As someone who has dabbled in farming, I find it difficult
to write about an important topic like the federal Farm Bill without indulging
in at least a few agricultural puns—even though punning has a baad reputation.
The 17th century English poet John Dryden, for
example, referred to punning as “the lowest and most groveling kind of wit.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Senior, 19th century
American physician and poet, said “A pun does not commonly justify a blow in
return. But if a blow were given for such cause, and death ensued, the jury
would be judges both of the facts and of the pun, and might, if the latter were
of an aggravated character, return a verdict of justifiable homicide.”
Mark Twain, whose pen name was itself a pun (the pen pun was
unintentional by the way), wrote that “no circumstances, however dismal, will
ever be considered a sufficient excuse for the admission of that last and
saddest evidence of intellectual poverty, the Pun.”
I have no beef with
such writers or their sage advice, but at the risk of being corny it’s still
chard not to.
The Farm Bill is a huge piece of legislation that comes up
every hive years and Congress has goat to pass this year. It’s an omnibus bill,
meaning that it combines several distinct acts that clover everything from
hunger to flood control. But it helps to take it one bite at a time.
Here are some things that ordinary people all over the US
and especially in West Virginia need to bee in the bill and that we need to
count on Senators Capito and Manchin and Congresswoman Miller to support:
*Food assistance. Let’s face it. Millions of Americans
barley get enough to eat--as in 33 million nationwide and over 200,000 here.
That situation has gotten worse with the ex-pear-ation of COVID-era safety net
provisions and recently passed federal legislation. Last time around, in 2018,
our senators carroted enough to support a clean Farm Bill without more
restrictions for food insecure people even though they were going against the
grain. Let’s hope they do that again.
*Flood control. Irrigation is berry important to farming,
but I think most of us would prefer that it not happen to our roads, homes,
businesses, and towns. And that it should water our fields without washing them
away. A good Farm Bill would help farmers recover from disasters, pre-pear for
future ones, and support conservation practices that can reduce flooding.
*Support small farms and farmers. Millions of taxpayer
dollars go to subsidize large scale corporate and industrial operations that
are inhumane to animals, farmworkers and unsustainable for the environment. You
don’t need a fertile imagination to realize that the money would be beet-er
spent supporting smaller family farms and local food systems.
*Address climate change. You don’t have to be a farmer to
realize that the weather is getting weirder and weirder, but you cane’t help
but notice it if you are. A good Farm Bill should provide encourage-mint for
regenerative agricultural measures that would conserve soil, prevent erosion,
regrow forests, encourage cover crops, store carbon, and reduce emissions.
*Support creative approaches. It wood be win all around if
the Farm Bill put more resources into school and community garden projects,
urban agriculture, and small scale local projects that fight hunger and keep
resources in the local economy. Also, it would be good to take steps to open
farming opportunities to people who have been discriminated against in the
past.
*Be kinder to our four-legged and feathered friends. Industrial
livestock production crowds cattle, hogs, chickens, and other critters into
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations known as CAFOs. Aside from causing
unnecessary misery, these create a-maize-ing amounts of animal waste and
pollution and encourage the overuse of antibiotics that weaken their effect.
They’re nothing to crow about and taxpayers shouldn’t relish the chance to
subsidize them.
*Local processing. If the Strengthening Local Processing Act
was part of the package, this would be an alternative to CAFOs by supporting
local processing of animal products. Surely a meating of the minds is possible
here.
*A missing piece. One thing that’s been lacking from
previous Farm Bills is protections for the people who dew the work. Lettuce not
forget that farm work is difficult and hazardous and much of it is done by
children. Nothing against emergency responders, but risks are even higher in
this field. Farming is routinely considered to be among the most dangerous
occupations. Also, some farmworkers experience wage theft but are too
intimidated to pursue redress, which drives down wages for everyone.
*Child care. And how can we forget the kids? Senator Brown
from Ohio has rounded up bipartisan support for including the Expanding
Childcare in Rural America Act, which would provide more child care in rural
communities. Farm work can eat up some long hours in places where there often
aren’t good child care providers. It would be great if every child barn in a
farming community could enjoy good care when the adults are fending off possums
and such.
I realize that this is quite a grocery list, but this is a
REALLY big bill and there’s no time for stalling. If we want a decent bill for
everyone, we need to turnip the noise and kale our representatives this summer.
It’s time to broc and roll.
(This ran as an op-ed in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)
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