http://www.natural-law.org/America_Watch/AmWatch_1_5f.html -- Lawrence F. London, Jr. mailto:london@sunSITE.unc.edu http://sunSITE.unc.edu/InterGardenTitle: America Watch 1-5
Agriculture
sustainable agricultureFinancial, environmental, and social sustainability are essential
for the future of agriculture and the nation.
Congress rewrites the farm bill, governing agriculture and food, every five years; 1995 is the year. The budget deficit, the inclusion of agriculture in the recent global free trade agreement (GATT), and a growing consensus on reducing the role of government in the economy combine to make major changes--including substantial budget cuts--likely.
Agriculture has a pervasive impact on health, the environment, and on culture, through the values of small-town America. Policy makers must consider carefully how the new farm bill can help sustain our agricultural system far into the future.
Problems
Current agricultural practices are not sustainable--financially, environmentally, or socially.
1. Financially unsustainable
* In 1994, the federal government spent $10.3 billion on subsidies to farmers.1 Subsidy programs were originally intended to stabilize the supply and price of food and to protect farmers' incomes from the uncertainties of weather and agricultural markets. Such programs, however, encourage production in excess of market demand by paying farmers higher-than-market prices for commodities. Overproduction in turn depresses market prices, thus making farmers even more dependent on subsidies.
* Farmers capture little of the value added by processing commodities. From 1988 to 1993, food manufacturers averaged a 16.5% return on stockholder equity, while the most economically profitable farms averaged 3-5%.2 Farmers--especially smaller family farms--and their surrounding communities cannot survive without diversification of farm activities and keeping more of these profits close to home.
2. Environmentally unsustainable
* Conventional agriculture erodes and degrades soil3; it requires large-scale use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers that pollute groundwater and are unhealthy for consumers and farmers. Annual pesticide use per acre on certain major crops nearly doubled from 1964 to 1992, to a total of 574 million pounds.4
* Last year, the U.S. government paid farmers $1.7 billion to set aside environmentally sensitive land,5 and Congress is considering a variety of new environmental programs this year. These programs are inadequate, however, in the face of much larger subsidy programs that reward a commercial strategy of maximizing production of crops.
Such a strategy is dependent on large-scale use of chemical pesticides to combat weeds and insects. Moreover, farmers must grow the same crop on the same acreage for a number of years to be eligible for the major subsidies. This both reduces farmers' ability to respond flexibly to market demand and make more profit, and discourages farming practices, such as rotating crops from year to year, that increase soil fertility and reduce the need for pesticides.
* Federal agencies have decided that a few genetically engineered plant and animal products (such as recombinant bovine growth hormone--rBGH--which boosts milk production) are safe and may be commercialized. Many similar products are under review. However, some leading scientists believe that alteration of DNA--the most fundamental level of plant and animal physiology--is likely to have profound negative impacts on the environment and human life.6 For example, altered genes from cultivated food crops may be released to wild relatives, thus compromising the "gene pool" upon which breeders of domestic crops must draw to enhance resistance to pests and disease.
3. Socially unsustainable
* Experts feel that conventional agriculture has led to "decaying communities [in] rural America that continue to lose population, business, and even their reason to exist as farms consolidate into larger units and farm families leave."7 Small towns are a reservoir of enterprise and traditional values Americans cherish.
* The challenges of farming today are making new demands on farmers and their families. The farmer must take into account many complex factors in making production decisions, including the weather, quality of the soil, threat of pests, available financial resources, and changing agricultural markets. Economic pressures cause stress, which affects health and well-being. Research has found that farmers are also at high risk from exposure to chemical pesticides.8
NLP Perspective
Agriculture is more than a business. Farmers produce food, which is basic to our health and national security, and they are stewards of the land, an irreplaceable resource vital to sustenance of life. Therefore, it is appropriate for government to help ensure the long-term viability of agriculture. The new farm bill, in particular, should promote social, economic, and environmental sustainability, balancing the goals of (1) enabling farmers to better pursue financial profitability; (2) cushioning farmers from the natural and financial instability unique to agriculture; (3) ensuring an economical supply of high-quality food for consumers; (4) protecting natural resources and the environment; (5) promoting health and longevity in farmers and in the population as a whole; and (6) restoring the vitality of rural communities.
Solutions
The Natural Law Party has identified solutions to the problems faced by U.S. agriculture*:
1. The new farm bill should restructure the farm subsidy program to facilitate a transition away from a subsidy-based agricultural economy over the next ten years. Many policy makers and farm leaders are considering subsidy programs keyed to the income of the farmer, rather than the price of the crop, and that reward, rather than penalize, resource-conserving, non-polluting practices. For example, "revenue assurance" programs, "decoupled" from commodity prices and production levels, would guarantee adequate farm incomes, while reducing total program costs and minimizing the impact of government programs on commodity prices.9 Farmers would also have more flexibility to choose what to plant, where, and when. They would be freer to rotate crops and adopt other techniques that better conserve soil and water. Transitional subsidy programs of this type should be designed with a view to transferring financial and administrative responsibility to the private sector (e.g., the insurance industry) as soon as possible.
2. The U.S. should change its policy focus from "cheap food for the consumer" to "quality food for the consumer on a sustainable basis." Through research and education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is in a unique position to influence (a) practices of farmers and the food-production industry, and (b) the food choices and demands of the consuming public:
(a) Field-tested techniques, supported by scientific research, already exist for farming profitably on a sustainable basis.10 The USDA should initiate and fund research into further development of alternative and chemical-free, sustainable agricultural practices, with emphasis on developing systems and technologies that can be economically and fully integrated into all agricultural production. In addition, economists have developed accounting techniques that incorporate the costs of pollution and natural resource depletion into agriculture's balance sheet.11 The new farm bill should make it a priority to disseminate these practices and techniques to the entire food production industry, showing farmers, producers, and consumers that sustainable food production practices are more cost-effective in the long run.
(b) Consumer demand drives agricultural supply. A fundamental shift to less resource-intensive food production and a healthier food supply will be driven by changes in consumer preferences. The USDA should initiate and fund research on increasing health and longevity through changes in diet, then launch campaigns to educate the public. For example, the new farm bill should fund vigorous programs to inform consumers that chemical-free food is possible now, at a reasonable price. Moreover, scientists have recently concluded that substantial public health and environmental benefits would likely result from more widespread use of vegetables, fruit and plant-based protein in the diet.12 The farm bill should educate the public about the health and environmental value of these foods in the diet.
Land-grant universities should also take the initiative to develop and disseminate sustainable agricultural practices and healthier dietary approaches.
3. Given the far-reaching potential impacts of genetic engineering, a 50-year moratorium should be imposed on the release of genetically engineered organisms.
4. Farm communities should seek new ways to keep "value-added" as close as possible to the farm. Cooperative development of local processing facilities and diversification into the production of higher-value, specialized crops--including chemical-free production--are two approaches that public policy should promote.
Developing Consciousness:
The Farmer's Greatest Resource
For these recommendations to be successful, however, it is necessary--for the individual farmer and society as a whole--to develop consciousness and gain more support of natural law (see America Watch vol. 1, no. 4).
* To reduce stress, improve the farmer's health and well-being, and promote the skills to meet new management challenges, the consciousness of the farmer should be developed. The Natural Law Party has identified a highly effective program to accomplish this objective--the Transcendental Meditation program of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Transcendental Meditation develops consciousness, the most fundamental level of awareness, the basis of thought and action.13 Extensive scientific research has shown that those who practice the technique enjoy reduced stress14 and improved mental and physical health.15 In addition, they display broader comprehension,16 more accurate perception,17 and the ability to maintain balance in a rapidly changing environment18--all qualities of developed consciousness that are essential for farm management. Moreover, by giving the farmer access to pure consciousness at the deepest level of the mind, which is identical to the most holistic and universal level of natural law, the Transcendental Meditation program promotes thinking and action more in tune with the laws of nature, enables farmers to spontaneously make better decisions and better use of the environment, and brings them greater support of natural law in all their activities.19 The Natural Law Party therefore recommends including Transcendental Meditation in training programs for farmers, to increase productivity, help them cope with the many challenges they face, and promote a better quality of life for themselves and their families.
* Furthermore, the Natural Law Party recognizes that education alone is not sufficient to promote more sustainable food production and to influence consumer choices toward higher-quality food. Stress in the collective consciousness of society as a whole prevents people from making decisions in harmony with natural law--decisions that are in the best interests of themselves and their environment. It is necessary to reduce stress in collective consciousness so that the thinking and behavior of the whole population are spontaneously in accord with natural law.20 This will naturally promote consumer demand for healthier food produced through sustainable practices, as well as bring support of natural law to American farmers and to the agricultural economy. Research shows that the most effective program for reducing social stress is group practice of the Transcendental Meditation and advanced TM-Sidhi program.21 The Natural Law Party recommends the formation of such groups at the national, state, and local levels.
Congress should dramatically revise the farm bill this year, phasing out interventionist policies that stifle farm productivity, profitability, and sustainability. At the same time, the new bill should actively promote proven methods for developing the consciousness and improving the health of every American, and ensuring that the natural resources upon which agriculture depends will be available far into the future.
Adapted from Policy Brief 94:3, Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, by Robert Stowe, Ph.D., Director of Policy Development. Dr. Stowe's expertise is in agricultural policy.
*Note: The following recommendations apply to domestic agricultural policy and practices. The Natural Law Party recognizes that U.S. agricultural policy cannot be considered in isolation from the global market economy; a future issue will consider this topic.
The Natural Law Party supports prevention-oriented government, conflict-free politics, and scientifically-proven solutions to the nation's problems.
America Watch Index____NLP Home Page ____Platform '94____Platform '92