The cost to survive in today's agricultural environment is so astronomical that it takes several family members pooling resources to stay afloat, one area farmer says.
And if Americans want to keep it that way and have cheap food, support for government subsidies up for renewal in the farm bill are important, he said.
"I know the darling of the American people is to save the family farm. That's what you hear out there," Evansville farmer Ed Arnold said.
"Well, that's a fine thing to say, but does the American public want to pay the kind of prices to keep that small farm afloat and make it sustainable?"
It would take milk prices at $4 a gallon in the grocery store or farmers getting paid 90 cents to $1 per pound for beef to keep a small family farm above water, he said.
That compares to grocery store milk prices of around $3.10 a gallon while farmers are receiving about 88 cents per pound of beef, he said.
Legislators are seeking input from farmers and others to lay out how the basic programs for agriculture will run for the next five years in the 2007 farm bill. The mammoth piece of legislation expires Sept. 30, but many programs continue through the end of the year, said Ben Brancel, the executive director of Wisconsin's Farm Service Agency.
Congress must take some kind of action by Oct. 1, whether it's extending the current farm bill, passing a new one or acting on components of the bill, Brancel said.
The Senate has yet to start work on the bill, but the House of Representatives' Agriculture Committee has received proposals from subcommittees. The House ag committee will begin a full mark up of the bill beginning July 17, with a goal of bringing a proposal before the full House before its August recess.
So why should you care?
Because changes in farm policy can have a direct effect on the prices you pay at the grocery store, and the farm bill is more than just cows and corn.
The bill has an impact on programs run through the United States Department of Agriculture, including the Food Stamp Program and National School Lunch Program.
Farm subsidies
Arnold has seen the benefits of farm subsidies and would like them renewed with only minor adjustments.
He farms about 5,500 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat with his father and brother.
The Arnold Farm, which includes the three family members and two full-time employees, ranked No. 12 among farmers in Rock County who received crop subsidies from 2003 to 2005, according to the Environmental Working Group's policy analysis database.
The Arnold Farm reportedly received a total of $276,421 in those three years. Arnold said when you look at that number, it's important to remember it's for five full-time farmers and during three years of the lowest prices in 10 years.
"Things aren't always face value," he said.
But government help is needed when prices drop, he said.
"I like the structure of the farm program the way it is currently designed as a safety net for farmers," he said. "When prices drop below (a trigger price), then the government comes in and subsidizes. If prices rise, then it doesn't cost anybody anything."
The Milk Income Loss Contract Program, for example, offers its participants 34 cents for every 100 pounds of milk (about 11.6 gallons) for every $1 below the established milk price, he said.
Between 2003 and 2006, Wisconsin dairy farmers received nearly $486 million from the program, according to the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.
But high grain and milk prices in recent months have made for few payouts, Arnold said.
"This year, it's not going to cost taxpayers anything hardly, because we're able to collect the value of our crop from where it's going to be purchased," he said.
Among debate in the bill's renewal is how much farmers should be subsidized, if at all, when prices dip. Should the MILC program continue? If so, in what form?
"If the market were to stay high, it wouldn't mean much of anything because it's a safety net," Brancel said. "However, experience has shown us in the last seven years that markets can weaken from time to time."
A proposal moving forward from a House subcommittee doesn't include a renewal for the MILC program, said Jeff Lyon, director of governmental relations with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.
"I would expect an amendment would be offered" for the MILC program, he said.
A farm bureau task for recommends moving away from traditional commodity payments to a revenue assurance program with more conservation programs.
A safety net still should be in place, Lyon said, but the new bill should include revenue assurance using more risk management tools.
Such changes would make world trade more compatible, because the current system creates a stumbling block for trade negotiations, he said.
"Countries around the world say our programs are not compatible, and we argue the same thing," he said. "Our thought is we just need to move in that direction."
Hot lunch
Janesville school officials are lobbying with other state and national school lunch administrators for changes in the next farm bill.
The Janesville School District only receives federal money through the current farm bill for a program that provides free milk to students who do not have access to a lunch, said Deb Goad, manager of food and nutrition services in the district.
But Goad and her colleagues in the School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin are seeking three main additions or changes to the new bill:
-- Appropriating 10 cents per breakfast meal in donated agricultural products.
"We do not receive any at the present time for breakfast," Goad said.
-- Eliminating the reduced-price category on lunches. Low-income families are placed in either a reduced-price category-each lunch is 40 cents-or a free lunch.
"We see those that qualify for reduced lunch really can't even afford that," Goad said. "They're the working poor."
During the 2006-07 school year, 552 students in the Janesville School District enrolled in the reduced lunch program, while 2,743 students received free lunch.
The proposed change would move the students on reduced lunch to free lunch, Goad said.
-- Increasing support for a fresh fruit and vegetable program.
"I think that would do something positive for the agricultural community as well," she said.
Goad said they'd like to see the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program made into a permanent program in next farm bill.
The pilot program offers one fresh fruit or vegetable snack for each student in select schools throughout the country. Wilson Elementary School in Janesville participated in the program during the last school year, and it went over well, Goad said.
"It definitely impacts their choices down the road in terms of what they choose to snack on, and it even crosses over into family habits," she said. "We see a lot of good with that-also supporting their academic achievements through nutrition."
Food stamps
Proposals for the next farm bill could increase benefits for the national food stamp program, which serves low-income individuals and families. In Wisconsin, the program is called FoodShare and is administered by the state Department of Health and Family Services.
Stephanie Marquis, a spokeswoman with the Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services, said the proposed bill intends to reflect the true cost of living by:
-- Increasing the standard deduction, which is used to calculate eligibility.
-- Removing the cap on child care expense deductions.
-- Excluding education accounts and retirement accounts from countable resources.
-- Increasing the resources limit.
The increases depend on new funding being made available, Marquis said, and the bill also proposes administrative changes that would allow only government employees to take food stamp applications.
The department's recommendations for the 2007 farm bill included:
-- Increasing the minimum benefit to $30 per month for all households and $50 per month for households that elderly or disabled people.
-- Expanding food stamp program deductions to better reflect the fiscal realities of families participating in the program.
-- Eliminating the cap on the shelter expense deduction and allow a medical expense deduction for working families.
