For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s All About Organics page, Environment and Climate Resource page, Organic Transitions page, and our Maine News page.

In the face of a weak U.S. economy, and increasing debt, Congress is considering cuts to federal farm subsidies that go back to the Depression era. Some of the biggest fans of the idea are farmers themselves, typically those with small, sustainable operations who don’t receive subsidies anyway and want to level the playing field with farming corporations. Some Maine farmers are among them.

Backed by some politicians and advocacy groups, farmers such as Richard Rudolph (above left) of Rippling Waters Organic Farm in Standish see an opening for change with the federal farm bill coming up for reauthorization as early as this fall.

“Let’s take the subsidies that are given to agribusiness and use some of that money to help eliminate deficit spending but the rest of it should really be used to provide more money for food service directors to buy local food,” Rudolph says.

Farmer’s markets, like the one in Portland where Rudolph is selling everything from kale to blueberries, are an important place for his non-profit farm to make money. But school lunch programs present an even larger market that local farmers covet.