The Senate will consider the 2007 Farm Bill beginning this Monday. The Farm Bill has significant implications for farmers, God's creation, consumers and people living in poverty and suffering from hunger both in the United States and around the world.  However, the bill that was written by the Senate Agriculture Committee maintains the current system of farm supports, which rewards large commodity farmers, ignores the needs of smaller, struggling farmers, and harms subsistence farmers in developing countries.  It also fails to provide sufficient funds for programs that help to feed hungry people both in the United States and around the world, sustain our nation's struggling rural communities and protect God's creation.

Communicating with your senators over the coming week is critical!  Please send an email today, and stay tuned for call-in days next week as critical amendments to improve the bill come to the floor!

Further background and ELCA policy base on the Farm Bill

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As a Lutheran, I believe that the Farm Bill is a moral document that should support and sustain our farms and rural communities, feed hungry people both here and around the world, and protect God's creation.

The Farm Bill passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee preserves a system that primarily supports the largest and wealthiest farmers. I urge you to support efforts to improve the 2007 Farm Bill on the floor by voting YES on amendments that seek to make our farm and food policy fair and equitable. Specifically, I urge you to support the following amendments:

+ The FRESH Amendment sponsored by Senators Lugar and Lautenberg. The FRESH Amendment would reform commodity programs and provide a real safety net for all farmers regardless of what crops they grow or where they farm. FRESH will replace outdated farm payment programs with revenue-based insurance tools that protect farmers from unforeseen losses but will not trigger automatic payments when harvests and markets are strong. These changes will provide a real safety net for U.S. farmers while ensuring that our farm supports do not distort commodity crop prices and supply in ways that make it harder for farmers in poor countries to feed their families. The FRESH Amendment reforms will save $16 billion over five years and would reinvest that money into programs supporting nutrition, conservation, renewable energy, specialty crops and reduction of the federal deficit.

+ Grassley-Dorgan Payment Limits Amendments. Today 66 percent of commodity payments go to only 10 percent of U.S. farmers, leaving behind many small and mid-size farms. This amendment would limit the amount of subsidy payments an individual farmer could receive to $250,000 per year, ensuring that small and mid-size farms receive the support they need while reinvesting savings into other priorities in the Farm Bill.

The Farm Bill presents important moral choices for our nation, and its programs should provide support to small family farms and rural communities, to all who are hungry and to God's creation. I hope we can count on your vote for amendments that reflect these important values.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
November 01, 2007