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Full-Text Articles in Food and Drug Law
Disestablishing "The Last Plantation": The Need For Accountability In The United States Department Of Agriculture, Seth L. Ellis
Disestablishing "The Last Plantation": The Need For Accountability In The United States Department Of Agriculture, Seth L. Ellis
Journal of Food Law & Policy
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. At the signing ceremony, President Lincoln declared the Department of Agriculture to be the "people's Department" because he said it governed an industry "in which [citizens felt] more directly concerned than in any other. .. ." Today, many American citizens do not share Abraham Lincoln's view of the USDA as being the "people's Department"; rather, they identify it as being "the last plantation" due to its long history of open discrimination against African-American farmers. While this discrimination has occurred throughout America's history, perhaps …
The 2014 Farm Bill: Farm Subsidies And Food Oppression, Andrea Freeman
The 2014 Farm Bill: Farm Subsidies And Food Oppression, Andrea Freeman
Seattle University Law Review
The 2014 Farm Bill ushered in some significant and surprising changes. One of these was that it rendered the identity of all the recipients of farm subsidies secret. Representative Larry Combest, who is now a lobbyist for agribusiness, first introduced a secrecy provision into the bill in 2000. The provision, however, only applied to subsidies made in the form of crop insurance. Until 2014, the majority of subsidies were direct payments and the identity of the people who received them was public information. In fact, the Environmental Working Group’s release of the list of recipients led to a series of …