The Latest from AgMag

Fincher’s Farm Bill

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

There’s only one name that suits the farm bill that will be debated on the floor of the House today: Fincher’s Farm Bill.

That’s because the bill is designed to help farmers like Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), the notorious member of the House Agriculture Committee who cited the Bible to champion cuts to anti-hunger programs while pocketing more than $3.4 million in farm subsidies himself.

Key Issues:

What to Expect when Expecting – A Farm Bill

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

No one expected the House Agriculture Committee to produce a farm bill that protects taxpayers, supports family farmers, rewards stewards of the land and feeds the hungry.

And, boy, the committee, which is dominated by representatives of subsidized agriculture and people who never wondered where their next meal is coming from, more than exceeded expectations.

Key Issues:

Congressional Staff Get First-Hand Look at Farm Conservation at Work

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

By Mike Lavender, EWG's Ag Reform Coordinator

On the eve of floor action in the House on the farm bill, a bipartisan gathering of Congressional staff ventured outside the Beltway the other day to visit Terry Ingram’s 220-cow organic dairy farm in Virginia’s Culpepper County..

Key Issues:

Direct Payments Not Dead Yet – For Cotton Farmers like Fincher

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The bill Rep. Fincher voted to support as a member of the House Agriculture Committee does indeed end direct payments – except for cotton farmers like… Fincher.

Key Issues:

Six Reasons Why Fiscal Conservatives (and Every American) Should Hate the House Farm Bill

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The budget-busting farm bill headed to the House floor next week is bad news for taxpayers. Here’s why this bill, officially H.R. 1947, shouldn’t pass.

In addition to including, in the words of the Speaker, a "Soviet-style" dairy program, this bill would:

Key Issues:

Programs to Reduce Ag’s Water Use must be Strengthened, not Cut

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Since it was first authorized in the 1996 farm bill, USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program has grown into the single most important federal program that helps farmers and ranchers protect farmland and the environment as they grow America’s food.

Key Issues:

Historic Amendment Sets Stage for More Crop Insurance Reform

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Thanks to the leadership of Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate today (May 23) passed a truly historic amendment to the Senate farm bill.

Key Issues:

Crop Insurance Lobby Is Making Nonsensical Claims

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

There’s a lot of nonsense being circulated as the full Senate debates the farm bill and members finally bring up amendments to make common sense reforms to the federal crop insurance program.

The crop insurance lobby and its champions in Congress are claiming that any reduction in the lavish subsidies provided to farmers or in the windfall profits showered on the insurance companies will destroy the program because big farmers will exit the program.

Key Issues:

Tobacco Subsidies are Smoking Gun

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Arizona Sen. John McCain ignited an historic debate over crop insurance yesterday when he offered an amendment to the farm bill that would end insurance subsidies to tobacco farmers.

The amendment offered by McCain and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would actually end tobacco subsidies.

Like most of us, McCain thought the U.S. stopped subsidizing tobacco after the famed “tobacco” buy-out in 2004. Fact is, between 1995 and 2011, taxpayers gave tobacco farmers another $276 million in crop insurance subsidies – on top of $1.3 billion in other farm subsidies.

Key Issues:

The Fincher that Stole Food Stamps

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Congressman Fincher: Stop stealing our money

Over the weekend, the 2^nd most heavily subsidized farmer in Congress – and one of the largest subsidy recipients in Tennessee history – said Washington should not “steal” from taxpayers to support food assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – better known as food stamps.

Key Issues:

Common-Sense Reforms Will Strengthen, Not Weaken, Crop Insurance

Monday, May 20, 2013

Opponents of crop insurance reform contend that common-sense reform designed to level the playing field for family farmers and protect taxpayers and the environment will “weaken” the farm safety net.

These defenders of the status quo have it exactly wrong.

Key Issues:

Why Environmentalists (and Every American) Should Reject the House Farm Bill

Friday, May 17, 2013

The budget-busting farm bill approved Wednesday night (May 15) by the House Agriculture Committee and its leaders – Reps. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) – is nothing but bad news for the environment. Here’s why:

Key Issues:

Tea For Me, Not For You

Thursday, May 16, 2013

A day after the Senate Agriculture committee passed its version of the 2013 farm bill, the House committee did the same. The Senate wrongly trimmed nutrition and conservation programs while boosting crop insurance subsidies. The House version, voted out of committee late last night, supercharged these cuts by chopping a draconian $20 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.

Key Issues:

Cut Crop Insurance, Not Conservation and Nutrition

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

This ought to be simple.

While farm income is at record levels, 47 million Americans are struggling with hunger and millions of acres of wetland and prairie are being lost forever.

So, naturally, the farm bill proposals being debated this week would cut subsidies for the largest and most successful farms and provide more assistance for the hungry and the environment.

Right?

Some things are not so simple.

Key Issues:

Many Farmers Seeking Conservation Help Get Turned Away

Monday, May 13, 2013

Two out of every five farmers who seek assistance in reducing water pollution from their fields or the amount of pesticides and antibiotics they use are being turned away because USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service lacks sufficient funding.

That’s according to new EWG analysis of applications for federal programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which provides incentives to help farmers and ranchers meet public health and environmental challenges.

Key Issues:

Reject Farm Bill Bait and Switch

Friday, May 10, 2013

Here’s the bottom line: Both farm bills proposed this week (May 13) by the House and Senate Agriculture committees would cut funding for the hungry and the environment to help boost subsidies for the largest and most successful farm businesses.

That’s despite the fact that farm income is near record highs and the average household income of a large commercial farm is more than $200,000 a year.

Key Issues:

Balancing Act Would Protect Food, Farms and Families

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Americans have never been more interested in their food and how it’s grown. And the disturbing reality is that the way most of our food is grown today hurts families, threatens future generations of farmers and squanders our natural heritage.

Across the nation, food and drinking water is being polluted with fertilizers and pesticides, antibiotics are becoming less effective and millions of acres of prairie and wetland are being lost forever.

Key Issues:

Conservation Success Story: The Grotberg Farm

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Dick and Linda Grotberg began their transition to sustainable farming largely by accident.

In 2004, the North Dakota farming couple got out of the confined-hog raising business when the often unstable hog market was strong and decided instead to buy cattle to graze their Barnes County land.

They discovered that the soil on Bethany Prairie Farm began getting all the nutrients it needed without applying chemical fertilizers, which often washed off the land into nearby rivers and streams.

Key Issues:

Policy Plate: Conservation Reforms Needed to Protect Environment and Drinking Water

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Today, Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a new analysis that underscores the need to reform the nation’s primary land restoration program for long-term protection of wetlands, prairies and other lands that protect drinking water and wildlife habitat.

Key Issues:

Environment