Part of a series on the United States Farm Bill
© 2007 Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The U.S. Farm Bill is one of the most important pieces of agricultural legislation in the world. The Farm Bill decides which crops the government will support, how involved the government will be in setting prices for those crops, and how much support the government will give to promote exports in the world market. All these aspects of the Farm Bill affect the world's poor and their access to food.
In 2007, the U.S. Congress will write a new Farm Bill, and there will be an opportunity to reevaluate the impact it has on world hunger. About 850 million people in the world are undernourished in 2007. This briefing paper explores some of the key Farm Bill programs that impact people facing hunger around the world, and proposes policy solutions that would benefit them. Specifically, the authors examine three practices driven by the Farm Bill: agricultural dumping, food aid, and export credits.
