Cotton Farmers Take on Washington Post Attacks
In their crusade against the cotton industry, Post editors are quick with inflammatory adjectives but short on facts when it comes to agricultural policy and trade disputes...
[View the Full Article]
Right Hand and Left Hand
By DeVonna Zeug
It's an odd thing—on one hand Uncle Sam is looking for ways to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to spur jobs creation and economic recovery while on the other hand Washington is proposing a plan that I fear will destabilize crop insurance that we farmers need, lenders require, and billions of dollars in economic activity and thousands of American jobs depend upon...
[View the Full Article]
Cotton Council Responds to WTO Ruling
MEMPHIS (Aug. 31, 2009)—In response to the WTO Arbitration Panel decision released today, NCC Chairman Hardwick stated that, "We are pleased that the arbitration award is far less than requested by Brazil, that the Panel provided no award with respect to the Step 2 cotton program, and that Brazil is not authorized to cross-retaliate at this time...
[View the Full Article]
America, Shake ‘The Hand That Feeds U.S.’
By: National Cotton Council
When most people think about challenges farmers face, weather and crop prices likely come to mind. But these days, the uninformed public perception of agriculture worries farmers almost as much as market uncertainty....
[View the Full Article]
President’s Budget Undermines Confidence in Farm Policy
By: National Cotton Council
The National Cotton Council said today that the proposed program changes included in President Obama’s FY10 budget for USDA fail to recognize the work recently completed by Congress on the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.
The NCC emphasized that after a lengthy and arduous debate, the current farm law, which is still being implemented, introduced significant commodity program changes while maintaining an important safety net for production agriculture, and enhanced conservation and nutrition programs...
[View the Full Article]
Plowing New Ground or Back to the Future?
By: Reece Langley
VP, Government Affairs, USA Rice Federation
Imagine a youthful Democrat with rock-star qualities overcoming the odds to capture his party's nomination and go on to succeed President Bush, whose sky-high popularity had plummeted in an economic downturn.
Imagine a Democratic Congress at or near full strength, with 57 Democratic Senators and 258 Democratic Congressmen...
[View the Full Article]
Doha Discussion Paper: Special Products Exemption Sharply Reduces Market Access
By: National Cotton Council
here are many remaining areas of disagreement in the Doha Round trade negotiations. In the months since the Doha Round July mini-ministerial, virtually all of the discussion has centered on the Special Safeguard Mechanism, cotton, and Sectoral Negotiations in the NAMA (non-agricultural market access) negotiations as being among the last remaining hurdles. The Lamy provisions on Special Products have scarcely been mentioned...
[View the Full Article]
Federal Cotton Program Works, Expenditures Declining
By: National Cotton Council
Criticisms of U.S. cotton farm programs are unwarranted. The truth: U.S. farm programs have operated as designed, supporting farmers' incomes in times of low prices while allowing them to react to market signals. A report that dispels myths about U.S. farm law support to America's cotton farmers can be found on the National Cotton Council's website at www.cotton.org/issues/2008/myths.cfm.
[View the Full Letter]
Letter from USA Rice Federation
Dear Representative:
On behalf of the USA Rice Federation and its producer, miller, and merchant members and allied businesses, we urge your vote in support of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (H.R. 2419 – Farm Bill) that is scheduled for a vote this week in both the House and Senate. Even though the bill may not be perfect in some respects, we believe it represents the best opportunity to provide long-term, predictable farm policy for the rice industry and all American agriculture.
[View the Full Letter]
Letter From a Concerned Citizen and Farmer
Dear Farm Policy Facts,
As an active participant in the farm policy debate it would be appropriate to say a few words to the folks on Capitol Hill before they make their final decisions in the farm bill. For months, farmers have gone without a new farm bill and there have been multiple delays in the process. Now that there have been numerous reports in the news...
[View the Full Article]
Farmers Hopping Mad over Farm Bill Delay this Easter
Easter candy is big business.
Americans are projected to spend $1.9 billion to fill Easter baskets with sweet treats this year, says the National Retail Federation.
A survey conducted by the group estimates that shoppers will fork over, on average, $18.12 for Easter candy—up from $14.40 just five years earlier...
[View the Full Article]
Stability and Stimulus in Rural America
By: John Thaemert, President, National Association of Wheat Growers
It's been a rough and tumble week for markets around the world and, in Washington, President Bush and Congressional leaders have finally found something they can agree on-the need for an economic stimulus package.
[View the Full Article]
Congress Should Take Notice as Nation's Farmers Return from La.
Last week, thousands of farmers and ranchers from Hawaii, California, North Dakota, the Carolinas, and everywhere in between boarded planes, trains and buses to make the trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The state's agricultural community gladly welcomed our colleagues, who produce just about everything everyday citizens put in, or wear on, their bodies.
[View the Full Article]
Importance of a Full Five Year Farm Bill Now
Excerpt from Dec. 3 Speech by Larry Combest to USA Rice Federation
Now, I suppose it is possible, and perhaps it is even probable, that short term extensions of current law may continue to take place until the full five year Farm Bill is completed...
[View the Full Article]
The Emperor's New Clothes: Subsidy Propaganda Stripped!
By: USA Rice Federation
Every day we see a steady stream of propaganda about U.S. farm subsidies being responsible for the myriad ills associated with world poverty...
[View the Full Article]
Brazilian Government Suppressed Prices While Arguing Against U.S. Cotton Program
While Brazilian officials were in Geneva arguing that U.S. subsidies were depressing world cotton prices, the Brazilian government was busy selling government-held cotton stocks on the Brazilian market...
[View the Full Article]
America's Economic Engine
By: Bryan Hest, Steve Williams, Jerry Demmer
Farming does a lot more than just put food in our bellies and clothes on our backs. It literally is an economic engine that drives America....
[View the Full Article]
A Recipe for Disaster
By: Norm Knochel
I recently saw a clever bumper sticker in farm country that read, "If you like foreign oil, you'll love foreign food." It's brilliant because it makes you think about something most people take for granted-feeding ourselves...
[View the Full Article]
New Study: Americans Prefer Home Cooking
A recent New York Times article, "Catfish With a Side of Scombroid," informed readers that: "…the salmonella frequently detected in Asia-farmed fish came from fecal bacteria in the grow-out ponds. The fish, in other words, were bathing in human and animal feces."
[View the Full Article]
Click Here to view the Photo Gallery and/or email us your farm photos to post on the web site.
What is RSS?
