Much to be

Much to be

thankful for, still

We have published the breakdown of the cost

of a traditional Thanksgiving meal elsewhere

in this issue, and the news is really no more welcome than any other news of late that has to do with our money*

Basically, it’s costing the American family almost 13 percent more this year to put the bird and all the trimmings on the table than was the case in 3QQT.

Our information came courtesy of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation* whose essential Jobs are lotK hying and handling public relations for farmers. We are, in general, sympathetic to those causes.

The farmer gets only 22. cents of each dollar you spend at the grocery store, according to VFBP. which sounds reasonable. Still, quick math reveals that the farmer got slightly more than a 10 percent raise over the last 13. months, at least as re&ected by the ymk . try-centric dinner we will sit down to later this week* and the sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie ami so on which will accompany the headliner.

Most of us haven't been quite so fortunate in our paychecks since 'thanksgiving task but Farm Bureau is quick to point out that the perceived pay bike is misleading to an extreme degree. Farmers' inputs — seed, fertiliser, crop protection, fael — have all skyrocketed during the last calendar year.

The more worrisome observation that Farm Bureau includes in its 'thanksgiving piece is that what we spend on food as a percentage of income is starting to inch upward, reversing a trend of many years’ duration.

Americans spend less on food, as a percentage of what they earn, than any other developed nation. Food that is inexpensive and readily available is the backbone of the American experience, and, presumably, the prevailing philosophy behind the Farm Bill approved by Congress every five years.

'the presumption requires a significant leap of faith.

Farm Bill critics — and there are many — insist that the legislation overwhelmingly subsidises corporate, not family farmers, 'the Environmental Working Croup estimates that Just one-tenth of America's farmers collected $130.3 billion of the $184.7 billion that taxpayers ponied up in agricultural subsidies from 1003 through 2005.

'there was nary a peep about the Farm Bill during the presidential campaign, which was surprising, given all the nostalgia about FDK and the New Deal, and all the worry about this being the second coming of the Great Depression; the Agricultural Adjustment Act, precursor of the Farm Bill, was initially passed in 1033.

Frankly, we don't know if the new Congress could revisit the Farm Bill, even if it wanted, 'the bill lasts for Bve years for good reason; farmers need that stability for olannine ourwoses.