Every five years since the 1930s, Congress grants funding for our nation’s food security, nutrition and conservation programs in a package called the Farm Bill. But every time, big agriculture lobbys to taint the bill with language that degrades our land, exposes our farmworkers to toxic chemicals and strips protections for endangered species.
This year, with Big Ag. pulling nearly every lever of power in Washington, the attacks on these crucial farm, food and conservation programs are more blatant and reckless than ever before.
But your congressperson’s job is to represent you, not Big Ag. Tell them that any Farm Bill passed needs to protect our food, farmworkers and environment.
This year’s particularly pernicious bill lets Big Ag poison our water supplies and species on the brink of extinction, and ignore health and safety of the farmers and farmworkers who grow our food. Pesticides threaten our waterways, pollinators, salmon, whooping cranes, California condors and other species. New pesticides could go to market without any safeguards for the farmworkers exposed to them. They could be applied directly into our water supplies without meaningful oversight. And if your state wants to protect you from pesticide exposure, it would be prevented from doing so.
The alarming pesticide provisions alone should make this bill dead-on-arrival, but it attacks our National Forests and strips conservation programs of nearly $1 billion, too.
These programs are essential for soil health, water quality and wildlife habitat on farm land. National forest stakeholders will lose out to the logging industry through waivers of the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, and Roadless Rule.
Finally, our own democracy takes a hit by restricting our right to enforce agricultural law through the courts while expanding judicial access for industry.
Tell your representative that you demand a Farm Bill that protects our food, environment, and workers.
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