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The Republican-manufactured budget crisis of this past summer – remember? – resulted in a “solution” that’s hijacking what little representative democratic process we have left. Equally sad is that the so-called supercommittee – charged with creating an outline for reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years – may preclude full discussion of the farm bill.

It’s the farm bill that largely shapes food and agriculture policy, and – though much of it finances good programs – ultimately supports the cynical, profit-at-any-cost food system that drives obesity, astronomical health care costs, ethanol-driven agriculture and more, creating further deficits while punishing the environment.

The farm bill is written every five years. Although the current one doesn’t expire until September, the next one may be all but wrapped up by your first bite of turkey, because the leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees – a group of four, representing Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota and Kansas (do you see a pattern here?) – are working feverishly to draw up a proposal in time to submit it to the supercommittee before the Nov. 23 deadline.

This leaves many advocates and progressives in the world of food, environment, health and poverty in the odd position of trying to influence the group of four’s report to the supercommittee while hoping the process fails. Because if the supercommittee cannot agree on deficit reduction (and it probably won’t, unless stubborn Republicans cave on revenues or Democrats misplace their spines again), we’ll see automatic cuts made to the bloated defense budget that we otherwise would not. (Although the Pentagon’s defenders on the Hill are looking for wiggle room.)