Michael Pollan is Knight Professor of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley, where he directs the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism. His books include The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Read an Oct. 9, 2008, column on farm policy that he wrote for The New York Times.

Ryan Alexander is president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, which says that farm bill proposals so far fall far short of what’s needed to trim budgetary bloat.  

Bill Ayres is executive director of WhyHunger, which works to battle poverty and hunger in the U.S. and abroad. It posts resources on the Food and Farm Bill.

Helene Murray is executive director of the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture. It is a partnership among the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences, the University of Minnesota Extension and the Sustainers’ Coalition.

Mark Rasmussen is director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

Mary Hendrickson is associate director of the Community Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Missouri.

Ferd Hoefner is policy director of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an alliance of several organizations.

Rob Hedberg is director of the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education program, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. It promotes farming systems that are “profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program.”

After Florida ruled its voucher program unconstitutional, families and students must find other schools or new funding while opponents of school vouchers celebrate their victory.