Tell Congress to Follow Through with Assistance to Beginning Farmers
The Issue
True health care reform starts with the Farm Bill.
Ensure Congress funds the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account (BFRIDA) Pilot Program as directed by the 2008 Farm Bill and President Obama's 2011 Budget.
WHAT:
BFRIDA would provide business education and matched savings accounts to beginning farmers of modest means. Created in the 2008 Farm Bill as a pilot program but never funded, BFRIDA has the potential to create thousands of new farm businesses across the country over the next 5 years, tens of thousands of jobs in dozens of states, and will directly mediate First Lady Obama's campaign against childhood obesity by making fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, free-range meat and eggs, and ecologically-farmed fish more locally abundant and readily affordable to communities in need. Meanwhile, over the last two years big agribusiness and multinational corporations have received billions of your federal tax dollars in the form of subsidies via the Farm Bill.
WHO BENEFITS:
Non-profits that support local food systems, farmers & YOU.
WHY:
*** Every single minute of every day, America loses between two and three acres of farmland. From 1992-1997, we converted more than 6 million acres of agricultural land to development. This is an area equivalent to the size of the state of Maryland. (Marin Agricultural Land Trust)
*** Today, less than 2% of Americans live on farms. There are more prisoners in the U.S. than farmers. (MALT)
*** Currently, there is more than twice the number of farmers who are over the age of 65 (the conventional retirement age), as compared to those under 35. In the next 20 years, 70% of all U.S. agricultural land is set to change hands. (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition)
*** In 2006, the top 10% of federal government farm subsidies beneficiaries received 62% of the total $13.4 billion in subsidies distributed that year. These were established producers of cotton (genetically modified), rice, soy (genetically modified), corn (genetically modified) and wheat. Virtually none of these farmers were located in California, nor were any of the top 10% producing fresh fruit and vegetables for human consumption. (Environmental Working Group)
Your federal tax dollars are being used to guarantee that a fast food hamburger is less expensive than a head of broccoli at the cash register despite the vast difference of costs in inputs, production, processing and transportation between the two. Let's start to change that by actually funding a program that was already included in the most recent Farm Bill and supports local, ecologically-responsible producers and non-profits.
Please spread the word! Share on Facebook, Twitter and Email your friends! Thank you!
For more detailed information please visit:
The Corporation for Enterprise Development
www.cfed.org/assets/documents/policy/BFRIDA_5_28_09.pdf
California FarmLink
http://californiafarmlink.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=14&Itemid=38
USDA
Petition Closed
The Issue
True health care reform starts with the Farm Bill.
Ensure Congress funds the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account (BFRIDA) Pilot Program as directed by the 2008 Farm Bill and President Obama's 2011 Budget.
WHAT:
BFRIDA would provide business education and matched savings accounts to beginning farmers of modest means. Created in the 2008 Farm Bill as a pilot program but never funded, BFRIDA has the potential to create thousands of new farm businesses across the country over the next 5 years, tens of thousands of jobs in dozens of states, and will directly mediate First Lady Obama's campaign against childhood obesity by making fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, free-range meat and eggs, and ecologically-farmed fish more locally abundant and readily affordable to communities in need. Meanwhile, over the last two years big agribusiness and multinational corporations have received billions of your federal tax dollars in the form of subsidies via the Farm Bill.
WHO BENEFITS:
Non-profits that support local food systems, farmers & YOU.
WHY:
*** Every single minute of every day, America loses between two and three acres of farmland. From 1992-1997, we converted more than 6 million acres of agricultural land to development. This is an area equivalent to the size of the state of Maryland. (Marin Agricultural Land Trust)
*** Today, less than 2% of Americans live on farms. There are more prisoners in the U.S. than farmers. (MALT)
*** Currently, there is more than twice the number of farmers who are over the age of 65 (the conventional retirement age), as compared to those under 35. In the next 20 years, 70% of all U.S. agricultural land is set to change hands. (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition)
*** In 2006, the top 10% of federal government farm subsidies beneficiaries received 62% of the total $13.4 billion in subsidies distributed that year. These were established producers of cotton (genetically modified), rice, soy (genetically modified), corn (genetically modified) and wheat. Virtually none of these farmers were located in California, nor were any of the top 10% producing fresh fruit and vegetables for human consumption. (Environmental Working Group)
Your federal tax dollars are being used to guarantee that a fast food hamburger is less expensive than a head of broccoli at the cash register despite the vast difference of costs in inputs, production, processing and transportation between the two. Let's start to change that by actually funding a program that was already included in the most recent Farm Bill and supports local, ecologically-responsible producers and non-profits.
Please spread the word! Share on Facebook, Twitter and Email your friends! Thank you!
For more detailed information please visit:
The Corporation for Enterprise Development
www.cfed.org/assets/documents/policy/BFRIDA_5_28_09.pdf
California FarmLink
http://californiafarmlink.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=14&Itemid=38
USDA
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on March 18, 2010