Months after receiving preferential government loans, farmers in India soon will be allowed to walk away from their debts without repayment of either principal or interest, according to a Dec. 9 article by Bloomberg. The outlet explained how some in the India agricultural community are using the free money to expand at a time…
Matthew King, a farmer from central Ohio, recently took to the editorial pages of the Columbus Dispatch to defend America’s current farm policy. And he gave some real-world perspective on the skin-in-the-game farmers have in today’s system. “In 2013, our farming operation’s crop-insurance premium totaled more than my wife’s annual salary as a local…
When it comes to economic conditions on the farm, the theme of Reuters, Bloomberg, and some other news outlets is to speak only of bumper crops and expected higher Farm Bill costs. In the aggregate—though that is not how farmers repay their loans or obtain financing—U.S. farm income will not be up as one might…
Farm Policy Facts has long stressed the importance of crop insurance to our farm safety net. We are pleased to see these same views being echoed in mainstream media, especially in light of the number of column inches given to our critics. The following column, by farmer Matthew King, appeared recently in the Columbus…
The popularity of crop insurance was on full display during debate of the 2014 Farm Bill, and the phrase “do no harm to crop insurance” was uttered over and over again by farm leaders and policymakers alike when describing their policy goals. Lawmakers embraced the policy because, with crop insurance, farmers have skin in the…
The passage of the 2014 Farm Bill marked a pivotal point in U.S farm policy, whereby the federal government ended direct payments in favor of crop insurance that farmers purchase to meet their unique needs. Crop insurance has been around since the 1930s and for most of that time was widely underused and unknown.…
When commodity prices were strong, farm incomes were up, and the agricultural sector was credited with helping offset some of the economic misery caused by the housing crisis, not too many people seemed happy for America’s farmers. Quite the opposite. A lot of folks used the positive economic situation to attack agriculture and farm…
Thailand is a behemoth in the world rice market by anyone’s definition. Using an assortment of subsidies and government programs, Thailand had grown to become the world’s biggest rice exporter by 2011. That year, it shipped 10.6 million tons of rice – or nearly one-third of global exports. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough. In…
During its recent annual convention, the American Sugar Alliance unveiled two educational videos to illustrate the ever-increasing rates of foreign sugar subsidization that are destroying the free market. The first video described the stagnant, low-price environment in North America and steps taken by the U.S. sugar industry to increase its efficiency to survive, including…
The number of young farmers is trending modestly upwards, according to 2012 Ag Census released earlier this year. Young, beginning principal operators who reported their primary occupation as farming increased 11.3 percent from 36,396 to 40,499 between 2007 and 2012. This increase in new blood is a welcome sight for a sector that has…
Farm Policy Facts has never shied away from calling out farm policy critics for mischaracterizing agriculture, defying common sense, or twisting facts to suit their agendas. Yet for all the foolishness we’ve encountered – like comparing farmers to cheap drunks at an open bar, or critics’ close ties with Brazil, or erroneous claims of billionaires…
During the Farm Bill debate, many agricultural leaders pointed out the fact that farm policy should be written for the bad times, not the good. It appears that such challenging times might be here sooner rather than later, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) forecasting farm income to drop 14…