I intend to write my paper about the persisting agricultural problems that United States farmers are facing today, and how these problems are deeply rooted to the lack of radical, government-initiated change despite legislations which are publicized as farmer-friendly government initiatives and how the past and present problems compounded into a dilemma that presents the probability of large scale farm business collapse and agricultural apocalypse, what Ikerd describes as “the end of agriculture, as we remember it, in America” (2002).
Thesis Farmers working in US farms like John Reifsteck are providing very encouraging assessment of the year’s yields, ‘It’s been a good harvest on my farm, and my neighbors have also done well’ (2007). Others may provide the same identical appraisal when asked the same question.
But contrary to the sporadic and random claims of stabilized and/or improving farming revenues across the country and promising turnout of both crops and sales in the market, the US agriculture as a whole has been consistently barraged by economic and financial concerns which are cause primarily by the lack of government action that can protect the farmers, their farms and their general business interests from external factors beyond their control.
At the end of 2007, the 2007 United States Farm Bill, which proposes among others the continued subsidizing of local farmers and their business ventures, faced many critics and criticisms over what seems to be protracted impact that eventually leads away from the general interests of farmers because of internal politics and the subsidy dispensing nature of the bill which is similar to previously legislated bills.
With critics on one side and influential power players on the other side, ordinary farmers are left unaffected and unaided by the US government, abandoned to suffer the same set of farming-related problems that middle-class farmers are burdened with for nearly a century now.
The vehicle that is designed to funnel government resources towards the needs of farmers in the US should be re-evaluated to see if real actions are being done to answer farm and farming-related problems and at the same time if the channels go straight towards its intended target or pour in somewhere else so that the government can have a full assessment of the scope of the problem and from there take constructive actions to repair the deteriorating US agricultural pipe line. Supporting Arguments I. Failure of farmers to experience economic improvement during the 20th century A.
The economic depression of American farmers occurring from 1920 to 1940 and repeating on 1952 until 1972. B. The end of the Golden Age of Agriculture in 1900. C. The food boycotts during 1973 II. Limited Government action on agricultural and farm-related problems A. Slow enactment of agriculture-related legislation B. Huge gaps in years to amend existing agriculture laws C. Limited resources allotted by the government for food and agriculture III. Controversies surrounding the 2002 US Farm Bill A. Perceived characteristics that go against World Trade Organization agreements. B.
Threat of overproduction as a result of the enactment of the legislation into law. C. Impact of Subsidy on market prices D. Role of overproduced corn in the spread of e coli IV. Roadblocks of 2007 US Farm Bill A. Alleged by WTO as preventing fair competition B. Impact results to billions worth of trade sanctions from other countries C. Under threat of veto from the US president D. Entails high costs Bibliography Bjerga, Alan. Senate Approves Farm Bill Over Bush Veto Threat. Bloomberg. com. December 14, 2007. http://www. bloomberg. com/apps/news? pid=20601103&sid=aWIfSjtJmPgE&refer=us Farm Economic and Financial Crisis.
The Economic Crisis: Finances on the Farm. World Crisis in Agriculture. Ambassador Agricultural Research Department. Serf Publishing, Inc. 2001 http://cgca. net/serf-publishing/economiccrisis. htm Funding for Farmers. EconSouth, 2003 http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0KXG/is_1_5/ai_100962424 Hedges, Stephen J. Panel OKs farm bill that keeps subsidies. Chicago Tribune. October 26, 2007 http://www. chicagotribune. com/news/nationworld/chifarm_frioct26,1,3300139. story? ctrack=1&cset=true Ikerd, John. Why Farming is Important in America. Fourth Annual Rural Development Conference.
North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, Mandan, North Dakota, February 5-7, 2002. http://web. missouri. edu/~ikerdj/papers/WhyFarming. html#_ftnref1 Panares, JOyce Pangco. UN pushes abolition of farm trade subsidies. Manila Standard Today. http://www. manilastandardtoday. com/? page=politics2_oct19_2007 Reifsteck, John. Food and Fuel Truth About Trade and Technology Board Commentary, November 9, 2007. http://www. truthabouttrade. org/article. asp? id=8489 USDA Budget Summary 2006. Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services. http://www. usda. gov/agency/obpa/Budget-Summary/2006/06. FFAS. htm
