American Farm Bureau Federation
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.
Trump initiates lengthy process to override clean-water rule
Hours before his first speech to Congress, President Trump started the government machinery running to carry out his campaign promise to eliminate the EPA's Waters of the United States rule, a process that could take months or even years. All the same, farm groups applauded the presidential slap on the hand of what they call federal over-reach.
Farm Bureau to propose revenue insurance for dairy industry
Critics say the dairy subsidy created by the 2014 farm law, called the Margin Protection Plan and based on the difference between milk prices and feed costs, is inadequate in the face of the steep decline in milk prices since 2014. An alternative approach is being developed, says Dairy Herd Management magazine – a revenue insurance policy.
Pull out the roots of over-regulation, Farm Bureau chief tells Trump
Rural America was key to electing Donald Trump as president and it wants him to prevent over-regulation from growing back like a weed, said the president of the largest U.S. farm organization on the opening day of the group's annual convention. The American Farm Bureau Federation's Zippy Duvall also told reporters that the Trump team knows producers are frustrated by the lack of a nominee for agriculture secretary.
Delay asked on EPA rules on farmworkers and pesticides
The largest U.S. farm organization and state agriculture directors petitioned the EPA to delay the Jan. 2 implementation of revised pesticide safety rules for growers and farmworkers. Under the rules, for the first time, people under the age of 18 years will be prohibited from handling pesticides.
Cost of groceries for Thanksgiving drops slightly
When Americans shop for turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries and other ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal, they will get a break on prices for the second time in seven years. The price tag for groceries to cook a Thanksgiving feast for 10 people would total $49.87, said the largest U.S. farm group, which has conducted the informal survey of grocery prices since 1968.
Average grocery tab will be 8-percent cheaper this fall, says AFBF survey
When the largest U.S. farm group sent 59 shoppers into supermarkets to check the prices of food for a fall meal, they found the tally, on average, was down by a surprisingly large eight percent from a year ago.
U.S. farm groups tell Senate they can support big ag mergers
Since World War Two, the U.S. food supply has come from a network of fewer but larger farms. And the groups representing those highly mechanized operations told the Senate Judiciary Committee that they could accept, with sufficient safeguards, mergers that would convert the six largest seed and agricultural chemical companies into a "big three."
As farm income slumps, debate over the future
If there was any doubt, the agricultural boom ended in red ink for relatively large-scale Illinois farmers last year — an average loss of $2,971 per farm just one year after they notched a net farm income of $107,290, say three University of Illinois economists. Low crop prices were the culprit in Illinois, and across the nation, with comparatively low farm income expected for several years to come.
No-GMO pledge is ‘marketing puffery,’ farm groups tell Dannon
Six U.S. farm groups challenged Dannon USA's pledge to switch to non-GMO ingredients in its yogurt as "the exact opposite of the sustainable agriculture you claim to the seeking." The chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation, Randy Mooney, said, "This is just marketing puffery, not any true innovation that improves the actual product offered to consumers."
Bayer to buy Monsanto for $66 billion in a giant deal for seeds and ag chemicals
Two of the largest seed and agricultural chemical companies of the world, Bayer and Monsanto, will combine in a deal valued at $66 billion. Monsanto chief executive Hugh Grant said the merger, in which Bayer buys Monsanto for cash, will result in "an innovation engine that pairs Bayer’s crop protection portfolio with our world-class seeds and traits and digital agriculture tools to help growers overcome the obstacles of tomorrow."
Farm Bureau seeks more aid for dairy farmers
The American Farm Bureau Federation asked the USDA to provide emergency assistance to U.S. dairy farmers, including purchasing millions of pounds of cheese for government nutrition programs, as they cope with milk prices at seven-year lows, Agri-Pulse reported. In the past two years, milk sales have fallen $16 billion, AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
With solid backing, Senate may vote on GMO disclosure bill today
In a 2-to-1 vote, senators cleared the way for passage as early as today of the GMO-disclosure bill that pre-empts state labeling laws and allows foodmakers to use a digital code, a symbol or wording on food packages to alert consumers to genetically engineered ingredients. That would leave one week for the House to act before Congress adjourns for the summer.
Senate passes GMO-disclosure bill that also pre-empts state law
Two decades into the era of agricultural biotechnology, the Senate passed, 63-30, a bill that requires foodmakers nationwide to say if their products contain GMO ingredients. The bill, which also pre-empts state GMO food-labeling laws, now goes to the House for action one week before Congress adjourns for the summer.
GMO-disclosure bill in Senate is really ‘a non-labeling bill,’ say foes
The GMOs-in-food disclosure bill written by leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee "is actually a non-labeling bill" that "exempts major portions of current and future GMO foods from labeling," said a coalition of organic food, environmental and consumer groups on the same day the largest U.S. farm group announced support for the bill. "The bill is not perfect but it correctly puts the federal government in the driver's seat in important areas such as protecting interstate commerce and new crop development techniques," said the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Cost of a summer cookout? About the same as last year.
Lower grocery-store prices for hamburgers and hotdogs are helping to keep the lid on the price of a summer cookout, according to spot checks of supermarkets in 26 states. The survey, organized by the largest U.S. farm group and released ahead of the Independence Day holiday, said the grocery bill for enough food to feed 10 people would be $56.06, or $5.60 a person.
USDA announces $300 million in aid to cotton growers
With a worldwide glut pulling down cotton prices to their lowest level in eight years, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $300 million in one-time assistance to growers, based on ginning costs. The cost-share program is far smaller than the $1-billion-a-year cottonseed subsidy that the industry wanted and that Vilsack said was beyond his power to create.
Farm groups seek to exempt gene editing from biotech rules
Two decades into the era of agricultural biotechnology, the United States is updating its regulatory system, in which USDA, EPA and FDA are the gatekeepers for commercialization of genetically modified crops and livestock.
Farm groups prod Congress for economic relief
With two weeks left in the congressional schedule for this year, time is running out for lawmakers to provide financial relief to agriculture, said two farm groups. "It is imperative that they address the well-defined and fully substantiated needs of farmers just trying to hold on for another season," said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.