Farm Bill Conference Agreement Contains Significant Domestic Nutrition Improvements

Publication Date: May 2008

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Dorothy Rosenbaum

Research Area: Health; Social conditions

Keywords: Economic projections; Food insecurity; Income diversity; Food supply

Type: Report

Abstract:

The conference agreement on the 2008 Farm Bill makes numerous improvements in domestic food assistance programs to help low-income Americans put food on the table in the face of rising food and fuel prices. The nutrition title includes more than $10 billion over ten years in increases in these programs — including $7.8 billion for the Food Stamp Program, $1.26 billion for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and $1 billion for the free fresh fruit and vegetable snack program, which is targeted to schools with high shares of low- income families.