The Latest on Farming
Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan of the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued the national conversation about USDA’s support for local and regional food projects with a live streaming event today and tweet-up at the White House. Local and regional food systems offer economic opportunities for local farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs.
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At this week’s Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) made his case for protecting the Conservation Title in the next farm bill.
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Multiple agriculture articles, including jobs, food safety, food stamps, subsidies and a grower trade show.
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Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack and Undersecretary Katherine Merrigan today unveiled the new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass. The online tool aims to spur ideas on how to generate more local and regional food resources and offers examples of local producers benefiting from the program, which got underway two years ago.
Read MoreToday was the day the Senate Ag Committee held its hearing on conservation provisions of the evolving 2012 farm bill. The general sentiment of the witnesses and members of the committee was that conservation programs work to protect the environment, and that farmers like them. Fears of another round of funding cuts were evident, however.
Read More"As you renew food and farm policy, we urge you to strengthen USDA conservation programs in order to reward farmers and ranchers who take steps to protect our air, water and wildlife."
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Some commitments should be honored. In exchange for farm subsidies, farmers have for decades committed to adopt land management practices that reduce the runoff from their fields – a provision of the 1985 farm bill called “conservation compliance.”
Read MoreToday, Environmental Working Group released a new research paper by conservationist Max Schnepf that looks at the history of America’s eroding conservation compact and how farmers view the long-standing deal between them and taxpayers.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting slightly higher per capita consumption of fruits, vegetables and nuts over the next 10 years, according to the produce industry publication The Packer. Every little bit counts, and there’s no question that the way toward a healthier nation is for everyone – but especially kids – to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Read MoreToday is the annual US Department of Agriculture Outlook Forum. The department announced projections for the next crop year with 94 million acres devoted to corn - up 2 million acres from 2011, 58 million acres in wheat, 75 million acres in soybeans and just 13 million acres of cotton. But how much of the extra acreage will come from plowing up conservation land that protects water, soil and wildlife while sequestering carbon?
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The New York Times has asked Craig Cox, senior vice president of the Environmental Working Group, to weigh in on agriculture policy in its Room for Debate series. The topic: Farm Bill, Beyond the Farm. The Times asks: The farm bill, being debated in the Senate this month, is felt far beyond the cornfields of Iowa. It’s about what we grow, but it’s also about what we eat and how we live. On the potato chip aisle, Americans are seeing the farm bill’s market pressures.
Read MoreTell USDA to stand by its pesticide data program. It's the time of year when the U.S. Department of Agriculture is preparing to release its annual pesticide data – information the Environmental Working Group uses to bring you the Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, which helps careful consumers minimize their exposure to pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables.
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Welcome to EWG’s Policy Plate, where we plan to serve up a daily helping of food and farm news during the 2012 farm bill debate. E&E News had smart piece yesterday about how nitrogen pollution threatens human health and speeds climate change.
Read MoreA new research paper finds that most farmers support the long-standing conservation compact that has helped protect the rich soil and clean water that sustain food, farming and public health.
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Welcome to EWG’s Policy Plate, where we plan to serve up a daily helping of food and farm news during the 2012 farm bill debate. Some lawmakers have made clear that they intend to cut 7 million acres protected under the farm bill's Conservation Reserve Program.
Read MoreAldo Leopold was perhaps the most influential conservationist of the 20th century. He died nearly 65 years ago, yet his life’s work continues to inspire us to love and respect our land, water and wildlife. Green Fire, the first documentary film about Leopold’s life and work, looks back at his extraordinary career and examines how his philosophy of ethical land use endures today. As this year’s debate over renewing the farm bill gets underway, policymakers would do well to learn more about Leopold and other pioneering conservationists to better understand the need to protect and preserve the land that will feed future generations.
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Welcome to EWG’s Policy Plate, where we plan to serve up a daily helping of food and farm news during the 2012 farm bill debate. Today the Senate Agriculture Committee held its first hearing on what the members hope will become the 2012 farm bill.
Read MoreAmerica’s farmers need a safety net, but so do the rich soil and clean water that sustain not just agriculture but the entire fabric of American society.
Read MoreDecember 31 marked the overdue demise of one of the government subsidies that has long propped up the corn ethanol industry. But if you think corn ethanol is now standing on its own in the energy marketplace, take another look. Yes, the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is gone and will no longer pay oil companies for every gallon of ethanol they mix with gasoline.
Read MoreThe National Academy of Sciences should review the health, environmental and safety effects of E15 ethanol blends before they’re allowed on the market, but limiting EPA’s authority to enforce the Clean Air Act would be a bad idea.
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