Money for Nothing, Chickens for Free

Image Gallery Ray Malace

If arguments over farm subsidies make your eyes glaze over, try thinking this way: The government might be willing to subsidize you doing absolutely nothing on your rural land.

That’s right – money for nothing.

Talk about the federal agriculture policy might, at first glance, seem dreadfully dull. Only folks who live in the breadbasket – the central part of America where thousands of acres are pushing up corn and soybeans for Cargill – need worry about the national farm bill, right?

Au contraire. Small farmers and nearly anyone living on rural property should sit up and start thinking. The farm bill isn’t just a fight over farm subsidies. It’s also a fight over dollars for farmer’s markets, conservation, biodiversity, rural planning and nutrition programs.

The current federal farm bill expires in about one year – as soon as the 2007 crops are harvested (you’ve got to love a law whose timetable is based on when watermelon is ripe). But discussion over what the next farm bill should look like already inspired public hearings this summer. Some agriculture groups are eager to make shifts in farm policy that could have far-reaching implications – from big corporate industrial farms down to mom-and-pop 50-tree orchards selling fruit on the roadside.

Here are a few things to watch out for as discussion over the next farm bill heats up in coming months:

Ethanol subsidies. If you’ve thought about growing corn but figure there’s not much market for more high-fructose corn syrup, you might think again. The farm bill could include incentives for returning land to corn due to the nation’s growing energy crisis. Simply put, we need alternatives to Middle Eastern fuel.

Incentives for new farmers. So you’ve thought about getting into farming or ranching, but you can’t figure out how to afford it? The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition will be pushing for initiatives that help new farmers get started. Among proposals: better loans for farmland and equipment, and linking aging farmers with young, eager ones. Only 1 percent of Americans now make their living off farming, and the average age of farmers is pushing 60, says Martha Noble, senior policy associate with the coalition. “We need more young farmers in the business,” she says.