Farm (and Food) Bill

Why Care?

As the primary food and farming legislation, the Farm Bill has immense and far-reaching impact. With billions of dollars in subsidies at stake, reforming the 2012 Farm Bill to support healthy foods and healthy food systems is one of the most important steps in taking a stand for nutritious foods and sustainable farming.

Farm Bill Facts

Fact: In the United States, 3/5 of farmers don't get any subsidy payments, while the richest 5% average $470,000 each.

Fact: The Natural Resources Conservation Service reports that nearly two billion tons of cropland soil is still lost and less than 10% of the USDA budget is linked to conservation practices.

Fact: Only 2% of 2 to 19 year olds meet all five federal requirements for a healthy diet. Although certain calories are cheaper than others, these foods are usually lacking any nutritional benefit, and are contributing to the growing malnutrition epidemics both here and abroad.

What's the Breakdown?

The 2008 Farm Bill was divided into 15 titles, with 97-99% of the funding split between four categories:

67% Nutrition --> food stamps, school lunches, and related programs.
15% Commodities --> subsidized animal feed giving unfair advantages to factory farms. These commodity crops are heavily used in processed foods which deflates their price to the disadvantage of fruits, vegetables and other fresh, whole foods. To further exacerbate the problem, fruits and vegetables are considered "specialty crops" and receive very little support.
9% Conservation --> using public taxes to clean-up after factory farms instead of making the agribusiness corporations pay for their pollution.
8% Crop Insurance

Source: Community Food Security Coalition -- webinar

Follow-Up Resources

White paper for 2007 Farm Bill by Farm Sanctuary and Brighter Green.

Below are additional links for detailed information on the 2012 Farm Bill. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.