Farm Bill Frequently Asked Questions "The ELCA and the Farm Bill" Brochure (text) (pdf ) Hunger and the Farm Bill Fact Sheet (text) (pdf ) Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill Statement of Principles Take the Food Stamp Challenge! Join Faith Farm Teams ELCA Advocacy: Farm Bill Home

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Farm Bill?

The Farm Bill is a group of laws that govern our country's agricultural policies. The majority of these laws are revised and reauthorized together approximately every five years in the form of the Farm Bill, which includes laws regulating:

• Farm support
• Food assistance
• Agricultural trade
• Land conservation
• Rural development

The last Farm Bill was passed in 2002 and it expires in 2007. The 110th Congress, with input from the public, must now reexamine these agriculture and food issues.

In 2002, Congress passed the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act (also known as the Farm Bill). The primary framework of the bill was composed of nine titles:

• Commodity programs: payments to farmers for the crops they grow
• Conservation: measures to encourage farmers to protect America’s natural resources
• Trade: regulations that dictate America’s participation in agricrultural trade and food aid for foreign countries in emergencies
• Nutrition programs: important programs like Food Stamps that feed the hungry
• Credit (farm loans): loans for new farmers and ranchers
• Rural development: assistance to rural communities diversifying economic opportunities and strengthening services provided to residents
• Research: studies looking for better crop varieties, new energy sources and maintaining a safe food system
• Forestry: laws regulating the U.S. Forest Service
• Energy: funding for encouraging the production and use of biofuels
• Miscellaneous programs: some of which include community agriculture projects and emergency funds for farmers

This variety of interests is also represented in the 2007 Farm Bill. Past farm bills have linked together a wide range of issues to encourage collaboration between legislators from rural and urban areas.

Congress is currently engaged in a discourse with the public on how an extended or reformed farm bill could address nutrition, farm income, new energy sources, land conservation and protection for poor farmers in developing countries, among other issues.

See the links below to learn more about the 2002 Farm Bill, and proposals to create a new Farm Bill in 2007:

• Farm Bill 2002
• USDA
• Oxfam
• Bread for the World
• Church World Service

->Next: What are subsidies and commodities?

Learn More

Farm Bill Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Farm Bill?
2. What are subsidies and commodities?
3. What solutions does the Farm Bill offer in addressing hunger in this country?
4. How does the Farm Bill address conservation and protection of land?
5. How does U.S. farm policy impact farmers at home and around the globe?
6. What progress has the Farm Bill made in building a stronger rural America?
7. What voice does the Lutheran church lend to discussion and debate about the Farm Bill?

Download "The ELCA and the Farm Bill" Brochure

Hunger and the Farm Bill Fact Sheet (text) (pdf )

Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill Statement of Principles

Get Involved

Join Faith Farm Teams

Join the ELCA Farm Bill online discussion on LutherLink
(If you are not yet a member of LutherLink, you can register here.)

Take the Food Stamp Challenge!

June 2007