One step forward and two back.I mean congress doesn't want to burn all the lobbyist money bridges,by steping on Big Agribusinesses toes.We certainly don't want the small farmers to get ANY kind of a break,so that people can feed themselves and not have to depend on Big Agri.

As usual.

Environmental problems are never going to be solved by doing some good things to go along with all the bad things.  This legislation, as all past farm bills, is hideous for its subsidies to big business and polluting activities, and should not be supported merely because it has a few crumbs for the natural environment thrown in.

...it sets aside $30 billion to let farm land lay fallow, and it reduces the corn-ethanol subsidy by 10 cents a gallon.

Not great, but still...could've been worse.

My hope is that the national conversation on environmental issues such as this one will segue into the 21st century once the next President is elected!  Then the Congress can worry less about passing a veto-proof bill and more constructively focus on drafting a new bill or revisions to it that have more holistic, forward-thinking, long-term solutions that benefit our economy and environment in concert.  

In the first place, the Democrats are just as beholden to corporate America as the Republicans, which is the major reason we keep getting these pork-filled, environmentally destructive farm bills.

Second, our economy is based on destroying the Earth.  So how in the world would any solution "our economy and environment in concert"?  What's needed for the good of the planet is for humans to greatly lower their population AND individual consumption.  Fantasies about everyone being materialistically wealthy while benefiting the planet have no basis in reality and are very harmful to the environmental cause.