WASHINGTON - The following is a statement from EWG Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources Craig Cox on the House farm bill:
Every farm bill is an opportunity to meet some of America’s biggest challenges, such as reducing hunger, promoting healthy diets, supporting family farmers and reducing farm pollution. But the 2018 House Farm Bill largely misses these opportunities. Instead it creates new barriers to anti-hunger assistance, fails to close farm subsidy loopholes and weakens important environmental safeguards.
It does include several promising reforms in the conservation title that will help address the serious public health threat farm pollution poses. But these reforms are overshadowed by other provisions that increase hunger and roll back public health protections.