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News archives

Friday, August 31, 2007

US Ag Secy: Senate Should Cut Farm Subsidy Income Threshold
The farm bill passed last month by the House doesn't go far enough in limiting which farmers should be eligible to receive government subsidies, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said. Johanns said the Senate should consider lowering the maximum amount a farmer can earn and still receive f... Continued...

Time line cramps resolving new farm bills, group says
The president of Iowa Farm Bureau said Thursday that the next farm bill might not be finished this year. Craig Lang made the remarks Thursday after the end of a two-day policymaking session for delegates to the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation's summer policy conference. "It will be difficult to ge... Continued...

Decoupled payments and shell games
Despite the fact that President’s Bush’s Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) has expired, work continues on resurrecting the moribund Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. One of the strategies being pushed as a means of breathing life into the Doha round is to shift the amber box d... Continued...

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Farm Bill Needs Beginning Farmer Options
Payment limits and commodity programs usually dominate debates about federal farm legislation, but a report released by the Lyons-based Center for Rural Affairs shows that options to help beginning farmers may be just as important for the future of agriculture. "The nation is losing farmers, esp... Continued...

Black farmers encouraged by funding provision in House version of Farm Bill
Alphonso Hooks and his one full-time employee grow leafy vegetables, watermelon, cantaloupe and corn in rural Macon County. They cut hay and raise around 40 heads of cattle, along with some goats and chickens. Hooks, who's 59 years old, has been farming virtually all of his life and says he regu... Continued...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

White House Selling the Farm for WTO Deal
The top congressman on agriculture issues suggested Wednesday that the Bush administration is willing to cut commodity programs as much as 80 percent from current levels to get a global trade deal. Criticism of the White House strategy on trade negotiations was a focus at a forum with Democratic... Continued...

Grassley sees good chance for payment limits in Senate farm bill
Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, told reporters Wednesday that he believes the Senate version of a new farm bill will have a firm cap on commodity program payments of $250,000. That's the level Grassley and North Dakota Democrat, Senator Byron Dorgan... Continued...

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Farm Progress Show to begin in Illinois with an emphasis on biofuels
When the annual Farm Progress Show opens, one crop will be front and center: corn. American farmers have planted more of it than ever this year 92.9 million acres and prices have stayed high, largely because of demand for ethanol. Not coincidentally, soybeans, another crop touted for its biofuel ... Continued...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Farm Bill History Exchanges from No Bull List Serve
The following is a collection of comments made on a list serve sent by Barbara Ross from the Social Concern office of the Diocese if Jefferson City that captures a lot farm bill history. Thanks to George Naylor and Dennis Olson for sharing all they know. Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 11:38:05 A... Continued...

John Hansen's Ten Points on the Senate Farm Bill Battle
From my vantage point, as someone who has been up to his elbows in the fight for a fair, family farm agriculture friendly federal Farm Bill since 1972, I think the discussion of payment limits needs to be put into perspective. Rather than deal with the vast differences between per unit values, costs... Continued...

Farm Bill Showdown
The 2007 farm bill, as approved by the House on the eve of the August recess, is as shambolic a piece of legislation as will ever be OK'd by a chamber that frequently endorses the incomprehensible and the indefensible. But what is truly frustrating about the House's version of the five-year, $286 bi... Continued...

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Researcher says farm bill better for northern farmers
A North Dakota State University researcher says the multibillion-dollar farm bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives is better for northern producers than the current policy. The bill would increase net farm income and provide better protection during bad times for North Dakota farmers, ... Continued...

Family ranchers fighting meatpacking industry, which is dominating beef production
MOVILLE Iowa -- Eric Nelson, a fourth-generation rancher and farmer who operates a feedlot, isn't looking for more government cash. He just wants a little help from the Senate when it debates a farm bill this fall. Nelson and many other family ranchers in the Midwest and West are hoping Congress ... Continued...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Mexico, Canada, USA change place-of-origin regulations
The shortage of certain supplies, and the adoption of new technologies in North America led Mexico, Canada, and the United States to agree on making a few changes to the rules of origin of a third product package, which will come into effect in 2008. This package will include electronic devices, lea... Continued...

Ranchers Battle Meatpacking Industry
Eric Nelson, a fourth-generation rancher and farmer who operates a feedlot, isn't looking for more government cash. He just wants a little help from the Senate when it debates a farm bill this fall. Nelson and many other family ranchers in the Midwest and West are hoping Congress can help them f... Continued...

Friday, August 24, 2007

Thune: Farm bill may need extension
Sen. John Thune said it's doubtful the Senate will finish work on a new Farm Bill before the current legislation expires at the end of September. "If the Senate hasn't gotten our work done and reconciled with the House version, there will have to be an extension," said Thune, R-S.D. "And I think ... Continued...

North Dakota agriculture scientists outline projects for farm bill debate
North Dakota State University's top agriculture researchers put on a science fair after the state's lone congressman asked for help in the farm bill debate. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., told scientists at the school's Agriculture Research Service Thursday that Congress and the White House will like... Continued...

Farmers told demand for corn to grow
BLOOMINGTON - Farmers are up against an interesting balancing act with their crops. The record amount of corn planted this season won’t be good enough next year, but farmers also might feel the pressure to increase soybean acres, said Darrel Good, University of Illinois Extension agriculture mar... Continued...

Farm bill 'junkies' have plenty to ponder
If the "devil is in the details," farmers and their organizations will be doing a lot of boning up on the House-passed Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2007 while Congress takes its August recess. With Washington observers speculating the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestr... Continued...

Twin Cities Area Co-Ops Join Forces With Others In Midwest
Several Twin Cities-area natural food co-ops today announced a community relief effort to assist family farmers in the region who have seen their annual harvests literally washed away by the historic floods that have devastated portions of the Midwest over the past week. The co-ops are joining fo... Continued...