You are forgiven for thinking that the federal Farm Bill is all about farms.

It isn't. It's about feeding the nation's hungry, too.

This fall, Congress must reauthorize the 2002 Farm Bill. The reauthorization has implications far beyond this nation's farms, reaching into the homes of many of this country's poor and near-poor. That's because the Farm Bill also contains funding for the major programs, such as food stamps, that feed the hungry.

In 1933, when a far greater proportion of this county's population was engaged in agriculture than now, the first version of the Farm Bill was passed, called the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Its purpose was to ensure growers that prices paid to them would not fall below a set level. From the 1930s through the 1940s, subsequent farm bills focused on protecting farmers and supporting the country's rural economy.

Over the years, the bill expanded into a mammoth, omnibus piece of legislation that included programs to address agricultural trade, conservation, promotion, credit, rural development and research and education.

Beginning in the 1960s, however, each Farm Bill's focus expanded further to include food and nutrition programs for this country's poor. They ranged from food stamps to what's called the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which distributes food in bulk to states that then distribute that food to hungry individuals and families through food banks and soup kitchens. More than half of the last Farm Bill -- passed in 2002 with a price tag of $286 billion -- was dedicated to paying for those food assistance programs.

In the 1990's, though, the movement to reform welfare brought limits on the food stamps' nutrition assistance programs. Eligibility and payments were curtailed.

So while the food stamp portion of the 2002 Farm Bill brought $160 million to the state last year in benefits for those 160,300 Mainers who qualify for them, those payments weren't enough to stem the growing hunger in this state. At an average allotment of $1 per meal, the benefits are insufficient; the 1990's reform provisions also cut families off of food stamps when they reached an income level that still wasn't enough to pay for feeding those families. Unintended consequence of that reform: a disincentive to get a job and get off food stamps.

The 2002 Farm Bill expires later this year. The House of Representatives recently passed its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, with support from both Maine Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud, who are Democrats. The House bill contains important provisions to strengthen food assistance programs, with a $4 billion increase over the last Farm Bill's outlays for those programs. The additional spending would expand both who is eligible for food stamps and the actual benefits a family can receive. Those are welcome advances for Maine's -- and this country's -- hungry.

Now, the focus shifts to the Senate. When Congress returns from its summer recess, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and their colleagues will consider several Senate versions of the Farm Bill. Neither Snowe nor Collins have so far committed to anything concrete that they'd like to see in the bill beyond a general support for food and nutrition programs. Yet already the issue is shaping up to be a partisan battle: The House bill funds increases in the food assistance programs with a tax on foreign corporations operating in the U.S., and the president has threatened to veto any bill with that provision. Most Republican House members similarly condemned the tax.

As we documented in our seven-part editorial series on hunger this summer (http://centralmaine.mainetoday.com/hunger.html), hunger in Maine is growing. Food stamps don't cover the cost of feeding a family, nor are they available to all who need them. Maine had the highest percentage growth rate of hungry people in the country between 2000 and 2005. Five years ago, we had 430 food pantries in this state; now we have 600. According to the University of Maine's Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, from 2002 to 2005 the number of Maine households receiving food stamps increased by almost 50 percent; nationally, food stamp use increased by only 26 percent from 2000 to 2004. Finally, the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program's food deliveries to Maine have been cut in half from 2003 levels.

As our two senators consider their positions, we hope and trust that, as has often been the case, they will set aside partisan considerations and, instead, recognize the pressing need among their constituents for help in getting food to their families.

The Farm Bill is a crucial and effective tool in feeding the hungry, but will only be able to adequately address the growing need in our state and country with expanded funding. This is not a partisan issue, an ideological issue or an issue of our nation's capacity -- it is simply a matter of finding the will to do the right thing. We hope Snowe and Collins agree.