The five-year farm bill authorizes $1 trillion in spending on farm subsidies and nutrition programs.

The faculty in the College of Agriculture will be eligible for up to $4 million of grant funding from the United States Department of Agriculture, wrote Jennifer Ryder Fox, dean of the College of Agriculture, in an email to The Orion.

Two Chico State professors have previously received $300,000 in funding from the federal government and additional funding would be a major achievement for Chico State, Fox wrote.

“There is also funding for specialty crops, farmers markets, local food promotion programs and organic research, which can have positive ramifications for some of our faculty and the community,” Fox wrote.

In terms of the Chico community as a whole, the bill will affect the farming community differently.

The bill will create a livestock disaster program and has rewritten parts of the crop insurance provisions which would assist farmers in drought conditions, much like the conditions California farmers are experiencing now, Fox wrote.

The bill is now awaiting President Obama’s signature before its enactment.

Madison Holmes can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.