Once every five years, Congress negotiates a new version of the Farm Bill, which plays a defining role in how we eat. This single piece of legislation sets the agenda for five years of government spending on food, impacting everything from food assistance programs to school lunches, crop subsidies, organic farming and conservation. Farmers in the U.S. and around the world follow the bill with rapt attention, as U.S. subsidies are a make or break economic issue for many.

Worldview discusses what might and might not make it into the 2012 legislation with Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. She writes the blog Food Politics. Her upcoming book is Why Calories Count: from Science to Politics.