Farm Bill Update
The U.S. farm bill was finally enacted into law on June 18, 2008. After a long process that included passage by both the House and Senate, delay due to a clerical error, veto by President Bush, and votes to override the veto, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 is now law. It expires in FY2012.
Bread for the World members worked long and hard to make the new farm bill more fair to struggling U.S. rural and farm families, people in the United States who are hungry or at risk of hunger, and poor farmers around the world. The final law includes a significant increase – approximately $10.3 billion over 10 years – in U.S. nutrition assistance. Bread for the World members helped bump mandatory funding for the McGovern-Dole international school meals program from $60 million to $84 million.
Unfortunately, the bill maintains the status quo on commodity payments for generally wealthy farmers. It does not set the new direction for agriculture we need, especially in light of the global hunger crisis. However, our efforts changed the public and congressional debate about the farm bill, made nutrition the most critical component of the bill, and highlighted the unfairness of our commodity policies, which had previously passed with little input from anyone outside the Agriculture Committee. Your work made a difference and puts us in a strong position as we continue to work to bring about a more equitable farm bill.
Thank you for your intensive efforts on Seeds of Change, Bread for the World’s 2007 Offering of Letters.
Last farm bill press releases:
