The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is asking members of Congress, as they return home for the August congressional recess, to meet with struggling dairy farmers in their districts to discuss the perilous economic conditions affecting farmers, and the urgent need for Congress to pass a new farm bill yet in 2012....More
Unwilling to schedule floor time for the farm bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee earlier in July, several attempts by Republican House leadership to provide cover for farm state lawmakers prior to August recess have fallen flat. As of Tuesday, it appears you can add their plan to extend current farm law to the list of failures....More
On Monday, the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, the National Milk Producers Federation and National Farmers Union all rejected the idea of extending current farm law set to expire at the end of September.
The one-year extension is being pushed by House Republicans in lieu of a House vote on a new farm bill. House leadership has refused to allow floor time for a farm bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee on July 11 via a bipartisan vote....More
As worsening drought conditions continue to envelop more than half of the United States, the American Soybean Association (ASA) is pointing to the farm bill currently stalled and awaiting debate by the full House of Representatives as an essential means of ensuring the continued coverage of American farmland through crop insurance and risk management, as well as disaster assistance programs....More
A one-year extension of the current farm bill – once a non-starter among many veteran farm-state lawmakers -- is being considered as a path toward not only passing a new farm bill but ensuring disaster relief reaches drought-struck farms and ranches....More
The bottom line, as affected by the federal "farm bill" legislation and farmers' production practices, was the focus at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's July 19 Southeast Research and Extension Center (SEREC) field day at the Rohwer Research Station....More
Rep. Frank Lucas, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, says he will “do everything I can” to get a farm bill done by late September. “But the magnitude of changes dramatically alters commodity titles.”...More
A prolonged drought across a wide swath of rural America has left farmers and ranchers in an increasingly precarious financial situation. And the need to ease pressure on bottom lines is providing lawmakers with the impetus to loudly call for the full House to debate a new farm bill....More
It will be at least July 30 before the full House takes up the farm bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee 35-11 on July 11. On Friday, House Republican leadership declined to schedule floor time for the legislation the week of July 23....More
Following Wednesday’s House Agriculture Committee farm bill mark-up, there remains hope – however slim -- that the USDA will finally implement a catfish inspection program....More
On Monday, USA Rice Producers’ Group Chairman Linda Raun and USA Rice Federation Chairman Jackie Loewer wrote to House Agriculture Committee leaders expressing their support for the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM or farm bill)....More
American Soybean Association "pleased to see the House’s progress on the farm bill, and we appreciate the leadership from (the) House Agriculture Committee … in releasing this draft. We are encouraged to see the House Agriculture Committee moving toward mark-up next week, as ASA continues to strongly urge Congress to finish the farm bill this year."...More
The National Cotton Council (NCC) extended its appreciation to House Agriculture Committee leadership for the introduction of farm legislation that includes provisions supported by the cotton industry....More
The USA Rice Federation commends House Agriculture Committee (leadership) for producing a bipartisan farm bill that saves taxpayers money, achieves deficit reduction, and reforms and streamlines farm, conservation, and nutrition policies in a fair and balanced way....More
The draft farm bill released by the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday would cut USDA program spending $35 billion over ten years while providing farmers a target price-based system -- likely to please many in the South -- along with ramped up crop insurance (including a Supplemental Coverage Option). Committee mark-up of the bill will begin July 11....More
Twelve poultry associations representing poultry and egg producers in 14 states have delivered a letter to the House Agriculture Committee asking for renewal of the farm bill’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) with mandatory funding....More
Arkansas Farm Bureau Associate Director of National Affairs Jeffrey Hall will lead a discussion of how changes in the federal farm bill might affect Arkansas producers during a July 19 University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Crops Field Day at the Rohwer Research Station...More
American farmers believe conservation programs and environmental stewardship are key components of the farm bill and critical to their bottom line, according to a poll released by National Farmers Union....More
"We'd like to see even more peanut acres in the Mid-South to help strengthen the industry's influence in Washington," says Bob Redding, Washington lobbyist for the industry....More
“Other commodities are being asked to take a 30 percent average reduction in program cuts. Louisiana rice growers will have to take a 65 percent reduction. This is unfair..." -- Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain....More
The Arkansas Farm Bureau expressed disappointment Wednesday afternoon in the farm bill legislation that was passed by the U.S. Senate, citing a glaring gap for several commodities grown in Arkansas....More
National Farmers Union (NFU) supports the Rural Energy Investment Act of 2012, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur. The bill would reauthorize the most critical farm bill energy programs that are currently set to expire Sept. 30....More
