The 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…
The 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…
Last 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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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,…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON, 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),…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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…
October 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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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),…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (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…
WASHINGTON (Mar 26, 2009)—The government is on a spending spree, funneling billions to big business and “toxic assets.” Amazingly, one minute expense—America’s farmers—briefly found their way into the cost-cutting crosshairs when President Obama released his budget proposal. The outcry over proposed cuts to the farm safety net was fierce. Powerful lawmakers from both parties and the…
WASHINGTON (March 23, 2009)—Prompted by President Obama’s proposed budget—which would gut the farm safety net and exclude many full-time farmers from federal assistance—lawmakers and farm groups sent a unified, bipartisan message today to anyone eying farm policy for future budget cuts. 17 Senators, 52 House members, and 40 farm organizations sent separate letters to Congressional…
WASHINGTON (Feb 27, 2009)—While big businesses ranging from insurance giants to banks, car companies, investment houses, and construction firms are raking in hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars, the men and women who feed and clothe the country received some unwelcome news yesterday from President Barack Obama. In the President’s proposed budget, farmers with more…
WASHINGTON (Feb 23, 2009)—Open any major newspaper in the country and you’ll find countless stories of economic distress. Companies are shedding jobs, house foreclosures are on the rise, and the Dow plunges to new lows almost every day. But there’s one story that’s hardly been told—a story that has a direct impact on the breakfast…
WASHINGTON (Feb 18, 2009)—Although farm families across the country were put on notice last summer that strict new payment limitation rules were coming down the pike for the 2009 crop year, nobody could have anticipated the drastic changes that materialized nearly a half a year later, leaving farm families scrambling to understand and comply with…
The name “farm bill” can be pretty misleading. Most who do not follow agricultural legislation that closely just assume that all of the funding included in the “farm bill” winds up on the farm. Not even close. Farm programs only represent about 10% of farm bill spending. The bulk of farm bill spending is earmarked…
WASHINGTON (Jan 13, 2009)—The Riverwalk was hopping as farmers from across the country descended on San Antonio for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 90th annual convention this weekend. The city’s convention center looked like most farm shows. John Deere and Case IH rolled in the big green and red tractors, U.S. automakers showed off the…
WASHINGTON (Dec 10, 2008)—Major farm organizations sent Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer a letter yesterday conveying serious concerns about the significant delay in publishing the regulations implementing numerous commodity and conservation provisions of the recently enacted farm bill. The letter, which was also delivered to Office of Management & Budget Director Jim Nussle and to Congressional…
WASHINGTON (Dec 9, 2008)—The Washington Post ran a front-page piece in April penned by a fellow of the German Marshall Fund—a well-heeled and outspoken farm critic—about a DC-area bagel shop that was forced to raise prices because of wheat costs. Like many news stories from the time period, the article—which is posted on the German…
WASHINGTON (Dec 1, 2008)—Visit most any university-level journalism class across the country, and you’ll undoubtedly hear a lesson about taking quotes out of context. It is a lesson aspiring reporters are taught early on in the curriculum—be accurate when quoting a source and don’t mischaracterize a source’s quote to fit the story you want to…
WASHINGTON (Nov 20, 2008)—Larry Combest, the former Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, this week penned a policy paper outlining potential pitfalls for farmers if the current World Trade Organization trade talks conclude without serious revisions. “Moving forward with the current direction of the Doha Round would critically injure an important sector of the U.S.…
WASHINGTON (Nov 7, 2008)—If you’re miffed about grocery prices still being high despite price drops in fuel and agricultural commodities, you’re in good company. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) recently penned a letter to the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) demanding one of two things: cheaper food on the shelves or an apology for unfairly blaming…
WASHINGTON (Nov 3, 2008)—Since 1973, farm bills have included a Rural Development Title. The 2008 farm bill builds on that tradition, addressing a wide range of policy issues affecting rural communities. Subjects covered by the title include economic planning and development; essential community facilities (such as emergency first responders and healthcare); water, waste disposal, and…
WASHINGTON (Oct 23, 2008)—While Wall Street crumbled, poison seeped through a crack in the Great Wall of China’s bureaucracy over to our shores. And we barely paid it any notice. It would be almost impossible to see a better example of the importance of food security if it were staged. But there it is—from Vietnam…
WASHINGTON (Oct 2, 2008)—In terms of farm policy, producers are in limbo right now, caught somewhere in between the new 2008 farm act and the old 2002 law. Farm bill implementing regulations have yet to be written, lawmakers and USDA officials continue to tussle over the intent of the law, and farmers are confused. Few…
WASHINGTON (Sep 24, 2008)—Want to take a cooking class from the founder of the Viking Range Corporation? You don’t have to shell out for a trendy culinary school in Manhattan; you simply need to head to a small town of 20,000 in the Mississippi Delta. Fred Carl, Jr., Viking’s founder, has joined the ranks of…
WASHINGTON (Sep 19, 2008)—During the farm bill debate, critics of farm policy were quick to accuse the men and women who feed and clothe the country of preferential treatment. Farm bill opponents pushed for a restrictive cap—based on a farmer’s adjusted gross income or AGI—to limit who can receive benefits from the farm safety net.…
WASHINGTON (Sep 12, 2008)—The “farm bill” might sound like a piece of legislation that deals strictly with agricultural policy, but it is far from narrowly focused. Every month, Farm Policy Facts will dissect a title of the bill to illustrate its breadth and importance to people all over our country – not just farmers. This…
WASHINGTON (Aug 22, 2008)—Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia will be the big battleground states in the upcoming presidential election, according to a recent analysis by CNN. And with the exception of New Hampshire, agriculture is a dominate industry in all of them. No wonder the candidates…
WASHINGTON (July 25, 2008)—Following the announcement of a trade concession a few years ago, a Minnesota farmer gave a local reporter a quote for the ages. “We need to have uniforms made up for our trade negotiators so they know what team they play for,” he said. Now with current WTO trade talks headed in…
WASHINGTON (July 14, 2008)—Farmers on both sides of the pond today came out swinging against the direction of international trade negotiations. “With a decisive Ministerial to be held next week, the undersigned organizations, representing America’s farmers and ranchers, wish to express their continued deep concern about the status and direction of the Doha Round of…
WASHINGTON (June 27, 2008)—If it seems like Congress was voting on the farm bill every time you turned around, it’s probably because they have been. And industry insiders fear that the farm bill will not fade from the forefront anytime soon. The first public farm bill fight centered on the now-infamous Kind-Flake amendment. Despite the…