It’s always the same. Food prices rise, grocery bills get bigger, and the media take to their exposes about big, bad agribusiness taking money from the cash-strapped American consumer. But a recent study released by the USDA, may have some reporters rewriting their copy. The report, titled, “A Revised and Expanded Food Dollar Series: A…
DetailsOn Feb. 17, at least one senior House member suggested that the week’s hearings on the state of the farm economy may have marked the beginning of the 2012 Farm Bill debate. I believe the whole week may have. The week was kicked off with the annual nonevent of the President’s budget submission to the…
DetailsThe men and women of American agriculture are as diverse as the crops they grow, but they all seem to share one thing in common these days: a general distrust of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Earlier this month, this distrust was on display at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 92nd annual conference. In addition…
DetailsEarlier this month, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that U.S. farm exports reached an all-time high of $116 billion in 2010. “Export sales surged…in bulk commodities, which increased 19 percent to $47.2 billion,” he noted. This is great news for America, Vilsack said, because agricultural exports drive economic activity and create jobs. “Every $1 billion…
DetailsSenator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman, U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry USDA 2011 Outlook Forum February 24, 2011 Crystal City, VA I’m so proud to represent the Great State of Michigan, where we know how to build things and grow things. Agriculture is incredibly important to Michigan’s economy — I know a lot of…
DetailsThe Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City might have well asked, “do you want the good news or the bad news,” prior to releasing two recent white papers about the farm economy. On one hand, the Fed bolstered spirits by noting that agriculture has been in the driver’s seat of America’s recent economic recovery. On…
DetailsThose of us in the farming community have long complained that big-city newspaper editorial boards are quick to bash farm policy but rarely print letters submitted in defense of the world’s safest, most affordable, abundant food and fiber supply. In fact, we’ve given an online home to some of these unpublished letters. But farmers are…
DetailsLast week, tourists and congressional staffers walking down Independence Avenue near the U.S. Capitol building were treated to an unusual site: a wheat field growing smack in the middle of downtown Washington, DC. It was all part of the Wheat Food Council’s Urban Wheat Field, an event designed to teach Americans a little bit about…
DetailsWASHINGTON (June 18, 2010)—Sometimes, it’s better to get something right late than never at all. In the case of agriculture, the time is now, and one organization is refocusing its attention in the right direction. In a recent meeting, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (a group of 31 wealthy, market-oriented countries) shifted its…
DetailsWASHINGTON (May 19, 2010)—The agricultural community gave valuable advice to the Obama Administration last week as it looks to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a wide-ranging trade deal has become a focus of the White House and would encompass a variety of farm commodities. In a letter to Ambassador Siddiqui, the Chief Agricultural Negotiator,…
DetailsWASHINGTON (April 15, 2010)—Even though federal spending on farm policy continues to come in under budget, U.S. farmers continue to come under attack. Most recently, crop insurance-an essential component of the farm safety net-has found itself in the Administration’s crosshairs. But these internal attacks seem to be isolated to the United States. One of America’s…
DetailsWASHINGTON (April 13, 2010)—In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Friday, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and other leading farm groups voiced their serious concerns over reductions to the budget baseline for agriculture that would result from the renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA), the contract between the USDA and…
DetailsWASHINGTON, DC (March 17, 2010)—Key U.S. senators sent a letter this week to President Barack Obama opposing proposed cuts to federal agriculture budget. “Cutting farm programs in the midst of an economic downturn sends the wrong signal to rural America,” noted Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss (GA), Pat Roberts (KS), John Thune (SD), Thad Cochran (MS),…
DetailsWASHINGTON (March 16, 2010)—One of the nation’s biggest agricultural trade groups underscored its support of the farm safety net, including crop insurance, at its annual conference today and overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing needless budget cuts to farm policy. The National Farmers Union (NFU), which represents more than 250,000 family farmers, adopted the policy at…
DetailsWASHINGTON (March 12, 2010)—Special interests with no real hands-on experience on the farm are threatening the very policies that will be essential to feeding a growing world population, according to a major ag lender. “[T]he group of people who are formulating food system policy and regulatory frameworks have expanded beyond . . . the traditional…
Detailsby: National Cotton Council The CQ Weekly cover story on U.S. cotton policy and the U.S. cotton industry is steeped in error, surprising bias, and fallacy. The author used every tried and true tactic to distort the picture — from sentence structure to carefully missing facts. The Brazil WTO case was based on U.S. farm…
DetailsWASHINGTON (Feb. 5, 2010)—Just moments after President Obama released his much-anticipated budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year, widely respected Congressional leaders on both sides of the political aisle voiced displeasure. “Put simply the President’s proposal picks winners and losers,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) said in a statement. “By targeting policies that…
DetailsOpening Statement of the Honorable Blanche L. Lincoln, Chairman Hearing on Expanding Our Food and Fiber Supply through a Strong U.S. Farm Policy June 30, 2010 “Good morning, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will now come to order. “This is the first in a series of hearings to help this Committee prepare…
DetailsIn 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. They cite historical spending but decline to note that spending on the price-based provisions involved in the Brazil dispute likely will be zero for the 2010 crop. They…
DetailsWASHINGTON (Jan. 14, 2010)—U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., today noted comments by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk strongly defending the U.S. position at the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting last December in Geneva. In a letter to Kirk, the Senators praised…
DetailsBy: Larry Combest Since the G-8 Leaders and five of their developing country counterparts set 2010 as the end date for completion of the Doha Round at the July Summit, there have been multiplying pledges of fealty to the Round, culminating in the alleged “breakthrough” at the meeting of Trade Ministers in New Delhi earlier…
DetailsBy 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…
DetailsWASHINGTON (Dec. 7, 2009)—In an era of bulging deficits, there is one area of the federal budget—farm policy—that’s actually coming in well below projections, according to new Congressional Budget Office figures analyzed by Farm Policy Facts. Relative to budget projections made in 2002, farm policy in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills has saved taxpayers…
DetailsWASHINGTON (November 24, 2009)—Two top-level trade officials in the Obama administration recently told Congress what they thought of the trade deal currently on the table at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Senators liked what they heard. “No deal is better than a bad deal” was the common refrain during the Senate Finance Committee’s nomination…
DetailsOctober 15, 2009 Jason Aldean Spalding Entertainment 1025 16th Avenue South Suite 103 Nashville, TN 37209 Dear Jason, On behalf of America’s farm and ranch families, I want to publicly thank you for bringing greater attention, through your music, to the challenges face. Those involved in agriculture here in the United States work hard every…
DetailsMEMPHIS (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…
DetailsWASHINGTON (Aug. 24, 2009)—Ten U.S. Senators sent a bipartisan letter to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week urging its Risk Management Agency (RMA) to approach upcoming negotiations over the Federal Crop Insurance Program with great care. Led by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Saxby Chambliss (GA), the Committee’s…
DetailsBy: Larry Combest WASHINGTON (July 30, 2009)—This spring, world politicians once again revisited the idle Doha Round of international trade negotiations, doing so first at April’s G-20 Economic Summit. Here, a pledge was secured that the key players in the world economy remained “committed to reaching an ambitious and balanced conclusion” to the Doha Round…
DetailsWASHINGTON (June 30, 2009)—Ideally, implementing rules provide a clear-cut “yes” or “no” for newly passed laws. Not so with the 2008 farm bill’s changes on disaster assistance, payment limitations, and eligibility provisions, which have left farmers with a lot of “maybes”… and a lot of confusion. Industry groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation (www.fb.org),…
DetailsBeheading awaited a French Queen in the 1700s when she was reported to have said, “let them eat cake,” after learning the peasants had no bread. Yet with more than 1 billion hungry people around the globe today, praise awaits the modern day version of this statement—”let them eat organic.” In the world where organic…
DetailsWASHINGTON (Jun 08, 2009)—Members of the agricultural community have a money message for Congress – don’t pull funding from the 2008 farm law in budgeting for the year ahead. Forty-three organizations, among them the nation’s largest farm associations, crop insurance providers, and agricultural lenders, petitioned the House Appropriations Committee in a letter last Thursday to…
DetailsThree decades ago, TIME magazine took an in-depth look at “The New American Farmer”. At the time of their feature, the business of farming was rapidly shifting from the inefficient, tiny farms that dominated the 1930s, to larger-scale family run operations that need to be adept at business, engineering, and technology to keep up with…
DetailsIn addition to bad hairdos, Woodstock, and butterfly collars, the ‘70s also brought with it groundbreaking technologies that propelled many U.S. businesses into a new era. Farming was no exception. But the new technologies that improved efficiency and boosted yields came with a hefty price tag. The cost of farming skyrocketed during the decade, and…
Detailsopponents tell it, you’d think most farmers are raking in the big bucks. But anyone who’s been around the business knows that’s never been the case. The margins in farming are as thin today-maybe thinner-as when TIME magazine had this to say in a 1978 cover story “The New American Farmer“: To succeed in this…
DetailsGiving Thanks to an Extraordinary Example for Us All I met many wonderful people on my journey through the West Texas farmlands, but few as remarkable as Beth Clanton. Eleven years ago, Clanton was a second grade school teacher in Seminole, Texas. Her husband was a peanut and cotton farmer, and together, they had two…
DetailsNowadays, it’s pretty difficult to get a mainstream news organization to pay much attention to the business of farming or the importance of the profession to the country. Big-city reporters today tend to focus on the sensational and the conflicts created by a handful of over-zealous farm opponents. Apparently, it hasn’t always been this way.…
DetailsThe Boston Globe’s May 26 editorial against farmers and farm policy was nothing new—it included the arguments opponents of agriculture have been using for years. What was new was the speed with which the agricultural community responded to these attacks to point out the misinformation, and in some places, completely erroneous claims. Former Agriculture Committee…
DetailsAn elected official, Terry Wanzek is well known and well liked around North Dakota. In fact, the state senator from Jamestown has represented the people of the 29th district since 1995—except for one interrupted term in 2005. That’s when a political opponent went on the attack and demonized Terry for his full-time career, riding a…
DetailsWASHINGTON (Apr 02, 2009)—A national poll conducted by Harris Interactive two weeks ago found that nine out of 10 Americans felt it was important to grow food at home instead of relying on imports. These results were not surprising to Larry Combest, the former Chairman of both the House Intelligence Committee and the House Agriculture…
DetailsOften times you’re told to play the hand you’re dealt, and after the 2008 farm bill was signed into law, Chuck Coley had planned to do just that. A cotton and peanut grower in west Georgia, Coley is no stranger to the notion that in this business, you need to adapt. As an active member…
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