Fussing over the Farm Bill

November 9, 2007

Today’s New York Times has a story on little known provisions of the Farm Bill that benefit old barns, artisanal cheese makers, and asparagus and peanut growers. Personally, I am in favor of doing anything to promote artisanal cheese and asparagus but I doubt these provisions will survive. I have to say that the Farm Bill leaves me paralyzed. For starters, it’s 1360 pages. And finding it is not all that easy. Start by going to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (an odd combination, no?). If you click on “2007 Farm Bill Updates and Info,” you get summaries. For the real thing, click on “Final Committee Reports and Documents,” and then on “Final Reported Farm Bill.” Wait patiently until it downloads and see what you can make of it. This would be funny if it didn’t matter so much.


4 Comments

  1. 1360 pages!! How much you want to bet not a single elected official will read the whole thing and make a list of detailed questions to ponder/discuss/debate prior to voting for the thing?

    Comment by Sheila — November 11, 2007 @ 3:34 pm

  2. Interesting chart on subsidies vs government dietary recommendations:

    http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm07autumn/health_pork.html

    Comment by Nic — November 15, 2007 @ 5:40 pm

  3. […] a break so he won’t have to veto it, which is what he said he would do. As I suggested in my last post on the topic, the Bill is hopeless to understand: 1360 pages, 17 of them just for the Table of Contents. They […]

    Pingback by What to Eat » The Farm Bill: Will the Saga Never End? — November 17, 2007 @ 12:54 pm

  4. Try using thomas.gov and searching for bill number 2419. The display that pops up should be easier to navigate.

    Comment by dwigans — January 9, 2008 @ 3:31 pm

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