2016: A Year in Review with Farm Policy Facts
With a new year on the horizon, Farm Policy Facts is taking a look back at some of the top stories of 2016.
Fact Check: Corporate Farms Vs. Family Farms
Farm policy opponents love to rail against “corporate farms.” These operations, they say, have run family farmers out of rural America. But is it true? Not according to a recent report by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).
It is true that modern-day farms in America are no longer one-or-two acre plots plowed by oxen and planted by hand — the inefficient, gothic scenes of yesteryear.
Our View: “Fake News” is Nothing New for Farmers
Farmers and ranchers have been dealing with “fake farm news” for years – not only from the mainstream media, but also from special interest groups.
Combest: Why Trump needs a strong Agriculture secretary
“A lot of what Washington does is harmful to American agriculture. And, what good it does costs very little” writes former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest.
Rep. Cramer: How Critics of U.S. Farm Policy Have It Wrong
What if we could truly open up foreign markets and create a level playing field for our farmers and ranchers that actually passes the smell test?
#FarmerPortraits
Farm Policy Facts is beginning a new series this month on its digital platforms called #FarmerPortraits.
Our View: Hold the Thin Green Line
As the Secretary of Agriculture, during World War II, said time and time again: “Food will win the war and write the peace.” Or, translated for modern-day: “Hold the thin green line.”
Losing Our Farm Families is a Scary Scenario
Halloween is big business these days. But how much of the record-setting revenue will be flowing to the sugar farmers that made the sweet treats possible?
American Agriculture Remains Important Even if Not Discussed During Presidential Debates
There are no food lines. The grocery stores are all stocked. It is our investment in farm policy that enables this phenomenon and highlights how necessary farm policy is to our country.
Our View: EWG Stoops to New Low, Resorts to Pure Fiction in Latest Attack
With crop insurance’s popularity rising in rural America and on Capitol Hill, and with the policy’s budget outlays falling, we’re guessing one of its harshest critics, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), is running out of believable critiques. So now it’s resorted to pure fiction.
Chinese Subsidies Soar, Sales of Their Stockpiles Loom
On September 13, U.S. trade officials announced that the United States was targeting China in an international trade case over the legality of its rice, corn, and wheat subsidies. The U.S. agricultural community cheered, as U.S. negotiators showed a desire to start rooting out the trade-distorting policies that are so manipulating world commodity markets.
Standing Up for America’s Farm & Ranch Families
Our nation’s farm families provide us with the safest, most abundant, most affordable food and fiber supply in the history of the world. A fact that is so true it has become a cliché.