Writer says phrase 'farm bill' could become a metaphor for failure, and for being duped

Chuck Fluharty

The words "farm bill" could quickly become a metaphor for failure and being duped, Chuck Fluharty opines for Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. "Was Speaker Boehner 'Farm Billed'? Why yes, he was. Were the House and Senate Ag Committees 'Farm Billed'? Yes, also. Deeper questions are yet to be answered: Will the Tea Party, and/or the House Republican Caucus, eventually be ‘Farm Billed,’ for their actions? But the deepest, and most troubling question remains: Has Agriculture been 'Farm Billed'”?

"Here are two realities which trouble me most about this farm bill process," Fluharty opines. "The average farm household income in 2012 was $89,099 —$20,000 more than the average U.S. household income. Conversely, SNAP households which include a child, an elderly person or a disabled person account for 76 percent of all SNAP households, and they receive 83 percent of all SNAP benefits."

He writes that "83 percent of SNAP households have gross incomes of $19,530 for a family of three, and 61 percent of SNAP households average $14,648 for a family of three. And the 'Farm, Farm Bill,”' as it is touted, does much to ensure that large producers are held whole, and eviscerates other important programs across a range of titles that support all the rest of the Farm Bill constituencies, whom together comprise the broad fabric of rural American life."

"If this stands, the optics are most unpleasant," he opines. "Has there been fraud and abuse in the food and nutrition programs? Of course; it is a Federal program. Has there been fraud and abuse in the Commodity programs? Of course; it is a Federal program. Can and should more be done to attack these failures? Of course. This wider American metaphor is troubling. Replicating it in a Farm Bill framework further divides us and reinforces public perceptions which harm us all: Republicans, the Ag Committees, all of us who love agriculture. These optics are very bad, as is the metaphor. Let us hope neither survives." (Read more)