The 2018 Farm Bill is a crisis of democracy

[Achilleaze]

From The Hill:

"The social contract between our government and its people is hanging on by a thread. If the 2018 Farm Bill is any indication of the strength of that last thread, we are in trouble.

"With its origins in the New Deal, the Farm Bill’s original three goals were to keep food prices fair for both farmers and consumers, ensure an adequate food supply and protect and sustain the country’s natural resources. The current iteration seeks to dramatically increase food insecurity by weakening SNAP, a proven nutritional lifeline, harming working families and slashing support for small scale and sustainable farmers..."

"...Why does this matter? The Farm Bill no longer sits on a three-legged stool of just economic, nutrition and environmental policies. Instead it props up false solutions to hunger by supporting the overproduction of commodities and intensive pesticide use while causing climate change and illustrating the insidious reach of corporate influence on our policymakers..."

http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/398132-the-2018-farm-bill-is-a-crisis-of-democracy

[underpants]

1. Only 34? I didn't know that.

Let’s look at the numbers. Even as unemployment has decreased to a remarkably low 3.8 percent, the percentage of households that face food insecurity has stayed at around 12 percent over the past three decades. Additionally, today fewer than 2 percent of Americans are farmers and only 34 House districts (out 435) are rural. Meanwhile, agriculture is the second largest contributor to human-made greenhouse gas emissions and is a leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss.