Farm Bill 2007: Give us this day our daily bread

		Eye on the  Capitol  Barbara Sella

Every five to six years, Congress reauthorizes federal legislation related to farming and nutrition.

Known as the Farm Bill, this is one of the most complex and comprehensive pieces of legislation, affecting not only the smallest farmer in the United States, but also the poorest person in developing countries.

Since the bill expires this year, Congress is currently drafting new legislation.

The bill is of interest to the Catholic Church because it touches on so many principles of the Church's social teaching: life and dignity of the human person, family, dignity of work, common good, preferential option for the poor, subsidiarity, participation, solidarity, and stewardship of creation.

Origin in Depression

The Farm Bill has its origins in the Great Depression when, in order to provide farmers with a safety-net, the federal government introduced a commodity payment system that guarantees farmers minimum prices for their crops and enables them to sell some of their crops to the federal government when markets are depressed.

Back then the main beneficiaries of this federal assistance were small family farmers, since 25 percent of all Americans lived on farms. Today, when only two percent of Americans live on farms, these federal commodity payments or subsidies for crops such as corn, wheat, cotton, and soybeans most often benefit large-scale commercial farms.

Because these large commercial farms are able to receive federal subsidies, they have every incentive to overproduce certain crops, and this lowers world prices to the point that small farmers in developing countries cannot compete.

Worldwide effect

Given that half the world's population derives its income from agriculture and most of the world's poorest people live in rural areas, America's farm policies have a profound effect on billions of people.

Cotton subsidies are a prime example of why the current Farm Bill is in need of reform. The U.S. has 25,000 cotton producers who receive more in commodity payments from the U.S. government than the government spends on foreign aid and debt cancellation to all of Africa.

The overproduction of cotton that results from these federal subsidies drives down world prices and makes it increasingly difficult for the 20 million Africans involved in cotton production to earn a living.

Key is restructuring

The key to sustaining rural communities in the U.S. and abroad is to restructure the current commodity-payment system, so that billions of dollars of commodity money can be redirected into four main areas:

• Rural development programs in the U.S. that encourage small family farms and minority farmers, support rural businesses and regional development, and promote the spread of broadband internet access and other technologies.

• Nutrition programs that increase benefits and broaden participation in Food Stamps, encourage greater consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, foster greater connections between local farmers and poor and elderly consumers, and strengthen support for emergency food banks.

• Conservation programs that promote responsible stewardship by reducing soil erosion, improving water quality, protecting wildlife habitats, and developing renewable energy.

• Overseas food-aid and development programs that provide food for disaster-stricken areas and allow poor farmers in developing countries to earn a decent living.

The U.S. and Wisconsin Bishops urge people of faith and all people of good will to contact their Congressional representatives before July 9, urging them to reauthorize a reformed Farm Bill that will truly provide a dignified livelihood to farmers around the world and help to ensure that everyone can receive their daily bread.

Barbara Sella is associate director for Respect Life and Social Concerns advocacy of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference in Madison.

Natural Family Planning: It's supernatural

By Jessica Smith
FOR THE CATHOLIC HERALD

What do a secular Mexican film director and a dead Italian Pope have to do with contraceptives? Absolutely nothing. However, they do both impel us to think about life and love this year for Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness week (July 22-28).

Alfonso Cuaron is no friend to the Catholic morals. He's done several films of questionable moral value, but most recently he departed from sexual license and directed Children of Men, a dystopian film about the despair of infertility and the hope one child offers to humanity.

Pope Paul VI, on the other hand, was the essence of Catholicism. Elected in 1964, and known as "The Pilgrim Pope," he traveled to six continents - the most traveled pope in history at that time. Though his earthly pilgrimage ended in 1978, his words live on, particularly those of his 1968 letter to the world, Humanae Vitae or On Human Life.

Separated by age and by eternity now, they're both instruments of prophecy in our times.

How so?

Disregard for fertility

Alfonso Cuaron is presumably of Catholic ancestry, but he is not a professing Catholic, nor does he make any allusions to western religiosity. However, his film has profound Catholic themes. Although he departed from the original story line (based upon P.D. James' novel) and its Christian core, he admits he is very concerned with modern culture's disregard for fertility and children.

He recently said, "The child serves as a message of hope and infertility shows the little respect we have for human life right now." Cuaron then concluded, "I believe that children are the only hope for humanity, their sense of innocence, their sense of faith. . . "

Pope's predictions

Pope Paul VI, whose baptismal name was Giovanni Battista, played a cultural John the Baptist when he predicted in Humane Vitae that societal recourse to contraceptives would lead to marital infidelity and a general lowering in moral standards.

	To get copies of "Contraception: Why Not?" or for NFP information, call Jessica Smith at 608-821-3134, or e-mail at jsmith2@straphael.org Links to check out: www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp www.onemoresoul.com www.nfpoutreach.org
	Related article: • New coordinator: Brings fresh voice to NFP

The case is strong, and statistics convincing. Dr. Janet Smith's "Contraception: Why Not" CD has been distributed one million times over, and has been revised with updated statistics. Divorce rates, STD rates, and side effects - all juxtaposed against the 99 percent effectiveness rate of NFP and two percent divorce rate of NFP couples - casts a shadow over contraception, and opens a new door to the world of NFP and affirms the Church's teaching on a natural level.

Supernatural benefits

But the benefits aren't just natural; above all, they're supernatural. When a couple decides to embrace God's plan for marriage and sex, they experience a personal and spiritual vitality that not only nourishes communication and mutual self respect, it makes them icons of the Most Holy Trinity.

NFP awareness week is about remembering Humanae Vitae, not as a dead letter stuck in a backward time, but a living love letter summoning society back from the abyss of selfishness into a much more dazzling destiny.

Awake from the sleepwalking frenzy of life, and live the authentic love found in what I call SuperNatural Family Planning. It's about Hope. We were made to love as God loves - free, total, faithful, and fruitful.

Jessica Smith is coordinator for Natural Family Planning in the Diocese of Madison.