Located in the middle of the heartland, Iowa has developed a reputation for being everything that is quintessential America. It’s hard to believe it ever belonged to France. Thankfully, our founding fathers had the foresight to purchase the territory that would one day become a booming economic engine and top agricultural exporter. Iowa is often…
DetailsWhen Congress takes up the next farm bill, there will be a lot more at stake than just the future of farmers and ranchers. Economic recovery for the nation as a whole, which is being underpinned by rural lenders and farmers’ buying power, also will be on the table. At the end of last year,…
DetailsMore than 130 organizations spanning the breadth of the agricultural spectrum – from small community based groups to the largest commodity trade associations – informed President Obama and Congressional leaders of their strong opposition to efforts to balance the federal budget on the backs of farmers and rural America. “We are extraordinarily concerned about the…
DetailsThe weather has been so wild and so unpredictable this year that it’s not just farmers who are complaining about it. Here in the Corn Belt, it’s been cold and damp for so long that it took us forever to get our crop in. Parts of the Southwest wheat belt are parched, while millions of…
DetailsAmid the long list of federal projects costing taxpayers far more than predicted, one policy stands alone by coming in billions of dollars under budget. From 2007 to 2011, this policy trimmed taxpayer spending 31 percent when compared with the same four-year period a decade earlier. It even found room to contribute to deficit reduction…
DetailsThe absurdity arguably began one chilly Monday night in December 2003. ABC aired a “news” program linking farm policy to the nation’s obesity epidemic. At the time, farmers cried foul and some even threatened to boycott the network. The notion that U.S. commodities were too cheap and that, if Congress super-sized subsidies for asparagus and…
DetailsNebraska is well-known for its high rate of agricultural production. The state leads the nation in per capita agricultural output, generating about $15 billion—five percent of the U.S. total—despite being the 13th least populous state with just over 1.8 million residents. And with almost 93 percent of Nebraska’s land now used for farming, the area…
DetailsIn the May 17 issue of the National Journal Daily it was reported that the Vice President’s working group had not yet settled on a plan to raise the debt ceiling while cutting federal spending, but that the group may be coalescing around even deeper cuts to U.S. farm policy. All week there have been…
DetailsIt may be the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but in Minnesota, agriculture reigns supreme. With 81,000 farms occupying about 26.9 million acres of farmland—almost half of the state—Minnesota leads the nation in the production of several commodities including sugar beets, turkeys, and oats, as well as sweet corn and green peas for processing. The state…
DetailsAs the nation struggles to regain its economic footing after the real estate bubble burst and nearly thrust this country and the world into another Great Depression, a new bubble may be emerging. Increasingly, economic experts are keeping an eye on America’s farms, which were collectively valued at about $2 trillion last year. While this…
DetailsJohn Henry Newman wrote that, “The truer doctrines are, the more liable they are to be perverted.” But you didn’t have to live in Victorian England to get the recently beatified Cardinal’s point. In fact, in modern day Washington, we have reached the stage where anytime anyone even mutters the truth it’s worth popping a…
DetailsWe have been taught from an early age that humans have four basic needs: food, water, clothing and shelter. Interestingly enough, it is the U.S. farm sector that provides two—food and clothing—out of those four needs. This fact puts farming and the programs that protect farmers from adversity—the farm safety net—pretty high on this country’s…
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