The Issue
Farm Policy
EWG works hard for a farm policy that does more to support family farmers, protect the environment, encourage healthy diets and ensure better access to healthy food – all while supporting working families.
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The Latest on Farm Policy
The farm bill proposed yesterday by House agriculture committee leaders would cut funds for nutrition programs and the environment to help finance new price and revenue guarantees and unlimited insurance subsidies for the largest and most successful farm businesses.
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The farm bill proposed yesterday by House Agriculture Committee leaders would cut funds for nutrition programs and the environment to help finance new price and revenue guarantees and increase insurance subsidies for the largest and most successful farm businesses.
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Environmental Working Group’s vice president of government affairs Scott Faber released the following statement on the House agriculture committee leadership’s 2012 farm bill proposal.
Read MoreA story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune documents the ways that unlimited crop insurance subsidies are driving up the costs of farming and contributing to the loss of wetlands and grasslands.
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Now that the Senate has passed a farm bill that ends direct payments to farmers, the pressure is on for the House to do the same. Trish Choate of the San Angelo Standard-Times uses the 2012 EWG Farm Subsidy Database to explain the federal handout system in Texas, the state that receives the most farm subsidies.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group’s latest update of the EWG farm subsidy database shows that farm subsidies continue to benefit the largest and most successful farm businesses and a handful of states and congressional districts.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group’s latest update of the EWG farm subsidy database shows that 23 members of Congress, or their family members, benefitted from $6,140,634 in taxpayer-funded farm subsidy payments between 1995 and 2011.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group will host a press briefing tomorrow in Room 304 in the Cannon House Office Building at 1:00 p.m. (EST) for accredited journalists and congressional staffers to release its latest edition of its highly referenced farm subsidy database. The 2012 database tracks $277.3 billion in commodity, crop insurance, conservation, and disaster subsidies paid between 1995 and 2011.
Read MoreTwo newspaper editorials have applauded Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., for his successful efforts to add a conservation compliance amendment to the recently passed Senate farm bill. The proposal simply restores the conservation quid pro quo between taxpayers and farmers as crop insurance subsidies replace traditional farm payments.
Read MoreToday, the Environmental Working Group thanked 11 senators for leading the fight for true food and farm policy reform in the 2012 farm bill that passed in the Senate. These Senate champions displayed their leadership on issues that will impact consumers, improve the environment and reduce hunger.
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Everyone who eats should take a moment to thank 11 senators who proposed farm bill amendments designed to ensure that our farm and food policies help more farmers, the environment and the hungry at less cost to the taxpayer.
Read MoreToday, CNBC.com reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture encountered significant shortcomings in dealing with fraud in the federal crop insurance program. It pointed out that the newly passed Senate farm bill would open the door for more fraud. The bill, which adds a new layer to the already bloated insurance program to guarantee business income for large farmers, does not have any government protections to prevent fraudulent claims.
Read MoreThe farm bill reflects a rare opportunity to renew our farm and food policies to do more to support family farmers, protect the environment, encourage healthier diets, and support working families. The bill passed today by the Senate builds upon past efforts to support healthy diets and expands links between consumers and farmers. It also includes important reforms to crop insurance subsidies.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group released this statement on the passage of the Coburn-Durbin amendment to reduce premium subsidies by 15 percent for farm businesses with adjusted gross incomes of more than $750,000.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group issued the following statement on the passage of Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ R-Ga., amendment to relink conservation compliance to crop insurance premium subsidies.
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Environmental Working Group joined a politically diverse alliance of fiscal and environmental groups at the National Press Club today to highlight shortcomings in the 2012 Senate farm bill.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group issued the following statement on the Senate’s failure to pass Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s, D-N.Y., amendment:
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EWG issued the following statement by Scott Faber, Vice President for Government Affairs, on the Senate's failure to pass Senator Gillibrand's amendment to reduce subsidies to crop insurance companies to restore proposed cuts to feeding assistance programs and to increase funding for the fresh fruit and vegetable snack program.
Read MoreThe Environmental Working Group releases today an updated interactive map containing more than 550 pro-reform farm bill editorials -- nearly a 100 since the last farm bill. The newly added editorials call for significant reform to current food and agriculture policy in a way that is beneficial to family farmers, hungry children, taxpayers and the environment.
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