i think you have it mixed up. Conservation Security Program was gutted by the House (in part to expand EQIP--much of which goes to help factory farms build their manure lagoons). Harkin will be working to restore CSP since that is his baby.

Tom describes the situation I experience right here in east central Illinois as well.  Here we are right smack dab in the center of the University of Illinois campus with a school of agriculture funded by ADM and Cargill.  An hour to our west is ADM's headquarters.  The University of Illinois has the oldest agricultural test plots in the United States.  

Yet, all around us small organic farms are making a go of it.  I hope we are beginning to see the creation of an infrastructure with some of the more wonderful restaurants buying up the local and organic food.  One of the international leaders of the Slow Food movement continues to inform, cook, and give tours.  And our local Farmer's Market is growing every year.

Our congregation is trying to do its part.  This spring, on Rogation Sunday, we celebrated 25 to 30 families taking part in local CSAs.  We all looked pretty snazzy in our green bandanas.  We also buy "shares" from the local food co-op (which supports the local, organic farmers) to go the local women's shelters.  

We really seemed to gather momentum when over 100 members and friends of our congregation showed up at a local farm for a local, sustainable feast with goat cheese cheesecake, fresh strawberries, local wine, and a wonderful assortment of food.  Receiving money from the Valparaiso Project to make this go helped to defray the cost of CSA shares and this grand banquet.

That grand banquet related once again to me just how much progressive values need to remember fun and celebration as we go forward.  One of our local farms announced last year that they are now financially able to give the farm over to their children.  I would think that definition of sustainability has to rank right up there--the ability to hand over your farm and farm values to the next generation.

You're right. I'll get that corrected.

This morning my email inbox contains a reply from my senator:
"Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me about reforming the 2007 Farm Bill. It is a privilege to participate in improving this vital legislation.
As you know, this year Congress will consider the Farm Bill--a wide ranging piece of legislation that will help determine the country's agricultural policy. An important part of the bill will be programs that aim to alleviate poverty and hunger. The Food Stamp program is incorporated into this legislation and I am working hard to ensure that funding for this vital program is increased. On average, the typical recipient of food stamps receives only $21 a week in assistance. That's only $3 dollars a day, and that is unacceptable. In a country as vibrant and wealthy as the United States, there is no reason why any man, woman, or child should ever go to bed hungry.
America's farmers fuel our country and feed the world, but too often we have pursued agricultural policies that harm the very people we are trying to help. I am hopeful that the Farm Bill will continue to help American farmers while improving the livelihoods of subsistence farmers in the developing world. Protecting the environment has always been a top priority of mine and I am working to ensure that conservation efforts, like the Wetlands Reserve Program and Conservation Reserve Program, are included and properly funded in the bill. We must also guarantee a safety-net for farmers and work to provide support to the small and mid-size farmers who need it most.
Again, I thank you for writing, and I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind as we continue to work on this piece of legislation and end hunger in America."

On the eve of the House vote, I emailed and called my congressman.  He voted for the bill and against the "Fairness" amendment.  Oh, well. He rarely votes "my way" on anything.

The strange thing to me is that my CSA farmer and my cow share farmer do not share my passion for Farm Bill reform.  They're indifferent.  They plan to keep doing what they're doing regardless.  They've made a go of it without the government (or in spite of the federal government) and don't expect anything different.  Sure, it'd be nice, but. . . Their focus is on local food for local people and local policies that affect local everything.  

And locally we've made incredible progress in the last decade.

That udder picture speaks volumes.

Boycott corporate dairy!

Another kind of citizen movement is also helping to render the Farm Bill moot. It is made up of first generation farmers who are growing commercially in their back yards and front lawns. What is enabling them is a sub-acre farming system called SPIN-Farming. SPIN requires minimal infrastructure and provides a specific process for generating significant income from land bases under an acre in size. It integrates agriculture into the built environment in a commercially viable manner, and removes the two big barriers to entry for aspiring farmers - they do not need much land or financial resources. It provides a tool for re-defining farming for the 21st century - sub-acre, low capital intensive, environmentally friendly, close to markets, entrepreneurially-driven. And it just might spark a farming revival that cuts across geography, generations, incomes and ideologies to provide common ground, quite literally, beneath everyone's feet.

I hadn't heard of SPIN Farming, but Googled it and it sounds extremely interesting.  It just so happens that my lot is a little more than 1/2 acre too.  I have a small garden and now I forsee it expanding considerably.

There's even a workshop next month on "how to start."