251154 Political Environment for the Farm Bill Debate

Tuesday, November 1, 2011: 2:30 PM

Nancy Chapman, RD, MPH , Advocates for Better Children's Diets, Washington, DC
     
Every five years, Congress must reauthorize the Farm Bill that embraces crop subsidies, conservation, crop insurance, specialty crop (i.e. fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.) programs, SNAP benefits, research, education, fruit and vegetable distribution programs, and other food related activities administered by the Department of Agriculture. This talk provides a brief overview of the current USDA spending, the severe budget constraints that affect the farm bill debate, and the competing interests and political realities of writing a farm bill. Unlike past farm bill renewals, the health and economic state of the nation and the drive for budget reform will play a much bigger role in guiding policy decisions for the 2012 farm bill. USDA currently allocates almost 80% of expenditures on both mandatory and discretionary nutrition, research and education programs.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Public health or related education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1. Define the discretionary programs as well as the mandatory programs that comprise the farm bill 2. Demonstrate the realities of the current USDA spending and the proposed budgets through 2015 that affect the farm bill debate, and 3. Identify competing interests and political realities of writing a farm bill.

Keywords: Public Health Policy, Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I worked as staff to House Agriculture Committee through two farm bills and have worked on nutrition issues for subsequent farm bills.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: How Does Nutrition Fit into the Farm Bill?
See more of: Food and Nutrition