An ISU student is doing her part to ensure fair treatment of farmers worldwide.

Ellen Walsh, junior in public service and administration in agriculture, is helping to lead an effort to help farmers around the world by putting pressure on legislators to consider them as they re-write the farm bill this year.

The farm bill, which is updated every five years, addresses a broad range of issues in the areas of commodities, conservation and nutrition. It is an extensive set of regulations and policies, said Jim French, lead field organizer for Oxfam America.

Oxfam America is an organization that seeks to fight poverty and hunger, and Walsh has been involved with the organization in college since she learned in her studies about social issues related to agriculture.

Walsh is the co-leader of the Oxfam Action Corps in Iowa, which is trying to raise public awareness of the farm bill and the needs of people affected by it worldwide. The group helps constituents put pressure on legislators in order to make the best possible decisions regarding the bill.

“We are trying to rally the constituents to create a momentum to push Congress to allocate the funds from Title I, which is the subsidies to nutrition, rural development and conservation,” Walsh said.

Subsidies are often awarded to large, corporate farmers, Walsh said, which encourages the overproduction of crops in America.

“This floods the international market, and then farmers throughout the world can’t compete in the world market,” Walsh said. “That causes them to be poor.”

Walsh and others involved in the Action Corps in Iowa have organized rallies, the latest of which occurred Tuesday, as well as letter-writing events to be held in the near future.

“I think social justice and agriculture really go hand-in-hand – making sure that there is equality across the board,” Walsh said.

Oxfam would like to see subsidies used to help nutrition programs and rural development programs so overproduction in America does not occur, and farmers in other parts of the world have a fair chance in the world market, French said.

“Even if you have no direct relations to agriculture, you still eat food, so the farm bill does affect you,” Walsh said.

For this reason, Walsh said, the public should be concerned with the needs of people worldwide.