A vision for the 2007 Farm Bill

Leah Horowitz and Aimee Witteman offer a vision for the 2007 Farm Bill, in one of several nice pieces on food and agriculture policy in a recent edition of Catholic Rural Life:

It’s no wonder that so many activists invest their time and money in the U.S. Farm Bill process. The billions of dollars in expenditures authorized by Congress every five years set the farm, food, and rural policy goals and priorities of this country. We’ve been around the political block– after all, we’ve been interns in Washington. We know about the incrementalism– the making of small changes to the status quo– and the horse trading that are norms in Washington. But we believe that advocates for change are best served by entering the contested sphere with a clearness of purpose and a coherent vision of the food and agriculture system they seek to create....

The way we choose to support our U.S. food and agriculture sector is more than a federal budgetary process. The Farm Bill is a visionary document that represents our commitment to ensuring the ability of producers and consumers to enjoy abundant foods and vibrant landscapes for years to come. As young people just entering the field of food and agriculture policy, we have hope that the next Farm Bill will reflect the ideas presented here of a just and sustainable food system.

Horowitz and Witteman are graduate students at the Friedman School, Tufts University, and took my class in U.S. Food Policy this past Fall.