The Farm Bill

In between talking about practical stuff like soil improvement, transplanting, pest control, and what-have-you, we've managed to squeeze in some conversations about the larger political, socio-economic, and cultural issues that affect my farm and what we're able to do here. One significant piece of legislation that governs our current food system is informally known as "The Farm Bill." Officially titled "The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act," this bill sets policies for just about everything you can think of that's even remotely connected to our food system, from conservation and rural development to food assistance, agricultural subsidies, and exports.

Congress reviews and renews the farm bill approximately every five years. Our last farm bill was enacted in June of 2008 and was due to expire last September. Despite the usual amount of legislative wrangling, Congress was unable to pass a 2012 Farm Bill before the 2008 bill expired and since then we've been limping along on extensions of the old bill. The debate has resumed this spring, however, and both the House and Senate Agricultural committees will be voting on their versions of what is now the 2013 Farm Bill this coming week.

For an overview of the farm bill and its reenactment process, check out the Congressional Research Service's What is the Farm Bill? The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's website is another place that you can find information on the farm bill and its progress (or lack thereof) through Congress. In particular, there are two acts that activists supporting small, local, and organic agriculture are attempting to galvanize support for right now. They are The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2013 H.R. 1727 and S.837 (http://sustainableagriculture.net/our-work/beginning-farmer-bill/) and The Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act H.R. 1414 and S. 679 (http://sustainableagriculture.net/our-work/local-food-bill/bill-summary-2/).

Here's a link to the NSAC's blog on all things farm bill: http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog. If you'd like to know more about the farm bill and how it impacts you, ask Caroline! She's spent a significant amount of time researching and thinking about this piece of legislation.