March 16, 2011 A couple of weeks ago author and publisher Dan Imhoff spoke at the University of Washington about the upcoming Farm Bill. Imhoff had published Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to the Food and Farm Bill in 2007, which is an excellent resource to help anyone understand this complex piece of legislation.

“The evening began with an introductory speech by Branden Born, assistant professor within the College of Built Environments at the UW. In his opening remarks, he told an eager audience that the current food system that exists in the U.S. is “far from perfect.”
It is one that has created issues that, as Born put it, “span the micro to the macro.” It has contributed to a nationwide obesity epidemic, it has made food artificially cheap, it has created food deserts in low-income areas around the country, and it has caused significant environmental degradation to both land and water. Born urged that the question we must all ask ourselves is, “how has this happened?”

The Farm Bill comes up for reauthorization every 5-7 years. This is a good time to become more acquainted with it, understand it, and act on it in a way that is beneficial to the whole.

Here’s an interview with Dan Imhoff, recorded in 2007, about the historical roots and evolution of the Farm Bill:

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