About the Farm Bill

For more than 30 years, American Farmland Trust has been working to save the land that sustains us by protecting America’s farm and ranch land, promoting environmentally sound farming practices and ensuring an economically sustainable future for farmers and ranchers.

The farm bill provides a significant opportunity to influence agricultural activity in these core areas of our mission by impacting what crops are grown; where, when and how the land is farmed; and who benefits from this production.

A Time for Transformation

In the next farm bill, American Farmland Trust seeks to move U.S. farm policy forward by strengthening policies, programs, and resources to protect farmland as a strategic national resource; promote sound environmental stewardship through advancing adoption of conservation practices; and encourage the development of a more diverse, healthy and equitable food system consistent with thriving rural and urban communities.

What Is The Farm Bill?

Do you think of complicated subsidies or cornfields in the Midwest when you think of farm policy? You’d be partially right, but the farm bill is much more than an agricultural aid package. You might be surprised to learn the farm bill influences you everyday: from the cost and availability of your food to the tools existing for your community to protect farm and ranch land.

The farm bill is a package of federal legislation enacted every five to seven years to set the general direction for America’s farm and food policy. Congress enacted the first farm bill in the wake of the Great Depression with the dual goals of supporting America’s farmers and ranchers and helping them to maintain their land.

Find out more about federal farm policy with our Farm Bill 101 primer [PDF] .