Behind every purchase of food we make, and beyond nearly every farmer's decision about what to plant is a set of policies, nicknamed the "Farm Bill." Ensuring that everyone has food to eat, and that there are farmers and ranchers to meet that need, has always been a national priority. However, the ways in which policy meets those goals have various unintended -- and severe -- impacts. Our water quality, health, food affordability, and rural employment opportunities are all related to the Farm Bill. This summer, Congress is re-writing these policies for the next five years.
What's at stake?
Here is a succinct summary by journalist Michael Pollan:
To speak of the farm bill's influence on the American food system does not begin to describe its full impact--on the environment, on global poverty, even on immigration...And though we don't ordinarily think of the farm bill in these terms, few pieces of legislation have as profound an impact on the American landscape and environment...The public-health community has come to recognize it can't hope to address obesity and diabetes without addressing the farm bill. The environmental community recognizes that as long as we have a farm bill that promotes chemical and feedlot agriculture, clean water will remain a pipe dream. The development community has woken up to the fact that global poverty can't be fought without confronting the ways the farm bill depresses world crop prices...And then there are the eaters, people like you and me, increasingly concerned, if not restive, about the quality of the food on offer in America...Doing so starts with the recognition that the "farm bill" is a misnomer; in truth, it is a food bill and so needs to be rewritten with the interests of eaters placed first.