GOVERNMENT POLICY
Religious reformers target farm bill

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Hugh Joseph is an assistant professor, adjunct, 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.   Read his July 9, 2007, Boston Globe column about the farm bill as an opportunity for “conscientious eaters.”  Contact 617-636-3788, hugh.joseph@tufts.edu.
• Kelly D. Brownell is a psychology professor at Yale University, where he directs the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Contact 203-432-7790, kelly.brownell@yale.edu.
• 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. Contact 603-862-3940, carroll@unh.edu.
• Christopher St. John directs the Maine Center for Economic Policy, which is calling for increases in the food stamp program. Read a June 4, 2007, news release. Contact 207-622-7381, mecep@mecep.org.
• Cynthia M. Duncan directs the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. The institute’s research includes poverty, rural families and communities, and the environment. She wrote Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America. Read a summer 2007 fact sheet on the farm bill and food stamp and school lunch programs. Contact 603-862-2821, mil.duncan@unh.edu.

IN THE EAST
• Bruce Gardner is a Distinguished University Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and specializes in agricultural policy. Contact 301-405-1271, bgardner@arec.md.edu.
• Barry L. Denk directs the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. Contact 717-787-9555, denkb@ruralpa.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• The Rev. C. Douglas Smith is executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, which has been working for reforms in the farm bill. The center lists its member religious organizations. Contact 804-643-2474, doug@virginiainterfaithcenter.org.
• Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., supports the current system of farm subsidies. He serves on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Contact 202-224-3521.
• Daniel Vestal, executive coordinator of the Atlanta-headquartered Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, has been lobbying Congress about the farm bill for reforms aimed at helping rural areas and poor farmers. Read a July 20, 2007, news release. Contact 770-220-1610, dvestal@thefellowship.info.
• The Rev. T. DeWitt Smith Jr., senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta, is president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention. The convention has been lobbying Congress to reform the farm bill to help rural areas and poor farmers. Contact 404-289-1387.
• Eva Clayton is a former Democratic congresswoman from North Carolina who is working with Bread for the World for change in the farm bill. Contact eva_clayton@yahoo.com.

IN THE SOUTH
• John C. Greer Jr. is chief executive officer of the Mid-Delta Empowerment Zone Alliance Inc. in Itta Bena, Miss. Contact 662-254-9957, jgreerjr@mdeza.org.
• The Rev. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., has been lobbying Congress on behalf of Bread for the World for reforms in the farm bill. Contact 901-754-3979, newsardischurch@bellsouth.net.
• Daryll E. Ray is a professor and holds the Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He directs the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center. See a column on the farm bill that he wrote with Harwood Schaffer, research associate for the center. Contact 865-974-7407, dray@utk.edu or hdschaffer@utk.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who manages his family’s farm, has been advocating reform of the farm subsidies program. Lugar serves on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. Read a June 25, 2007, Indianapolis Star story, posted by Bread for the World. Contact 202-224-4814.
• Charles W. Fluharty, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, is president emeritus and director of policy programs at the Rural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Contact 573-882-0316, CFluharty@rupri.org.
• Arlin S. Wasserman is founder of the St. Paul-based consulting firm Changing Tastes, which counsels philanthropic organizations and food companies on agriculture and food trends. Contact 651- 698-1991, arlin@changingtastes.net.
• Tony Ends directs the Churches’ Center for Land and People, based in Middleton, Wis. Several Christian denominations and orders and other organizations sponsor it. Read Ends’ statement advocating reform in the subsidies program. Contact 608-831-9319, cclp@mwci.net.
• R. Dennis Olson is a senior policy analyst for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis, and he directs its trade and agriculture project. Read an institute report on the farm bill that includes recommendations to reform commodity programs. Contact 612-870-3412, dolson@iatp.org.
• Bill Webb edits Word & Way, an independent Baptist publication based in Jefferson City, Mo. Read his July 26, 2007, editorial in favor of farm bill reforms to assist struggling farmers and rural communities. Contact 573-635-5939 ext. 206, bwebb@wordandway.org.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• The Rev. Jeff Jaynes, pastor of Tulsa’s Southern Hills United Methodist Church, favors reforming the current U.S. farm subsidy program. Contact 918-743-2013, pastor@shumc-tulsa.com.
• Ronda Rutledge is executive director of the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas, and favors reforming the commodity program and improving rural development and nutrition programs. Read an editorial she co-authored, published Aug. 15, 2007, by the Austin American-Statesman. Contact 512-236-0074, info@sustainablefoodcenter.org.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Daniel Sumner directs the University of California Agricultural Issues Center in Davis, Calif. Read a brief he wrote on the farm bill. The center posts other briefs and papers on the bill.  Contact 530-752-1668, dasumner@ucdavis.edu.
• Stephen Devadoss is a professor of agricultural economics and rural sociology at the University of Idaho. Contact 208-885-6806, sdevadoss@uidaho.edu.
• Mechel “Mickey” Paggi   directs the Center for Agricultural Business at California State University, Fresno. Contact 559-278-4405, mpaggi@csufresno.edu.