Our new Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, is committed to reforming the sector and creating “.Effective and efficient nutrition programs. “On her first day she wasWe have committed to bringing greater efficiency to USDA” and “Stop wasted spending.”
If she is serious about eliminating waste, she will be looking at the wasteful missions and billions of US taxes sent directly to agricultural companies each year.
What can you get for this enormous public investment? It is an industry that primarily benefits several large companies and perpetuates the cycle of overproduction and waste. Waste duties and spending actually add additional costs to Americans on taxes, including billions of food, fuel, medical costs and environmental hazards.
Rollins has a great opportunity for change.
Despite spending $20 billion a year on farm subsidies, Americans don't see most of the US produce. we I only eat about 37% of the major crops produced. The rest is fed into the pockets of large agricultural companies. Overproduction of fuel, supply or export it abroad, and decouple it into industrial processes that are caught up in the tariff battle.
Take the biofuel industry: Congress will subsidize biofuels through renewable fuel standards. This requires all fuel refiners to include billions of gallons of corn and soy-based biofuel in their gasoline and diesel.
Biofuels are not meeting their promises. You don't need them to become energy independent, and They're not helping Reduce carbon emissions.
What the biofuel subsidies have done is to increase consumer costs. A recent report estimates that the Environmental Protection Agency will exceed the cost of food and fuel. $8 billion a year.
If a new farming secretary supports efficiency, she will help corn and soybean farmers move to better land use, produce more of what we really need, and rely on subsidies. Masu.
Rollins can also tackle another form of inefficiency: food waste. We'll waste 40% of food Other locations in the production chain, such as our homes, restaurants, grocery stores and more. For example, read where a dairy farm has Throwed thousands of gallons of subsidies Under the drain.
The serious food waste problem has been understood for over a decade, but little progress has been made. Policymakers lament food waste, but continue to vote for subsidies that encourage overproduction, benefiting large companies that perpetuate a waste system.
Regarding 37% of the crops we eat, subsidies make us overthink about the production of foods that make us sick. A hugely subsidized Corn is often a high fructose corn syrup With largely processed foods such as sugar-like grains and drinks. Through direct subsidies and import restrictions, we also support the production of sugar cane and sugar beets. Overconsumption of these unhealthy foods contributes to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other diet-related illnesses. Over $1 trillion a year.
If Rollins really cares about making America healthy again, she should stop forcing taxpayers to put bills on food that make us sick. Consumers can buy whatever they want without putting pockets of businesses that benefit from overproducing unnecessary and unhealthy foods.
Agricultural subsidies are now out of control, primarily due to the myths of pastoral family farms. No one wants to hurt hardworking, multi-generational small farmers who are trying to make an honest life.
But this is not the reality of agriculture in America today. Our agriculture industry is dominated by a small number of industrial-scale companies. You will benefit from the majority of the subsidies.
From 2017 to 2022, the US Agriculture Industry Lost over 100,000 From consolidation to small and medium-sized farms. Currently only 6% of farms Produces 90% of all meat, dairy and poultry products.
Rural Community I'm suffering Under this system. As more profits are integrated with fewer companies, smaller farms cannot compete, and jobs available in industrial facilities are low wages and unsafe in factory conditions. Rural communities are driven into depressions as profits are integrated at the top.
Rollins says he wants to “modernize” the USDA. To do this, policies must acknowledge the reality of today's integrated corporate industry. It strikes family farms and rural communities – everything because it produces many unnecessary and unhealthy products supported by our taxes.
To be clear – not all agricultural subsidies are wasted and inefficient. The Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act will help farmers actively adopt systems that reduce disasters and the need to pay crop insurance. This includes smart conservation practices that keep air and water clean, slow climate change and build resilience to extreme weather. Rollins can encourage Congress to direct all grants to these practices that directly benefit farmers, communities and taxpayers.
The farm bill is expected to be updated this fall. Rollins has an important voice. She has real opportunities to reduce waste, generate efficiency and improve our health. If she starts by focusing on eliminating unnecessary grants, obligations and authorities, she knows she is serious about offering her promises.
Peter LehnerInstructs EarthjusticeSustainable Food and Agriculture Programs.
