2018 farm bill
House ag chair sees enough money for farm bill, even with cuts
Chairman Michael Conaway says the House Agriculture Committee will have enough money "to craft a farm bill that works for all of our various stakeholders" despite a prospective cut in funding for farm and nutrition programs, according to Huffington Post. Conaway agreed to the cut as part of discussions among House Republicans, who want to increase spending on the military and reduce spending on social programs to help make room for a tax cut.
Rock-hard conservatives say Conaway is an obstacle to budget cuts
With House Republicans bogged down in budget discussions, the conservative group Heritage Action accused Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway of being unwilling “to cut a paltry amount of federal spending from his committee.” A spokeswoman for Conaway called the criticism part of “Heritage Action’s long-running campaign against America’s farmers and ranchers.”
Give USDA’s new rural alignment a chance, Perdue asks senators
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue proposed to skeptical senators the legislative version of a money-back offer: Let me run rural development my way for a year and if you're not happy, you can have your undersecretary back. Perdue said he expects prompt and gratifying results from his approach of putting economic development under his direct control.
Leaders of Senate Agriculture Committee say no to farm bill cuts
Two days after President Trump proposed large cuts in food stamps and farm supports, the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee spoke out against funding cuts as the panel prepares to write the 2018 farm bill.
Crop insurance cut 36 percent in Trump budget
As Congress prepares to write a new farm bill, President Trump proposed a 36-percent cut in the federally subsidized crop insurance program over the coming decade, a far more sweeping set of reforms than what was proposed during the Obama era and rejected by farm-state lawmakers. Crop insurance is the largest of USDA's farm support programs at nearly $8 billion a year.
U.S. land retirement rises and falls with commodity prices
Congress has adjusted the enrollment cap on the Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners an annual rent to idle fragile land, in every farm bill since the program was created in 1985. With commodity prices in a trough, there are calls for a sizable increase in the reserve, a step that could affect wheat production far more than corn or soybeans according to a back-of-the-envelope estimate.
Money is tight but Conservation Reserve could grow, says Peterson
With simpler rules and caps on payment rates, the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to idle fragile land for 10 years or longer, could expand from its current limit of 24 million acres, says the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee. "There's a lot of reforms that could be done on CRP," said Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson at the North American Agricultural Journalists meeting.
Crop insurance will be big target for farm bill reformers
Farm groups will be hard-pressed to avoid cuts in the federally subsidized crop insurance program during work on the 2018 farm bill, said lobbyists from the two largest U.S. farm groups. One of the lobbyists, Mary Kay Thatcher, of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said her analysis of lawmakers' leanings suggested it will be easier to persuade Congress to pass the farm bill than to stop amendments that cut crop insurance.
New job for House Ag Chairman Conaway: Head of Russia probe
Dyed-in-the-wool Texas conservative Michael Conaway expects a short tenure as the leader of the House investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and related allegations. Better known as Agriculture Committee chairman, Conaway, a CPA by training and a lower-level member of House Republican leadership, said he will be objective and methodical in running the Intelligence Committee probe.
Cotton industry renews push for $1 billion cottonseed subsidy
Rebuffed by the Obama administration, the cotton industry told a House Agriculture subcommittee that growers need a subsidy on cottonseed to offset low prices for cotton fiber. The novel proposal, with an estimated pricetag of $1 billion a year, is part of an industry push to make cotton eligible for the same subsidies offered to grain and soybean growers.
Food stamp benefit levels may be too low, say anti-hunger groups
Major farm groups put crop insurance, commodity subsidies as priority
The two largest U.S. farm groups and the leading groups representing corn, soybean, wheat, barley, canola and sunflower producers are united in asking for more money for the 2018 farm bill and in naming crop insurance and commodity programs as their top priorities for funding. "There is a consensus on every issue," the groups said in a statement presented at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on crop subsidies.
Senate panel ‘will move as quickly as possible’ on Perdue nomination
American agriculture is "going through a rough patch right now," so the Senate Agriculture Committee "will move as quickly as possible in a bipartisan fashion ... to get the governor down to the department," chairman Pat Roberts said, referring to the nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
Conaway: Work requirements will be salient part of food stamp reform
House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway said his plans for "meaningful reforms" in food stamps, namely limiting access to benefits and stringent work requirements, "may very well make the 2018 farm bill harder" to pass than the 2014 law, enacted 16 months behind schedule. "I am committed 110 percent to getting both [food stamps and farm subsidies] reauthorized on time" in 2018, he said, but held open the possibility of splitting the topics into separate bills for House debate.
Across the board, farm groups ask Congress for more farm bill money
The continuing slump in the farm economy and shortcomings in the U.S. farm program make it imperative for Congress to provide additional funding for the 2018 farm bill, said a powerhouse bloc of farm groups. Their appeal to congressional budget and appropriations leaders came two weeks after the House Agriculture Committee asked for more money so it could plug holes in the farm safety net.
NFU backs land-idling payments when crop prices are low
The 2018 farm bill should guarantee payments to farmers "to reduce acreage when prices fall below the cost of production," says the second-largest U.S. farm group, the National Farmers Union. At the NFU's annual meeting in San Diego, 136 delegates from 33 states approved a special order for a farm bill to help farmers and ranchers that responds to the dramatic reduction in commodity and livestock prices since 2013.
Hunters call for 66 percent expansion of Conservation Reserve
The Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners to idle fragile cropland, should be expanded to 40 million acres from its current 24 million acres, said Pheasants Forever, a hunting and wildlife habitat group, at the first congressional subcommittee hearing for the 2018 farm bill. Land stewardship and farm groups urged larger funding for two USDA programs aimed at working lands.
To stay ahead, U.S. should double ag R&D spending, says report
U.S. spending on agricultural research has flat-lined and jeopardizes American standing as a leader in ag innovation while Brazil, China and India together out-spend the United States 2-to-1, according to a briefing paper by two University of Minnesota researchers. The paper calls "for a doubling of such spending ov
Farmers to get $10 billion in economic assistance
President Biden signed a stop-gap government funding bill over the weekend that calls for speedy payment of $10 billion to farmers to buffer lower commodity prices and high production costs. Congress voted to fund the government through March 14 after a fight that showed the limits of President-elect Trump's control over Republican lawmakers.