Cyndi's Two Cents

Great idea with poor implementation

Commentary

The launch of USDA’s “Know Your Farmers, Know Your Food” initiative last September seemed like a great idea to me. How could helping consumers eat healthier while educating them about production agriculture – or more specifically “knowing where your food comes from and how it gets to your plate” – be anything but good for all of America’s farmers? Unfortunately, it seems to me that the program has effectively supported and reaffirms the misperception that organic/hobby/urban farming holds some moral/ethical superiority over conventional/contemporary farming.

I am a big fan of niche markets. I believe there are important outlets for farm products. Natural pork. Eggs from cage-free hens. Non-GMO soybeans. Grass-fed beef. These products represent market opportunities for growers who want to spend the extra time, effort and money to grow an agricultural product for which they should be paid a premium. But farmers using modern technology and tools to grow feed grains and/or food are no less important in putting food on the tables of consumers.

In some areas, the program could well have been titled “Know Your Farmers, Know Your Organic Food.” Take Missouri, for example. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has $1.2 million to help Missouri farmers produce organic products, and another $150,000 for a pilot project to introduce all growers to high tunnel structures that extend the growing season for crops. In my home county, there were 3 applicants. The 2 growers starting up an organic operation got funding while the non-organic grower did not.

I’m not the only one concerned that this program could be so much more to so many more farmers. Last week, Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), along with Sens. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking some questions.

The letter, dated April 27, 2010 stated that “While the concept of educating consumers about production agriculture is a worthwhile endeavor, we have serious misgivings about the direction of the Know Your Farmers program.”

The letter added that, “Unfortunately, this spending doesn’t appear geared toward conventional farmers who produce the vast majority of our nation’s food supply, but is instead aimed at small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets.”

“American families and rural farmers are hurting in today’s economy, and it’s unclear to us how propping up the urban locavore markets addresses their needs. Given our nation’s crippling budgetary crisis, we also believe the federal government cannot afford to spend precious Rural Development funds on feel-good measures which are completely detached from the realities of production agriculture. The Department’s stated desire to play match-maker between a small segment of specialty crop producers and urban consumers is questionable use of Rural Development programs authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill.”

One size fits all does not work for American agriculture. Instead of focusing on what is wrong with the production methods being used by your neighbors, why don’t you focus on what you are doing right? Be proactive. Tell your story. The USDA does have one thing right: consumers are interested in the origin of their food and the farmers who produce it.