Midterm Election Results: What They Mean for the Farm Bill

Though control of the House is still up in the air and Agriculture Committee Member Raphael Warnock is headed to a December runoff, we now have a reasonable idea of what the 2022 midterms will mean for the 2023 farm bill. Regardless of the outcome of Warnock’s runoff, Democrats will retain control of the Senate, and Senate Agriculture Committee Chair…

Continue Reading

Recent Senate and House Farm Bill Hearings on Arkansas, Nutrition, Climate, Dairy, and Data Regulation

Samantha Fairbanks and Alex Sadzewicz are students at the University of Maryland Francis K. Carey School of Law. Nathan McMullen and Mariah Campbell are students at the University of Maryland College Park. They are all guest contributors to this blog. School may be out for summer, but Congress is busy with hearings related to the 2023 Farm Bill. This post…

Continue Reading

Federal Legislation Directing Funds into USDA Conservation & Climate Initiatives

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…

Continue Reading

Congress Authorizes Commodity Credit Corporation Replenishment

Clara Geffroy is a law student at NYU School of Law and guest contributor on this blog. Congress recently passed a continuing resolution (CR) extending about $1.4 trillion in government funding until December 11, 2020. This comes after a period of conflicting political interests regarding a full replenishment of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), which provides funding to the United…

Continue Reading

Expanding Support for Local and Regional Food Systems in COVID-19 Response

Originally published at the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law & Policy, Food Law & Policy Blog. As the response to coronavirus continues and states increase or extend stay-at-home orders or advisories, the local food system is in a precarious position. The CARES Act stimulus explicitly includes the local food system in a new $9.5 billion disaster relief program. But…

Continue Reading

A Great Tablecloth: Farm Bill Can Help the U.S. Feed More, Faster

For now I ask no more / than the justice of eating.”—from the poem “The Great Tablecloth” by Pablo Neruda The United States plays a key role in the fight against global hunger with its many international food assistance programs under the Farm Bill. The Food for Peace Act, which Congress reauthorizes in the Farm Bill, directs the most prominent…

Continue Reading

Is it time to separate food stamps from the farm bill?

Ms. Gaesser is currently pursuing a master’s degree in agriculture, food, and environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. About every five years, Congress passes an omnibus Farm Bill governing an array of agricultural and food programs. The historically bipartisan process has become more contentious in recent cycles, however, due to an increasingly polarized…

Continue Reading

Congress’s Conference Report Solidifies Farm Bill Support for Major Food Waste Reduction Measures

Cross-posted from the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation Blog.  40 percent of food in the U.S. goes to waste each year, costing billions of dollars, preventing wholesome food from getting to people in need, and causing tremendous ecological harm. The 2018 Farm Bill represents a crucial opportunity to address food waste in a way that benefits farmers, consumers,…

Continue Reading