Proposal to bail out factory farms is corporate welfare

Dear Editor:

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey’s recent request for a $50 million, taxpayer-funded bailout of the factory farm industry has got to be one of the craziest examples of corporate welfare that I’ve ever heard of.

It’s bad enough that our tax dollars are already paying for government subsidies to help build factory farms that pollute our air and water and tear apart our rural communities, but now Northey wants us taxpayers to bail the industry out of a problem that they created. Is he crazy?

Government handouts to corporate agriculture encourage the industry to overproduce pork, then when they can’t sell their excess supply they expect us to create an artificial demand for it. That puts the taxpayer at the center of a never-ending cycle there we pay for the overproduction of corporate hogs on the front and then are forced to pick up the tab on the back as well. It’s a double-whammy to the pocketbooks of regular, everyday people that only benefits the corporate fatcats behind factory farms. The industry is using us as a crutch. Without us, they would fall.

Northey and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack need to prove they’re not just high-paid shills for corporate agriculture and ensure that taxpayer dollars don’t find their way into factory farm pockets. Organizations like Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement call on them to support sustainable agriculture and locally-grown, locally-owned food.

Tommie Stoner, board member and family farmer, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, 2396 Lark Ave., Afton, IA 50830.