Circulating half-truths and misinformation is how agriculture’s opponents have operated for decades, and they’re not about to let pesky things like facts and expert analysis get in the way.
DetailsFarm Policy Facts is proud to publish a guest editorial from Krysta Harden, the former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
DetailsIt is not every day that there is widespread agreement in our nation’s Capitol, especially when it comes to budget matters. So, it is significant to highlight when such accord is demonstrably on display.
Details“As Congress and the White House wrestle with their respective budgets in the coming weeks, I hope good sense will prevail and they’ll leave crop insurance and farm policy alone.”
DetailsCongressman Frank Lucas discusses how Future Farmers of America is growing the next generation of leaders, and how his membership in the local chapter as a young person helped shape and inspire a life of public service.
DetailsA new survey demonstrates a strong level of support for crop insurance among farmers growing a diverse set of crops across the country, and opposition to any legislative proposals that weaken this important risk management tool.
Details“Where are the women?” was not an existential question Marji Guyler-Alaniz asked herself one day after leaving her corporate job of 11 years. Rather it was a realization that the imagery – and perhaps even the perception – of the American farmer needed an update.
DetailsOn this President’s Day, Farm Policy Facts combed through a bit of presidential history to find the words and views of some of our past leaders on the importance of American agriculture.
DetailsIt is easier to sell fear than facts. This is a concept that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) knows all too well and has built a brand and an empire based on that business model. But, people are catching on to that game.
DetailsTo dismantle U.S. sugar policy without concessions from foreign governments only puts America at a distinct disadvantage. Farm Policy Facts agrees wholeheartedly with Rep. Yoho: we stand with American workers over foreign cheaters.
DetailsIf cotton production leaves our state and local communities, the infrastructure of cotton gins, warehouses and associated businesses will go with it, and history tells us it will not return.
DetailsNarobi is a good first step that publicized some of the schemes America’s competitors use to manipulate markets, and it proved that global reforms are possible.
DetailsFrom continued attacks on the farm safety net in Washington to a sour farm economy, Farm Policy Facts takes a look at the top agriculture stories of 2015.
DetailsThe National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS) recently released a new educational video to illustrate how Americans benefit from crop insurance and to push back on the tactics of farm policy opponents who try to misrepresent the facts surrounding crop insurance and other important facets of U.S. farm policy.
DetailsIn the midst of dire economic conditions, U.S. cotton farmers can find encouragement from a growing chorus of support for a proposal to help mitigate their current financial struggles.
DetailsTo be clear, farmers aren’t asking for a headline or a pat on the back. They’re asking for a fair shake when disasters strike and the ability to compete on a global stage. Honestly, it’s the least we can do for the folks who provide the nation with food and fiber.
DetailsNow is the time to protect the one thing beginning farmers and their bankers can count on.
DetailsIt is a fact that strong farm policy and support for crop insurance goes beyond the farmer, not only benefitting rural America but consumers as well.
DetailsAs President George W. Bush once said, “A nation that can feed its people is a nation more secure.” But, the reality is, the more we chip away at the investment in our national food and fiber supply, the more vulnerable we become.
DetailsIf my family had kept the farm, I would have been a fourth-generation farmer of a grain operation. But they couldn’t.
Details“It ain’t over till it’s over,” said the great Yogi Berra. He was referring to the New York Mets’ season in 1973, but the sentiment could easily describe the fight to stave off cuts to federal crop insurance this year.
DetailsRather than stack the deck against agriculture, let’s ensure farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to feed the world.
DetailsThe United States should stop trying to balance its budget on the backs of farmers. It is bad policy, and there’s no room for further reductions.
DetailsThe Farm Bill is needed now more than ever, and no thinly veiled plot by anti-farmer forces to pry open the Farm Bill is acceptable. An attack on one farmer’s policy is an attack upon all as far as we are concerned.
Details“Agriculture, as a whole, rose up and said enough is enough,” said Steve Verett, the Executive Vice President of the Plains Cotton Growers.
DetailsAs Congress prepares to vote on a budget agreement that includes cuts to a key component of the farm safety net, Larry Combest, the former chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and the Select Committee on Intelligence, makes clear to lawmakers what is at stake if it comes to pass.
DetailsWithout any consultation with America’s farmers, or apparently even elected leaders from rural America, a handful of lawmakers fast-tracked a new budget proposal that would decimate crop insurance.
DetailsThe full-scale reality of what American farmers are up against when it comes to competing with foreign treasuries rather than foreign farmers was the topic of a hearing at the House Committee on Agriculture this week.
Details“2011 was a game changer. It altered the lives of all of us in production agriculture,” explained Rick Kellison, the project director of the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC), during a farm tour near Lubbock, Texas where the Southwest Council of Agribusiness (SWCA) convened its annual meeting last week.
DetailsThe next few years very well may be defining for the future outlook of agriculture. And the whole world has a lot riding on the outcome.
DetailsProtecting our farms is good economic policy and it is critical to the health and safety of our nation. As the proud representative of the First District of Michigan, I will do everything I can to ensure that my farmers have a voice in the decisions made in Washington.
DetailsThe importance of crop insurance to meet the needs of a growing world population took center stage this week in Kansas City as agricultural leaders from more than 30 countries gathered for the International Association of Agricultural Production Insurers (AIAG) to learn more about the American system.
DetailsAs a fourth generation Mississippi farmer, I grew up knowing that I worked in a field full of risks. When the weather cooperates, prices dive. When prices are great, foreign markets collapse, sending prices into a sudden nosedive. It’s always something. However, it wasn’t until I actually set out on my own in farming in 2011 that I fully understood just how financially exposed farmers are when they put a crop in the ground.
DetailsAmerican wheat farmers lose close to $1 billion in revenue each year because certain countries are violating trade rules under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, according to a new study.
DetailsUSDA forecasts that when all is said and done, American farmers will have a combined farm income that is less than half of what it was just two years ago. This alone is staggering. But it may well mark just the beginning of a depressed farm economy the effects of which may very well adversely impact the entire sector and cascade across other sectors of our economy.
DetailsIt’s bizarre that groups claiming to carry President Reagan’s mantel, such as Heritage Action, have targeted U.S. farm policy for elimination.
Details“Heritage Action and groups like it had better get serious because they are losing credibility fast and they are damaging the conservative cause.”
DetailsIf ever we lose the hard-working independent family farms that take care of the nation’s landscape while producing a diverse set of crops more reliably and efficiently than any farm sector in history, then, and only then will we truly understand the value they provide.
DetailsNearly a decade ago, the World Trade Organization found the European Union guilty of violating trade rules. Since that ruling, the EU has implemented radical changes to its sugar policy. But, will those changes help further free trade and lead to a subsidy-free system as some in the EU are claiming?
DetailsWhether you’re a peach grower in South Carolina like me or a corn farmer in Iowa or a cherry grower in Michigan or a cotton farmer in Texas, crop insurance is designed to cover you when disasters strike. And the more farmers buying policies, the better we all are in the long run because that spreads the risk.
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