Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra feature stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write a 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: Farm Bill Plays Pivotal Role in U.S. Food Production, 11/20/07
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec07/farm_11-20.html

Initiating Questions:

1. What challenges do American farmers face?

2. How does the government help farmers?

3. Where is most of this country's corn and wheat grown?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What is the farm bill and why is it in the news right now?

The U.S. Senate last week could not agree on a new version of the farm bill, an important piece of legislation that provides money for farmers but is also criticized for inflating food prices and contributing to corporate farming.

The farm bill, which is renewed every five years, is a multi-billion dollar piece of legislation that doles out money for food stamps, farms and environmental conservation.

2. What issues are impacting the fight over the farm bill? What is President Bush's opinion of the issue?

With crop prices high and the federal government facing a deficit, Republicans in the Senate have decided to battle the Democrats over the cost of the bill: $286 billion.

The House of Representatives passed a version of the farm bill in July 2007, which has to be accepted by the Senate and then signed by the president to become law.

President Bush has threatened to veto this version of the bill, saying it is too expensive and pays wealthy farmers too much.

3. What is the most controversial part of the farm bill?

The most controversial part of the farm bill is the money it pays to farmers.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, just 10 percent of all farmers, almost entirely in the Midwest, collect 62 percent of the taxpayer dollars.

4. What do critics think about this controversial part of the bill?

The bill favors corn, wheat, soy, rice and cotton, which is good for big food companies, but punishes growers of healthier fruits and vegetables, critics argue.

"Shifting money from commodity subsidies to the other programs in the farm bill won't be easy. The farm lobby wields tremendous power while non-farm state politicians have typically ignored this law," Brian Halweil of Worldwatch Institute wrote in the New York Times.

5. What is the history of the farm bill? When was this type of legislation first used? Why?

Congress first required the Department of Agriculture to provide support for U.S. farms after the Great Depression and World War I left many farmers struggling.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was one of the first pieces of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. It paid money directly to farmers not to grow certain crops so that it could control the supply of food and set a minimum price for the food that did come to the market.

6. How has the intent of the farm bill changed over the years?

Food stamps, which appeal to politicians from urban areas, were added in 1977, quickly becoming the most expensive item in the bill. In the 2002 farm bill, food stamps accounted for $178 of the $271 billion total.

During the 1980s, the farm bill started to include provisions on environmental conservation, including incentives to preserve wetlands, other wildlife areas and to make farms more environmentally friendly.

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. What do you think? Should the farm bill continue in its current form? Why or why not? How would you change it?

2. Why do you think politicians changed the bill to include things like food stamps to appeal to urban voters and politicians? Why is this important? What role does politics play in legislation like this?

3. What impact does large commercial farming have on farming in America? How does the farm bill support corporate farming? What do you think would happen if there was no farm bill?

4. Interview a farmer in your state. What does he/she grow? What does he/she think about the farm bill? What are his/her greatest concerns for the future of the farm?

Write a 300-500 word essay on any of the topics in this exercise providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.