Barry L. Denk directs the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, which is a bicameral legislative assembly within Pennsylvania’s General Assembly. It develops rural policy.

Bruce Mallory is interim director of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. The institute’s research includes poverty, rural families and communities, and the environment.

Hugh Joseph is a research associate at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Boston, and is project developer of the school’s New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.

John E. Carroll is a professor of environmental conservation at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and his interests include spiritual and religious attitudes toward ecology. His books include, as author, Sustainability and Spirituality. 

Kelly D. Brownell is a psychology professor at Yale University, where he directs the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.

See a March 7, 2012, item from the Catholic Relief Services Newswire about U.S. Catholic bishops and other leaders in the church urging support for a farm bill that helps the needy, is fair to farmers and ranchers and promotes good land stewardship.  

Read an April 16, 2012, Politico story about efforts to trim the food stamp program and the effect that debate is having on the farm bill.  

Read a May 27, 2012, post about lobbyists “girding for a slew of battles” on the bill; the item is on The Hill’s “On the Money” blog.  

Read a June 3, 2012, Associated Press article (posted by Bloomberg Businessweek) about the farm bill and its status on Capitol Hill.