Farm Bill Archives

WATCH NOW — How ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ would damage the Everglades

https://youtu.be/YBssADiRs80?si=LiqRZM9wKd5YXUUx There are two paths ahead for the Everglades. One is carved by Big Sugar and its lobbyists — driven by profit, not the public good. It’s a future where the value of cane fields are inflated by federal handouts, and you pay more at the grocery store so billionaire sugar barons can get richer. The other path is grounded in truth and science. It’s a future where restoration — not exploitation — guides our decisions. A future where we Rescue the River of Grass to protect the water, wilderness and people whose lives depend on it. It’s the path Friends of the Everglades has blazed since our founding by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. We are at that fork in the [...]

Allie Preston2025-06-16T10:39:50-04:00June 17th, 2025|Farm Bill, Voice of the Everglades|

WATCH NOW — Floodgates are open from Lake Okeechobee — AGAIN

https://youtu.be/UdoHOYv2t0M This is the moment we've been bracing for. Last Saturday, the Army Corps of Engineers opened the flood gates from Lake Okeechobee to the northern estuaries — allowing billions of gallons of polluted water to flow, untreated, into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers and the Lake Worth Lagoon. If you haven't seen these damaging discharges, check out our video footage from the St. Lucie Lock & Dam. A whitewater torrent is flowing from the gates, and it could continue until April 1. The Army Corps of Engineers is using these fragile estuaries as relief valves in an attempt to lower Lake Okeechobee ahead of rainy season. The effects are swift and violent. Salinity levels plummeted in the [...]

Allie Preston2024-02-22T10:27:28-05:00February 22nd, 2024|All Posts, Farm Bill, Lake Okeechobee, Voice of the Everglades|

Here are 3 ways to help us achieve Sugar Reform Now

https://youtu.be/k_OeECca6wI SUGAR REFORM NOW Our mission to save the only Everglades in the world can only be realized if we stop allowing the sugar industry to profit from poisoning this treasured ecosystem. You can help us achieve that. The sugar program in the U.S. Farm Bill is an outdated, overly generous system of price supports and import quotas that enrich billionaire backed sugar companies — namely Florida Crystals and U.S. Sugar. The Farm Bill is set to expire this year, and we need a loud chorus of voices speaking up for reform. Here are three things you can do to help us achieve Sugar Reform Now: Watch the video: Our 30-second video visually illustrates the negative impact of the [...]

Leah Voss2023-08-28T17:15:03-04:00August 29th, 2023|Action Alerts, All Posts, Big Sugar, Farm Bill|

The case for sugar reform is resonating on Capitol Hill

In late July, we took our fight for sugar reform to Washington, D.C., where we met with members of Congress and their staff to educate them on the damaging impacts of the sugar industry that are supported via the U.S. Farm Bill. We traveled across the U.S. Capitol grounds to meet with Democratic and Republican members of Congress from around the country who heard our plea for a change in the 2023 Farm Bill. Our case was made stronger by you and thousands of others who have signed the Sugar Reform Now petition. The leaders we met with were struck by the water and air pollution linked to the sugar industry in Florida. They listened to how the [...]

Leah Voss2023-08-08T11:05:33-04:00August 8th, 2023|All Posts, Big Sugar, Farm Bill, Sugarcane Burning, Toxic Algae, U.S. Congress|

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to end damaging sugar protections in the Farm Bill

For the better part of a century, the U.S. Farm Bill has protected billionaire-backed sugar companies at the expense of clean air and water in Florida. We have an opportunity to change that now — with your help. Join the movement demanding an end to sugar handouts in the Farm Bill by signing the Sugar Reform Now petition! How does the sugar program negatively impact us? Through price supports and strict import limits on sugar, consumers and taxpayers pay more — while sugar barons get richer. Windfall profits generated by the sugarcane industry, led by Florida Crystals and U.S. Sugar, are then used to buy influence over lawmakers. This protects the status quo that forces South Florida taxpayers to [...]

Allie Preston2023-07-14T16:27:40-04:00July 17th, 2023|Action Alerts, All Posts, Big Sugar, Everglades Restoration, Farm Bill, Human Health and Safety, Lake Okeechobee, Red Tide, Sugarcane Burning, Toxic Algae, U.S. Congress|

Spotlight On: How the U.S. Farm Bill contributes to toxic algae in Florida

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmfsR-k3SA8 Here’s how sugar supports in the U.S. Farm Bill create toxic algae blooms Big Sugar has a very sweet deal. U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals — which grow hundreds of thousands of acres of sugarcane in Florida — have long profited from federal protections in the Farm Bill, which is reauthorized by Congress every five years. The current Farm Bill expires September 30, 2023. Protectionist policies dating back to the 1930s benefit the industry through low-interest loans, price supports and import quotas, all designed to keep the price of sugar in the United States higher than it is on the global market. This cost, paid for by American consumers and taxpayers, creates windfall profits the industry then uses [...]

Allie Preston2023-05-30T11:48:20-04:00May 30th, 2023|Farm Bill, Florida Legislative Tracker, Spotlight On, Sugarcane Burning, Toxic Algae|

Help us reform the U.S. Sugar Program

A sugarcane field burns in the distance in the Everglades Agricultural Area on Jan. 6, 2023, in Palm Beach County. We need your help. For decades, Big Sugar has received a sweet deal in the federal Farm Bill — despite its damaging influence on Florida’s water policy and pollution of our air through sugarcane burning. We have an opportunity to change that by urging lawmakers in Washington to end the sugar program in the upcoming Farm Bill. The Farm Bill, which is reauthorized every five years by Congress, covers issues such as agriculture, nutrition, conservation, forestry, and rural development. The federal government underwrites Big Sugar’s profits through the sugar program in the Farm Bill. It's an outdated [...]

Allie Preston2023-03-30T06:49:02-04:00March 29th, 2023|Action Alerts, Action Alerts, Big Sugar, Farm Bill, Florida Legislative Tracker, Sugarcane Burning|