Action Alert: Farm Bill - Last Chance for 5 Years to Change Ou Country's Food System

From Slow Food USA:

The Food and Farm Bill is the single most important influence on what we eat and produce in the United States. Whether on the grocery shelf or in the planting row, the Bill touches the lives of every single person in this country. It provides support for families battling hunger, helps communities operate farmers' markets, and unfortunately, subsidizes the production of food that is making us and our planet sick.

Rarely does the everyday person have a chance to affect what goes in the Food and Farm Bill. Right now is our unique opportunity.

Tell the House of Representatives how to make the next Food & Farm Bill good, clean, and fair.

Submit your own comments or copy our message below and paste it into the Comment Box:

Food and Farm Bill Message As the committee considers the 2012 Food and Farm Bill, I urge you to: Support our fight against hunger by maintaining and strengthening critical nutrition programs in this time of unprecedented need. We must not solve our budget problems on the backs of those experiencing food insecurity, including our most vulnerable – our children, the elderly, and the disabled; Provide an even "plowing" field by fully funding programs that support beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, organic farming, regional farm and food economies, and rural development. We need more farmers and ranchers, more sustainable food production, and more economic opportunity in our food system; Support family farmers that really need help, not the biggest farms that don’t: End subsidies (aka direct payments and counter-cyclical commodity programs), and replace them with loophole-free agriculture risk coverage. Additionally, implement a cap on crop insurance premium subsidies; Ensure that limited conservation funding maximizes lasting environmental benefits: Limit funds to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) for animal waste management infrastructure by eliminating the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Livestock Set-aside and protect the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) from disproportionate cuts, and improve it by ranking applications solely on their conservation benefits.

Make your voice heard and weigh in for a good, clean, and fair Food and Farm Bill.

Thank you,

Ed Yowell
on behalf of Slow Food USA Governors Food & Farm Bill Working Group

p.s. This Sunday is our last day to submit! Send your comment today.