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Biography

Farm Bill free fall

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward

Just when you thought Congress couldn’t screw up the Farm Bill any worse, they surprise us all. As part of a fiscal cliff, New Year’s Day bender, Congress and the White House extended a barebones version of the Farm Billfor yet another nine months—giving the bumbling legislative body more time to further decimate the nation’s main farm and food policy.

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Money, politics and food

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward

It didn’t make headlines, but Tuesday was the start of an important movement to reform our food and agriculture system by restoring our democracy. Statewide initiatives in Montana and Colorado, and local measures in Massachusetts, San Francisco, Chicago and Oregon, all opposed the role of corporations in political campaigns; they all passed by convincing margins.

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2012 Farm Bill: Congress abandons farmers for agribusiness

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward

There has been a lot of noise on the Farm Bill lately. Last month, the Senate approved its Farm Bill, and last week the House Agriculture Committee approved its own version.

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Supreme Court strikes another blow against farmers and consumers

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the controversial Citizens United ruling by striking down a Montana law limiting corporate campaign spending.

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What's at stake in the 2012 Farm Bill?

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward

The 2012 Farm Bill comes amid an increasingly fierce public debate over food and farming. The industrial model of agriculture and food production is continuing a decades-long drive toward fewer farmers, more factory-style meat production and more processed food—largely to benefit a handful of powerful agribusiness and food companies.

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The state of the plate and what health professionals can do to help

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward

Yesterday more than 300 people gathered on an unseasonably warm January day at a conference center outside of Minneapolis to talk about food, farming and health. The conference, State of the Plate: Minnesota Healthy Food Futures, was co-hosted by IATP, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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A hell of a way to write a Farm Bill

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward
If you want to see what political dysfunction looks like, take a look at how Congress is bungling the nation’s most important food and farm policy—the Farm Bill. The sprawling Farm Bill sets policy for the next five years and is directly relevant to our 2 million farmers, the 43 million people on food assistance and the more than 900 million acres in farmland.
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The 1 percent's trade deals

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward
This week, the House of Representatives will consider three pending U.S. free trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. The push to further deregulate trade seems to be one of the few things that President Obama and Congressional Republicans can agree on.
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What does the occupation of Wall Street have to do with agriculture?

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward
Now two weeks in, the occupation of Wall Street originated from a July call to action by Adbusters to draw a line in the sand on the growing corporate control of our democracy and government—and in particular, Wall Street’s influence.
 
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Big changes for school food

By Ben Lilliston, Think Forward
Like most parents in Minnesota, last week I received an information packet from my daughter’s school. It was the annual get-ready-for-school packet, full of various forms and fall activities for her school in St. Louis Park. Deep in the pile was a bright orange flyer from the school lunch room.
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