Asha McElroy is a Master of Public Health student at The University of Michigan and summer intern with the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic. She is a guest contributor on the blog. In preparation for the 2023 Farm Bill, the House Agriculture Committee is hosting a series of hearings focused on reviewing various titles of the 2018 Farm Bill….
Jean Shen is a law student in the Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog. Exposure to pesticides is an inescapable reality that endangers the health of not only farmworkers, but also their children and families. Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are applied to crops each year in the United States—as…
Two current big ticket legislative bills – the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better – contain numerous provisions funding conservation and climate-related initiatives that would impact programs within the farm bill. These programs include forest management programs, climate adaptation initiatives, and Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) working lands programs. While the infrastructure bill’s overlap with the farm bill’s environmental programs…
Vrushab Gowda is a law student in the Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic and guest contributor on this blog. In a matter of months, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has thrust telehealth into the national limelight. It has proven indispensable in delivering virtual care to patients across the country, particularly in low-resource settings across rural America. In…
Ava Cilia is a law student in the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and guest contributor on this blog. Last week, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The Plan includes historic provisions to address generations of systemic racism and discrimination towards “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers” (SDFRs) by…
Merve Ciplak is a law student at Harvard Law School and former clinical student of the Food Law & Policy Clinic, where she worked on the report linked below. She is guest contributor on this blog. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges in all facets of society. Members of our communities are having a hard time affording, accessing, and purchasing…
Todd Carney is a law student at Harvard Law School and guest contributor on this blog. Many recall the popular ad campaign, “got milk?” but few know the source of these ads. The ads came from “checkoff programs.” Checkoff programs gather money from farmers in a shared industry; and conduct research and advertising to promote that industry. The United States…
Libby Dimenstein is a law student enrolled in the Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic and guest contributor on this blog. After three long days, it finally happened: the major news networks called the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden. Although farmers expressed strong support for Trump in months leading up to the election, perhaps because they feared…
Brianna Johnson-King is a law student enrolled in the Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic and guest contributor on this blog. COVID-19 has disrupted food supply chains, impacting farmers looking for butchers, meat processing facilities shutting down, and consumers concerned with availability and prices of meat at the grocery store. This disruption has led to potentially questionable conduct…
Stephanie Kelemen is a law student enrolled in the Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic and guest contributor on this blog. Buried deep in the 2018 Farm Bill, under the Conservation title, Congress established a peculiar program with $75m of mandatory funding: the Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program. Prior to encountering this Section, I had never…