Politicians Playing Games With Agriculture's Future

Above, the family farm in Nebraska during winter.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Obama Administration has been a disaster on issue after issue. It is no better when it comes to agriculture policy.  Some in Congress are no better.

Western Farm Press posted an article on how the Washington politicians are screwing up agricultural policy.

 They begin with:

Farmers and ranchers have known for a long time that most federal lawmakers are notoriously uninformed when it comes to making decisions about farm policy. But what have long been laughable, but serious errors on the part of legislators and policy makers in the past seem to have reached a pandemic crescendo of inefficiency. A war-driven economy and partisan politics have muddled minds in Washington as ill-fated attempts to address federal budget concerns has spawned a plethora of actions that threaten to multiply problems rather than address ways to make them better, especially when it comes to farm policy. 

While the problem extends far beyond agricultural issues, it is becoming apparent that farm policy will be taking more than its fair share of these misguided decisions by lawmakers, who seem to have lost touch with reality when it comes to understanding that U.S. agriculture plays as important or a greater role to a healthy nation as the banking and energy industries.

The Obama Administration has ordered the closure of vital programs that have discovered problems with some agricultural products that produced illnesses and deaths.

For example:

Last summer the USDA's Microbiological Data Program (MDP) was the agency that ordered cilantro and bagged spinach that had tested positive for salmonella to be removed from grocery store shelves. It also forced a recall of lettuce that had tested positive for E. coli, and started testing cantaloupe regularly for Listeria after an outbreak that left 13 people dead. 

As part of President Obama's 2013 budget, this program will be shut down. 

Food and Drug Administration Produce Safety officials say that testing certain high-risk crops such as sprouts, tomatoes, and cantaloupe would now have to be undertaken by state and local agencies, many of which are already cash-strapped and short on staff.

It is a real eye-opener to see how agriculture policy is getting messed up by Washington. And they have the nerve to think they can effectively run health care?!

 To read the full article, go here.