Worth Protecting

Reports & Consumer Guides

Worth Protecting

Our food, farms and families are worth protecting. Learn about EWG's 2013 Farm Bill campaign.

America's wetlands and prairies are being lost and our drinking water and food supplies are contaminated with toxic pesticides, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics. The productivity of our farmland is being depleted, threatening future generations of farmers.

Many farmers are producing food in ways that protect family farms and the environment. But farm policies are doing too little to reward good stewardship and too much to underwrite unsustainable crop and animal production by the largest and most successful farm businesses.

To protect America’s families, farmers, and natural heritage, Congress must enact a farm bill that fully funds conservation programs, reforms subsidies to protect family farmers and supports transition to farming practices that reduce the use of antibiotics, toxic pesticides and hormones.

EWG Farm Bill 2013 Platform

The new farm bill must do more to support family farmers, protect the environment and encourage healthy diets - all while supporting working families.

EWG Farm Subsidy Database

EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database tracks $240 billion in farm subsidies made from commodity, crop insurance, and disaster programs between 1995 and 2011. The database is searchable by zip code, by state and by subsidy program.

Go to the database

Our land, our food, our water

Worth Protecting: Our land, our food, our water

America's farmland is worth protecting. Farmers can do more than producing food and fiber. They can also produce clean air, clean water, and abundant habitat for wildlife.

The Case for Crop Insurance Reform

Unlimited crop insurance subsidies now cost the taxpayer $9 billion a year and overwhelmingly flow to the largest and most successful farm businesses. Unlike other farm subsidies, crop insurance subsidies are not subject to means testing or payment limits.

Direct Payments

More than $5 billion in direct payments are made each year to landowners regardless of need. Created to wean farmers off subsidies, direct payments have instead become a costly entitlement.

Farm Bill Politics

The largest and most successful farm businesses collect the lion’s share of farm subsidies because farm lobbyists dominate the development of farm policies. As a result, farm policies do little to support family farmers and the environment.