Policy Plate: Shocker! Congress not Heeding Americans’ Farm Bill Needs

E&E’s Amanda Peterka reports (subscription required) on the sad state of reform efforts in the farm bill hearings held this week by the House Agriculture Committee: The new farm bill is unlikely to return to a policy from the late 1980s and early 1990s that required farmers to abide by certain conservation requirements in order to receive crop insurance subsidies from... Continue Reading...

Policy Plate: What Cuts?

Progressive Farmer editor Chris Clayton reports on the ongoing House Agriculture Committee hearings on the farm bill. After Wednesday’s session on farm subsidy programs, he notes that, “Farm Bill Austerity Not Quite Taking Hold.” An excerpt: Wednesday’s commodity and crop-insurance hearing in the House Agriculture Committee didn’t exactly sound like a hearing... Continue Reading...

Policy Plate: Sounding the Conservation Alarm

The Tri-State Neighbor, which covers agriculture in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, reports that the Izaak Walton League of America convened a conservation forum for South Dakota ag officials, producers and conservationists. There, an official from the National Association of Conservation Districts offered candid comments on the state of agriculture conservation: Jack... Continue Reading...

Policy Plate: “Why should prosperous grain farmers receive special treatment?”

Baylen Linnekin, writing in the libertarian-leaning Reason Magazine, makes “The Case Against Taxpayer-Funded Crop Insurance.”  An excerpt: I’ll lead with the sliver of good news in the bill: Direct farm subsidies are on their way out. Subsidies are something many people—me included—have been attacking for years. But what should be cause for celebration is instead... Continue Reading...

Policy Plate: Food Movement Litmus Test

EWG president Ken Cook issued a ringing call to the good food movement to take a stand on the farm bill in a post this morning titled, “I Call the Vote: A Farm Bill Litmus Test for the Food Movement.” Here’s a simple proposition to test whether the food movement can stand up to Big Ag. We’re asking readers who care about providing healthier food to schoolchildren to... Continue Reading...