Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

Food Fight! Workshop Packet

What is the Farm Bill?
The Farm Bill is a set of federal laws that establishes the general direction for Americas farm and food
policy. It is called an omnibus bill, which means it covers a broad range of subjects and programs.
Congress writes, debates and passes a new version of the Farm Bill every 5 to 7 years. Some of the
programs in the bill are mandatory they are definitely funded, even if they go over-budget, and
some are discretionary, which means Congress assigns funds to pay for them later (or doesnt). The
discretionary programs are reviewed every year until a new Farm Bill is written.

Farm Bill: History

In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the first farm bill,
called the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, to aid struggling
and increasingly rebellious farmers during the Great Depression.
Farmers were faced at the time with rock bottom prices corn
prices actually hit $0! The government began paying parities,
prices roughly equal to what prices should be during favorable
market times, for storable crops called commodities. Farmers
were also paid not to produce certain crops, or not to raise
livestock. Producers were even paid to plow up already planted
acres of Southern cotton and to slaughter baby pigs in the
Midwest to limit supply and drive up prices.
The first farm bill also addressed national hunger, soil erosion, lack of credit and unfair export practices. Since
then, there have been 16 Farm Bills, each with its own name, which have in one way or another addressed
these issues. Unfortunately, many of these original programs, which were designed to ensure that there was
enough food for all and fair prices for farmers, have been stripped away or replaced with programs which
benefit corporate interests.

Today, instead of programs which stabilize commodity crop prices, the farm bill provides subsidies
which keep prices of unhealthy processed food artificially low.

What It Looks Like Today

1. The current Farm Bill covers 12 categories, or Titles: Commodities, Conservation,
Trade, Nutrition, Credit, Rural Development, Research, Extension, and Related Matters,
Forestry, Energy, Horticulture, Crop Insurance, and Miscellaneous
1
Adapted from California Food and Justice Coalition materials by the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

The Farm Bill keeps prices of commodity crops (corn, soy, wheat, and rice, primarily) artificially low by
paying farmers through subsidy and insurance programs when prices fall, rather than encouraging
price stability through supply management or price floors.
Processing companies benefit from the artificially low prices of these commodity crops. They use
these crops as ingredients to make foods high in fats and sugar.
Fruits, vegetables, and nuts are called "specialty crops". Farmers growing specialty crops are not
eligible to receive subsidies. Grants for fruits & vegetables receive less than 1% of the monetary
amount awarded for subsidies.

Farm Bill Budget Breakdown

1%
5%
6%

Food stamps and

nutrition, $756 billion

9%

Crop Insurance, $89.8

billion
Conservation, $56 billion
Commodity programs, $
44.4 billion
79%

Everything else, $ 8.2

billion

Family Health

30%: Amount of Americas land base

The Farm Bill makes grains (and therefore sugars and fats) super
cheap, but does not provide much support for fresh fruits and
vegetables. These cheap grains, sugars and fats are comparatively
higher in calories and lower in nutritional value than produce.

that is planted with corn.

31 million: Benefits paid to people

on SNAP, about 67% of those eligible.
Thats 39 times the population of Seattle.

2
Adapted from California Food and Justice Coalition materials by the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

Community Health

2.3 million: U.S. households that live more than 1 mile

from a supermarket and dont have a car.

23.5 million: Americans living in food deserts. Thats 39

times the population of Seattle.

1/2: fraction of minority populations born after 2000 that are

Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program "SNAP" (food
stamp) participants who did not
shop at supermarkets purchased
less fresh fruit and vegetables
than those who do shop at
supermarkets.

expected to get early-onset diabetes. The fraction is 1/3 for all

Americans.

Food Safety

1 in 6 people suffer from food-borne illnesses each year in

the U.S. Thats 48 million people.

Mercury, a toxin, has been found in high fructose corn

syrup, which is in products such as soda, cookies, and salad
dressings.

E. coli grows naturally in the

intestines of cows but is usually killed
by stomach acid. In changing cows
diets to corn from grass, E.coli has
learned to survive in acidic stomachs
meaning people who eat corn-fed
beef could get sick or even die.

36 million: pounds of Cargill ground turkey was recalled

in 2011 for salmonella contamination.

USDA MyPlate

Farm Bill Subsidy Plate

Most subsidized
crops get turned
into food we
wouldnt even
recognize, like
syrups, oils, and
starches. So little
of corn grown is
directly edible, like
sweet corn.

Ingredients in POP-TARTS:
enriched flour (wheat...), corn
syrup, high fructose corn
syrup, dextrose, soybean oil,
wheat starch, salt, corn starch,
flavors, soy lecithin

Ingredients in TACO BELLs meat

filling: Beef (36%), water, isolated oat
product, salt, chili pepper, onion
powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat),
soy lecithin, sugar, spices,
maltodextrin, soybean oil

3
Adapted from California Food and Justice Coalition materials by the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

Who decides what goes into a farm bill?

There are several players that affect the outcome of the Farm bill: The House and Senate Agricultural
Committees, the Deficit Commission, large agribusinesses, food processors, other lobby and interest
groups, and you.
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is the chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry
specialty crops
nutrition
biofuels
conservation

Frank Lucas (R-OK) is the chair of the House Committee on Agriculture

wheat
commodity subsidies
crop insurance
anti-agricultural taxes

4
Adapted from California Food and Justice Coalition materials by the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

What happened with the farm bill these last couple years?
2008 Farm Bill expires,
leaving USDA in no-law
limbo-land

September 2012

Senate passes Farm

Bill, House votes its
own bill down

January 2013

June 2013

Congress extends parts of the

expired 2008 Farm Bill as part of
last-minute New Years budget deal,
ignoring reforms achieved in
Senate- and House Agriculture
Committee-passed bills

Congress finally
passes farm bill and
president signs into
law

House passes
nutrition bill with
huge SNAP cuts

July 2013 September 2013

House passes Farm Bill

with no nutrition title

February 2014

Partial extension of
2008 Farm Bill expires

Additional Farm Bill Resources

Community Food Security Coalition: www.foodsecurity.org/
Environmental Working Group: www.ewg.org/farmsubsidies
EWGs farm subsidy database: http://farm.ewg.org/
Farm Bill Titles and programs: www.ers.usda.gov/FarmBill/2008/
Farm Bill 2012: A Grist Special Series: http://grist.org/series/farm-bill-2012/
Food and Water Watch: www.foodandwaterwatch.org
Food Systems Network NYCs series of articles: www.foodsystemsnyc.org/taxonomy/term/324
Health and nutrition: www.mypyramid.gov
IATPs Farm Bill Facebook page: www.facebook.com/UnderstandingTheFarmBill
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: http://sustainableagriculture.net/our-work/fbcampaign/
Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group: The Northeast's Food and Farm Network www.nefood.org
Northwest Farm Bill Action Group: www.nwfoodfight.org
Public Health Law & Policys series of webinars and trainings on food access: www.phlpnet.org
The Color of Food (2011 Applied Research Center): http://arc.org/downloads/food_justice_021611_F.pdf
USDA 2002 v 2008 Farm Bill programs: www.ers.usda.gov/FarmBill/2008/Titles/TitleIVNutrition.htm
USDAs food desert report: www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/AP/AP036/AP036_reportsummary.pdf
WhyHunger: www.whyhunger.org/portfolio?topicId=27
5
Adapted from California Food and Justice Coalition materials by the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group

Agriculture Committee Chairs

Frank Lucas
Stillwater Office
2222 West 12th Street
Stillwater, OK 74074
Phone: (405) 373-1958
Email: https://forms.house.gov/lucas/contact-

Debbie Stabenow
Western Michigan Office
3280 E. Beltline Court NE, Ste 400
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
Phone: (313) 961-4330
Email:

form.shtml

http://stabenow.senate.gov/?p=contact

Agriculture Committee Member from WA

Suzan DelBene
Bothell Office
22121 17th Ave SE, Bldg E, Suite 220
Bothell, WA 98021
Phone: (425) 485-0085

DC Office
318 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6311
Agriculture aide: Ben Barasky
barasky@mail.house.gov

WA Senators
Patty Murray
Seattle Office
915 2nd Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98174
Phone: 1-(866) 481-9186
Email:

Maria Cantwell
Seattle Office
915 Second Avenue Ste 3206
Seattle, WA 98174
Phone: 1-888-648-7328
Email: http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/

http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactMe

WA Congressional Representatives
Jim McDermott (District 7)
Phone: (202) 225-3106
Email:
https://forms.house.gov/mcdermott/webforms/contact.shtml

Adam Smith (District 9)

Phone: (202) 225-8901

Email: http://adamsmith.house.gov/contact/

6
Adapted from California Food and Justice Coalition materials by the Northwest Farm Bill Action Group