To the editor:

The farm bill, currently being debated in Congress, is reauthorized every five years. It is a very complicated piece of legislation that includes 10 different “titles” or sections and will affect our well-being for years to come. Perhaps a better name for the bill would be the Food Security Bill. It includes nutrition programs, farm subsidies, rural development, conservation and international trade.

A national coalition of groups and residents is speaking out for reform in the bill and these proposed changes:

¢ Ensure that low-income people have an adequate, nutritious diet

¢ Strengthen rural communities

¢ Help farmers earn sufficient livelihood and be good stewards of the land

¢ Allow small-scale farmers in poor countries to earn a living

Agribusinesses are supporting the status quo. Can we afford to keep things as they are? If so, we are looking at an increase in childhood obesity rates, more losses in smaller family farms that diversify crop production and the continuing destabilization of international trade with the selling of U.S. commodity surpluses to foreign countries.

The point is that unless residents take charge, corporate business forces will grab the listening ears of Congress before the rest of us even know what is happening. Democracy works when residents become educated about the amalgam of concerns before us. Our representatives in Congress are waiting for reasons to justify their voting records.

Linda Watts,

Lawrence