Ken Cook's keynote talk on organic farming, big agriculture, and the federal farm bill at The Organic Center's 2011 Gala in Anaheim, CA.

Ken Cook's keynote talk on organic farming, big agriculture, and the federal farm bill at The Organic Center's 2011 Gala in Anaheim, CA.

For too long, funding provided by the United States’ most far-reaching food and farm legislation -- the farm bill -- has primarily benefited agri-business and industrial-scale commodity farms that aren’t growing food. 

The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D  reported this morning that Sens. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.) are making legislative efforts to curb government subsidies distributed inequitably to highly profitable mega farms. An excerpt: Sen. Tim Johnson’s bill to limit federal farm subsidy payments might be the prelude to a far more ambitious effort to impose similar caps on the popular federal crop and revenue insurance programs.

Yesterday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, proposed to cut $30 billion from federal farm subsidy programs, targeting the discredited direct payment program that sends checks out every year regardless of need.

Critics of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (previously known as food stamps) have been using recent news stories of lottery winners getting SNAP benefits to demonize the program, despite its very low instance of fraud. These attacks come when more than 40 million Americans – half of them children – rely on food stamps to get through a brutal recession.

At today’s hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee, devoted to Healthy Food Initiatives, Local Production, and Nutrition, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) said: "Whether a Kansas farmer is growing wheat that will be made into bread in a Kansas bakery, or selling Georgia peaches to schools through a food hub in Atlanta, local food systems mean a win-win for agriculture and the local economy."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting slightly higher per capita consumption of fruits, vegetables and nuts over the next 10 years, according to the produce industry publication The Packer. Every little bit counts, and there’s no question that the way toward a healthier nation is for everyone – but especially kids – to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

The New York Times has asked Craig Cox, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group, to weigh in on agriculture policy in its Room for Debate series.  The topic:  Farm Bill, Beyond the Farm.  The Times asks: The farm bill, being debated in the Senate this month, is felt far beyond the cornfields of Iowa. It’s about what we grow, but it’s also about what we eat and how we live. On the potato chip aisle, Americans are seeing the farm bill’s market pressures.