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Agree/Disagree: The Farm Bill is a Public Health bill.
For those of you who agree, give yourself a pat on the back! For those of you who do not believe that the Farm Bill is a Public Health bill, read on, and we just might convince you.
As Roni Neff, PhD, Research and Policy Director for the Center for a Livable Future, explains, the Farm Bill affects the health of the American public in at least five important ways: Read More >
How are concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) profiting from Farm Bill subsidy programs targeted at U.S. crop farmers? How are these “hidden subsidies” for industrial farm animal production (IFAP) hurting more sustainable food animal producers? The answers to these questions lie—and are at stake—in the convoluted world of the 2012 Farm Bill legislation.
To say that the Farm Bill is both large and complex is understating the obvious. This legislation impacts every aspect of our food system. One role that the Farm Bill has is to dole out billions to subsidize various producers and industries of the U.S. food economy. A large portion of these programs subsidize crop production. The largest recipients of the most federal dollars through these programs are corn and soybean producers. Read More >
This November, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future joined with fellow members of the Healthy Farms, Healthy People coalition steering committee to officially launch the Healthy Farms, Healthy People coalition—“a broad-based collaboration of organizations committed to achieving a healthier nation in tandem with a strong farm economy through policy reform at the local, state and national level.”
The Coalition will work on short-term targeted policy efforts, as well as long-term goals centered on policy change and information-sharing across sectors. The Coalition brings together stakeholders from the health, agricultural, anti-hunger, environmental and economic development communities, whose diverse expertise is necessary to make such reforms to the food system a reality. Read More >
I’d like to contribute to the Farm Bill discussion initiated earlier this week in a Baltimore Sun op-ed penned by Tom Albright, Holly Freishtat and the CLF’s own Bob Lawrence. The op-ed called for farmers’ markets to be provided with electronic benefits transfer (EBT) technology, to ensure that they are able to process purchases made with SNAP benefits (otherwise known as food stamps). The authors rightly point out that providing EBT at farmers’ markets would provide both a financial boon for local farmers, and increased access to fresher, more nutritious food for SNAP participants, who often live in areas where such food can be hard to come by and difficult to afford. I encourage you to read the op-ed for more information on the cost and benefits of this provision, and would like to add a few additional points for your consideration. Read More >
The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future has launched the Farm Bill Budget Visualizer, an innovative web-based application that allows visual analysis of Farm Bill spending since the 2008 Farm Bill.
The Budget Visualizer uses “treemap” technology, a method of displaying spending data as nested rectangles, which allows users to “see” the proportion of federal funding received by Farm Bill programs. The application, developed in partnership with the Hive Group, is intended as an educational aid for the general public, advocacy groups, and policymakers who wish to better understand the relationships among public health and other priorities, and federal spending in the Farm Bill. Read the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s news release announcing the Farm Bill Budget Visualizer. Read More >
Today the Baltimore Sun ran an opinion piece co-authored by CLF director Robert Lawrence, Holly Freishtat, and Tom Albright. The piece proposed a win-win for farmers and SNAP (food stamp) participants: Supply farmers’ markets with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) machines so that people can spend their SNAP dollars at those markets. The essay makes an appeal especially to Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who sits on the Super Committee that may have sway over Farm Bill re-authorization.
To read the op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, click here. FarmPolicy.com, a daily agricultural news review excerpted the op-ed. Read More >
While the leaders of the Congressional Agriculture Committees have yet to announce the final details of their proposed Farm Bill cuts to the Super Committee, they have announced a goal of $23 billion in cuts to FB programs. We expect that cuts will touch commodity supports, conservation, and nutrition. The most recent information suggests that the proposal will cut:
At first blush the cuts to conservation and nutrition may seem small, but there’s more at risk than meets the eye. Read More >
Pingree-Brown: strengthen local food systems
Local farmers have been a hot topic in Congress lately.
Last Tuesday, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D–ME) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D–OH) introduced the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act in Congress. The goal of the bill, which was intended for inclusion in the 2012 Farm Bill, is to strengthen local and regional food systems. It addresses the needs of smaller farms that produce for local markets, as well as of consumers who may lack access to healthy foods.
The bill has between 35 and 40 cosponsors in the House, including Rep. Donna Edwards (D–MD), and six cosponsors in the Senate, including Senator Barbara Mikulski (D–MD). Read More >
Rumor has it the next Farm Bill (minus a few titles) will be completed by the Ag Committee Chairs and handed to the “Super Committee” as early as today. The blogosphere has been atwitter with concern over this undemocratic process and there is a bipartisan effort in Congress to demand the Farm Bill be written through the more usual process—i.e. hearings on Capitol Hill and in the field, numerous briefings by interests groups, many meetings with advocates and Hill staff, etc., all taking place over months and months with the resulting bill being a true representation of the full populace’s input. Read More >
Fasten Your Farm Bill Seatbelts
Normally, passing the Farm Bill takes at least a year and involves a great deal of input from interest groups of all stripes. That process allows air-time for the voices fighting for healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable food systems. This time around, however, the process may happen entirely behind closed doors—and at breakneck speed.
You may be asking yourself: How can this process be so undemocratic?
Let’s look at what the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are doing at this very moment. The leadership of the two committees is drafting their own version of the Bill, reportedly with little or no input from other committee members, and will make recommendations to the Super Committee in the next few days. The Super Committee can then do whatever they want with the recommendations: ignore them, change them, or adopt them. Any debate will happen in secret. Read More >