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GUEST: George Pyle, editorial writer at the Salt Lake Tribune, and author of “Raising Less Corn, More Hell: The Case for the Independent Farmer and Against Industrial Food.”

One of the major challenges for the new Congress in January is the 2007 Farm Bill which specifies the amounts of federal subsidies to agribusinesses. The farm bill also plays an important role in international trade, especially after US negotiations with the World Trade Organization have collapsed over the issue of subsidies. The US Department of Agriculture traveled the country over the past year, holding 52 “Farm bill forums” to gather public comments and put together a report called “Strengthening the Foundation for Future Growth in US Agriculture.” According to my guest, the USDA report “still views farming as an industrial process needing to ramp up production and increase exports.”

Read George Pyle’s articles at: blogs.sltrib.com/editorial/

Read George Pyle’s article on the farm bill at: www.counterpunch.org/pyle12122006.html

For more information about the 2007 Farm Bill, visit www.agobservatory.org