Agriculture

Written in January 2012

Originally published 1-18-2012

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is an unconstitutional department which represents a centralization of federal power that is removed from and out-of-touch with the states and communities it affects. It comprises nearly 4% of all federal spending, and employing some 110,000 unnecessary federal bureaucrats.

If elected to the House, I would vote to abolish the USDA (and / or phase it out as quickly as possible); and to eliminate all spending on the FSA, FAS, RMA, CCC, FCIC, USFS, NRCS, RHS, RUS, RBS, CNPP, FSIS, ARS, CSREES, ERS, NAL, NASS, AMS, APHIS, and the GIPSA. To phase out the USDA would eventually eliminate $145 billion from the current annual federal budget.

Additionally, I would urge the state and local governments; unions; charity, religious, non-governmental consumer-advocacy and consumer-safety organizations; and private enterprises to increase their provision of USDA-type services and benefits during the process of transition away from the current system of centralized federal regulation of the provision of agriculture, natural resources management, rural development, nutrition, and food safety services.