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Today, on the eve of farm bill consideration by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, EWG is launching an unprecedented campaign to remind Congress that our land, our food, our families, and our farms are all worth protecting.
The goal of our campaign is simple: to persuade Congress to require basic environmental protections in exchange for subsidies, to fully fund U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs, and to reform these critically important conservation programs to make every dollar count.
Americans have never been more interested in their food, including how their food is grown.
But how we grow food is threatening future generations of farmers, endangered public health, and squandering Americans’ natural heritage. Too much food and drinking water are polluted with fertilizers and pesticides, antibiotics are becoming less effective, and millions of acres of prairie and wetland and being lost forever.
America’s broken farm policies do too little to reward those farmers who take pains to preserve the productivity of soil and purity of water. Instead, these policies encourage unsustainable crop and animal production.
Many farmers are already taking steps to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics, reduce the use of pesticides, and manage the land for their successors.
Federal programs that reward farmers who strive to protect our food and land are a critical component of the farm bill. The House and Senate agriculture committees are proposing to cut these programs at a time when millions of acres of wetlands and prairie are being lost and food and water are polluted with pesticides and fertilizers.
We think America's families, farmers and food are worth protecting.
That’s why we are launching a campaign today that calls on Congress to require basic environmental protections in exchange for farm subsidies, to fully fund conservation programs, and to reform conservation programs to make every dollar count. American policy should recognize and reward those farmers who manage their farms to reflect the nation’s common values.