Saturday, November 6, 2010

Understanding the Farm Bill: A Citizen's Guide to a Better Food System


The support for local farmers, fresh and healthy food, gardening, and farmers markets has reached new levels of enthusiasm. That enthusiasm for a new food system, however, has yet to be translated into new food policy.

All of us have seen the impacts of bad food and agriculture policy. From low prices in the early 2000s that drove huge numbers of farmers out of business, to the price spike in 2008 that led to food riots in parts of the world, to the continued problem in many communities of poor access to healthy foods, to the epidemic of childhood obesity, poor choices in Washington, DC hurt real people.

The most important piece of legislation is the federal farm bill, which is expected to be reauthorized in 2012. Yet in order to improve this legislation, we need to better understand the legislation and how policy is made.

The Facebook page is the joint creation of Mark Muller (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)) and Lee Zukor (Simple, Good, and Tasty (SGT)). The purpose of this page is not to tell visitors what to think about various policy proposals or send out calls to action, but to help demystify the process.

The page is intended to be collaborative and we welcome your input. Please post your own thoughts, views, websites, articles, photos, and videos.



Website:




http://www.iatp.org
http://simplegoodandtasty.com
http://www.foodandsocietyfellows.org

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