England

I’m in England for a few days, but have a great deal to write about when I get back.  For now though, thought I’d share about other countries’ food systems.  England has been reliant on foreign imports of food just like many Western countries, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in local and organic food [...]

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Proposed Changes for the 2007 Farm Bill

Proposed Changes to Policies in the 2007 Farm Bill and How They Affect Environmental Impacts: Specialty Growers The President of California Citrus Mutual, Joel Nelson, testified for the Senate asking for increased federal support of ‘specialty growers’ (mostly fruits and vegetables), aid in removing foreign barriers to US specialty exports, and increased funding and a [...]

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A Look into the Farm Bill: Organic Subsidies

According to Mark Lipsohn, policy director for the Organic Farming Research Foundation, “Sales of organic food have risen to about $15 billion a year and continue to grow about 20 percent a year.” (1) This remarkable growth is despite having to overcome being a virtually non-subsidized factor in a subsidized-industrial market. Organic farming gets about [...]

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A Look into the 2002 Farm Bill: Conservation Reserve Program

The Conservation Reserve Program Some people counter that the subsidy program, The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), is a balance to the intensive farming that is resultant of direct payments (see my post on direct payments here). CRP pays farmers to not farm some of their land to try to influence market prices, and deal with [...]

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