Margaret Reeves's blog

Last month, the House passed a Farm Bill stripped of the program that provides assistance for those who can't afford food. But this country needs a fair food and farm policy, for everyone. And we need it now.

As legislators are wrestling with how to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill, PAN joins more than 300 organizations around the country calling on Congress to pass a full and fair Farm Bill — before the old one expires on September 30.

Today farmworkers from across the country are showing up on Capitol Hill to demand rules that protect them and their families from harmful pesticides. We urge leaders in Washington to listen carefully — and then do the right thing.

EPA has been promising to strengthen existing rules for the past 13 years, but the reality in the fields remains the same: farmworkers regularly face harmful exposures to pesticides. An estimated 10,000-20,000 are poisoned each year, and countless more suffer long term health harms. With today's fly-in, more than a dozen farmworkers from several states will put faces and stories to these numbers for lawmakers, and deliver a simple message: Enough is enough.

Here we go again. After the 2012 fiasco in which Congress failed to pass a Farm Bill at the 11th hour, the Senate rallied early this month to pass its version of the national food and farming legislation — which is up for debate and renewal every five years.

Ten days later, the Farm Bill died again when the House failed to pass its own version of the 2013 bill. It’s not clear exactly what’s up next. But we're rolling up our sleeves — again — to press for the best legislation possible, and we fully hope and expect that Congress will pass a Farm Bill this year. 

News about Farm Bill deliberations can feel wonky and distant, but the debates and decisions lawmakers are making right now on Capitol Hill matter — a lot.

The House is voting this week on the Farm Bill. Today, they are debating amendments that have made it through the first round. Your representative needs to know that you support key conservation programs, including coordinated federal action on the dramatic honey bee declines reported by beekeepers across the country. Please pick up the phone and call today — you'll find talking points and a phone number below. It's easy, and it will make a difference.

I am neither a farmer nor an octogenarian, yet images of the disastrous U.S. dust bowl of the 1930s are forever etched in my memory. What I am is a mom, who is well aware of how children's health is linked to the food our kids eat — in all kinds of ways. And these two things are are inextricably linked through our food system, and the policies that shape it.

How farmers treat the soil and how they grow and market our food determines, in the big picture, the health of our children. The choices farmers have and the decisions they make are strongly influenced by government policies — policies that are being crafted this week as the Farm Bill moves forward on Capitol Hill.