He also doubled the amount of money available to rural communities for grants to help them find new ways to add value and market products created on farms and small?town businesses.

The current federal regulations limiting junk food is very narrow.

Since 1998 Sen. Harkin has secured a total of $116 million for the initiative, the first of its kind in the nation, to repair, modernize and build new schools.

These initiatives Sen. Harkin fought to include in the farm bill as chairman, however, remain under attack both from the Bush administration and this year’s congressional budget cuts.