The Farm Bill and California food and agriculture

Now is Farm Bill season in Washington D.C. and it is important we all pay attention to the issues under debate. While some may think the Farm Bill is only of interest to farmers in the Midwest and South, who receive the bulk of the federal support, in reality the Farm Bill is vitally important to everyone who cares about food, nutrition, trade, rural development and poverty, and the productivity and competitiveness of American agriculture.

With this broad agenda in mind, the University of California Agricultural Issue Center has prepared a set of Farm Bill briefing papers that are now available on the website http://www.aic.ucdavis.edu/research/farmbill07/farmbill.htm

Links to related material is also available on that site and the overall AIC website provides much useful background on the issues.

This set of material does not advocate policy positions, but provides summary information and data about the Farm Bill issues from a California perspective. You may wish to begin with AIC Farm Bill Brief #1, The Farm Bill and California Food and Agriculture.

http://www.aic.ucdavis.edu/research/farmbill07/AIC_FBIB_1.pdf

Brief #1 provides an overview of key issues in the Farm Bill and a review of the budget situation and implications, including what is at stake for California.

Other briefs currently online cover nutrition, organic food and agriculture, research, and dairy issues. More policy briefs will be added in coming days.

We invite you to take a look at the material available and if you have questions or need more information, please contact us at AIC.

Daniel A. Sumner
Director
University of California
Agricultural Issues Center

agissues@ucdavis.edu
www.aic.ucdavis.edu