ORLANDO, FL. (Feb. 5, 2008)—As bleak as the budget situation looks for the farm bill right now, “it doesn’t get any better beyond 2008,” a policy analyst with Informa Economics told sugarbeet farmers at their annual convention today. A number of issues—from a shrinking budget baseline to a growing budget deficit, a slumping economy, increased…
Wheat farmers fed up with hunger are showing that community comes first with a Pendleton, Oregon-based program called Bushels for Betsy. Tom Winn, a former administrator of the Oregon Wheat Commission, started Bushels for Betsy, which he named after his daughter. Through the program – a cooperative partnership of the Oregon Wheat Foundation, Pendleton Flour…
Washington (Jan. 29, 2008)—Farmers and ranchers from across the country are urging Congress and the President to quickly pass a strong new farm bill as part of their economic stimulus agenda. “When our manufacturing sector went into a tailspin earlier this decade, the Wall Street Journal reported that a strong agriculture sector was helping hold…
NEW ORLEANS (Jan. 17, 2008)—The message coming out of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual conference held here this week was crystal clear: farmers have already sacrificed a lot in the farm bill and should not be the source of additional funding cuts. The farm bills passed by the House and Senate “represent significant reform,”…
Washington (Jan. 16, 2008)—Most priorities championed during the writing of the new farm bill received funding increases. There was more money for conservation, for nutrition programs and for renewable energy priorities. There was additional funding for research, the marketing of fruits and vegetables and even pest and disease eradication. The vote has been hailed by…
Soaring commodity prices…farm incomes on the rise…increasing land values…banks happy to cash-flow farming operations. Most people involved in writing the new farm bill might read those phrases and think it’s a description of current situation in rural America. It’s not; it’s a description of the years leading up to the farm crisis of the 1980s.…
By: John Thaemert, President, National Association of Wheat Growers It’s been a rough and tumble week for markets around the world and, in Washington, President Bush and Congressional leaders have finally found something they can agree on-the need for an economic stimulus package. Those of us in the farm community have been working on a…
U.S. farm programs were recently being attacked by big-city editorial boards and farm policy critics for keeping commodity prices too low and, thus, harming developing countries. Now, with many agricultural commodity prices on an upswing, these same groups are complaining that prices are too high and, thus, harming developing countries. Oxfam—the group that dropped $225,000…
Washington (Dec. 19, 2007)—Organizations representing most farmers in America sent a letter today to key legislators asking them to “complete a conference report to the Farm Bill by no later than late January or early February.” “Based upon the exceptional work of both the House and the Senate, we are confident that a strong new…
In early January, thousands of farmers and ranchers from Hawaii, California, North Dakota, the Carolinas, and everywhere in between boarded planes, trains and buses to make the trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The state’s agricultural community gladly welcomed our colleagues, who produce just about everything everyday citizens put…
Washington (Dec. 14, 2007)—Farmers and ranchers today applauded as the Senate passed the 2007 farm bill by a bipartisan vote of 79 to 14. The final package did not include the harmful amendments designed to gut the farm safety net, cripple farmers’ crop insurance, and slash farm benefits. “Wheat growers have been waiting for this…
Washington (Dec. 12, 2007)—Groups representing farmers from coast to coast sent a letter to every Senator this morning asking them to “protect what it has taken 25 years to build” and to vote against the crop insurance amendment proposed by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), John Sununu (R- N.H.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “The Senate Agriculture…