KUNC

         

Jun. 19, 2013

Farm program changes in the farm bill

By: 
Claire McInerney
The farm bill governs everything from dairy policy to crop insurance. (File: Luke Runyon/Harvest Public Media)
The farm bill governs everything from dairy policy to crop insurance. (File: Luke Runyon/Harvest Public Media)

The farm bill being discussed in the U.S. House of Representatives contains legislation having to do with all aspects of how Americans put food on their dinner tables.  

About 80 percent of the bill deals with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), what we often call “food stamps.” Other portions of the legislation, though, address policy governing the farms that create this food.  

The farm bill is huge legislation – it will cost about $500 billion to implement over five years – and is often confusing. The Senate passed its version of the farm bill earlier this month, now it’s the House’s turn.

In a special series of joint broadcasts, our partners at KCUR in Kansas City and Iowa Public Radio are focusing on the farm bill and what it means for all of us. On Wednesday, the broadcast looked at what elements of this legislation affect the growth and production of the food all of us eat.  Here are some key points.

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Jun. 18, 2013

What you should know about the food stamps debate

By: 
Payne Roberts
New farm bill legislation will cut funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. (Beautiful Lily/Flickr)
New farm bill legislation will cut funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. (Beautiful Lily/Flickr)

The U.S. House is set to take up the farm bill this week, after the Senate passed its version of the bill in early June. Both bills include about $500 billion in spending over five years. Few pieces of legislation can produce such sharp divisions, even by Washington standards—but few could have such immediate, significant impact on so many Americans.

Despite its “farm bill” moniker, the largest portion of the legislation funds SNAP, the nation’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps. SNAP makes up about 80 percent of the bill’s cost. Both the Senate and House have proposed cuts to the program, but lawmakers will have to agree on the size of SNAP cuts in order to pass a full farm bill this summer.

In a special series of joint broadcasts, our partners at KCUR in Kansas City and Iowa Public Radio are focusing on the farm bill. On Tuesday, the broadcast looked at the SNAP program.

Here are some of the key points.

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Jun. 18, 2013

My Farm Roots: A song in her heart

By: 
Bill Wheelhouse
Retired professor Jackie Dougan Jackson lives in Springfield, Ill., but devotes a lot of time reflecting on her childhood growing up on a farm near Beloit, Wisc. (Bill Wheelhouse/Harvest Public Media)
Retired professor Jackie Dougan Jackson lives in Springfield, Ill., but devotes a lot of time reflecting on her childhood growing up on a farm near Beloit, Wisc. (Bill Wheelhouse/Harvest Public Media)

This is the third installment of the 2013 edition of My Farm Roots, Harvest Public Media’s series chronicling Americans’ connection to the land. Click here to explore more My Farm Roots stories and to share your own.

Jackie Dougan Jackson keeps a pretty thorough log of her life. The 85-year-old retired college professor lives in Springfield, Ill., and has lived there for more than 40 years. However, she has devoted a lot of time to her first 22 years, when she lived on a family farm near Beloit, Wisc.

Jackson has written a couple of books of what she calls “creative nonfiction,” which she calls the “Round Barn” series, based on a distinctive feature on the family farmstead.  In those books she relates tales from the farm life of her childhood, from her “grama’s” depression to tall tales told at the dinner table.

“I feel as if I’m a native Turtle Township, (Wisc.,) person,” Jackson said. “I began collecting stories (about the farm) actively in 1967, I have them in handwriting and transcribed.  I’ve been writing about farming in Wisconsin from 1900-1972”.

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