Ken speaks at TEDx Manhattan
It is the only important piece of environmental legislation that Congress is almost certain to enact over the next 18 months. And it’s our best chance to fix major flaws in America’s badly broken food system. By tradition, it’s called “the farm bill.” To EWG it ought to be the “food bill.” And instead of spending billions of your dollars in ways that harm water quality and wildlife, it should invest in protecting those resources.
In our view, a “food bill” would tackle some of the damage that industrial food and agriculture takes on America’s health. Instead of wasting tens of billions of taxpayer dollars each year on subsidies to absentee owners and the largest, most prosperous farmers growing a handful of industrial crops, we need to redirect that money, your money, to support local and organic farming, real working farm families, open more farmer’s markets and introduce school kids to healthy eating.
Want to follow the money and see for yourself where your tax dollars are going? Thanks to EWG’s pioneering research, now updated with the newest data from 2010, you can. It will surprise you to see who collects farm subsidies – everyone from former basketball star Scottie Pippen to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. You can use our widget to enter your own zip code and see who has received these subsidies.
Want to learn more? Click here to check out EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database and see where money goes.
