Allen Hance, Farm and Food Policy Project, and the 2007 Farm Bill

Allen Hance is Senior Policy Analyst and Director for the Agriculture and Food Policy Program, Northeast-Midwest Institute and project coordinator for the Farm and Food Policy Project, a national alliance of anti-hunger, conservation, rural development, and family farm organizations which seeks a more sustainable agriculture and food system for the United States. The following interview followed less than a week after the House approved the 2007 Farm Bill (231-to-191). The US Senate is expected to take it up in September, where Hance expects more fireworks. The interview transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity. The interview aired on on my program, the V1047 Sunday Morning Magazine on WNSV-FM, Nashville, IL, August 5, 2007.

Q: What are the most controversial provisions of the farm bill as things stand now?

A: This has been a very different farm bill. I think what we've seen is that there is an unprecedented level of public interest in the 2007 Farm Bill. There has certainly been a great deal of attention focused on the so-called commodity programs, the farm subsidy programs that support a subset of crops that are grown in the United States, corn, soybeans, cotton, rice, wheat and a couple others that are the main so-called program crops. And there's been a great deal of attention on the degree to which those crops, which are grown principally in the Midwest down into the Southeast, are subsidized as opposed to other sectors of agriculture. And on the more positive side there's been a great deal of focus on the other component of the farm bill. The reality is that the farm bill is a huge, omnibus piece of legislation that embraces a whole lot more than farm programs.

Q: Focusing on your area of interest, what kind of things might be reflected in the farm bill?