Help Family Farmers around the Globe!

New Action:

From Oxfam America:

Thanks again for your support in helping to Make Trade Fair. Because of people like you, the link between trade and poverty is being discussed in more and more places, from the New York Times to regional papers like the Wichita Eagle and the Omaha World Herald.

You can do even more to help Make Trade Fair by asking your senators and representative to sponsor the Rural America Preservation Act (S. 385). Just click here.

As you probably know, huge US and European Union subsidies have artificially lowered the prices of products like cotton and rice on the world market, forcing millions of farmers in developing countries into dire straits. Meanwhile, here in the US, subsidies unfairly favor large corporate farming interests – over the struggling family farmers who really need the help. The US government spends up to 16 billion dollars a year on farm payments. Over 70% of that money goes to the top 10% of farms, almost all of them large-scale commercial operations.

The Rural America Preservation Act (S. 385) – sponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Tim Johnson (D-SD) – would set payment limitations on agricultural subsidies and eliminate the loopholes that enable large corporate farming interests to receive huge handouts at the expense of taxpayers. This legislation is supported not just by Oxfam, but by a host of organizations, from all shades of the political spectrum.

You can help! Please take a few minutes to email your senators and your representative. Ask them to sponsor the Rural America Preservation Act.

Swiftly enacting payment caps will help direct assistance to the neediest farmers and help make policies fair for farmers abroad.

Thanks so much for your support.

Sincerely,

David Moore
Internet Campaign Organizer
Oxfam America