Published in the Yale Law Journal Forum, A Seat at the Table argues that the farm bill is complicit in crises of public health, the environment, and rural decay. Its fractured approach to policy reflects the handiwork of interest groups rather than a coherent strategy to support a thriving and equitable food system. Subsidies flow to the largest farms while raising barriers for new and sustainability-minded entrants. The failure to adequately confront agriculture’s environmental harms is devastating ecosystems, accelerating climate change, and threatening the long-term productivity of the land. This is all to produce the foods that have led consumers to grapple with diet-related epidemics and, for poor consumers, impossible choices between cheap and nutritious foods. The emerging field of food law and policy can help articulate a better vision for Farm Bills through research, critical analysis, and public engagement. As debate around the 2018 Farm Bill begins, new collaboration across leading law school programs is beginning to do just that.
