USDA

The Farm Bill: Not Just for Farmers

Author
BRAD REDLIN
Director, Agriculture Program, Izaak Walton League of America
the farm bill.jpg
The entire area of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, totals nearly 2.3 billion acres. Land used for agricultural purposes constitutes a 52 percent majority of that total. That is reason enough why the federal Farm Bill, as much as any other single piece of legislation, has a direct impact on each of us. In determining how the majority of our land is managed, the Farm Bill further determines the predominate products and ultimate sustainability of our food system.

The Farm Bill-debated and re-authorized about every five

Footnotes/Endnotes

on the web!

USDA-Economic Research Service, Farm Bill issues,
ers.usda.gov/Features/FarmBill2007

USDA-Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets-Minnesota,
ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/MN.htm

USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service Minnesota Statistics, nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Minnesota/index.asp

Sustainable Agriculture Coalition,
sustainableagriculturecoalition.orgĀ 

READ UP!

The 2007 Farm Bill: Stewardship, Prosperity, and Fairness, by Izaak Walton League of America,
iwla.org/publications/agriculture
/Farm_Bill_2007_WEB.pdf

Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, by Daniel Imhoff, Watershed Media, 2007.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, Penguin, 2006.

act locally!

Participate in Community SupportedĀ Agriculture,
landstewardshipproject.org/csa.html

The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA),
misa.umn.edu/home.html

Participate in local working groups,
mn.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/lwg.html

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