Revitalizing family farming will develop real “green” jobs and provide a healthy, sustainable, and secure food supply.
If we lose our ability to feed ourselves, we will not only become held hostage by global food prices, but we also become entangled in foreign government interests and agendas. Our national sovereignty and security would be sacrificed. Do you feel secure that we import a large amount of milk from China?
Our federal and state policies have moved us precariously close to being food-dependent on other countries. Today in the United States there are only two million farmers and ranchers and the average age of today’s farmer is sixty years old. The proportion of young farmers dropped from 15% in 1982 to only 6% in 2002. Their experience is not being passed on to the younger generation. Too few people today have that vital farming know-how to effectively run a farm.
Some estimate, that to withstand long-term oil crisis, the United States would need an additional fifty million farmers to maintain the current level of food production. In 1940, forty percent of the nation farmed; today, only one percent do.
Some estimate, that to withstand long-term oil crisis, the United States would need an additional fifty million farmers to maintain the current level of food production. In 1940, forty percent of the nation farmed; today, only one percent do. We need to reverse this trend. Below are several things we can do:
• Each school, prison, and public hospital should purchase a percentage of its food from local farms and ranches. We could rapidly revitalize local, family farming if a percentage of every school lunch was grown within its county’s borders. Consider the impact on small farming operations if each prison purchased all its food from nearby.
• The State should enable welfare vouchers and food stamps to be used at farmer’s markets and community supported agriculture groups.
• The State must encourage the training of a new aspiring generation of family farmers and ranchers by targeted tax credits and exemptions, access to affordable land, and training in the art of sustainable farming methods.
• In an endeavor to slow the loss of farmland, each state agency must analyze every project and development regarding its impact on agriculture and farms.
The costs of not acting are clear both in our district as well as many others. Not only are we losing our ability to grow our own food, but every year we also losing farm land. Lee County alone lost 15% of its farm land between 2002 and 2007; rural Clay County lost 12%.
The preservation of our independence and national security rests in our ability to revitalize family farming. A monopoly by commercial agribusinesses and corporate farms endangers our food to accidental and intentional contamination. Before 1940, only twenty percent of tomatoes were produced in California; today, ninety-five percent are. There is one hamburger plant which grinds fifty million burgers per week by itself. Another salad packaging plant, twenty six million servings of salad pass through its washers. One negligent employee, or worse, a terrorist could endanger millions of Americans. We have recently seen massive outbreaks of E.coli in spinach, salmonella in peppers and peanut butter. A great number of small and medium-sized independent farms are the only assurance of a safe and secure food supply.
I believe Alabama is uniquely qualified and primed to become the food basket for America. In order to revitalize the next generation of aspiring farmers, we must work to put programs in place that encourage the goals we seek.
