Browsing through that great website EarthBeatRadio out of Portland, Oregon, I came across a reference to Dan Imhoff’s book on the upcoming Farm Bill entitled Food Fight: A Citizen’s Guide To The Farm Bill which you can read about here.
I really respect the writer’s assertion that each and every American needs to know and help formulate the details of the Bill, which is renewed every five years.
As Michael Pollan puts it so well in the foreword to the book, “Today, because so few realize that we citizens have a dog in this fight, our legislators feel free to leave the debate over the Farm Bill to the farm states, very often trading their votes on agricultural policy for votes on issues that matter more to their constituents. But nothing could do more to reform America’s food system, and by doing so, improve the condition of America’s environment and public health, than if the rest of us were to weigh in.”
Farm policies ultimately determine the nutrition we receive. Making informed choices at the “pull” end — by demanding grassfed beef above other kinds for instance– and getting involved in “push” factors — like making sure the Farm Bill is environmentally friendly — are the only ways individuals can meaningfully change the way we in the United States look at farming, and determine how the land is used and what practices are in place.