Cultivating Control: Corporate Lobbying on the Food and Farm Bill

A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists documents the multi-billion lobbying machine that helps corporate agribusiness control US farm and food policy.

As federal Farm Bill re-authorization negotiations are finally moving in Congress, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists-USA (UCSUSA) documents the size and scope of the enormously powerful corporate agribusiness lobby. Their analysis, “Cultivating Control—Corporate Lobbying on the Food and Farm Bill,” show that giant agribusiness companies and industry associations have spent well over half a billion dollars lobbying Congress to influence legislation in the last five years, including the current Farm Bill debate.

“A pay-to-play food policy that prioritizes corporate profits is bad for the well-being of people and the environment,” the report states. “Lawmakers should center the needs of small and midsize farms, diverse farmers, food workers and farmworkers, consumers, and communities—not just the needs of giant corporations—when writing this legislation.”

Corporate agribusiness dominates the list of Farm Bill lobbying activities:

“Agribusiness interests spent a huge sum of money—$523 million dollars—lobbying Congress over the past five years,” said Karen Perry Stillerman, deputy director of the Food and Environment Program at UCS and co-author of the report, in the UCSUSA release.

“This is an industry that regularly spends more money lobbying Congress than either Big Oil or defense contractors, and for understandable reasons. The food and farm bill has the power to transform our food and farm system, and agribusiness and industry groups know this. They started lobbying from almost the moment the last farm bill was enacted, showing that these groups are always working to influence this legislation in their favor.”

UCSUSA’s report also includes a list of ways to improve federal food and farm policy. “Congress should center the needs of small and midsize farms, historically marginalized farmers, food workers and farmworkers, and consumers—not just the needs of giant corporations and industry groups—when writing the next food and farm bill,” according to the report.

READ THE FULL ANALYSIS HERE.

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The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.