Target: Glenn Thompson, Chair of House Committee on Agriculture
Goal: Do not support removing pesticide and animal welfare protections.
A feared global fertilizer shortage caused by the Iran conflict is compounding the pain of farmers already hit hard by tariffs, climate effects, and other issues. Rather than addressing the root causes of these problems, the president is casting blame on others and preparing to hand farmers another multi-billion-dollar bailout, which will do nothing to help them in the long-term. Meanwhile, Congress is on its latest iteration of a long-promised farm bill that will have plenty of long-term consequences for animal welfare, environmental standards, and public health.
Critics might be forgiven for thinking the bill is more for the benefit of pesticide makers and agricultural corporations, given its contents. One section of the bill completely overturns federal regulations related to pesticides. Another section prohibits both farmers and consumers from suing companies whose pesticides have caused harm. And in a related section, food safety laws at the local and state level fall by the wayside entirely. The shielding of pesticide producers is particularly notable, since a seven-billion- dollar-plus settlement for plaintiffs who allegedly developed cancer because of exposure to the weed-killer Roundup (the herbicide in this product was recently approved for “emergency use” by the president) is currently in the works.
Farm animals will suffer as well. Key provisions of the bill will end a voter-approved California and Massachusetts initiative that punished farms where animals were placed in untenable and extremely constrained living conditions. Even workers on small farms are against this provision, as it would overwhelmingly aid big agribusiness farms, where such poor living conditions for animals are more commonplace. Critics of the bill are also advocating for a restoration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds that were recently slashed, since farmers have traditionally provided large donations to food aid programs.
All efforts to remove the damaging inclusions and to restore SNAP aid have been defeated. Sign the petition below to demand Congress kill this bill that will offer nothing but another handout to big businesses.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Representative Thompson,
For three years, the farm bill has subsisted on temporary funds, extensions, and punts. Meanwhile, global conflicts and trade wars have punished farmers and endangered food supplies. Something clearly needs to change, but this Congress is backing the wrong changes.
Eradicating pesticide laws and lawsuits will not benefit a single farmer (some of whom are the plaintiffs in these lawsuits) but will surely bolster powerful businesses who trade in poison. Gutting animal welfare standards has drawn the attention of farmers – and not the good kind of attention. Small farms already struggle to compete with big corporation-style farms. Removing all accountability from these massive complexes and enabling them to pack more animals into horrific living conditions will benefit them, at the expense of small farms that try to uphold welfare standards and, more consequentially, at the expense of thousands of suffering living beings. And continuing to defund SNAP – which has been a major source of production for local farmers – will hurt rural Americans and the farms that feed them.
The Farm, Food, and Security Act needs a major makeover and an overhaul before approval. In its current form, it is a farm bill in name only. Take a hard look at the aforementioned provisions and then build a better bill that will benefit all Americans.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Environmental Protection Agency
