President’s Proposed Farm Cuts Get Chilly Capitol Hill Reception

The House Agriculture Committee Chairman and Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member released the following statement on Sept. 19, 2011. Lucas & Roberts Respond to the President’s Debt Plan WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Frank Lucas (R-OK), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee,…

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Look At The Whole Picture Before Swinging the Budget Axe

By all accounts, 2011 looked like a banner year for American agriculture.  In May, despite flooding and late planting, USDA forecasted a record crop in corn—by far America’s largest row crop—of 13.5 million bushels, covering 92 million acres of prime farmland.  With corn being an important crop domestically—producing food, fuel, and feed—and being a huge export…

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Miss America, Farm Bill Author, Federal Reserve Offer Pearls of Wisdom

When I first got word that Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan, was interested in helping spread agriculture’s good message, I had some reservations. Blinded by stereotypes and generalizations, I figured an 18-year-old pageant winner couldn’t possibly be an effective spokesperson for an industry as serious and established as agriculture. An industry this revered, I thought,…

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Key Legislators Take On 6th Circuit Court Over Costly Regulations

By an overwhelming bi-partisan majority, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a House bill that will remove costly and redundant regulatory burdens on producers while providing no environmental or consumer benefits. The bill, which passed on a voice vote in the Senate committee, had easily passed the House by a very large, bi-partisan margin. The vote…

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Broad Spectrum Of Agriculture Draws A Line in the Sand Against Unfair Cuts to Farm Policy

More than 130 organizations spanning the breadth of the agricultural spectrum – from small community based groups to the largest commodity trade associations – informed President Obama and Congressional leaders of their strong opposition to efforts to balance the federal budget on the backs of farmers and rural America. “We are extraordinarily concerned about the…

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Institute Of Medicine Debunks Myth Linking Farm Policies to Obesity

The absurdity arguably began one chilly Monday night in December 2003.  ABC aired a “news” program linking farm policy to the nation’s obesity epidemic.  At the time, farmers cried foul and some even threatened to boycott the network. The notion that U.S. commodities were too cheap and that, if Congress super-sized subsidies for asparagus and…

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