FARM BILL UPDATE

The 2013 Farm Bill: What’€™s Next, What’€™s at Stake

TAKE ACTION: Demand a Better Farm Bill! Contact your Representative!
They call it the Farm Bill. But it’€™s really about food. And bad food, mostly, at that. Here’€™s where the 2013 Farm Bill stands, why you should care, and what you can do.
Last week (June 10), the Senate passed its nearly $1 trillion version of the 2013 Farm Bill. This week, House members are slugging it out over some of the 103 amendments to the House version of the bill. If the House is able to pass its version, both versions will go to conference committee, where the House and Senate will have to iron out their differences if Congress is going to pass a five-year Farm Bill this year. Assuming they can (they didn’€™t last year, which forced them to extend portions of the 2008 bill), President Obama could still veto it.
You would think that in a country where climate change is threatening crops, a country whose population is increasingly plagued by skyrocketing obesity rates and chronic illness, a bill about food would look to foster sustainable farming practices that produce healthful, nutritious food. Yet sadly, within those 103 amendments are billions of dollars’€™ worth of tax giveaways, to subsidize the wealthiest farms, that grow the most environmentally destructive conventional and genetically engineered crops, to produce the least healthy processed and factory farm food.
You deserve better. We all deserve better. It’€™s time we demand better.
TAKE ACTION: Demand a Better Farm Bill! Contact your Representative!