimited unused while we have to pay high fuel costs to bring in Vegetables , fruits and most foods from other countries. Common sense tells me that small farmers should be allowed to grow food locally. Its much cheaper to grow a tomato in a local garden and carry it 1 or 2 miles to market. The Farm Bill does not support the Fruits or Vegetables market.

[real information]

This bill does initiate several programs that will benefit fruit and vetable growers.
The food aid has increased to 73%.
The Ag subsidy has decreased.
Harvey, If the current legislation (and possibly the new one) is not for or used by the small farmer, how does that prevent him from growing/selling food locally?

[Harvey Edwards]

real information wrote:

Harvey, If the current legislation (and possibly the new one) is not for or used by the small farmer, how does that prevent him from growing/selling food locally?

You know well that any acreage specified for subsidies which includes most all tillable acres is by law used for the purposes dictated by the Government.
If you grow and sell one tomato on that land and that land is for rice or soybeans production you are subject to fine of anything to received from that sale. This includes backyards on farms that allocate acres to the program.
Sounds like Socialism to me.

[real information]

Harvey Edwards wrote:

<quoted text>
You know well that any acreage specified for subsidies which includes most all tillable acres is by law used for the purposes dictated by the Government.
If you grow and sell one tomato on that land and that land is for rice or soybeans production you are subject to fine of anything to received from that sale. This includes backyards on farms that allocate acres to the program.
Sounds like Socialism to me.

But again, you said the bill is not for nor used by the small farmer. If he is not in the program, he can do anything he wants on the land.

But if he is in the program ... the producers only certify the cropland acres. He could receive his direct payment, and sell produce out of a garden/greenhouse in the back yard. Gee, if the county director has a problem with that, create a new farm unit leaving the building site out.