Avoiding a 21st-Century Dust Bowl

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/20



Mother Nature found a cruel way to demonstrate the difference between political rhetoric and reality when this summer's record-breaking drought coincided with the writing of a new U.S. Farm Bill.

The House Agriculture Committee's draft 2012 Farm Bill will scrap costly farm subsidies in favor of a federal crop insurance expansion. The change will supposedly build a safety net for farmers in bad years while benefiting taxpayers by reducing federal agriculture expenditures.

The reality is entirely different.

Right now, one-half of U.S. counties have been declared federal disaster areas due to drought. More than 80 percent of corn and soybean crops are in drought-affected areas. Crop losses are likely to be catastrophic — economists are predicting crop insurance payouts could top $40 billion. So much for saving money.

[Dkc05]

1. not of we elimate fraking and mining

Stop violating our natural resources. Need more parks and less oil production, mining and coal plants heating up the eaeth