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News archives

Thursday, January 28, 2010

USDA Grant to Create Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center in Arkansas
WASHINGTON, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is awarding $900,000 to the Wallace Center at Winrock International, Little Rock, Ark., to run the Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development (HUFED) Center. This center will w... Continued...

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Export promotion funds hold steady at $200 million
Market Access Program funds are holding steady in fiscal year 2010 at $200 million — about $40 million directly to specialty crop commodity boards — but the deepening federal deficit may make it harder to hold on to those promotion dollars in future years. The USDA announced the MAP allocation t... Continued...

AAM Concurs with NFO's Call for International Food Reserves
WASHINGTON (RuralWire), Jan. 27, 2010 –Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), commended and concurred with Gene Paul, National Farmers Organization (NFO) Agricultural Policy Analyst, and his call this week for an international grain reserve in the wake of the disaster i... Continued...

AAM Concurs with NFO's Call for International Food Reserves
WASHINGTON (RuralWire), Jan. 27, 2010 –Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), commended and concurred with Gene Paul, National Farmers Organization (NFO) Agricultural Policy Analyst, and his call this week for an international grain reserve in the wake of the disaster i... Continued...

Monday, January 25, 2010

If You Liked Bovine Growth Hormone, You'll love Beta Agonists
While researchers and scientists investigate the cause of our diabetes, obesity, asthma and ADHD epidemics, they should ask why the FDA approved a livestock drug banned in 160 nations and responsible for hyperactivity, muscle breakdown and 10 percent mortality in pigs, according to angry farmers who... Continued...

Friday, January 22, 2010

Senate Agriculture Committee’s 2010 Priorities
The New Year is upon us and Members of Congress are back in town ready to start back where they left off last session. But what does this mean for the Senate Agriculture Committee? We know the committee will take up the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization, there will also certainly be budget batt... Continued...

Key objectives of US farm policy under Obama rule
Speaking at the East Midlands Farm Management Association (EMFMA) conference, Tom Hind, the NFU’s Head of Economics and International Affairs explained that farm support is determined by the US Farm Bill, which originated in the 1930’s and is reformed every five or six years by Congress. Key obje... Continued...

Friday, January 15, 2010

Pollan calls for farmer incentives to fix crises
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Michael Pollan believes farmers may eventually solve three of the world's biggest problems -- the crises centered on energy, health care and climate change. The author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" outlined his "sun food agenda," advocating a return to a diversified agricultural ... Continued...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Breaking Through the Asphalt: Food Policy Councils
Comments The cold spells in the U.S. and in Europe signal higher food prices again. This is bad news for the billion hungry people on the planet... and for the billion that suffer from obesity and diet-related diseases. That's because a good many of the "stuffed" are also "starved", in the sense tha... Continued...

The time has come to rein in agribusiness
You might be shocked to learn that our dairy foods are controlled by three companies, corn seeds by two companies, and 90 percent of our beef by three companies. On Dec, 31, 2009, I submitted comments to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding market concentrati... Continued...

Monday, January 11, 2010

Agriculture won't escape budget cutting, Stenholm tells Farm Bureau
Former Texas Congressman Charlie Stenholm, a Blue Dog Democrat who supports reducing the federal budget, told members of the American Farm Bureau Federation Monday that farm programs won't escape future cuts. "We're evolving into an agriculture that soon will be no subsidized. Get ready for it," ... Continued...

Farm Bureau Fires Back Against Climate Bill's 'Power Grab'
The largest U.S. farm group will "aggressively" fight back against any attempts to change the landscape of American agriculture -- including the farm bill or animal rights campaigns, American Farm Bureau Federation Bob Stallman said yesterday. In a fiery speech that kicked off the powerful farm l... Continued...

Friday, January 8, 2010

The farm bill cycle begins again
With the folks at the Department of Agriculture still struggling to deliver parts of the 2008 farm bill, it might seem strange to be thinking about designing new farm programs. However, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) is already looking ahead to 2010 with an eye on shapin... Continued...

Obama administration drops effort to end subsidies to large farms
'Huge disappointment' As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to end subsidies to big farms by supporting a cap of $250,000 that has no loopholes. A prominent part of his rural policy said: "Obama will take immediate action to close loopholes by proposing regulations to limit payme... Continued...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The facts about food and farming
One of the more pleasing developments of the last decade has been the long-overdue beginning of a national conversation about food -- not just the arcane techniques used to prepare it and the luxurious restaurants in which it is served, but, much more important, how it is grown and produced. The ... Continued...

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Food Stamp Program Takes Steps to Encourage a Whole Foods Diet
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), administered by the USDA, helps low-income individuals and families put food on the table. It is commonly and historically known as the Food Stamp Program. The new name was adopted following enactment of the 2008 Farm Bill, which brought many new... Continued...

Monday, January 4, 2010

A 50-Year Farm Bill Sign in to Recommend
THE extraordinary rainstorms last June caused catastrophic soil erosion in the grain lands of Iowa, where there were gullies 200 feet wide. But even worse damage is done over the long term under normal rainfall — by the little rills and sheets of erosion on incompletely covered or denuded cropland, ... Continued...

Saturday, December 26, 2009

West Central Tribune on the Milan SEU
MILAN -- West central Minnesota could soon be home to two ventures to promote renewable energy and conservation. Customers could own or lease photovoltaic panels in a solar farm that would provide electricity for the Kandiyohi Power Cooperative and Willmar Municipal Utilities. One of the nation's... Continued...

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

U.S.: NEARLY ONE IN SIX CITIZENS WENT HUNGRY IN 2008
As the World Food Security Summit got under way in Rome Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disclosed that nearly one in six U.S. households went hungry at some time during 2008, the highest level since it began monitoring food security levels in 1995. Altogether, 14.6 percent of ho... Continued...

Friday, December 11, 2009

Study Proves Three Monsanto Corn Varieties' Noxiousness to the Organism
A study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences demonstrates the toxicity of three genetically modified corn varieties from the American seed company Monsanto, the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (Criigen, based in Caen), which particip... Continued...