Child Nutrition Bill Cuts Farm Conservation, Leaves Subsidies Untouched

A big, fat Booooooo on the Senate Agriculture Committee. What seems at first glance like good news — approval of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 — actually does little to improve federally funded food programs. Furthermore, the paltry sum allotted by the Act to reimburse school lunch programs doesn't even maintain the status quo.

The Huffington Post sums it up:

"...Obama's proposal would have given up to $.18 in additional funds to each child's school lunch. [Blanche] Lincoln's bill gives each lunch $.06. Compare that to the School Nutrition Association's request to raise the current $2.68 "reimbursement rate" (the amount the federal government reimburses schools for each free lunch served to a low income child) by $.35 just to keep the quality of the lunches the same and make up for schools' current budgetary shortfall ... [A]ny amount under $.35 is no reform at all, and Lincoln gave us $.06."

That's just Boo number one. Even more execrable is where this so-called extra money (remember, it's not even actually extra, given increased food costs and school budget cuts) comes from. Instead of trimming the fat from the current heavily subsidized corn, cotton and grain crops, the committee agreed to dip into farm conservation programs. These programs support farmers many small farmers growing a variety of crops. This is unequivocally a step in the wrong direction. I apologize for the lack of creativity in expressing my displeasure, but Boooooo! Boo, boo, boo!

This is U.S. agricultural policy at its worst, and unfortunately its most routine. How much more infuriating could this be? It's sneaky, it's bad policy, and worst of all, it masquerades as something good. How are we supposed to come out in opposition to something that allegedly supports childhood nutrition and school lunches?

Well, we can start with the complaint that U.S. corn crops are part of the reason school lunches are so unhealthy. Do the sustainable food movement a favor and familiarize yourself with the farm bill. Corn is in everything, and we shouldn't be paying the top 10 percent of corn subsidy recipients 71 percent of the subsidies. Maybe if we make some changes to the crops we subsidize, the nation's children won't be eating "Frito-Lay traveling nachos with cornbread, served with a corn cobbette." That's an actual menu item from a school in Richmond, VA. Boo ad nauseum!

Photo via qnr on Flickr.