Safety nets or roadblocks?: How the Farm Bill creates obstacles for global food security and healthy communities

The US Farm Bill was meant to provide a safety net for farmers, access to food for hungry citizens, and protection to land and water. Unfortunately, the Farm Bill has also become the cash cow for a narrow range of vested interests at the expense of rural communities, the environment, public health and people facing hunger in the world's poorest nations. This presentation will outline Farm Bill policies that undermine poor farmers worldwide, and recommend policy changes that will promote food security and public health.

Food Aid: Helping nations during food crises is an essential part of US foreign policy; it reduces instability around the world and protects vulnerable communities from catastrophe. But the current US food aid system is broken. Oxfam recommends ending regulations that prevent food aid from being purchased locally and regionally in developing countries so more and better food can quickly arrive to crisis areas in time to save more lives, while building pathways out of poverty for small-scale farmers.

Commodity subsidies: The Farm Bill's subsidies to big commodities reward a privileged few and don't fix a broken food system. US taxpayer subsidies reward growers of corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice –commodities that more often become fuel, animal feed, jeans, and unhealthy processed foods than nutritious diets. Most commodity subsidies put international farmers at competitive disadvantage and rig markets. Oxfam also urges the US to link agricultural safety nets to conservation compliance to insure more resilient and sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change.