Our nation's food policy is not doing enough to reduce barriers for local farmers and support the growing demand for local, sustainable food. Working together, we can move Congress to adopt policies that support local food and local farms. The Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act is good for our families, local economies and for the environment and an important step in getting our country's food policy back on track.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)
Organic farmer and House sponsor of the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act
Dear Readers,
Do you know where the food on your dinner table or in your child's school lunch comes from? If you're like me, you'd prefer that it come from local farmers, but that isn't always possible. For too long, the nation's most far-reaching food and farming legislation, the federal farm bill, has done very little to make local food more available. Instead, the farm bill has mostly been written to benefit agri-business and industrial-scale farms.
This year we can change that. We at EWG Action Fund are throwing our support - and hopefully yours - behind the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act introduced in Congress by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). If passed, the bill will put more organic and locally produced food in our supermarkets and in the national school lunch program. It will also help local family farmers connect to new markets and give them the support they need to thrive.
Unfortunately, both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees - where this legislation will live or die - are stacked with Big Ag's friends, and many will likely fight against the bill. We're writing you today because we need your representative to co-sponsor this bill and send the rest of Congress a loud, clear message that we want our food to come from local, sustainable farms. The more co-sponsors we get, the more likely it is that these policies will be included in the final farm bill. Don't wait - tell your senators and representatives in Congress to support this bill today.
Americans are clamoring for more locally and sustainably grown food that is better for our health and the environment (and tastes better too!). But the farmers producing sustainable food for local markets need help to compete with the bigger, better-financed conglomerates. Especially in these tough economic times, it makes sense to support healthier local food systems that will boost your local economy and create thousands of jobs. The Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act is one of our biggest priorities in 2012 and we've been working hard with Rep. Pingree's and Sen. Brown's office to make sure this is a strong bill that will have a big impact.
This bill will do some really terrific things, such as:
- Provide more money for local farmers' markets and to help farmers adopt organic methods.
- Allow schools to use more of their federal funding to buy fresh, local foods.
- Make it easier for low-income families to use food stamps at farmers' markets.
- Increase support for local processing and distribution networks so schools, hospitals, stores and restaurants can more easily purchase healthy food directly from local farmers.
- Improve credit and crop insurance for diversified and organic farmers producing for local markets.
With the 2012 farm bill fast upon us, this is going to be a big year in the fight to level the playing field for local farmers and to ensure greater access to healthy, sustainably produced food. This bill is a crucial part of that fight. We need to make sure our representatives understand that we want our food to come from local farmers, and that we expect Congress and the US Department of Agriculture to do their parts. It's clear we're ready for something different - now.
Thank you for standing up for healthy, local food. Let's be heard, so we’re not overpowered by Big Food's lobbyists.
Sincerely,
Ken Cook
President, EWG Action Fund
P.S. Want to read more about our country's food and farm policy? Check out our new Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act resource page.
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