Peyton Goodman

FCS 301

Public Policy Assignment

07 November 2020

The Farm Bill originated during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. During this

time farmers were having such a hard time due to the economy. In a four-year span, Congress

had passed to regulate the prices of crops being sold. This can create an equality to the farmers

and the customers. In the 1930s, the prices had dropped a third the price being sold in the 1920s.

The Food Stamp Program was one of the first programs a part of the Farm Bill. There became

more and more permanent changes and enhancements to the Farm Bill within 20 years and it

kept going from there.

The Farm Bill authorizes agriculture and food policy within the US. This bill gets

updated every five years by Congress. The last Farm Bill was signed in December of 2018 by

President Trump and they are starting negotiations on the new Farm bill for 2023. With this bill,

the United States wants to help end food insecurity through educational programs and research.

The Academy is behind this bill, because they want to improve the overall health of Americans.

This bill also makes food affordable and safe to buy.

The Senate Committee that oversees the Farm Bill is the Committee of Agriculture,

Nutrition, and Forestry. The House’s committee is the House Agriculture Committee. These two

committees are to make sure the new amendments to the bill will be beneficial for the masses.

When the last Bill was voted on by the Senate in 2018, the vote was 87 to 13. There were

39 states that voted in favor, two states were against and nine states had a split vote. The House’s
voting outcomes came to 369 to 47. When the first round of voting began, all of the democrats

voted ‘nay.’ (Who Supported). By December, a lot of the voted were changes from ‘nay’ to

‘yeas.’ The Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs regulates the Farm Bill practices. This

agency falls under the USDA which is also under the Farm Service Agency. They can provide

price support and they monitor and implement the major portions of the Farm Bill.

The Farm Bill works to create food security for people, so having SNAP a part of the bill

can promote the states to have better nutrition education and more food available. Since the Farm

Bill is administered on a federal level, this can give the states a proper resources and tools to

implement this bill at the local level. SNAP is not run federally; it is run through each individual

state. SNAP’s goals are to end hunger across the US and provide families that are

undernourished with nutrition support. The Farm Bill provides funding to the Farmer’s Market,

so SNAP members can use their benefits at the Farmer’s Market. This can create such a wide

opening of fresh produce for families. Farmer’s Markets can offer so many different varieties of

fresh foods that a commercial grocery store cannot. (How the). The Farm Bill has provided the

states and local levels with so many benefits to provide to Americans. The Farm Bill also

provides a few loans and grants to businesses, foundations, and other institutions. They can

provide more local food access to people through the ability of these funds. Also, under the Farm

Bill, they have funding and developments to help rural areas grow in nutrition education and

food security. Through the Farm Bill, the government wants to help the rural areas that these

farms are in to prosper and grow. (How the). They have also provided nutrition education

programs and resources to every land grant college in the US. They not only help develop

education, but physical areas. This bill is incredibly important to keep not only for farmers and

those in food insecure areas.

 This bill impacts us as Dietitians and Nutritionists, in ways that this bill is increasing

advocacy for food security and promoting fruit and vegetable consumption along with providing

nutrition education across the nation. Dietitians and nutritionists also work for the SNAP

programs in all states and the Academy has taken the stance to ask Congress to fully fund the

SNAP program and all of the amenities it has to offer to the members. This bill can and has

affected its clients by providing low income families with food stability and opportunities to find

produce and other foods at the Farmer’s Markets. They have made this bill a resource to over a

billion people and it keeps getting updated for more and better resources every tie it gets

approved. This bill also impacts the general public by maintaining crops for everyone to buy at a

regulated price. The Farm Bill is not only signed and approved for the wellbeing of the farmers

or dietitians or SNAP members. The Farm Bill act keeps an even playing field among all

Americans buying these crops grown by the hard-working farmers.

The Academy is in favor of the Senate Farm Bill and wants approved in 2023; however,

the academy does not agree and approve of the House Farm Bill, H.R. 2. The Academy’s stance

on the House’s portion of the Farm Bill is that they have made too many changes to the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and not for the betterment of these families that are

in critical need of food assistance. “Access to enough food for an active, healthy life is a basic

human need and a fundamental right.” (Position of, pg. 1991). This Farm Bill has so many great

features for people to use. Any negative changes to the Farm Bill can greatly impact these

critically food insecure families that need the assistance.

I am personally in favor of the Farm Bill. I am from a farming family, so that has

definitely played a role in my family for a long time. I think it can offer so many great resources

for people who may not know much or want to expand their knowledge on nutrition. The
economy is never perfect, but the Farm Bill can create a consistency of crop prices. I think the

Farm Bill has provided such good resources and programs to critically in-need families. There is

so much support that is given to the SNAP program. I think the federal government did the right

thing by letting the states decide how they would use and administer the SNAP program. I think

the section about rural development can be enhanced and put more stress onto it. There is so

much more work and development that can be done in rural areas. These farming areas, at least

the ones I have visited, are relatively small and can be outdated. These don’t have much to them

and there can be miles in between neighbors or to the closest store. I understand and recognize

that these places are like this for a reason; however, the older, outdated buildings can be

renovated and become so much more modernized.

There is so much the Farm Bill offers whether it be support to low income families, rural

area development, different loans and grants, etc. The House and Senate have both worked so

hard to develop and continually update this Bill every five years. This bill is supported by so

many people, especially the Academy is in support of this bill and wants to keep this bill going. I

also think it’s important that there is so much information to be found about the Farm Bill and

the agencies and politicians who back it.

 References

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Priorities for the 2018 Farm Bill: Promoting Healthy People,

Healthful Food Systems and a Strong Economy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2020,

from https://www.eatrightpro.org/-/media/eatrightpro-files/advocacy/health-food-systems-

and-access/hunger-and-food-security/farmbill2018fullreport.pdf?

la=en&hash=44AD308AC41AAE39224405C12206961285A77161

Academy Priorities for the 2018 Farm Bill. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2020, from

https://www.eatrightpro.org/advocacy/legislation/all-legislation/farm-bill

Heiligenstein, M., Nilsson, J., Hendricks, N., & Brownfield, T. (2016, May 11). A Brief History

of the Farm Bill. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2014/04/a-brief-history-of-the-farm-bill/

Nutrition Education Programs Are Vital to the Farm Bill. (n.d.). Retrieved November 11, 2020,

from https://www.eatrightpro.org/-/media/eatrightpro-files/advocacy/health-food-systems-

and-access/hunger-and-food-security/farmbillnutritioneducationprograms.pdf?

la=en&hash=BFD80BF791709AD33ADC21A712B513A4941D0A4B

Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Food Insecurity in the United States. (n.d.).

Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(17)31618-

0/pdf

Smithaa02. (2018, October 03). THE FARM BILL. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from

https://healthyfoodpolicyproject.org/key-issues/farm-bill
Who Supported the Farm Bill? (2018, December 19). Retrieved November 11, 2020, from

https://www.fb.org/market-intel/who-supported-the-farm-bill