Members of the agriculture community applauded the House Committee on Agriculture for moving forward on a five-year farm bill and called for timely action by the full House of Representatives in a letter sent to lawmakers this week. “Failure to pass a five-year farm bill before the end of September would mean continued uncertainty for…
DetailsFarm Policy Facts, a diverse coalition of agricultural organizations dedicating to raising awareness about the important role agriculture plays in our economic recovery and national security, today launched a new ad campaign, “Real Farms, Real Families.” The ad campaign, which will run during the upcoming Congressional Farm Bill negotiations, will feature real photos taken by farmers…
DetailsGuest opinion by Mark Gerdes, as appears in Ames Tribune One of the beauties of life in our great democracy is that spirited debate about important public policies is not only expected, it’s encouraged. One of the intrinsic rules of these discussions, if they are to be productive and fair, is that the policy itself should…
Detailsby Tonya Allen As Farm Bill negotiations continue, opponents of farm policy are again ratcheting up the rhetoric about all of the “rich and famous farmers” in America that are rolling in the dough. It might make for a nice sound bite, but it’s hardly the truth. There’s a “thin green line” of only 210,000…
DetailsA new comprehensive analysis of the recently released National Trade Estimates (NTE) and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) reports show an international playing field sharply tilted against U.S. producers. The analysis, authored by veteran trade advisor and former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Don Phillips, details the many barriers and obstacles currently facing U.S. exporters (both tariff and…
DetailsOn the issue of means testing in crop insurance, the devil is certainly in the details. But in order to actually find that devil, all you need is a calculator. Take, for example, the introductory remarks on the Senate floor by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who in the context of his amendment to means test crop insurance, inaccurately stated…
Detailsby Rene Pastor It’s hard to imagine food rationing was part of daily life in the United States, especially when you can go into your grocery store of choice and buy everything from a steak to a sack of sugar. That wasn’t the reality more than 70 years ago during World War II when German U-boats…
DetailsTotal government spending on farm safety net programs – including all commodity programs and crop insurance – dropped by two-thirds from fiscal years 2000 to 2012, according to data provided by USDA and the Congressional Budget Office. The reduction took place as spending on commodity programs – including direct, counter-cyclical, loan deficiency and other payments which once…
Detailsby 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…
Detailsby 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…
DetailsBy 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…
Detailsby 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…
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