{"id":22218,"date":"2013-02-01T10:52:33","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T14:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainableagriculture.net\/?p=22218"},"modified":"2014-04-09T11:22:23","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T15:22:23","slug":"alert-where-do-we-go-from-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainableagriculture.net\/blog\/alert-where-do-we-go-from-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Action Alert: Where do we go from here?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This update was sent to supporters on February 1, 2013 – stay tuned for more details and opportunities to take action soon!<\/em><\/p>\n

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We made major progress last year on the food and farm policy front. \u00a0While they weren\u2019t perfect, draft versions of the 2012 Farm Bill in Congress included long-overdue reforms, investments in the future of American agriculture, and support for protecting our natural resources \u2013 thanks to the work of advocates like you.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just one problem \u2013 as you may already know, the 2012 Farm Bill never became law.<\/b> \u00a0Instead, on New Year\u2019s Eve, while most of the country was counting down to midnight, a small group of legislators on Capitol Hill was quietly killing some of our nation\u2019s most important sustainable agriculture programs. \u00a0The temporary farm bill extension that Congress passed instead of a full farm bill on New Year\u2019s Eve is, as we told the press, \u201ca disaster for farmers and the American people.\u201d <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t the only ones caught off guard and disappointed \u2013 Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Representative Frank Lucas, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, had their good-faith bipartisan efforts pushed aside too.<\/p>\n

Here are just a few of the problems with the current state of farm policy<\/a> thanks to this extension:<\/p>\n