Abstract
A significant debate is ahead to write a new farm bill. Dietitians and nutritionists have a second chance to gain support for their priorities, but from a compromised position thanks to last year's efforts,when Congress targeted the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for savings, scaled back previous commitments to food and agriculture research, and eventually settled on a compromise that took funds away from nutrition counseling. Now, the sequester and a new budget baseline bring new pressure for all food and agriculture programs. Changing course from this deteriorating path will not be easy.