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Letter to Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture asking for continued federal support to small farms.
Your Name
Address
Phone/Email
Ann M. Veneman
Secretary U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C. 20250
Date,
Secretary Veneman,
As secretary of the Department of Agriculture, I am sure that you have your hands full with various different issues regarding the agricultural world. The purpose of this letter is to emphasize the importance of our small family farms through out the nation. These farms are the backbone to our communities and our economy. Over the past ten years, it has become increasingly difficult for the small farm to compete and as a result, we have lost many of these farms. This along with many other factors, such as Government subsidies, has allowed large-scale farms to take market share in the agricultural industry. Large-scale farms are indeed economically efficient, but they have a host of issues that threaten many rural areas. As small farms disappear, we lose open spaces, communities, jobs, and a heritage that has been part of generations. Large-scale production has many other down sides such as the environmental impacts of increased runoff and soil depletion. Many large farms have intensified their production to a few, if not one type of crop. This does not allow for crop rotation, an important practice to retain soil health and fertility. To compensate for this, increasing amounts of fertilizers are being applied to crops only to end up in our waterways, or even worse, accumulating in the DNA of our children.
Sustainable forms of agriculture can prove to be economically profitable while protecting family farms, open spaces, and community. The recent rise in organic produce and products points to the fact that many people are beginning to take notice about how and where their food is produced. We are at a point both technologically and economically where we need to make a decision. Do we continue to promote large-scale agriculture while watching our small farms dwindle and die? Or, do we direct a portion of the funding and subsidies that go to these corporate farms to the small farms. As a resident of an agricultural and rural State, Vermont, these issues greatly concern many of my neighbors and myself.
Therefore, I ask you to consider the importance of the small farms to our country. Let us support them as we do the large farms and promote local agriculture. The work that has been done so far by the department has been helpful, but there is always more to be done. I am interested in any programs or ways that I may become involved in order to help our small farms. I look forward to hearing from your department and appreciate your time and effort it supporting the small farms of America.
Sincerely,
Your Name