As Finance chairman, Grassley wants ‘more middle-income tax cuts’
When he used the power of seniority to claim chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee in the new session of Congress, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley said he wanted greater tax fairness for Americans. Many farm groups share his goal of additional tax relief.
Trump tariff payments flow to cities as well as rural mailboxes
More than 1,100 of the early recipients of Trump tariff payments intended to offset the impact of the trade war on U.S. agriculture actually live in America’s largest cities, said the Environmental Working Group on Monday. The bailout recipients are the latest “city slickers” identified by the EWG for collecting federal subsidies without living or working on a farm. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Silence inside farm bill negotiations, while outsiders call for reform
Working under the gun, Senate and House negotiators are exchanging proposals to resolve intractable disputes over the 2018 farm bill, with the hope of agreement as early as today. While the “four corners,” as the four lead negotiators are known, are working in private, there are last-minute calls from outside for reform.
House ag sends farm bill to Senate, reports say
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway has backed off dramatic changes to SNAP in the stalled $87 billion farm bill, sealing a deal with ranking Democrat Collin Peterson and sending a version of the bill to the Senate, according to press reports.
FDA and USDA to jointly oversee cell-based meat
The USDA and FDA will both oversee the production of cell-cultured food products derived from livestock and poultry, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Friday, ending a dispute about the future oversight of the nascent industry.
Sen. Grassley heads to finance committee
Trump and McConnell discuss farm bill as part of lame duck agenda
While some analysts expressed skepticism about passage of the farm bill, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell discussed the bill among must-do legislation on Thursday for action in the brief congressional post-election session.
Trade war battering farm income
Across the Farm Belt, ag bankers forecast a continued decline in farm income as winter arrives, reported four regional Federal Reserve banks on Thursday. Low commodity prices worry farm lenders, and a Minnesota banker said that the “trade war needs to be resolved to provide stability for customers.”
McConnell: Farm bill absolutely must be completed in lame duck session
Congress is nearly a quarter of the way through its post-election session with no apparent compromise on SNAP work rules or other disputes in the farm bill. Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that the farm bill is one of two items that “absolutely have to be accomplished” by year’s end.
Atrazine spikes in drinking water often go unseen, says report
Nearly 30 million Americans in 28 states “have some level of atrazine in their tap water,” says the Environmental Working Group in a report on the second-most widely used weedkiller in the country.
Trump acolyte presses ahead in Mississippi Senate race
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a member of President Trump’s agriculture advisory committee in 2016, is following the president’s no-apology campaign style in the Senate runoff election against former U.S. agriculture secretary Mike Espy, a Democrat. Hyde-Smith is the front-runner in strongly Republican Mississippi.
Demand from China drives disastrous overfishing of sea cucumbers
FERN’s latest story, in collaboration with National Geographic, takes readers inside the world of the illegal sea-cucumber trade, showing how demand for the delicacy in China is driving a global market that threatens to wipe out many species of the marine animal.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
‘Not everyone will get everything they want’ in farm bill
Negotiators “are nearing agreement on many of the issues” in the farm bill, said Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts on Tuesday, although one committee member said he doubted there will be an agreement this year.
As lame duck session opens, farm bill isn’t ready for a vote
A month ago, the lead negotiators on the farm bill linked arms in a show of unity and said they wanted to have the $87 billion-a-year legislation ready for a vote when Congress convened for its post-election session. The lame duck session opens today and one lobbyist says there is no chance of a vote this week because of many unresolved issues, including the headline question of stricter SNAP work requirements.
FERN/Reveal investigation shows EPA ignored decades of science on dicamba drift
A new investigation by FERN and Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Journalism, shows that the EPA "ignored scientists’ warnings and extensive research that showed dicamba would evaporate into the air and ruin crops miles away, according to documents obtained through public records requests and lawsuits. Instead, the EPA’s approval was based on studies by the companies that manufacture dicamba, which independent scientists say were seriously flawed." <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
USDA will wait for Congress to decide SNAP work rules
Congress should have the first, and last, word on stricter work requirements for able-bodied SNAP recipients, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday. The USDA is working on the issue as a regulatory matter, but Perdue told reporters that he would not intrude on legislative prerogatives.
Big Ag tries to stifle debate on Minnesota mega-dairy expansion
Last week, seven corporate agriculture interest groups sued the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to halt the extension of a public comment period on a proposed mega-dairy expansion in Winona County, Minnesota. The suit highlights broader efforts by agribusiness to silence opposition from rural residents who speak out against large concentrated animal feeding operations in their communities. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Hurricane Michael ruined 7 percent of the U.S. cotton crop
Georgia, the No. 2 cotton state, lost one-third of its crop to Hurricane Michael, said the USDA on Thursday in lowering its estimate of the total U.S. harvest by 7 percent because of storm damage in the Southeast.
Smallest U.S. soy exports in four years as trade war reshapes world market
Forced by the trade war, China, the world’s largest soybean importer, and the United States, the largest grower, are on the prowl for new soybean trading partners, though neither will fully replace the other soon, said the USDA on Thursday.
Farm bill outlook: Lame duck passage or bust
Farm bill negotiators said they expect to pass the $87-billion-a-year legislation in the lame duck session of Congress that opens on Tuesday. “I think we are relatively close,” said Collin Peterson, ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. “We could have that language ready next week when we come back.”