Farm Bill

On August 2 President Obama signed the Budget Control Act that allows the U.S. to raise the debt limit by $2.1 trillion and starts the process of cutting about $2.1 trillion in spending over the next ten years.

Originally published at The Jew & the Carrot.

Fair Food Network’s Oran Hesterman and Kate Fitzgerald co-hosted Hazon’s first Farm Bill webinar on July 20th. Twenty attendees from Florida to California watched an informative presentation about Farm Bill history, implementation and impact and participated in a question and answer session touching on issues from kashrut to conservation.

Farm Bill hearings have officially begun, and the major themes in both the House and Senate are the same: cut costs, create an effective farm safety net that protects farmers and rural communities, consolidate programs so they deliver better results more efficiently, and root out fraud.

Testimony before the State Board of Food and Agriculture
Regarding 2012 Farm Bill Priorities
June 29, 2011
Sacramento, CA

Good morning Madam Secretary, President McNamara and Members of the Board. Thank you for inviting me here today to share with you the views of Roots of Change regarding priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill.

With the possibility of a federal government shutdown looming in mid-April, attention was riveted on Washington, DC.  There were heated exchanges in what seemed like a different language — what are CHIMPS and “deeming” and budget reconciliation anyway?

Part 1 of a series of blogs based on the book:
Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All.

A Broken Food System

Our food system is failing many of us. Originally designed to produce abundant food at low cost, it now destroys some of what we hold most precious—our environment, our health, and our future.