Editors' Summary

A thorough analysis of the U.S. Farm Bill highlights the grave implications of buttressing our nation's industrial agricultural system with ever-larger subsidies. By encouraging large-scale, monoculture megafarms, a subsidized industrial agricultural system leads to severe environmental consequences such as water pollution from fertilizer and pesticide runoff, soil erosion, and effects on wildlife and biodiversity, such as fragmented habitats and species decline. To combat these trends and slow or reverse environmental degradation caused by industrial farming, Farm Bill reform discussions should be recentered on subsidies to scale up sustainable farming.