Missouri Family Farmers Assert that Inflation Reduction Act Funds Should Not Be Allocated to Factory Farms, According to Attorney General

By Better Today On Nov 18, 2023

TL/DR –

Advocates for small family farms in Missouri have urged lawmakers to provide better protection for the nation’s food resources and farmers in the next Farm Bill. Almost 200 groups have signed a letter asking Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider conservation practices supporting factory farms, which they argue contribute to local pollution. Tim Gibbons, communications director for the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, suggests that the Inflation Reduction Act needs to have safeguards to protect small farmers and prevent factory farms from exploiting tax breaks.

Missouri Family Farms Advocate for Protection in Next Farm Bill

Missouri’s family farm advocates have approached U.S. lawmakers with proposals to safeguard the country’s food resources and family farmers in the impending Farm Bill.

Nearly 200 groups have implored Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider endorsing conservation practices that favor factory farms, often contributors to local pollution issues.

According to Tim Gibbons, Missouri Rural Crisis Center’s communications director, the USDA’s decision to qualify mega-farms for “climate smart” conservation payments has raised eyebrows.

Gibbons argues that the corporate industrial takeover of the livestock industry has been carried out using taxpayer dollars, causing significant repercussion on farmers, consumers, the environment, the economy, and the democratic process.

Gibbons emphasizes the need to direct taxpayer dollars towards supporting family farmers and providing consumers with local access to farm products. Despite the Farm Bill expiring in September, Congress has yet to pass a replacement.

Gibbons also advocates for the Inflation Reduction Act to have specific safeguards shielding small farmers while preventing factory farms from exploiting tax breaks.

Gibbons maintains that factory farm corporations, as major contributors to environmental damage and climate change, should clean up their act without taxpayer funding.

The letter to Secretary Vilsack contends that industrial farming practices intensify climate change, squander taxpayer dollars, and harm Indigenous and underserved communities, contradicting the intention of the Inflation Reduction Act.