It is fair to say that things are a little hectic right now in farm country.Drought and fires continue their stranglehold on many farmers and ranchers while wet weather has seriously delayed planting for many others. The Farm Bill was approved by Congress only three months ago and implementation is only barely just begun. Important…
Editor’s Note: This column appeared in the May 23, 2014 edition of DTN-Progressive Farmer. Dear DTN-The Progressive Farmer: We write to clear up a few inaccuracies in your column of May 20, 2014, entitled Washington Insider: The Fight for Ag Policy Principles. First, President Bush did not veto twice or even once the 2002 Farm…
The Heritage Foundation recently published a new report detailing its 10 “guiding principles” for agriculture. As in the case of other reports, this report also departs from the respected analysis Heritage was once known for in favor of what appears to be the talking point of donors. Over the years, Heritage increasingly starts with…
The following guest editorial by Bing Von Bergen, past president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, recently appeared in the Helena Independent Record: When the 2014 Farm Bill became law, it marked a pivotal moment in the history of U.S. farm policy. The new Farm Bill eliminated direct payments and replaced them with…
On April 14, more than two months after enactment of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the Farm Bill), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its revised estimates of the spending baseline for farm policy. During the long debate on the Farm Bill, proponents touted savings that the Farm Bill was expected to produce —…