In 2018 and 2023, BFI offered a seminar at UC Berkeley that brought experts on the Farm Bill to campus with the goals of understanding the general framework of this important legislation and identifying areas of particular interest for further study. In this seminar, students dove into the Farm Bill reauthorization process, analyzed the history and structure of past bills (including all twelve titles), analyzed “marker” bills generated in the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, and engaged with experts, advocates, farmers, and legislators who all have a stake in shaping this bill.

The structure of the seminar depends on a co-learning model. Each week, in addition to hearing from guest speakers, students presented on different marker bills, members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, and drafted policy briefs and op-eds. Through these presentations and written assignments, students contributed to real-time discussions, and built skills in policy analysis, debate, communications, and coalition-building.

2023

In the spring of 2023, the Farm Bill Seminar, called “Untangling the Farm Bill: Shaping the Next Five Years of Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture Policy in the U.S. and Abroad,” was co-facilitated by BFI’s Policy Director Sakeenah Shabazz and Executive Director Nina F. Ichikawa, with Professor Alastair Iles as the instructor of record.

2018

In the spring of 2018, the Farm Bill Seminar, titled “Untangling the Farm Bill” was facilitated by Nina F. Ichikawa, then BFI’s Policy Director, with Alastair Iles as the instructor of record.