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(Food and) Farm Bill Passes in Senate

Posted on Mon, December 17, 2007 by Slow Food USA
1 Comments | Categories: Farms and Farming, News, Current Events, Policy,

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The Farm Bill passed last week on the Senate floor, with a vote of 79-14. There were some major disappointments, and some modest but important successes. However, no one can argue with the fact that this was a Farm Bill debate unlike any that has come before it. For the first time ever, citizens at large–not just farmers and politicians–saw that this was a piece of legislation that affected their lives.

According to the Washington Post, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), (yes, that is a real name of a real person) the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee, called the bill "truly representative of American agriculture." This may be the case, but probably not exactly in the way he means.

Now, what's left is for the House and Senate to reconcile their two versions of the bill.

For the general overview, read the AP story here.

For Grist's "post-mortem," click here.


Member Comments

From Christopher Cook on Thu, December 20, 2007

There was certainly notable progress in this year’s Farm Bill debates, particularly in the public discourse. However, the subsidy sytem propping up agribusiness and the meat industry creates much of the damage that the bill’s more progressive measures seek to mop up. I’ve written a piece on Grist proposing a post-Farm Bill movement to create progressive urban food bills across the country. Hope you can take a look… http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/12/14/101015/26
–Christopher Cook, Author, Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis



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