by Rene Pastor The arms race in farm subsidies is heating up outside the U.S. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international body comprised of 34 countries to stimulate the global economy, recently flagged the run-up in global agricultural subsidies. An OECD report released earlier this month said government support for…
DetailsBy Rene Pastor It is called the Thai rice paddy pledging program. The government in Bangkok pays farmers above market prices for their rice – about $4.4 billion above market prices in the 2011/2012 crop year alone. It put the program in place to win farmer votes during parliamentary elections, and despite blowing…
DetailsDuring a meeting with reporters this week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted crop insurance “has come under unfair criticism,” adding, “Those who report on it don’t understand it and its importance to the food supply.” Vilsack was undoubtedly referencing a series of articles published by Bloomberg this week, which, according to the news outlet, thoroughly examined crop…
Details“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” -Edmund Burke On the heels of weather disasters in ’83, ’84, and ’88, rural America was struggling, and lawmakers were losing patience. Compounding the problem was an unparalleled farm debt crisis. America’s food and fiber producers needed assistance, but aid was expensive and…
Detailsby Cristina Pastor Approximately 86 percent of planted cropland in the U.S. is protected by crop insurance. The end result? Even when farmers were hit with a string of natural disasters, there wasn’t a single call to Congress for expensive disaster aid. While the U.S. is acknowledged as the leader in the crop insurance industry,…
DetailsGlobal sugar industry leaders and U.S. government officials met in California last week at the 30th International Sweetener Symposium to discuss depressed sugar prices and recent foreign subsidy run-ups. “The accumulated world sugar surplus over the past three seasons has taken the global stocks-to-consumption ratio to above 40 percent for the first time since 2007/08,” said Peter…
DetailsTom Sell, regular contributor to Farm Policy Facts, recently penned a response to a Politico op-ed by Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group entitled “Worst Farm Bill Ever.” Politico does not publish letters to the editor, but the response contains important facts about farm policy and so we are publishing it here. Faber’s article was just the…
DetailsIn the days before the Internet, it was difficult to really know how the general public felt about any certain issue because, except for the occasional letter to the editor, feedback from the public was scarce to non-existent. Thanks to the coming of the information age, most articles are now followed by a “comment” section,…
Detailsby Cristina DC Pastor Small-town Bourg near New Orleans boasts sprawling houses and luxury shops, including a motel for pets — it has become a pretty typical model of modern urban sprawl. But Bourg’s history, and what long-time residents would still say that keeps this parish thriving, is agriculture. Farming feeds people, said farm owner…
DetailsAgriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) is urging his colleagues to vote NO on an amendment proposed by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) that aims to place additional regulatory requirements on our nations farmers and ranchers: Dear Colleague: I write to urge your strong opposition to the amendment by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) that aims to…
DetailsTwo Dear Colleagues currently circulating highlight the importance of voting NO on the Kind amendment that aims to destroy crop insurance: Oppose Kind Amendment #149 That Aims to Destroy Federal Crop Insurance FROM: The Honorable Frank D. Lucas, Chairman, House Agriculture Committee The Honorable Collin Peterson, Ranking Member, House Agriculture Committee Dear Colleague: I write…
DetailsIn just about every walk of life, we look for ways to manage risk. Insurance protection is available to protect our families, our health, our homes, our vehicles. It only makes sense that insurance protection should be available to help farmers and ranchers produce something that everyone must have to survive: the nation’s food supply. Unfortunately there are…
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