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News archives

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Feeding at the Trough from GDAE
GDAE announces two new publications on the implicit subsidies to factory farms from U.S. agricultural policies: Feeding at the Trough: Industrial Livestock Firms Saved $35 billion from Low Feed Prices By Elanor Starmer and Timothy A. Wise GDAE Policy Brief No. 07-03, December 2007 http:/... Continued...

Cloning compromise
U.S. companies that raise livestock pledge to keep registry of animals that are genetically engineered The two largest U.S. cloning companies, under criticism from lawmakers and consumers for plans to introduce livestock copies into the nation's food supply, pledged yesterday to keep a registry o... Continued...

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Black Farmers May Get Boost in Farm Bill
The farm bill approved by the Senate last week moved Congress a step closer to reopening a landmark discrimination case against the Agriculture Department. Like its companion bill in the House, the Senate measure would give thousands of black farmers another chance at seeking compensation over cl... Continued...

Monday, December 17, 2007

Senate plan moves toward long-term food aid
A new Senate plan would steer more U.S. food aid funds to development projects that attack the root causes of hunger, a move critics say comes at the expense of critical aid to the world's most vulnerable. Senators approved a host of modest changes on Friday to U.S. food aid programs, the world's... Continued...

Senate Passes Farm Bill Strong on Bioenergy, Conservation
The U.S. Senate Friday approved a $286 billion farm bill shepherded through by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who chairs the Agriculture Committee. The measure improves farm income protection and makes investments for the future in energy, conservation, nutrition and rural development initiatives. ... Continued...

Barack Obama: Obama Statement on the Farm Bill
U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the Senate’s passage of the Farm Bill (H.R.2419), which passed by a vote of 79 to 14: “By passing the Farm Bill today, the Senate has taken an important step towards renewing our nation's commitment to our farming communit... Continued...

Senate farm bill post-mortem
Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has been involved in farm bills since the mid-1970s, working behind the scenes to try to snatch farm legislation from the paws of agribusiness. So when he delivers his assessment on how things went, he does so from the perspective of long memo... Continued...

Friday, December 14, 2007

Family Farmers Recognize Improved Senate Farm Bill
The National Family Farm Coalition released today a letter to the Senate outlining their support and opposition for Senate Farm Bill provisions. NFFC lauded the inclusion of a livestock title in today's passage of the Senate Farm Bill as a significant improvement over the House Farm Bill. However, w... Continued...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Senate rejects subsidy cap
The Senate today rejected a proposal by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley to cap the amount of subsidies a farm can receive at $250,000 a year. Senate Democratic leaders required that the measure get 60 votes to pass so they could avoid a filibuster of the Senate?s farm bill. The 56-43 margin on the sub... Continued...

Lincoln praises Senate rejection of reducing farm subsidy cap
Sen. Blanche Lincoln praised the Senate on Thursday for its blockage of an amendment that would have reduced the amount of annual payments farmers can receive in subsidies under the farm bill. The bipartisan amendment to the $286 billion bill would have limited overall farm payments to $250,000 y... Continued...

Bid to Tighten Farm Payment Caps Falls Short in Senate
The Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected a bid to tighten limits on federal payments to farmers, putting the five-year farm policy bill on a path toward passage this week. The vote was a victory for Southern senators, who had warned that the proposal to cap annual farm payments at $250,000 per co... Continued...

On corn, meat, and the myth of Big Farma
In a recent Grist column, Tom Philpott ran down the list of problems that this year's Farm Bill debaters have blamed, loudly and repeatedly, on subsidies: "everything from the obesity epidemic to the explosion in CAFOs in the late 1990s to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico ... [to] steamrolling fa... Continued...

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Senate rejects challenge to crop subsidies
In a statement of support for federal farm programs, the Senate on Tuesday soundly rejected a proposal to phase out traditional grain and cotton subsidies. The measure, defeated 58-37, would have shifted money from crop subsidies to assistance for fruit and vegetable growers and into conservation... Continued...

Senate Rejects Farm Bill Limits
Asparagus farmers held on to $15 million in farm bill subsidies Wednesday as conservatives targeted the money as an example of wasteful spending in the multibillion-dollar legislation. The Senate rejected, 56-39, an amendment by Sen. Judd Gregg that would have taken the asparagus money out of the... Continued...

Tighter Payment Cap Questioned
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin's staff issued a clarification late Tuesday afternoon but perhaps the damage may have already been done. Earlier in the day, Harkin was speaking at the Farm Journal Forum and told the group that he expects the Dorgan-Grassley $250,000 payment limi... Continued...

House Ag Chmn Seeks To Prevent New Farm Subsidy Caps In '08
House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Wednesday said he will try to prevent means tests from limiting subsidies for farmers in 2008, despite the fact that both the House and Senate versions of a 2007 farm bill contain such restrictions. The House approved its version of the farm b... Continued...

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Candidates may affect subsidy cap with votes in Senate
The five senators running for president could provide important votes for a proposal to tighten limits on farm subsidies. The Senate, which is debating its farm bill this week, could vote as early as Wednesday on a proposal by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., to cap the amount of subsidies that any ... Continued...

Southern Farmers May Get Drought Relief
Congress plans to extend a disaster relief deadline so farmers hit by drought this year can get cash assistance to offset losses, Democratic lawmakers said. The extension estimated to cost some $600 million will be included in a massive spending bill that lawmakers are expected to take up this we... Continued...

Farm bill could set fivefold boost in biofuels
WASHINGTON --The new U.S. farm law would require use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, five times more than this year's output, under an amendment offered on Monday as a fallback in case an energy bill falters. Senate leaders hope to pass the five-year, $286 billion farm bill by the end ... Continued...

Candidates may affect subsidy cap with votes in Senate
Washington, D.C. - The five senators running for president could provide important votes for a proposal to tighten limits on farm subsidies. The Senate, which is debating its farm bill this week, could vote as early as Wednesday on a proposal by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., to cap the amount of ... Continued...