Eat-Q Test: The Farm Bill (answers)
1. Which of the following is not one of the top five commodity crops that receive subsidies through the Farm Bill?
A. Rice
B. Soybeans
C. Cotton
D. Oats
Answer: D. The top five commodity crops are corn, wheat, soybeans, rice and cotton.
2. Which of the following crops does not qualify as specialty produce according to the Farm Bill?
A. Corn
B. Broccoli
C. Carrots
D. Cauliflower
E. None of the above
Answer: A. Corn. Corn is one of the top five commodity crops. Crops other than the commodities are considered specialty crops.
3. True or false: Thirteen million more acres of farmland would be required to produce enough fruit and vegetables for the daily diets of all Americans to meet USDA guidelines.
A. True
B. False
Answer: A. The country needs about 13 million more acres of farmland to produce enough fruits and vegetables to satisfy the recommendations in a 2010 USDA report on the dietary guidelines for Americans.
4. True or false: The majority of the Farm Bill is designated for agricultural appropriations.
A. True
B. False
Answer: B. 78% of the Farm is designated for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the food stamp program) over the next ten years, which helps low-income Americans purchase food.
5. Roughly how many Americans identify themselves as farmers, according to recent Census data?
A. 2%
B. 5%
C. 10%
D. 20%
Answer: A. Out of 308 million people (according to the 2010 Census), only 2.2 percent (6.8 million) are farm operators or farm household members.
6. How much of the nation’s total land area is controlled by farmers?
A. 10%
B. 20%
C. 40%
D. 60%
Answer: C. According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, farmers manage 40.8% of the land in America, despite only making up 2% of the population.
7. Over the last 25 years, the nation has lost roughly how many acres of farmland to development?
A. 10 million
B. 20 million
C. 30 million
D. All of it
Answer: B. According to the American Farmland Trust, roughly 23 million acres of farmland (an area roughly the size of Indiana) have been lost since the late 1980s due to sprawl and development.
8. True or false: Since 1995, 10% of all farmers have received 74% of all subsidies:
A. True
B. False
Answer: A. Subsidies are a controversial aspect of the bill because they historically favor large corporations and wealthy landowners, according to an Environmental Working Group study last year.
9. True or false: Over 60% of farmers in the US do not collect subsidy payments:
A. True
B. False
Answer: A. According to the 2007 USDA Census of Agriculture, 62% of farms did not collect any subsidy payments.
Your Eat-Q score:
9 correct: You're a Farm Bill fanatic.
6–8: You clearly watch a lot of C-SPAN.
3–5: You still know more about the farming industry than the average citizen.
2 or fewer: Farming is not your forté.
SOURCES:
Environmental Working Group allocation of subsidies report: http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=00000
EWG what to know: http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2011/06/top-10-things-you-should-know-about-the-farm-bill
Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-senate-farm-bill-in-one-graph/2012/06/14/gJQAdAx4cV_blog.html
American Farmland Trust report: http://www.farmbillfacts.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/AFTFarmBill_reprint_lowres_Fall11.pdf
USDA Census of Agriculture: http://farm.ewg.org/farms_by_state.php
OxFam whitepaper: http://thehill.com/images/stories/whitepapers/pdf/Farm_Bill_101.pdf