PIRG briefs Congressional staff on the case for prioritizing food waste in the Farm Bill

PIRG co-hosted a Congressional staff briefing on the Farm Bill last week alongside a diverse coalition of partners, including Taxpayers for Common Sense, R Street and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. The Farm Bill is a major bill package that Congress considers approximately every five years, which governs the U.S. food system and has major implications for health, consumers, farmers, and the environment. More than 20 legislative staff members from the two committees that write the Farm Bill attended the briefing, which focused on opportunities for reforming the farm safety net to make our tax dollars work more effectively to achieve the best outcomes for consumers, the environment, and all farmers – not just those with the biggest farms.

Our pitch: tackle the enormous problem of food waste to start to take pressure off the food system overall and free up resources to farm in ways that are better for the environment and health.

The four partner groups previously collaborated to write a letter to Congress on principles for common sense reform in the Farm Bill.