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Church World Service, faith groups press for Farm Bill overhaul

Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT-CWS

April 25, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Humanitarian agency Church World Service has joined with more than a dozen U.S. faith-based organizations to urge major changes in the U.S. farm bill, now being deliberated by Congress.

In its meeting this week, the Washington-based Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill (RWG) released a statement of legislative principles for farm bill reform. The coalition is now visiting congressional offices to forward those principles, pressing for policy overhaul that focuses on reducing hunger and poverty and promotes the livelihood of farmers and rural communities in the U.S. and worldwide.

"Farming ought to be regarded as a sacred calling to take care of the land and to bring forth the food and fiber that sustains the community," said Church World Service Executive Director and CEO Rev. John L. McCullough. "The time is now to advocate for a dramatic reform of U.S. agricultural policy so that rural communities in the United States and in the developing world can survive and prosper."

The Religious Working Group coalition is asking for a new farm bill that:

Increases investments that combat rural poverty and strengthen rural communities
Strengthens and expands programs that reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the United States
Strengthens and increases investment in policies that promote conservation and good stewardship of the land
Provides transitions for farmers to alternative forms of support that are more equitable and do not distort trade in ways that fuel hunger and poverty• Protects the health and safety of farmworkers
Expands research related to alternative, clean and renewable forms of energy
Improves and expands international food aid in ways that encourage local food security

The faith-based farm bill coalition includes Washington-based representatives from Church World Service, Bread for the World, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the National Council of Churches USA, the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries, the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"As people of faith who are also constituents, we must let our members of Congress know that we support broad reforms in the farm bill," said Rev. David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World.

"Over the past decade, the U.S. government has made unprecedented, bipartisan commitments to address the deadly poverty that kills one person every three seconds in our world," said the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church. "Reforming U.S. agricultural policy to help farmers in poor countries sell their crops is a way to follow through on that moral commitment while also improving the financial livelihoods of farmers in our own country."

The Religious Working Group also urges critical reforms to address poverty and human need in the United States through initiatives like the Food Stamp Program, this country’s first line of defense against hunger.

The faith communities represented believe 2007 is a critical moment in U.S. agricultural policy and say they will work with congregations throughout the country to build grassroots support for reform.

As part of its ongoing grassroots Sow Justice campaign, Church World Service also joined with others to present a series of farm bill advocacy events from January through March in Minnesota, North Dakota, Kansas and Iowa.

Perri Graham, Director of Church World Service’s regional office for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota says, "People have to be informed about the provisions of the bill, about how those measures affect real people, and about how they can exert their influence with lawmakers before the debate over this legislation ends." The present bill expires the end of September.

From Des Moines, CWS Iowa Regional Director Russell Melby says, "The system isn’t working. In the U.S. and countries around the world farmers are leaving their farms. They can’t make ends meet." In developing countries the impact is debilitating, says Melby. "Livelihoods of as much as fifty percent of the population in many countries depend on agricultural production. The system is devastating whole economies and cultures as the ranks of the hungry and unemployed swell."

From Washington, Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a member of the Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill, said, "Our nation's lawmakers have a historic opportunity in 2007 to pass a farm bill. Let us work together for a bill that strengthens the livelihood of rural communities, helps lift people out of hunger and poverty, and safeguards the integrity of God’s creation for generations to come."

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Domestic Policy Committee, said, "Passing a new farm bill is an important opportunity to reshape our agricultural policies to build a more just framework that better serves rural communities and vulnerable farmers."

Endorsers of the Religious Working Group’s farm bill principles also include Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, NETWORK, Oxfam America, Progressive National Baptist Convention, and Together For Hope: The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's Rural Poverty Initiative.

Read more about the U.S Farm Bill.

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

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