Washington D.C. - Environmental Working Group (EWG) released the following statement in response to the passage of the farm bill in the Senate.
Craig Cox, senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, said:
The farm bill passed by the Senate today will take food and farm policy in the wrong direction. It will create new, expanded and largely unlimited crop insurance subsidies for the largest and most successful farm operations at the expense of family farmers and the environment.
Thanks to the leadership of Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and other key members of Congress there are new conservation requirements for farm businesses that collect crop insurance subsidies and more support for local and regional food systems, as well as, organic agriculture. However, we are deeply disappointed that the farm bill not only increases insurance subsidies, but rejects reasonable means-testing requirements, and needlessly cuts nutrition assistance and conservation funding. The bill will also continue to deny taxpayers the right to know where their money is going.
It is unfortunate the savings from ending direct payments will be plowed into the badly bloated crop insurance program, instead of helping to achieve real reforms that could have helped the neediest Americans and better protected our land and water.
