Action Alert: Contact Your Senator on the Farm Bill!

From the Center for Science in the Public Interest:

An important law determining what America eats is about to be voted on in the U.S. Senate.  

The Senate Agriculture Committee has passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill, and it will be debated on the Senate floor any day now.

As it's now written, this bill will continue to give away billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies each year to the largest farm operations, while cutting food assistance and drastically underfunding programs that invest in local, organic, and healthy food.

Now for the good news:

When the bill comes to the Senate floor, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) will introduce an amendment that would cut wasteful and inequitable crop insurance subsidies to insurance companies and use that money to restore funding for SNAP and expand the fruit and vegetable snack program in schools by more than 30% a year. That would allow hundreds of thousands of low-income kids to have access to healthy snacks throughout the school year.

But all that will only happen if your senators hear from you. If you want a Farm Bill that supports healthy food, click here to take action right away – before the Senate votes. Tell your senators to support Sen. Gillibrand’s healthy food amendment.

70  leading food leaders, chefs, health professionals, food justice advocates and organizations  have  come together to sign a letter  urging the Senate to redirect a portion of crop insurance subsidies into programs that support healthy diets. Signers include Wendell Berry, Mario Batali, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, and Alice Waters—and me.

Please stand with these visionary leaders and help get the Farm Bill on the right track by clicking here.

Sincerely,
Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest