What a Split Congress Means for the Farm Bill

Robert Velazquez is a law student at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and a guest contributor to this blog. Between the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate there are 535 voting members who determine the future and scope of a farm bill. Zippy Duvall, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), recently remarked at the…

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Senate Agriculture Committee Addresses Conservation and Forestry Concerns

Codi Coulter is a law student at Maryland Carey School of Law and guest contributor on this blog. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing March 1 to discuss the 2023 Farm Bill’s conservation and forestry titles. Because agricultural production practices are not one-size-fits-all throughout the United States, a broad theme in the hearing revolved around…

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Debriefing the February 16 Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing

Alyssa Huang is a law student in the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog. On February 16, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing to talk about Nutrition Programs in the Farm Bill. The committee invited two witnesses—Stacy Dean, the Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at…

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Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing Emphasizes Fair Competition

Emily Hatch is a law student in the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog. On February 9, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry hosted its second hearing on the 2023 Farm Bill, which focused on commodity programs, crop insurance, and credit. In her opening remarks, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow highlighted the fact that…

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SNAP Modernization: Expand Online Shopping and Delivery for Greater Food Access

Codi Coulter is a law student at Maryland Carey School of Law and guest contributor on this blog. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 13.5 million U.S. households faced food insecurity at some point in 2021. Households with children, single households, people of color, and low-income households, as well as households in cities, experienced higher rates of food…

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Senate Hearing Highlights Opportunities to Support Specialty Crops

Naima Drecker-Waxman is a law student in the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog. At the beginning of the month, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry held its first Farm Bill hearing of the 118th Congress. The hearing covered the trade and horticulture titles of the Farm Bill. Three experts testified: Alexis…

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Debriefing the 2023 Food Not Feed Summit

Alyssa Huang is a law student in the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog. This past week students and instructors from Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the Food Not Feed Summit. The Summit was hosted by a growing coalition of organizations across a wide range…

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USDA Can Promote Equity In Our Food System Through Worker-Owned Cooperatives In The Next Farm Bill

Liz Turner is a law student in the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog. America’s farmworkers are a uniquely vulnerable group of workers. Farm labor is exempted from many federal protections, including the right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), many workplace safety regulations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act…

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Agriculture Subsidies: Unlikely Allies

Valerie Marshall is a law student at Duke University School of Law and guest contributor on this blog. One of FBLE’s recommendations for the 2023 Farm Bill is to reform commodity programs to direct subsidies towards farmers in genuine need of support. Farm commodity programs support farmers who produce certain crops by subsidizing guaranteed income levels in the face of…

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