New Farm Bill Should Make Room For Beginning Farmers

By Jacob Cowgill, 2-21-08

	Caption: An experimental Big Sandy tomato.

A couple of weeks ago, I walked into the Library of Congress where people bustled about, draping white cloths on tables, surrounding them with chairs, and setting up displays that read, “State of the Union 2008”, followed by a list of sponsors—insurance, auto, tobacco, and technology companies. A woman taping a poster to a wall at the bottom of some stairs said it’s a pre-State of the Union reception. So do you kick everybody out of the Library, I asked. Yes. Who gets to come? It’s for members of Congress and their staff, CEOs of corporations, and presidents of think tanks.

A group of farmers and ranchers, including me, had been flown in to Washington by a coalition of sustainable agriculture groups to meet with our members of Congress about beginning farmer and rancher provisions in the farm bill. The trip happened to coincide with the President’s address to the nation, an event seemingly devoid of any citizen participation beyond staring at a television and suffering through empty oratory and canned applause.

Corporate CEOs and think tank presidents may get to dine with our members of Congress, but the recent debate over the latest farm bill has shown that in farm policy at least, the average citizen, and moreover, the average farmer, matters.

The debate over the most recent farm bill is getting a lot of attention, in part because of the widespread news, and subsequent outcry, over corporate subsidies in the last farm bill. But it’s more than that. This farm bill covers such a wide range of food and nutrition issues, from conservation, organics, and nutrition, to trade, rural development, and energy, that it makes sense more people are lobbying for their own concerns.

The recent swell in interest in organics, local food, sustainable agriculture, crop subsidies, and nutrition has fortuitously converged with the five-year cycle of the farm bill. This bill affects every person in the country in some way or another. It has garnered far more publicity this time around in part due to more awareness of the source, quality, politics and, really, the details, of the food we eat. Thanks to writers like Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Pollen, and others, food and farming are no longer issues relegated only to those areas beyond our towns’ borders.

My specific interest in the farm bill resides in ensuring the next generation of farmers and ranchers gets on the land and succeeds in growing healthy and nutritious food while taking care of their small part of the environment. Entering into the occupation of farming is fraught with obstacles, not easily overcome by shear hard work. A little help for beginning farmers from our federal government, as it helps large agri-businesses, will go far in securing the future of agriculture in this country. New farmers face dynamic forces largely out of their control, like excessively high land prices—valued for recreation or development, not food production—limited access to capital, and lack of technical training. The provisions would support programs which would provide technical assistance, education, and mentoring, as well as programs designed to offer financial training and equity-building accounts.

After meeting with Montana Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus and their staffs, though, I realized just how small a piece of the overall farm bill I represent. I felt like a hot dog vendor in Times Square. Not only from an issues standpoint, but monetarily as well—the beginning farmer and rancher provisions are minuscule. The mandatory spending we are asking for amount to less than one percent of the total farm bill budget. Regardless of the scale, I was encouraged by the meetings. I just hope I haven’t entered the conversation just as the microphones are being put away and the auditorium is emptying.

Right now, the House and the Senate have passed their own versions of the farm bill. A joint conference committee has been named to hash out the differences, and as expected, Montana Senator and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, has been appointed to the committee. Whether or not he will carry anything from our meeting to committee, I cannot say, but making the effort is all a citizen can do.

Jacob Cowgill is a young farmer and researcher working on a farm near Big Sandy experimenting with dry land vegetable production and local food systems in Central Montana. He is also (in the sake of full disclosure) the fiance of NewWest.Net editor in chief Courtney Lowery.