It is a truth universally acknowledged that a presidential campaign in possession of great turmoil must be in want of food and agriculture debate, or so might write a modern Jane Austen. Panelists at the National Food Policy Conference, in language far more blunt, lamented the meager attention given to food and ag policy by presidential candidates.
“This is actually a huge sleeper issue, a very salient issue,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who used the tag “food safety” to cover facets from food availability and price to food quality and nutrition programs such as food stamps. “This issue hasn’t yet connected to people but when it does, it can be powerful.”
In polls, large majorities of people express concern about access to healthy food at affordable prices, over-use of antibiotics in livestock, and the influence of agribusinesses on political campaigns, said Lake. “If you’re looking for a bipartisan issue, this is it.” Yet, said Republican pollster Bob Carpenter, “Food policy and food issues are not in the hearts and minds of the American people.” Since the 2008-09 recession, the economy has been the top issue in opinion polls. Jobs, terrorism, immigration and the government were also in the forefront in a recent poll, he said.
Food policy – specifically, food stamps – played a role in defeating Republican Rep. Steve Southerland when he ran for re-election in northern Florida, said Claire Benjamin of Food Policy Action, a group organized to give a voice to the food movement. “We took a lot” of credit, said Benjamin. Food Policy Action attacked Southerland as sponsor of a plan, backed by House Republican leaders, to cut food stamp benefits by $40 billion over 10 years, the largest cuts in a generation. Southerland lost to Democrat Gwen Graham by less than 3,000 votes. Food Policy Action is a co-sponsor of the Plate of the Union drive to get a commitment from candidates to “reform our food system to make sure every American has access to healthy, affordable food that is fair to workers, good for the environment and keeps farmers on the land.”
During a question-and-answer period, Washington Post columnist Tamar Haspel asked how powerful food was as an issue. “It isn’t one of the issues people are talking about,” said Haspel. “It looks like it is a concern of a pretty small group of people.”
“It’s a little bit of the chicken and the egg,” responded Lake. A few minutes earlier, she said the food constituency used to be limited to farmers but was becoming a “mom constituency.” Carpenter said food policy needed a tie-in to broad issues such as the economy or national security to rise in import.
“One thing we don’t know this year is whether low commodity prices will have an impact,” said panelist Jerry Hagstrom of The Hagstrom Report, who cited the political maxim that in bad times, farmers vote Democratic but support Republicans in good times.