Food

Earlier this month, the House Agricultural Committee passed its version of the Farm Bill with a 35-11 vote.  It was greatly anticipated, as the country needs a fair and common sense bill that cut wasteful spending. In years past, the Farm Bill has given out tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to large, mature agribusinesses, and subsidized commodity crops that are often processed into the junk food ingredients fueling the obesity epidemic. 

The U.S. Senate is on the verge of doubling down on the principle that billions of taxpayer dollars should go to making the largest, most profitable agribusinesses even more profitable.  And despite knowing that many of these subsidies underwrite junk food ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, some Senators are proposing not only to maintain, but actually to expand this wasteful spending. How could this be happening?

Just like other agriculture subsidies, the federal crop insurance program directs billions of taxpayer dollars to the biggest agribusinesses, with the payouts biased towards commodity crops that are often processed into junk food ingredients.  The program directly subsidizes agribusinesses’ insurance premiums on coverage they would buy anyway, making it yet another way taxpayer dollars pad Big Ag’s profits