4 Your Healthy Diet

The farm bill is up for renewal in Congress next year, something that occurs once every five years.

The farm bill is how the federal government sets overall food and agricultural policy for the country. It is not doing a good job for family farmers or consumers. Its promotes a unhealthy diet based on overly processed foods high in sugar (corn) and fats (soy) that leads to major public health problems such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Until recently, the Farm Bill was on the fast track as part of supercommittee process. Agriculture leaders in Congress argued that they better understand the needs of the farming community, so they should take the lead in “making the cuts.”

However, the “deal” that the chairs of the House and Senate Agriculture committees struck led observers to complain that the “secret negotiations” primarily preserved funding for agribusiness, rather than better helping family farmers, including dairy, or promoting a healthier diet.

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