The U.S. Farm Bill: What It Is, Why It’s Important

– February 25, 2012 –

WASHINGTON – Ecumenical Advocacy Days is pleased to announce that the U.S. Farm Bill will be the focus for the 2013 Congressional “Ask” that nearly 1,000 EAD advocates will take to Capitol Hill for the Monday Lobby Day of “At God Table: Food Justice for A Healthy World.”

Our nation’s food and farm policies, as embodied in the farm bill, affect people from rural America to inner cities, from our local communities to less industrialized regions around the world. In the current budget climate, the farm bill’s limited resources must be effectively targeted where need is greatest. Programs and policies that alleviate hunger and malnutrition, supports vibrant farms and healthy communities, and protect God’s creation must be prioritized.

Specifically the EAD 2013 Congressional “Ask” for the Monday, April 8, Lobby Day is:

Congress should enact a farm bill this year that alleviates hunger and malnutrition, supports vibrant farms and healthy communities, and protects God’s creation. We urge Congress to support a full, multi-year reauthorization of the farm bill that:

1. Alleviates hunger and malnutrition:

• Protects and strengthens programs that reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the United States.
• Sustains robust emergency international food aid and improves the nutritional quality of food aid.

2. Supports vibrant farms and strong communities:

• Helps beginning farmers and farmers from socially disadvantaged groups start in the business of agriculture.
• Builds local and regional food systems, and the rural communities at their center, in the United States and around the world.

3. Protects God’s creation:

• Strengthens policies and programs that promote conservation of soil and water and protect creation from environmental degradation.

Background

In many ways, the federal programs authorized in the farm bill define our food system. Farm bill anti-hunger programs help millions of Americans living in poverty get enough food to eat, and the Food for Peace program provides emergency food aid to millions of hungry people around the world. Federal farm programs support the farmers who grow our food and the systems that move the food from farms to tables. And farm bill programs promote good soil and water management on working farm- and ranchland and help to retire marginally productive land, as a means to protect resources for future generations.

The most recently passed farm bill is a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress in June 2008. The bill includes 15 different titles covering everything from farm credit to agricultural research to funding for farmers markets.

Funding for the 2008 Farm Bill began to expire on September 30, 2012. At the end of 2012, Congress extended the farm bill until September 30, 2013, but even with this extension a number of programs currently have zero funding. The list of those without funding includes programs that support farmers markets, programs to help beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers get started, and the Conservation Stewardship Program which promotes conservation practices on working farms and ranches. Other farm bill programs, in particular the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP-formerly known as food stamps), are often cited as places to cut during discussions over deficit reduction and balancing the federal budget.

Congress has an opportunity this year to pass a multi-year farm bill that creates a more just food system, reduces hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world, supports vibrant farms and rural communities and encourages farming practices that protect God’s creation.

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For more information, and to read draft copies of the full EAD 2013 Ask and Ask Backgrounder, visit our 2013 Lobby Day Ask page.