With planting season already beginning in some parts of the country, agriculture groups are applauding the Senate’s March 14 passage of the Surface Transportation bill. The bill includes a clarification of transportation regulations critical to the agriculture industry’s ability to distribute farm supplies in a timely manner, especially during busy times of the year....More
Vilsack: "Today is a monumental day for American farmers and ranchers. Under the new U.S./Korea trade agreement, two-thirds of the tariffs imposed on U.S. food and agricultural products exported to South Korea are being eliminated."...More
Direct payments to farmers are likely to be going away,” Randy Knight, president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation told farmers at the annual meeting of the Producer Advisory Council of northeast Mississippi. “But if that happens, what we need to do is to be able to take the direct payments money to subsidize crop insurance and risk management at a level where our farmers can stay in business."...More
American Farmland Trust has joined with more than 640 organizations to send a letter supporting the Conservation Title to the Senate and House leadership of the Agriculture Committees....More
The surest signal that almost everyone takes the need to save costs in writing the 2012 farm bill seriously is the number of groups proposing policies that would reduce government costs over the next ten years. The latest group to throw a cost-saving proposal into the legislative arena is the National Association of FSA County Office Employees (NASCOE)....More
As the debate over a new farm bill ratchets up it is worth noting that the legislation will affect not only agriculture and nutrition but rural development....More
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States and South Korea will be operational on March 15. The news of the deal’s implementation comes after trade officials tied up legal loose ends in recent days....More
Crop insurance is expected to be a major component of the 2012 farm bill, says Keith Coble, professor of agricultural economics at Mississippi State University....More
Mississippi’s new majority Republican government opens a new chapter for the state’s agriculture, says Randy Knight, president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation....More
The estate tax or death tax remains a major concern for the nation’s farmers and ranchers. Unless Congress takes action, the law will revert to provisions that will result in a much higher tax bill for heirs....More
Despite increasingly loud warnings from state governments and federal agencies, the nation’s shipping waterway infrastructure – which handles the bulk of the United States’ agricultural products -- continues to erode. A Wednesday morning hearing by the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight looked into the deteriorating situation....More
Writing the new farm bill with a Republican House, a Democrat Senate, and the 2012 presidential election hanging over everything that goes on in Washington “is going to be a little crazy,” says Dale W. Moore, American Farm Bureau Federation deputy executive director of public policy....More
On Thursday night, the Senate gave final approval to three of the 12 annual appropriations bills to fund federal programs and projects in FY2012....More
First, the get-the-government-outta-everything bunch came for the Christmas tree check-off. Flush with success after the Obama administration’s crawfishing, are they now gunning for other commodity check-off programs?...More
On Monday night, the final conference report was introduced for a three-bill appropriations package to fund the Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science (CJS), and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bills for the remainder of fiscal year 2012....More
The new farm bill, USDA funding for FY2012, U.S. beef exports, free trade agreements and catfish inspections all came up during a Wednesday morning press conference with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack....More
The average age of the U.S. farmer continues to rise, which begs the question, "How does we encourage more young people to enter the profession?"...More
Senate passage of its nearly $137 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 appropriations bill for the USDA and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) puts the measure on a path to House-Senate talks to produce final compromise legislation....More
Motivated by expected deep cuts to agriculture programs by Congress’ ‘super committee,’ in recent weeks, farm/commodity groups and congressional committees have produced a steady stream of agriculture program proposals. The proposals cover a gamut of policy ideas....More
