All over the world, in countries both rich and poor, farmers are unable to survive or make a living. Why? Prices are too low—a result of overproduction spurred by US and European farm and trade policies that create unfair trading conditions.

Rich countries spend more than $300 billion every year in government pay-outs in the agriculture industry. Some of these payments are in the form of subsidies that give large producers large profits and encourage overproduction. The excess is "dumped" on international markets, where it is sold for less than it costs to grow. This dumping drives down prices and destroys the livelihoods of millions of farmers in poor countries that cannot subsidize growers and are forced to open their markets to foreign communities.

Since many poor communities rely on agriculture, unfair trade and farm policies that allow dumping are a major reason for poverty. If local farmers can't compete with the cheap imported commodities, they cannot afford housing, education, and food–basic necessities–and must leave their lands, their families, and migrate in search of jobs.

Unfortunately, the costly farm subsidies don't really help most small farmers in the United States either. Family farmers in the US are going out of business at a rapid rate, while large-scale, corporate agricultural companies reap the benefits. More and more of the food we produce in the US is controlled by a smaller and smaller number of companies. This trend is limiting farming opportunities in rural America, too.

• Around 1.2 billion people live on $1 or less a day. Most of them are farm workers or dependent in some way on agriculture.
  
• Trade restrictions in rich countries cost developing countries around $100 billion a year – twice as much as they receive in aid.
  
• While US debts are ballooning, the government spent more than $3 billion in 2002 subsidizing cotton farmers. To put this figure in perspective, it is nearly twice the total US foreign aid given to sub-Saharan Africa.
  
• The vast majority of US subsidies go to a small number of large companies. Roughly, the top 10 percent of cotton producers receive more than 75 percent of all cotton subsidies.
  
• US subsidies depress cotton prices, which leads some African countries, which depend on cotton, to pull in fewer export earnings and revenue. Oxfam estimates that sub-Saharan Africa countries lost $305 million due to US subsidies in crop year 2001.

Please send a message to President Bush and urge him to share your commitment to reducing poverty and hunger. Ask him to work with Congress to limit taxpayer support for agriculture products that increase poverty for family farmers in the US and around the world.