by Tonya Allen As the United States Congress begins negotiating a new five-year Farm Bill and discussing major spending reductions, Brazil, one of America’s largest competitors in the global marketplace, is doubling down its rate of subsidization. Brazilian farm subsidies increased two-fold in the past three years, according to the Brazilian government’s own recent report to the…
by Tonya Allen The old saying is that politics makes for strange bedfellows. Case in point: Brazil and U.S. farm policy critics. It’s really no surprise that these two have danced together time and time again, considering Brazil, more than any other country, has the most to gain from dismantling U.S. farm policy and weakening…
By Thomas P. Zacharias Admittedly, opponents of farm policy attract more headlines than the men and women who put food on our tables and clothes on our backs. Then again, it is far easier to get attention with sensationalist claims and unsubstantiated data. Take the drought of 2012 for example. Opponents of crop insurance made…
by Bing Von Bergen There is a lot of buzz in Washington again this year about the prospects of a farm bill. For those of us in agriculture, a five-year farm bill is one of the few things Congress can do to take some of the guesswork out of farming. That’s because farming is an…
This is the first in a series of articles that will examine the cost of failure when strong farm policy is not enacted. Food scarcity: it is not something we often think about. We are, after all, the wealthiest nation in the history of mankind. Not free of want — but certainly a land of plenty … flowing…
by Rene Pastor To many people, Brazil’s image in the sugar and ethanol market is that of low-cost operators who used their smarts and free-market philosophies to become a top producer and exporter in the world. That, it seems, is largely spin. The reality is that Brazil’s government is subsidizing its producers, while simultaneously criticizing…
by Cristina DC Pastor USA Rice Federation (USA Rice) and Ducks Unlimited (DU) recently forged a new partnership that will serve as a model of cooperation and communication between a farm group and a conservation organization. The USA Rice-DU Stewardship Partnership will address rice production, waterfowl and water conservation projects, programs and policies that are…
As crop insurers prepare for the Farm Bill and funding deliberations in the future, National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) has released a detailed question-and-answer resource laying out the facts about crop insurance and dispelling some of the most common arguments against crop insurance put forth by its critics. “Crop insurance is the single most important…
When putting together a Top 10 List of agriculture-themed videos it would be tempting to choose the ones that have gone viral and we have all enjoyed, like the epic Dodge Ram “Farmer” commercial, the “I’m Farming and I Grow It” and “Farm It Maybe” parodies, among others. Instead, Farm Policy Facts chose to use…
Farm Policy Facts has released Farm Bill 101, a current and comprehensive guide to the nine titles that make up the Farm Bill. The resource includes a title-by-title history and summary and is an essential tool for those wishing to better understand this complex package of agriculture, conservation, rural development, research and food assistance policies.…
Former USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins, Ph.D., predicts a smaller farm safety net in the future, but one that cements crop insurance. “We will see a greater evolution in the reliance on crop insurance in 2013,” Collins said. Collins stated that one only needs to look at the past few years to recognize…
by Rene Pastor It was the one thing that was on the mind of most everyone at the 2013 annual outlook conference of the U.S. Agriculture Department. Weather. Can a drought as horrific as 2012 spill into 2013? “There are … risks that we can’t control,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in his keynote speech…