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

Read a June 4, 2012, National Journal article about the public’s mixed views on the farm bill, as seen in a recent poll conducted for the publication.  

Read a June 5, 2012, Huffington Post blog entry about the importance of the food stamp program.  

Listen to a June 6, 2012, podcast about the importance of food stamps to the farm bill from American Public Media’s Marketplace.

See The New York Times’ Times Topics page on the farm bill.

The USDA also posts information about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program online. An April 2012 USDA report says one in seven Americans relies on food stamps; see Page 4 of the report for some historical perspective.

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.