New Videos Illustrate Support for Farmers & the ‘Dire Consequences’ for Gutting Farm Policy
A pair of videos, released this week from agricultural groups, seeks to educate Americans on the bipartisan support for America’s farmers.
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Foreign Subsidy Schemes Sour Markets
India’s massive sugar handouts have kept inefficient producers in business, promoted overproduction, and helped depress global prices, according to a new study.
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Our View: A Big Fat Farce Returns
Crop prices are low, which means it’s high time for farm policy critics to trot out one of the most absurd criticisms of farm policy ever used.
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New Study Reveals a Shocking Lack of Knowledge about Farm Policy at Farmers’ Expense
A major medical journal with a private vetting process published a study from authors with a clear agenda to attack one part of farm policy by using old data and one title of an even older farm bill to make a dubious association between farm policy and obesity.
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Our View: Remembering our Ag Roots on Independence Day
Agriculture continues to be a source of national wealth, an integral part of national security, the foundation of civilized society, and the pride of American families.
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ICYMI: Farm Policy, Crop Insurance Wise Investments for All Americans
What I have learned during this time is this: farming is an enormous game of risk management. It’s not if something bad is going to happen, it’s when.
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Voluntary, Incentive-Based Conservation is the First Line of Defense Against Burdensome Regulation
Farm Policy Facts is pleased to publish a guest editorial on why the farm bill is critical for growing our food and fiber supply while also protecting our natural resources.
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Farming needs strong policy and crop insurance
As farmers, we have no control over weather. We have no control over markets. We have no control over our foreign competitors. We cannot just turn our operations on or off. We have to take care of the land 365 days a year. We need a safety net when commodity prices fall. We need affordable and reliable crop insurance to protect our yearly investments.
DetailsICYMI: In Defense of the Farm Bureau
Earlier this month, Heritage Action CEO, Michael Needham, wrote an op-ed playing their old song that trashes farmers and farm policy that was published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. This time, in an incredible act of duplicity, Needham tried to portray the Arkansas Farm Bureau, a grassroots organization if there ever was one, of being part of “the establishment” in Washington, D.C. Friend of Farm Policy Facts and Former Congressman Larry Combest wrote a response in kind to set the record straight as to who is the real Washington insider.
DetailsOur View: With a Depressed Farm Economy, America’s Agricultural Producers Should Be Able to Count on the Farm Safety Net
Farmers like to call themselves the eternal optimists, but these real world conditions that Chairman Conaway and others have described have provided plenty of reasons to keep them up at night. The ability to count on farm policy to get them through a tough year or more shouldn’t be one of them.
DetailsNew Public Opinion Polls Shows Strong Support for Farmers and Farm Policy
In an election year that has seen sharp divides among candidates and voters on the major issues of the day, there is one policy area that is receiving widespread, bipartisan support: farm policy and crop insurance.
DetailsRep. Costa: Crop Insurance is Vital Component to U.S. Agriculture Industry
Farm Policy Facts is pleased to publish a guest editorial from Rep. Jim Costa on the importance of maintaining a strong safety net for farmers.
DetailsEWG Still Using Old Data & Misleading Tactics to Generate Anti-Farmer Headlines
Last week, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) sent out a report with this headline: “The Rich Get Richer: 50 Billionaires Got Federal Farm Subsidies.” The piece was meant to draw attention to the “problem” of well-known billionaires and celebrities pocketing farm subsidies. The only problem is, there isn’t a problem.
DetailsFor Agriculture, Every Day is Earth Day
On this Earth Day, we are pleased to publish an editorial from the chairmen of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees celebrating the efforts of America’s farmers and ranchers in protecting our natural resources.
DetailsNew Study Shows the Sweet Truth in Classic Farm Policy Debate
Circulating half-truths and misinformation is how agriculture’s opponents have operated for decades, and they’re not about to let pesky things like facts and expert analysis get in the way.
DetailsKrysta Harden: Diversifying Agriculture’s Workforce
Farm Policy Facts is proud to publish a guest editorial from Krysta Harden, the former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
DetailsA Wide Array of Voices Rally in Defense of the Farm Bill
It is not every day that there is widespread agreement in our nation’s Capitol, especially when it comes to budget matters. So, it is significant to highlight when such accord is demonstrably on display.
DetailsICYMI: Crop Insurance is Critical for Beginning Farmers
“As Congress and the White House wrestle with their respective budgets in the coming weeks, I hope good sense will prevail and they’ll leave crop insurance and farm policy alone.”
DetailsRep. Lucas: A Tradition of Service and Leadership
Congressman Frank Lucas discusses how Future Farmers of America is growing the next generation of leaders, and how his membership in the local chapter as a young person helped shape and inspire a life of public service.
DetailsNew Survey Demonstrates Crop Insurance Support Strong Among Farmers
A new survey demonstrates a strong level of support for crop insurance among farmers growing a diverse set of crops across the country, and opposition to any legislative proposals that weaken this important risk management tool.
DetailsShining A Light on Women in Agriculture One Photo at a Time
“Where are the women?” was not an existential question Marji Guyler-Alaniz asked herself one day after leaving her corporate job of 11 years. Rather it was a realization that the imagery – and perhaps even the perception – of the American farmer needed an update.
DetailsAmerican Presidents on the Importance of Agriculture
On this President’s Day, Farm Policy Facts combed through a bit of presidential history to find the words and views of some of our past leaders on the importance of American agriculture.
DetailsPulling Back the Curtain on EWG’s Playbook
It is easier to sell fear than facts. This is a concept that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) knows all too well and has built a brand and an empire based on that business model. But, people are catching on to that game.
DetailsI Choose American Workers Over Foreign Cheaters
To dismantle U.S. sugar policy without concessions from foreign governments only puts America at a distinct disadvantage. Farm Policy Facts agrees wholeheartedly with Rep. Yoho: we stand with American workers over foreign cheaters.
DetailsICYMI: Kansas Ag Leader Urges Secretary to Designate Cottonseed as an Oilseed
If cotton production leaves our state and local communities, the infrastructure of cotton gins, warehouses and associated businesses will go with it, and history tells us it will not return.
DetailsOur View: Nairobi Sets Stage for 2016 Foreign Subsidy Focus
Narobi is a good first step that publicized some of the schemes America’s competitors use to manipulate markets, and it proved that global reforms are possible.
Details2015: A Year in Review with Farm Policy Facts
From continued attacks on the farm safety net in Washington to a sour farm economy, Farm Policy Facts takes a look at the top agriculture stories of 2015.
DetailsVideo Aims to Combat Misrepresentations of Farm Policy
The National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) recently released a new educational video to illustrate how Americans benefit from crop insurance and to push back on the tactics of farm policy opponents who try to misrepresent the facts surrounding crop insurance and other important facets of U.S. farm policy.
DetailsPressure Builds for USDA to Act to Help U.S. Cotton Farmers
In the midst of dire economic conditions, U.S. cotton farmers can find encouragement from a growing chorus of support for a proposal to help mitigate their current financial struggles.
DetailsFarmers Contend with Sour Farm Economy, Weak Exports and Ag Policy Critics
To be clear, farmers aren’t asking for a headline or a pat on the back. They’re asking for a fair shake when disasters strike and the ability to compete on a global stage. Honestly, it’s the least we can do for the folks who provide the nation with food and fiber.
Details#ICYMI: Insurance on crops boosts farms of all sizes
Now is the time to protect the one thing beginning farmers and their bankers can count on.
Details#ICYMI: Crop Insurance Helps Farmers and Ag Lenders Manage Risk
It is a fact that strong farm policy and support for crop insurance goes beyond the farmer, not only benefitting rural America but consumers as well.
DetailsStrong Ag Sector is Critical for National Defense
As President George W. Bush once said, “A nation that can feed its people is a nation more secure.” But, the reality is, the more we chip away at the investment in our national food and fiber supply, the more vulnerable we become.
DetailsICYMI: History Demonstrates the Importance of a Farm Safety Net
If my family had kept the farm, I would have been a fourth-generation farmer of a grain operation. But they couldn’t.
DetailsRural America Reminds Lawmakers to Keep Their Promise to Protect Crop Insurance from Cuts in Spending Bill
“It ain’t over till it’s over,” said the great Yogi Berra. He was referring to the New York Mets’ season in 1973, but the sentiment could easily describe the fight to stave off cuts to federal crop insurance this year.
DetailsDon’t Keep Farmers Waiting on Tax Certainty
Rather than stack the deck against agriculture, let’s ensure farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to feed the world.
DetailsICYMI: Don’t Squeeze Farmers to Balance the Budget
The United States should stop trying to balance its budget on the backs of farmers. It is bad policy, and there’s no room for further reductions.
DetailsOur View: An Attack On One Farmer’s Policy Is An Attack Upon All
The Farm Bill is needed now more than ever, and no thinly veiled plot by anti-farmer forces to pry open the Farm Bill is acceptable. An attack on one farmer’s policy is an attack upon all as far as we are concerned.
DetailsICYMI: ‘Agriculture, as whole, rose up and said enough is enough’
“Agriculture, as a whole, rose up and said enough is enough,” said Steve Verett, the Executive Vice President of the Plains Cotton Growers.
DetailsICYMI: How the budget deal harms farmers, costs jobs and kills crop insurance
As Congress prepares to vote on a budget agreement that includes cuts to a key component of the farm safety net, Larry Combest, the former chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and the Select Committee on Intelligence, makes clear to lawmakers what is at stake if it comes to pass.
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