The Latest on Farming
The Los Angeles Times’ Kim Geiger reports that the amendment added by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) to the House Agriculture Committee’s draft of the farm bill could "block states from imposing their own standards for agriculture products on producers from other states" and "jeopardize California laws to protect chickens."
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Unlimited crop insurance subsidies lead growers to make planting decisions that are bad for the environment, two of the nation’s most respected agricultural economists conclude in a newly published paper.
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Late Wednesday night, July 11, the House Agriculture Committee added an amendment by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) to the farm bill that would severely limit states’ authority to regulate conditions or standards of agricultural production.
Read MoreThe budget-busting farm bill approved by the House Agriculture Committee late Wednesday night is quite simply the worst piece of farm and food legislation in decades. The bill will feed fewer people, help fewer farmers, do less to promote healthy diets and weaken environmental protections – and it will cost far more than congressional bean counters say.
Read MoreAs the House Agriculture Committee considered a proposal by Reps. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) to expand crop insurance subsidies by more than $9 billion, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation to instead roll back crop insurance subsidy rates.
Read MoreA new report shows that Congress could save taxpayers at least $42 billion over 10 years, provide farmers with a more fiscally and environmentally responsible safety net and avoid deep cuts to vital nutrition and conservation programs by scaling crop insurance subsidies back to more reasonable levels.
Read MoreAre smaller, upstream water bodies such as intermittent streams covered by the federal Clean Water Act? This is not an insignificant question: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that 117 million Americans depend to some extent on these sources for their drinking water.
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View and Download the report here: Impact of Scaling Back Crop Insurance Premium Subsidies
Read MoreAn Environmental Working Group AgMag post calls out the members of Congress who are expected to support unlimited insurance subsidies for corn and cotton farmers during the House Agriculture Committee mark up (that begins tomorrow) but voted against health insurance subsidies for low income Americans in 2009.
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On the same day that the House will vote to end health insurance subsidies for low income Americans, the House Agriculture Committee will vote to increase crop insurance subsidies for the largest and most profitable mega farms – and will cut nutrition assistance programs to pay for it.
Read MoreEight members of Congress plan to hold a press conference with anti-hunger groups tomorrow (Tuesday) to protest the $16 billion in cuts to nutrition assistance programs proposed by the leaders of the House Agriculture Committee in their farm bill draft. Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Joe Baca (D-Calif.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) will take part.
Read MoreThe farm bill proposed yesterday by House Agriculture Committee leaders would cut funds for nutrition programs and the environment to help finance new price and revenue guarantees and increase insurance subsidies for the largest and most successful farm businesses.
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Now that the Senate has passed a farm bill that ends direct payments to farmers, the pressure is on for the House to do the same. Trish Choate of the San Angelo Standard-Times uses the 2012 EWG Farm Subsidy Database to explain the federal handout system in Texas, the state that receives the most farm subsidies.
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group’s latest update of the farm subsidy database shows that Iowa grain producers are still reaping big benefits from taxpayers. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the Hawkeye State “ranks second in the nation in terms of farm subsidies, with 8.7 percent of the total in 2011.”
Read MoreEnvironmental Working Group will host a press briefing tomorrow in Room 304 in the Cannon House Office Building at 1:00 p.m. (EST) for accredited journalists and congressional staffers to release its latest edition of its highly referenced farm subsidy database. The 2012 database tracks $277.3 billion in commodity, crop insurance, conservation, and disaster subsidies paid between 1995 and 2011.
Read MoreA 60 Minutes profile of Howard Buffett, who will succeed his father, Warren, as a non-executive chairman of a multibillion dollar holding company, reports that he has received $300,000 in farm subsidies over 13 years.
Read MoreTwo newspaper editorials have applauded Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., for his successful efforts to add a conservation compliance amendment to the recently passed Senate farm bill. The proposal simply restores the conservation quid pro quo between taxpayers and farmers as crop insurance subsidies replace traditional farm payments.
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Everyone who eats should take a moment to thank 11 senators who proposed farm bill amendments designed to ensure that our farm and food policies help more farmers, the environment and the hungry at less cost to the taxpayer.
Read MoreToday, CNBC.com reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture encountered significant shortcomings in dealing with fraud in the federal crop insurance program. It pointed out that the newly passed Senate farm bill would open the door for more fraud. The bill, which adds a new layer to the already bloated insurance program to guarantee business income for large farmers, does not have any government protections to prevent fraudulent claims.
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