Farm Bill

Our Current Global Food Crisis and How We Can Feed 17 Million More People

Ruth Messinger | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Shavuot, Farm Bill, Africa, Food Aid, Book of Ruth, American Jewish World Service, Hunger, Poverty, Judaism, Religion News

This year during Shavuot, the Jewish holiday which marks the end of the harvest, I am reminded of my commitment to alleviate hunger.

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Is it Just Corn? Food, Energy and Global Trade

Fabio Parasecoli | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Ethanol. Biofuels, Global Trade, Farming, Food, International Development, Farm Bill, Corn, Food News

This year, thanks to a mild spring, corn farmers are hoping for a bumper crop. The impact of this will be felt around the world. Here's what you need to know.

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Bipartisanship Is Not Always Democratic

Rajiv Narayan | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Farm Bill, 2012 Farm Bill, Agriculture, Farm Bill Politics, Farm Bill Harry Reid, Farm Bill Mitch McConnell, Food Politics, Politics News

Known as the Farm Bill, this legislation is projected to cost a half-trillion dollars over five years. A legislative package so large that it will impact the food process from sowed seed to second serving deserves better than both sides of the aisle.

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SNAP Stories: 'This Was a Lifeline'

Billy Shore | Posted 05.18.2012

Read More: No Kid Hungry, Farm Bill, Food Stamps, Food Assistance Government, Snap Food Poverty, SNAP Program, Snap Poverty, Impact News

Some of the voices least often heard in the corridors of Congress are those of the families who can't afford lobbyists, don't make campaign contributions, but who can bear witness first hand to the life-changing benefits of a food and nutrition assistance program like SNAP.

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This Is Why You're Fat: The 2012 Farm Bill and the Real Obesity Lobby

Suzanne Merkelson | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: U.S. Senate, Farm Bill, Obesity Crisis, 2012 Farm Bill, Lobbying, Obesity, Beverage Industry, Monsanto, Childhood Obesity, Food Industry, Farm Subsidies, Politics News

The food and beverage industry has been relentless in Washington lately, more than doubling their spending in Washington during the past three years, completely outpacing public interest groups looking out for children's health.

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I Call the Vote: A Farm Bill Litmus Test for the Food Movement

Ken Cook | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Healthy Food, Farm Bill, Farm Subsidies, 2012 Farm Bill, Healthy School Lunches, Healthy Eating, Kids Healthy Eating, School Lunches, Healthy Eating Habits, Green News

Is offering a healthy snack the only idea in the farm bill that should matter to the food movement? Of course not.

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Conservation Lessons of the Dust Bowl

Mark Tercek | Posted 05.07.2012

Read More: Green News, Farming, Farm Bill, Sustainable Agriculture, Conservation, Dust Bowl, Mark Tercek, Green News

It marked the peak of the American Dust Bowl, a nine-year period that destroyed farmlands, blackened skies and left millions homeless.

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Protecting Water at the Source

Donald Carr | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Farm Bill, Water Pollution, Water, Big Ag, Conservation, Farm Subsidies, Ethanol, Pollution, Run-Off, Clean Water, Green News

Water is running off poorly managed fields that have been treated with chemical fertilizers and manure is loaded with nitrogen and phosphorus, two potent pollutants that set off a cascade of harmful consequences.

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Meatless Monday: Broccoli and Affordable Health Care

Ellen Kanner | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: Mel Brooks, Patient Protection and Affordable Healh Care Act, Broccoli, Farm Bill, Justice Antonin Scalia, Food, Video, Green News

The government can reward good behavior by subsidizing broccoli, lentils, kale, pumpkin -- all the produce we know we should be eating, rather than subsidizing beef, no one's idea of health food. How the government allocates the funding for our food system is a pivotal issue in the upcoming Farm Bill -- one we should watch.

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Four Ways The Farm Bill Can Make You Crazy

Dan Imhoff | Posted 04.02.2012

Read More: Farming, Sustainable Agriculture, 2012 Farm Bill, Farms, Farm Bill, Agricultural Policy, Agriculture, Food News

A rational, coherent blueprint for a healthy national food supply might be too much to ask. But after years of studying the Farm Bill, I'd be thrilled to see a dent made in four of its most glaring conflicts of purpose.

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The Farm Subsidy Jackpot

Donald Carr | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Agribusiness, Congress, Lottery, Farm Subsidies, Food Stamps, SNAP Program, Farm Bill, Politics News

Would critics of SNAP exhibit the same level of outrage if they learned that several Roby, Texas, cotton farmers shared a $46 million jackpot in 1996 and still receive hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece in federal subsidies for years after?

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Farm Bill 2012 Eyed For Enhancing Conservation -- Of Soil And Farmers' Livelihood

HuffingtonPost.com | Lynne Peeples | Posted 02.28.2012

Read More: Water Quality, Food System, Farm Bill 2012, Farm Bill, Farming, Soil, 2012 Farm Bill, Insurance, Subsidized-Crop-Insurance-Program, Topsoil, Conservation, Usda, Sustainable Farming, Green News

American farmers suffered more crop losses in 2011 than in any other year in recorded history. Total insurance payouts have surpassed $9 billion, and ...

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Has Anyone in Washington Noticed the Price of a Box of Pasta Lately?

Steven Kurlander | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Walmart, Farm Bill, Pasta, Steven Kurlander, Gasoline Prices, Agriculture, Kurlys Kommentary, Obama, Paul Ryan, Agriculture Department, Consumer Price Index, Business News

While most Americans spend about 10% of their family's budget on groceries, about one-third of them actually spend closer to 20%, so large increases in grocery prices means less spending on consumer goods, which account for a great portion of our economic activity.

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Lawmakers Caught In Tricky Situation, Key Group Prepares For The Worst

AP | By MARY CLARE JALONICK | Posted 02.15.2012

Read More: Farm Bill 2012, Farm Bill, Video, Congress, 2012 Election, Tom Vilsack, Pat Roberts, Agriculture, President Obama, George W. Bush, Iowa Caucuses, Elections 2012, Agribusiness, Debbie Stabenow, Senate Agriculture Committee, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Promoting farm subsidies was once a no-brainer for rural members of Congress seeking re-election. This year, it's a bit trickier. As la...

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The Farm Bill Saga Begins (Again): Will Development Be on the Stage, in the Wings or Out of Luck?

Kimberly Ann Elliott | Posted 04.15.2012

Read More: Capitol Hill, Trade, Agriculture, Farm Bill, 2012 Farm Bill, Business News

The budget situation offers opportunities to reform American farm policy to make it more efficient and equitable -- at home and abroad -- but only if the issues are debated fully and openly and with all the stakeholders represented.

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The Farm Bill Is a Climate Bill

Donald Carr | Posted 03.12.2012

Read More: Farm Bill, Crp, Green House Gas Emissions, Lobbyists, Climate Change, Epa, Conservation Reserve Program, Usda, Global Warming, Green News

Climate Change activists should be concerned about proposed cuts to farm bill conservation programs, which would be the carbon emissions equivalent of adding 2 million cars a year to America's roads.

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How Food Politics Can Affect Your Election Choices

Marcus Samuelsson | Posted 02.21.2012

Read More: Elections 2012, Politics, Food, Farm Bill, Farming, Gmos, Marcus Samuelsson, Organic, Food News

Food accessibility, costs, and subsidies will come into sharp focus as Congress looks to cut at least $23 billion in subsidies in the 2012 Farm Bill. While cuts are crucial to stem the growing deficit, many will only hurt the population and can threaten the economy in the long run.

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Farming With The Grain, Or Against It: The 2012 Farm Bill And Climate Change

HuffingtonPost.com | Lynne Peeples | Posted 12.13.2011

Read More: Pesticides, Farm Bill, 2012 Farm Bill, Crop Insurance, Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change, Farm Subsidies, Water Scarcity, Green News

It wasn't a hurricane that devastated Mark Doyle's apples this year. Rather, an unusually cold and wet spring in the Northeast had already done enough...

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Environment At Risk From Anticipated Farm Bill Cuts

HuffingtonPost.com | Lynne Peeples | Posted 12.13.2011

Read More: Water Quality, Farming, Farm Bill, Drought, Super Committee, 2012 Farm Bill, Ecosystem Services, Budget Cuts, Dust Storm, Flood, Conservation, Erosion, Green News

On October 17, a massive dust storm hit Lubbock, Texas, adding to already significant agricultural and environmental devastation across the South this...

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Does The Farm Bill Need A Diet And Make-Over?

HuffingtonPost.com | Lynne Peeples | Posted 12.07.2011

Read More: Farm Bill, Farm Bill 2012, Farming, Video, Food Stamps, School Lunches, Farm Subsidies, Obesity, Snap, Childhood Obesity, Green News

A cartoon consumer appears happy and healthy, eating a meal of fresh carrots, corn and chicken as the calendar cycles through the 1950s, '60s and '70s...

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Betting More Than Just The Farm: Public Health, Environment At Stake In 'Farm Bill'

HuffingtonPost.com | Lynne Peeples | Posted 11.30.2011

Read More: Farm Bill, Farming, Commodities, 2012 Farm Bill, Ecosystem Services, Super Committee, Food Stamps, Conservation, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change, Green News

Some U.S. farmers are paid to leave their land wild; others are compensated when weather devastates their cultivated land. Still others receive money ...

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Back on the Farm

Edward Flattau | Posted 01.28.2012

Read More: Farm Bill, 2012 Farm Bill, Farm, Agriculture, Green News

It is good news that some farmers recently have been able to buy back their acreage from developers as land prices have fallen and crop prices have risen. But this news is not nearly good enough.

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Our Pre-Occupied Food Industry: Can America Become a 'Good Food' Nation?

Paula Daniels | Posted 01.22.2012

Read More: Farm Bill, Genetically Modified Food, Fast Food, Holidays, Organic Food, Los Angeles, Food Industry, Thanksgiving, Impact News

This big price of cheap is a paradox that is familiar to many, but in this season, the nested ironies are worth remembering.

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House Republicans Drive More Nails Into Livestock Rule Coffin

Wenonah Hauter | Posted 01.18.2012

Read More: Usda, Super Committee, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Tom Vilsack, Livestock, Factory Farms, Antitrust, Farm Bill, Barack Obama, Republicans, Food News

While the big news among food activists has been the unsettling possibility that a secret farm bill could be snuck into the super committee's recommendations and passed with no public input, Republicans have furtively dealt a crippling blow to family farmers and consumers.

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Congress Says Pizza and French Fries Are Vegetables!

Rep. Earl Blumenauer | Posted 01.16.2012

Read More: Farm Bill, Food, Childhood Nutrition, 2012 Farm Bill, Nutrition, Earl Blumenauer, Politics News

Like many of you, when I heard that Congress decided that pizza is a vegetable, I thought it had to be a headline from The Onion.

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