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The Farm Bill, The Food System, and What You Can Do To Make It Better
November 21, 2007
Introduction to the 2007 Farm Bill:  Where it Stands, or Sits, Now
Guest Blog by Jessie Woletz

Psst.  Did you hear?  There is, or recently was, a big important discussion going on in the Senate and House of Representatives.  The decisions they make will greatly determine the direction of the nation’s food system for the next 5 years.  The 2007 Farm Bill, just last week, was being hashed out on the Senate floor.  Unfortunately, the Farm Bill discussions are stalled for now because of what is being called a “showdown” between Republicans and Democrats. 

A motion was filed by Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) on Wednesday to force a cloture vote Friday.  Cloture is a procedural measure that would force a vote on the bill, which made sense to Reid given the limited timeframe to pass the new Farm Bill before the new year.  Reid said, “If cloture is approved Friday, the Senate will have time to approve its version of the farm bill and then work together with the U.S. House of Representatives to form a unified piece of legislation before the end of the year”. (Farm Policy, Nov.14th)


Though all 51 Democratic Senators voted in favor of the measure, only four Republican senators did - Grassley, Thune, Smith and Coleman – leaving them 5 votes shy of the 60 votes required for cloture. As Agriculture Chairman Harkin (D-IA) suggested on Friday morning (11/16/07) on the Senate floor, the Bush administration may be pressuring Republican senators to stall the bill, “killing” it before it reaches the president’s desk, where he would likely make the politically unpopular move of vetoing the bill himself. With a good proportion of potential swing states in farm country, it may be that a Farm Bill veto would damage the Republican Party’s chances of winning a presidential election next year.  (Taken directly from the Community Food Security Coalition Farm Bill Update)

If and when a bi-partisan bill is passed in the Senate, the Farm Bill would then move to the House/Senate Farm Bill Conference Committee, where the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill would be consolidated.  Now that the bill has been stalled in the Senate, it is unclear when it will be discussed again.  It may be brought up after the Thanksgiving holiday and before winter recess, so between Dec 3rd and 17th.  There is a chance that if the new Farm Bill is not discussed then, that the old Farm Bill would be extended.  This is unfortunate because even though the House version of the new Farm Bill is not great, it still has some new money for programs that we need right now!  The one good thing about the stalling is that this gives us more time to make our voices heard, to let our Senators know what we want in the Farm Bill, and to urge them to move forward with consideration of the Farm Bill with full and fair consideration of relevant amendments.  

So, if you or people you know live in a state with Republican Senators, they especially need to hear from you to know that you want this Farm Bill to move along.  For those of us in states with Democratic states, we can continue to contact our Senators and encourage friends and family to do the same.  (Details on that are in the next section.)

To find out how your Senators voted on cloture, you can go here:  http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00412#name .  A yes vote means they wanted to consider relevant amendments to the Farm Bill immediately, which would have been a good thing to keep the bill moving along.

In summary, although most would agree the Farm Bill is not the most fun topic of all, its significance to our food system is huge and it worthy of our attention.  286 billion dollars are at stake that can either be better directed towards a healthy & sustainable food future for us all, or they can continue to be unfairly distributed to commodity crops that currently dominate American’s consumption.  Knowing the huge impact the Farm Bill has on the way we eat and the way our economy is structured can be haunting at times, but the potential for positive change is great if we can pull together to let government officials know what kind of food system WE want.

Take Action Now – Encourage Your Senators to Move the Farm Bill Along and Support the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment

So, before I go any further, here is a reminder of what you can do RIGHT NOW to help to direct the Farm Bill in a positive direction for consumers and growers.  You can use this extra time to get in touch with your Senators.  If you are in California, please pick up your phone to call (or you can fax) Senators Dianne Feinstein (Phone: 202-224-3841 or Fax: 202-228-3954) and Barbara Boxer (Phone: 202-224-3553 or Fax: 202-228-2382).  If you are in another state, you can call the Capitol Switchboard to be connected to your Senator:  202-224-3121.  Or, you can look up their contact information here:  http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.  

All of our Senators need to hear from their constituents – YOU!  Specifically, they need to hear that we want the Farm Bill to keep moving, and we want them to support the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment, which is the main hope right now to fix the bill that has been proposed thus far.  Per the California Coalition for Food & Farming’s (CCFF) and California Food & Justice Coalition’s (CFJC) action alerts, the Dorgan-Grassley Payment Limits Amendment “would limit payments to $250K/year, close loop holes that allow corporations to receive mega-payments, and direct $1.15 billion in savings and conservation, beginning farmer, rural development, and nutrition programs – including $50 million for Community Food Projects from 2012-2017, making the future of this important program much more secure.”  

You can call and simply say, “Hi, my name is your name here and I am calling from your city here to urge the Senator to support the Dorgan-Grassley Amendment in the Farm Bill,” or you can add to that message to express your specific interests in Farm Bill reform.  A Call Script and Sample letter are at http://www.foodsecurity.org/california/Farm_Bill.html .  As of yesterday, things in the Senate were still delayed.  So there is still time to contact Boxer and Feinstein, but NOW is the time to do it.  

While You’re At It – Contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi

After contacting your Senators, I strongly encourage you to get in touch with Speaker Nancy Pelosi via phone, fax, or email for the House/Senate Conference (which will happen when, and if, the bill moves past the Senate).  She will have an influence on the outcome of the conference, and it is important the she knows what our interests are.  Per recommendations from Heather Fenney at CFJC, it would be helpful for Pelosi to do the following:

1.    Preserve the strongest small farm, organic, local food, anti-hunger provisions in the House and Senate bills during the conference committee.
2.    Listen to the call from concerned consumers and responsible farmers and support bold reform of the commodity programs.

You can call her office at (202) 225-0100.  Additionally, if you are in the 8th District of California, you can use this form to contact her http://www.house.gov/pelosi/contact/contact.html or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Outside of the 8th District of California, you can  email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Get Friends and Family Involved Too!

What else, after calling your Senators and contacting Speaker Pelosi, can you do to help?   First of all, you can continue to contact them to try and build a relationship with their office.  Additionally, you can make it an ongoing project to encourage friends and family to get involved!  (Fun!)  Tell them how quick and easy it can be to take action while providing them with resources to learn more if they’d like.  (Send them this blog!)

Why Farm Bill Reform is Vital for California

Per Carolyn Lochhead’s article, Federal bill helps huge farmers, not California’s innovative ones, at SFGate.com:

“In the upside-down world of farm programs, California produces twice as much food as any other state, but mostly without crop subsidies because fruits, nuts and vegetables are ineligible.”

So, California is the nation’s biggest farm state, but because much of what is grown here is in the realm of specialty crops, these farmers do not receive a fair amount of federal subsidies.  Commodity crops such as corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans, oats, dairy, sugar, wool, and peanuts have been subsidized or protected by the government since the 1930s to shelter them from risk, but it has gone way too far.  One breakthrough in the House Farm Bill is that specialty crop growers got $1.6 billion and increases in fruit and vegetable spending in food stamps and school lunches, but it is shared across the US and remains a small amount compared to the other crop spending, especially considering CA’s $32 billion in agricultural sales.  (Thank you to Carolyn for consolidating this information.)  The hope is that the more California’s government representatives hear from us about what we need to make our local food systems sustainable, the better they can represent our concerns when it comes time to vote on what’s in the bill.

One More Word of Encouragement To Speak Out About the Farm Bill

Community food security, food access, nutrition, local food system, family farming, organic, and sustainable agriculture interests; and the general concerned public rallied around this Farm Bill more than ever before.  Still the version that was passed in the House this summer failed to have real reform, and now the bill is stalled due to partisan politics.

It is essential that we all remain empowered around this issue, not giving into discouragement of the process.  It is imperative that we let government officials know, in whatever way possible, what kind of food system we want (it will eventually sink in) because they are making the decisions as to where the money goes.  The key is to not get overwhelmed to the point of inaction.  Instead, we can focus on the things we CAN do: learn about the Farm Bill using the following resources, call our Senators NOW, and spread the word to everyone we know!  

Resources for Further Farm Bill Involvement (References)

Blogs and Action Alerts:
Farm Policy, to read a play by play of what is happening with the Farm Bill:  http://www.farmpolicy.com/

California Food and Justice Coalition, a project of the Community Food Security Coalition:  http://www.foodsecurity.org/california/index.html

California Coalition for Food and Farming, whose main campaign this year was to promote Farm Bill Reform:  http://www.calfoodandfarming.org/

Organic Farming Research Foundation, Organic Farmers Action Network Alerts:  http://ofrf.org/action/action.html

Center for Rural Affairs:  http://www.cfra.org/

Recent Articles:

Republican Filibuster Stalls Farm Bill, Associated Press by Mary Clare Jalonick (11/16/07):  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/14/national/w113236S91.DTL&feed=rss.news

Farm Bill May Be Delayed Until 2009, Washington Post by Mary Clare Jalonick (11/15/07):  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/15/AR2007111501236.html

Jessie Woletz is a San Francisco resident who works at Earth Share of California  (www.earthshareca.org), a nonprofit that helps to raise money for over 80 environmental organizations through workplace giving.  She survives living in the city by volunteering at the Alemany Farm (www.alemanyfarm.org) – a 4 ½ acre community-run farm in the middle of SF.  She invites you to come out to play and work at the farm’s volunteer days on the 1st & 3rd Sundays of the month or the Saturdays in between, to help grow food and community.  Jessie invites you to email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you’d like to receive Farm Bill Updates, stay involved in efforts for food system reform, and, if you live in the Bay Area, to hear about local food & farming events.
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