Farm Bill 2012 - an ongoing conversation and resources

The Farm Bill (reauthorization 2012) is as dense as it is important.  Several individuals and organizations have taken the time to make the Bill and the encircling process more digestible for folks who want to know more.  Here below is an in-progress list of information and resources.

If you have a good Farm Bill 2012 resource or question to share, please add it
as a comment/reply below to continue the conversation.
You can also email me directly brooke@farmbasededucation.org.

* New from Community Food Security Coalition: House Ag Committee Passes Farm Bill. On July 12th, on a vote of 35-11, the House Ag Committee passed a Farm Bill. Seven Democrats voted against the bill in opposition to deep cuts to the SNAP program, and four Republicans voted against based on budget concerns and disagreements over the commodity title.  The passage of the House Ag Committee bill is an important step in the moving the Farm Bill process forward before the September 30th expiration of the current law.   The bill included the following in support of Farm to School:  Authority granted to USDA to allow small school districts to source products locally instead of receiving USDA commodities and to establish 10 demonstration programs in larger districts around the country including one military base school.
On June 21, the Senate passed the half-trillion dollar Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act.

July 23, 2012 Chicago Tribune Editorial: Harvest a better farm bill,Congress wrestles with spending cuts

Let's Talk About Food's January Farm Bill Teach In
Keynote presentations were delivered by Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition and public policy expert and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME), an organic farmer who serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and recently proposed several new initiatives for inclusion in the 2012 Farm Bill that promote and protect small farmers (HR 3286 Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act).  Let's Talk About Food produced a Takeaway page from the robust and highly detailed afternoon - a great resource.

The Vermont Farm Bill Nutrition Coalition is a group of Vermont State Agencies
and nonprofits that have come together to create common recommendations for
the 2012 Farm Bill Nutrition Title. The Nutrition Title includes SNAP
(formerly food stamps, called 3SquaresVT in Vermont), The Emergency Food
Assistance Program (TEFAP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), and
USDA Foods (which provides commodities for school meal programs).  Read the recommendations and more about this Coalition. 

NYC Food and Farm Bill Working Group
Here you will find all the information you need to understand the Food and Farm Bills of the past and the current 2012 Food and Farm Bill. Once you know what's going on, check out their Advocacy page to learn more about how you can advocate for the Food and Farm Bill you want. FoodBillNYC Wikipage

Farm Bill Background and Resources from Farm Aid Link

Farm Bill Facts from American Farmland Trust Link

*Mind you, the FBEA is not a political organization.  We won't support one point of view over the other, but we do want to make sure we are all aware of the issues and opportunities.