Posts Tagged: rural

Rural Revitalization Revelation!

Iowa celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a unique speech by Senator Bernie Sanders and Iowan farmers who called for an agricultural and rural transformation. “This is a game changer, a key paradigm change for the Farm and Food Movement and beyond,” said Presbyterian Iowa farmer, Brad Wilson. The Des Moines Register article led with: U.S…. Read more »

Farm Bill Debate Renews!

Steph Larsen leading a workshop

Photo credit: Shawn Poynter

Steph Larsen is on staff at the Center for Rural Affairs. Here she is leading a workshop at the National Rural Assembly in St. Paul, MN

     “Under current law, if one big corporation farmed the entire country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would pay 60 percent of its insurance premiums on every acre.”

Sounds crazy, right? Yet this is reality and illustrates the way our food and farm policies give a hand up to the largest farms, while small-scale family farmers are largely neglected.  The article below (excerpted) from our partner, Center for Rural Affairs, points to the kinds of changes needed in the 2012 Farm Bill (yes, it should be called the Food and Farm Bill). Read what is important to our neighbors in rural areas of the country.

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