2014 farm law

Operators of diversified farms will see more affordable rates for crop insurance under the new Whole Farm Revenue Protection policy, said USDA's Risk Management Agency.

Brazil agreed to end a decade-old World Trade Organization case against U.S. cotton subsidies and to a peace clause for the life of the 2014 farm law in exchange for $300 million and technical assistance for its cotton sector.

Parts of the 2014 farm law "send a message to trading partners that U.S. agriculture is becoming more protectionist," writes UC-Davis economics professor Colin Carter in Choices, the journal of agricultural economics.

The government announced a new approach to supporting dairy farmers, with enrollment to begin on Tuesday and conclude on Nov 28.

Growers are more likely to hit the statutory limit on crop subsidies if they choose the Price Loss Coverage option rather than the Agriculture Risk Coverage option, say economists Jonathan Coppess, Gary Schnittkey and Nick Paulson of U-Illinois.

Democrat Alison Grimes faulted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for missing many Agriculture Committee hearings and for not being one of the negotiators who wrote the 2014 farm law, says the Associated Press.

USDA is giving a thorough examination of how to reorganize its international trade functions, including creation of a new senior-level position, undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during a teleconference.

Congress included $625 million in guaranteed funding for bio-energy programs in the 2014 farm policy law, says Jonathan Coppess of U-Illinois at farmdoc daily.

Key provisions of the new farm policy law - insurance, conservation, dairy and the traditional crop subsidies - are the focus of a new edition of Choices, the magazine of agricultural economics.

When commodity prices fall, growers may collect payments from crop insurance as well as deficiecy payments from traditional crop subsidies, says economist Carl Zulauf of Ohio State University in an analysis.

Rep Jim McGovern, who opposed food stamp cuts in the 2014 farm law, says opponents are not satisfied with narrowing the connection between utility assistance and additional food stamps.

House Republicans, who have accused states of cheating by averting cuts in food stamps, have raised a new argument -- that state governments discriminate against some poor people by holding on to food stamps for other poor people.

U.S. farmers will stick with traditional crop subsidies based on crop prices and shy away from the crop revenue subsidy created in the new farm law, says the Congressional Budget Office.

The 2014 farm law ended the direct-payment subsidy and made crop insurance the major farm support. For most states, there is little difference in the state's share of the receipts.

The heat-and-eat "spat" could lead to Republican attempts to end the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and so-called categorical eligibility for food stamps, especially if the GOP gains control of the Senate...

Ag economist Art Barnaby of Kansas State University created a 13-page summary of the crop subsidy and federally subsidized crop insurance provisions of the 2014 farm law.

AgSec Vilsack is optimistic about a foundation created by the 2014 farm law to encourage agricultural research. Funding is a recurrent problem despite wide agreement about the long-term payoff from the work.

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.