Farm Bill Thesis

Why should Americans care about the farm bill? Approximately once every five years, a largely unnoticed but essential piece of legislation, known as the farm bill, needs to be reauthorized by congress. This single piece of legislation has ties to many of our present day issues including childhood obesity and the environment. The farm bill has a long history that dates back to the nineteenth century. In the 1860’s, the federal government promoted western expansion through a series of Homestead Acts where settlers were guaranteed ownership of farmland if they settled, built a home, and made use of the land to grow crops. With this expansion came the need for agricultural education and research to promote new technologies for farming. American

This allows special interest groups to lobby the politicians and get additional measures included in the bill even when it appears positive cuts are being made. An example of this is when proponents of the 2014 farm bill reference traditional commodity subsidies were cut by more than thirty percent while funding for fruits and vegetables and organic programs increased by more than fifty percent. There were cuts to the commodity program, but the only real change was the elimination of direct payments to farmers. The Counter-Cyclical Price program and the Average Crop Revenue Election program were replaced with the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) programs. These programs, which are still subsidies, only apply to commodity crops like wheat, corn, and soybeans while other crops, such as fruits and vegetables, do not have a comparable program. This guarantees profits for the commodity crops and encourages farmers to

For example, the Soviet grain embargo of 1980 caused a major surplus in wheat. This led to the Food and Agricultural Act of 1981 which actually caused more damage with record setting crops in 1982, leading to even more wheat surplus. Subsidies on corn and soybeans are a policy carried over from the beginning of the last century, when farmers were more numerous, crops were more susceptible to failure, and farms were not as profitable. These are the crops used to process cheap foods that are known to be harmful to Americans. In 2018, when the next farm bill is up for discussion, the public must demand more subsidies for specialty crops and less for commodity crops. The farm bill needs to be revamped, preventing the political game of passing legislation that supports special interest groups while harming public health. The American people deserve better.

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Feinberg, Robbie. “Special Interests Heavily Involved in Farm Bill Maneuvering.” Open Secrets.org N.p., 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 July 2015.

Johnson, Renee, and Jim Monke. "What Is the Farm Bill: RS22131." Congressional Research Service: Report (2014): 1-13. GreenFILE. Web. 9 July