2008 Farm Bill

I was visiting The Beginning Farmer blog a few days ago (you can find a link to this blog at the right), and he had written a short article on the 2008 Farm Bill. After the article he asked that his readers give their opinions on the bill, I gave mine then but have since gotten something related from the place of my employment, and have conjured up a few more opinionated opinions.

As many of you know, I am a produce manager at our local grocery store that is part of a chain. I get periodic email's from my "big boss" keeping me abrest of changes in the market, or, in this case, legislation that will directly affect us as a business and as consumers.

The email had to do with part of the 2008 farm bill, specifically, the Country of Origin Labeling (cool) and how it will affect us as a retailer.

The information I have is long, so I will try to condense it and give you the highlights of it here. First of all, "cool" is mandatory. It means that all commodities that fall under "cool" are to be labled as to where they came from. This includes all seafood (fresh and frozen), all fruits and vegetables (fresh and frozen), all meat (ground or cut), peanuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, and ginseng.

Some people are exempt from "cool" and those are mostly resturaunts, as the food is being prpared. On our level, we must ensure that we have signs that are clearly visible to the customer and lets the customer know where their food came from. This is easy enough to do, and I am allowed to write on the bins (if need be) where watermelons came from etc...

All bagged salad mixes must be labled for each variety of lettuce in the bag and each ingredient (carrot, raddish etc..). I won't have to do this, likely, but the manufacturer will (Dole, in our case).

I am not against this because it will add more work to my load, it won't be much. I am not even against knowing where the food comes from, that is what we enjoy about our customers, they want to know about the food they eat.

What I am against, and the same applies to the entire 2008 Farm Bill, is yet more government. I am not fond of any farm bill and think that the government needs to focus on other things. I am not fond of a "nanny government" that will protect us and care for us.

The bottom line is this, all Farm Bill's are about one thing, Big Agribusiness. Guys, this is a fact, all you need to do is read between the lines. The Farm bill is laced with subsidies, and who gets those subsidies? Not you and I, that is for sure. Big Ag is paid, by our government, to overproduce, hence the mentality of ever bigger animals and ever bigger GMO, Roundup ready veggies. The subsidy money goes to a "farmer" in a suit and tie that has never gotten his penny loafers dirty. These businesses pay migrant, slave labor to do that.

Ultimately, you and I, as consumers, will suffer. We will pay ever increasing taxes to fund this latest addition to the bureaucracy. And we will face higher prices on the shelf as these big ag companies need to raise their prices to offset the increase in cost for new labeling and packaging. Heaven forbid if their profit margin should slip a little.

Don't make any mistake about it. The farm bill does not help the farmer in America. It helps Big Agribusiness, which is what this mercantilist government wants. Protectionism for the sake of rich people who buy the election of the candidates that will ensure their way of life. Don't be fooled.