Farm Bill To Be Debated in the U.S. House of Representatives This Week

07.24.07

This week, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives will begin a debate on legislation that will determine how much money will be allocated over the next five years to agricultural subsidies for crops like cotton, wheat, rice, corn as well as other products that African countries grow. Subsidies like these in the U.S. and other rich countries have an adverse impact on African farmers. For example, approximately $3 billion in U.S. cotton subsidies allow large U.S. cotton farmers to flood the market with cotton, keeping the world price down and making it difficult for cotton farmers in West Africa to earn a living wage.

The legislation approved by the House Agriculture Committee that will be debated this week has been criticized by global poverty and advocacy groups as not doing enough to reduce subsidy spending that hurts farmers in poor countries. Instead, these groups, including the ONE Campaign, are supporting a bipartisan group of legislators who have drafted the “Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment” that goes much further in reducing farm subsidies, supporting small farmers, and encouraging rural development in the U.S. To get involved and support the Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment, visit the ONE Campaign’s website at www.one.org and see the fact sheet on the U.S. Farm Bill.

More information:

ONE Campaign fact sheet on the U.S. Farm Bill

ONE Campaign Fact Sheet on Fairness in Farm and Food Policy Amendment

Bread for the World

Oxfam America’s 2007 Farm Bill Campaign

Oxfam Study Demonstrates the Impact of U.S. Cotton Subsidies on Farmers in West Africa