2014 farm law

More than 23,000 dairy producers - over half of the dairy operations in the country - enrolled in the new Margin Protection Program, created by the 2014 farm law as a replacement to the previous dairy subsidies, said USDA.

Second-term Sen Jeff Merkley of Oregon is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture and FDA for the 114th Congress, said Sen Barbara Mikulski, the Democratic leader on the committee, in a statement.

Congress should phase out premium subsidies on crop insurance policies sold to the wealthiest U.S. farmers and offer policies that reward growers who hedge their risks by planting a variety of crops instead of specializing in one or two crops, said...

Roughly 1 million people - 2 percent of current enrollment - will be cut off of food stamps during 2016 as states re-impose the three-month limit on benefits to unemployed adults from ages 18-50 who are not disabled or raising children...

Two agricultural economists say corn subsidies could cost $6 to $8 billion for this year's record-large corn crop, says Reuters. The estimates are based on the projected U.S. average price of $3.50 a bushel for the crop, the price guarantees of the farm bill and...

Incoming chairman Mike Conaway said he will install three of his top aides as the key staff members of the House Agriculture Committee.

The 2014 farm law expanded the role of crop insurance in the farm safety net; making it the centerpiece of the farm program, according to some descriptions.

Food stamp enrollment totaled 46.5 million people, or nearly one in seven Americans, for three months in a row, say USDA data. That's down by 1.2 million recipients, or 2.5 percent, from a year ago.

The algae bloom that shut down Toledo's drinking-water supply for two days this summer has put the spotlight on agricultural runoff, although farmland is not the only source of the pollutants that cause the explosive growth of the cyanobacteria, says...

A new crop insurance policy, whole-farm revenue protection, is available for 2015 crops, said USDA's Risk Management Agency. It says the new policy "makes crop insurance more affordable for producers, including fruit and vegetable growers and...

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, who expects to chair the Agriculture Committee beginning in January, told National Journal, "It is not productive at all to open up the farm bill."

Since 2007, enrollment in the long-term Conservation Reserve is down by 9.9 million acres; in fact, the 26.8 million acres in the reserve in 2013 was the smallest amount since 1988, writes economist David Widmar at the blog Agricultural Economic Insights.

Soybeans will sell for less than $10 a bushel, on average, at the farm gate for three years in a row, projected a University of Missouri think tank, because another large crop is likely to follow this year's record-setting harvest.

The federally subsidized crop insurance program is an inefficient way to support growers and a drain on taxpayers, says a critique in Choices, the journal of agricultural economics.

New rules for "micro loans" to small and beginning farmers will take effect on Nov 7, said the Agriculture Department in carrying out a provision of the 2014 farm law.

The Agriculture Department announced a $91 million loan guarantee for an advanced biofuel plant in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, that will turn pine chips into 8-10 million gallons a year of reformate, a drop-in ingredient for gasoline and jet fuel that can be added during the regular refinery process.