The Issues

Proposed Legislation and Public Policy

Federal Legislation

June 2008 Update on the Farm Bill

Following Congress' vote to overturn President Bush's veto, the 2007 Farm Bill has been passed with mixed results. The Farm Bill, which was the focus of animal agricultural industry lobbying groups, sets policy for the next five years on all aspects of agriculture – including farming, nutrition, conservation, and animal welfare.

While the Farm Bill contained some positive policies for farm animals – most notably, the denial of subsidies to veal producers – it contained a few setbacks as well. For farm animal welfare advocates, the main points of interest can be summarized as follows:

1. Veal production subsidies
   Despite aggressive lobbying from the veal industry to retain a $12 million subsidy, the final Farm Bill passed without subsidies for veal production.

2. The FRESH Act
   The final Farm Bill included many of the provisions of this bill, which was aimed at increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, particularly among lower-income Americans. In addition to increasing subsidies for produce farmers, the final Farm Bill contains provisions that help people receiving government assistance (like food stamps) get better access to local farmer's markets.

3. Unfortunately, this legislation to keep products from cloned animals out of the human food supply was not amended into the Farm Bill. This amendment would have benefited farm animals by helping to prevent the further mechanization and industrialization of factory farming.

Additional Farm Bill provisions of interest to animal advocates include those both positive and negative. On the positive side, was the inclusion of increased federal penalties for animal fighting. On the negative side, was the inclusion of increased subsidies for the dairy industry, and increased funding for research on bio fuels made from animal manure (which only perpetuates factory farming by trying to circumvent the problem of environmental pollution).

The most notable shortcoming of the Farm Bill is its failure to address downed animal protection, farm animal cloning or the confinement of factory farmed animals.

In The News

Defying President Bush, Senate Passes Farm Bill
The New York Times - May 15, 2008

Doctors prescribe fix for farm bill
The Hill - October 24, 2007

Rebel farm bill would help state, but puts Boxer, Feinstein in bind
San Francisco Chronicle - October 24, 2007