Without fail, every time we talk about the Green New Deal as having the potential to rapidly transform the U.S food and farming system, we’re met with skepticism. “Where are the details?” people want to know.

That’s because the GND, introduced in the U.S House and Senate in February, isn’t a law, or a bill or a policy. It’s a non-binding resolution. Congress will vote on it, but it won’t be signed into law by the president. Non-binding resolutions are viewed as a commitment by Congress to a general goal, or in the case of the GND, a set of goals.

Ever since the GND was introduced, and supported by more than 100 members of Congress, we’ve been waiting for a concrete plan of action. 

The wait is over.

Last week, Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders unveiled his plan for fleshing out the GND in order to meet the resolution’s ambitious and urgent goals, including achieving net-zero emissions by 2030.

Sanders’ 67-page plan lays out a comprehensive $16.3-trillion package of policies and government-funded programs, as well as realistic projections on how these new programs will actually pay for themselves over the next 15 years. 

As OCA’s Ronnie Cummins points out in this week’s essay, Sanders’ GND far exceeds what any of the other leading presidential candidates have so far dared to propose—including providing $841 billion in program money to transform our climate-destructive, corporate monopoly-controlled, industrial food and farming system into an equitable family farm-based, regenerative system of farming and ranching. 

Sanders’ GND is a radical plan designed to address a radical societal and global emergency, Ronnie writes. Which is exactly why Big Oil, Big Ag, Big Biotech and Big Pharma are attacking it.

Read ‘Bernie Sanders’ Green New Deal is a Game-Changer for Food & Farming’