Farm Bill Thesis

In the current farm bill, the large amount of subsidies that are going to donuts, breads, high sugar drinks, pasta, and ice cream, to name a few. These products begin as a grain crop and in a main contributor to the obesity problem. The roughly 66% of the country considered obese have stores filled with candy, soda, and and other "sinful sweets". They are made from seven crops (corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum, milk, and meat) that are receiving way too much of the hundreds of billions of dollars allocated for the farm bill. The easier and cheaper it is to produce and sell this crop, the more health insurance increases with obesity. This is rather contradicting and the policymakers and politicians are, in essence, passing the buck of the unhealthy lifestyle they finance to health insurance companies. While that battle goes in a circle, researchers are showing the results of an investment in fruit and vegetables. We need to fully commit to a healthy farm bill that puts a focus on farmers who commit to more fruits and vegetables. Allow these farmers to enter local and regional markets easier and continue to build upon farmer's markets. The growing

With issues like the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico caused by fertilizer runoff along the Mississippi River Basin and the Klamath River Basin that flows into the Pacific Ocean (Faber). Farmers that practice proper farming techniques need to be heavily compensated. It is sad that it is that way, but it needs to be done because the problem continues to grow. There should be programs put in place that are mandatory for all farmers and employees that show the damage, the consequences, and the rewards. They should pay for the certifications, but the money from it goes back into cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico. Farmers should be helped out, that is for sure, but in our country, they are babied and the government enables them to operate in such a