Debate around the reauthorization of the U.S. farm bill is focused on the legislation’s two major functions, domestic food assistance and farm price supports. The former involves Republicans trying to reduce the most generous portions of what amounts to 81 percent of farm bill spending, and others trying to reign in the amount of money received by the largest farm operators. That is a slight over-simplification, but the farm support debate deserves a larger discussion about context. Opponents of the derisively framed “factory farming” are arguing that food security is national security, and small farms are the answer. The National Family Farm Coalition takes it a step further and opines that the answer to global hunger is...

TAGS – Farm Inputs, Asia