Food and Farm Advocacy: Recommended Reading

The Jewish practice of determining what is “fit to eat” (a literal translation of “kosher”) is complex in this age of global food systems. It is not simply upon us to find the purest ingredients for our tables at any financial cost to ourselves, but rather to weigh in on the systems that determine what food is available and what the consequences of its production will be. Integral to influencing whether we have ethical, healthy, climate-smart options on the table is a deeper understanding of how the policies work. Check out the articles below to gain some of that insight.

Where to Start in Taking Action

A Matter of Degrees Podcast: What Can I Do? 

How to Find Joy in Climate Action

Food and Farm Policy Background:

How 2 Save a Planet Podcast: Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution

How 2 Save a Planet Podcast: The Beef with Beef

How 2 Save a Planet Podcast: Is Your Carbon Footprint B.S.?

World Resources Institute: Creating a Sustainable Food Future

Here’s how America uses its land

What is the Farm Bill?

Staying Up to Date on Food and Farm Policy Happenings:

October 2022

On big federal legislation:

What the Historic Climate Bill Means for Farmers and the Food System

How the Inflation Reduction Act Affects Food and Agriculture – Mother Jones

Inside the Inflation Reduction Act: $20 billion to help fix our farms – Vox

As Congress funds high-tech climate solutions, it also bets on a low-tech one: Nature

On executive and administrative action:

Voices from the White House Conference on Hunger and Nutrition | Civil Eats

On state and local policies:

California Farmworkers Gain Historic Union Win | Civil Eats

December 2021

On big federal legislation:

Build Back Better’s Fate Uncertain

A Second, Broadened Attempt at Debt Relief Moves Through Congress

Here’s How the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Could Promote Environmental Justice

Infrastructure Bill is a Win for Bees and Butterflies, Including Monarchs

Agriculture Resilience Act Delivers Bold Vision for Net Zero Agriculture

On executive and administrative action:

Sustainable Agriculture Research the Aim of Huge USDA Investment

The Ban on Chlorpyrifos and the Power of Community Organizing

EPA Restores Water Protections Weakened Under Trump

The Collective Future of America’s Food System

On state and local policies:

The Fight Over Healthy Soils

Meet the Black Women Driving New Ag Policy

Seven Locals Tackling New York’s Toughest Climate Problems

July 2021

More than 450 organizations urge Congress to invest $200 billion in climate-focused agriculture improvements in the American Jobs Plan

Advocates: Agriculture needs $200 billion increase for climate mitigation

IPCC steps up warning on climate tipping points in leaked draft report

The Food System’s Carbon Footprint Has Been Vastly Underestimated

What Will Happen for USDA’s Loan Forgiveness for BIPOC Farmers

Biden’s 2022 Budget Proposal for Agriculture

May 2021

Is Biden’s Jobs Plan a Skinny Green New Deal?

Balancing infrastructure and conservation goals

What do voting restrictions and anti-protest laws have in common? Both have sponsors funded by fossil fuel companies

April 2021

Biden’s infrastructure plan aims to turbocharge U.S. shift from fossil fuels

Biden unveils a once in a generation infrastructure plan

Biden to place environmental justice at center of sweeping climate plan

What’s in Biden’s Infrastructure Plan?

Nine Ways Biden’s $2 Trillion Plan Will Tackle Climate Change

Deb Haaland makes history as first Indigenous cabinet secretary

White House names members of environmental justice panel

Covid-19 stimulus bill to provide $4 billion in debt relief for Black farmers, other farmers of color

March 2021

What Biden’s Climate Plan Means for Regenerative Agriculture

How the Biden Administration is Prioritizing Diversity and Justice in Federal Food Policy

A Vision for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from The Young Farmers Coalition

Two Biden Priorities Meet on Black Owned Farms

Relief bill is most significant legislation for Black farmers since Civil Rights Act

Everything you need to know about Biden’s climate policy spree

Beyond Bees, Neonics Damage Ecosystems—and a Push for Policy Change Is Coming

Analysis of Incoming USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack’s Confirmation Hearing

Biden Orders an Executive Order to Boost SNAP Benefits

Redirecting Agricultural Subsidies for a Sustainable Food Future