• Although this is five-year legislation, the budget is up for grabs every year.  What's in column A can be shifted to column B.  
• While there was an $861 million increase for nutrition programs over the next 10 years, it was partially paid for by slashing crop subsidies by $400 million and cutting a program to pay farmers for ruined crops by $250 million. (According to AP reports.)
• It cut commodity subsidies by $400 million over 10 years, from the $5.2 billion a year in direct payments
• It includes a tax break for race horse owners.
• This current bill doesn't begin to do what's needed to to promote sustainable agriculture, to protect the environment, or to facilitate healthier diets at home or in school.
• This Farm Bill does not guarantee food safety (remember the tainted meat episodes of just the last few months), nor does it promote food security (knowing that our food supply is not vulnerable to foreign control)
• This Farm Bill continues to link corn acreage to fuel production (ethanol).
• This bill still provides $$$ billions every year to support five commodities - corn, wheat, rice, cotton and soybeans
• And when you see the term, commodities, think high-fructose corn syrup, a key ingredient in highly-processed foods and carbonated beverages; and about the wheat and soy fillers that seem to find their way into so many of the prepared foods we eat (even powdered chicken broth).

Do you like your goat-milk Mobay, with that gossamer layer of gray ash floating through the middle?  I do.  And I really enjoy my raw-milk goat cheddar (especially with pitted prunes), and my local cow-milk cheeses.  But if more land gets shifted from hay production to corn-for-ethanol, the price of hay is likely to rise, and with it the cost of my cheeses.  While I might grumble about this increased cost, I'll likely pay it.  However, my small complaint is not the issue.  

The real problem is on the production side. As the costs to raise to raise cows, sheep and goats continues to climb, the livelihoods of small- and medium-scale farmers are jeopardized. 

The demand for healthful foods, fresh veggies, whole grains, and seasonal fruit outstrips supply year after year.  Yet, the Farm Bill does not exist to move more of our agricultural system in that direction.

A real problem is when those who are struggling to make ends meet - tens of millions in the US alone - find it more and more difficult to buy healthful foods for their families.