What should be the federal government’s role in agriculture?

No less a weighty subject than what policies are best to support healthy agriculture and food supply is the topic of February Unit meetings of LWV Tacoma-Pierce County. As always, Units welcome non-members who wish to express their points of view.

Traditionally, the government has overseen farm subsidies and regulates for safe food production. But since League’s last adopted positions in 1988, agriculture has changed mightily. Consider the widespread use of new chemicals, antibiotics for growth enhancement, demands for accurate food labeling, and trademarked genetic modifications of plant and animal DNA.

A trove of background reading offered on the US League site has been digested and summarized by a LWVT-PC committee, and will be available in a supplement to February’s Voter, and online at our website.

Local Leagues across the country will discuss these issues in February and we may come to consensus on policies that should be supported and lobbied for at local and national levels.

Discussing such complex issues and coming to consensus is a challenging process, but vital to our democratic form of government. Success depends on members arriving at the February Unit meetings well prepared.