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The Senate passed a $124.3 billion dollar agriculture spending bill yesterday, which will greatly help support the rising number of food stamp participants.  As unemployment rates continue to rise, and more people are in need of assistance, hopefully those who are eligible for the program will take advantage of the fresh and healthy produce now available to them at farmer’s market.

The increase in funding will also go towards supporting the federal school lunch program, which many families are struggling without during the summer months.  The spending bill is also packed with plenty of other measures as well, some of which are disconcerting. 

$350 million of the bill will go towards money that the government uses to buy surplus milk, as many family-run dairy farms are struggling to survive after dairy prices collapsed this fall.  While the stop-gap measure is surely apprecieted, there clearly needs to be a better long-term plan to help maintain stability for the farmers. According to Senator Barry Sanders of Vermont:

Family-based dairy agriculture is on the verge of collapse.  This is not a regional issue. This is a national issue.

The bill also repeals a controversial ban on poultry products imported from China, which had been banned in 2004 after an outbreak of bird flu.  Following an investigation by the World Trade Organization that suggested the U.S. was breaking international trade rules, the U.S. will now accept imports as long as the Agriculture Department steps up their safety inspections.  But if you ask me, I’d want to be able to take a closer look at where my food is coming from and not just feel pressured to eat by the free market.  Fortunately, some of the funding will also go towards increasing the FDA’s budget for food safety inspections.

While there are certainly many layers to this bill, and not all of them may be the best laid plans, the much needed boost for food stamps, school lunches and the dairy industry are certainly welcomed.