Agtivism

I called my U.S. senators last week.  It was a little scary, I had never done that before, but I've been building up enough frustration with the Farm Bill over the years that I just couldn't keep silent.
Basically, from what I understood and can sum up from the reading list below and other news articles I've examined, U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing corn, soy, etc. to the tune of roughly $20 billion every year, but very few farmers are getting rich; that money is going almost directly to the pockets of big agribusinesses (Cargill and Monsanto) that benefit from the dirt-cheap commodities and turn a nice profit processing them into the proverbial Twinkie or fast-food burger that haunts our national health. Then, they use that wonderful profit to market, lobby, and consolidate our food system to their continued advantage.

Which bothers me just a little.


So, not directly related, but a few months ago I also became a paying member of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.  It's supposedly like a similar organization that helps protect and advocate for homeschoolers.  This is really an issue for another post, but scary things are going on right now in the news regarding parents and farmers and their right to choose non-industrial food.


In the interest of getting this blog post done and out there so I can pack for my trip, here are a few links I've thrown together this morning relating to my growing "agtivism".  



FTCLDF
Farm Bill
FARFA and its founder, whom I just discovered while writing this post.
Food Renegade (Note the icon at the top of my blog!)
Farmageddon trailer
Wikipedia on Cargill or Monsanto




(Food) Books I've Read, with my favorite, easy-to-jump-in ones in color.
In fact, some of these others aren't even useful at all, but I've been keeping track impartially :)


Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
Clean Food, by Terry Walters
Cooking for Geeks, by Jeff Potter
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
Folks, This Ain't Normal, by Joel Salatin
Food Matters, by Mark Bittman
The Great Green Cookbook, by Rosamond Richardson
The Healthy Slow Cooker, by Judith Finlayson
Heat, by Bill Buford
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon
The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
Real Food, by Nina Planck
Skinny Bitch, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, by Gary Taubes
Younger Next Year, by Chris Crowley