crop subsidies
In novel filing, U.S. says India grossly over-subsidizes wheat and rice production
It is clear that India violates WTO limits on trade-distorting farm subsidies, said the Trump administration on Wednesday in announcing a “counter-notification” that could be the first step to a formal challenge of India’s wheat and rice subsidies.
Farmers increasingly look to supply management to steady U.S. agriculture
With a trade war looming, commodity prices swooning, and the dairy industry in full-blown crisis, a growing number of American farmers are embracing a controversial set of farm policies that would manage the country’s commodity production and stabilize crop prices. <strong>No paywall</strong>
Conaway seeks ‘Trump-style loyalty pledge’ for farm bill, say Democrats
Michael Conaway says House Republican leaders will strong-arm opponents out of the way of floor passage of his farm bill, which will toughen work requirements for SNAP benefits while relaxing subsidy rules. According to Conaway, no one will be allowed to offer an amendment to the bill without promising beforehand to vote for passage, prompting four key Democrats to accuse Conaway of demanding "a Trump-style loyalty pledge."
House conservatives: End crop subsidies, slash crop insurance, block-grant SNAP
If the House followed the lead of the Republican Study Committee, it would abolish crop and dairy subsidies, slash taxpayer support for crop insurance, phase out the USDA’s two largest soil and water conservation programs, and convert SNAP funding to block grants to states.
Minnesota farmers, rural landowners call for crop insurance reform
As congressional debate on the next farm bill gathers steam, farmers in Minnesota are calling for changes to the crop insurance program. A new report from the Land Stewardship Project argues that the current version of the program favors bigger farms and places an undue burden on taxpayers.
Cotton growers to get up to $40,000 each in USDA stop-gap payments
For the second time, the Agriculture Department will give cotton growers up to $40,000 each to offset low market prices, with payments keyed to the local cost of separating cotton fiber from its seed. The new cotton ginning cost-share payments will cover the 2016 crop. The USDA offered $300 million in aid for 2015 cotton when the Obama administration created the supposed one-time assistance.
Senators question post-death subsidy payments
Two farm-state senators want the USDA to explain why it allows crop subsidy payments to the estates of deceased farmers for two years or more. “You aren’t very actively engaged if you are buried,” remarked Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, citing a USDA eligibility rule.
Trump proposes 33-percent cut in crop insurance
Five weeks after he told the largest U.S. farm group that he supports "a [farm] bill that includes crop insurance," President Trump asked Congress to slash the taxpayer-subsidized program by a third. The $26-billion cut over a decade was part of a fiscal 2019 budget package that called for the eradication of USDA's first green-payment program and for denial of crop subsidies and land stewardship payments to people with more than $500,000 in adjusted gross income.
Budget deal bolsters cotton and dairy but squeezes USDA elsewhere
Cotton and dairy producers complained about inadequate USDA support viturally since the 2014 farm bill took effect. Congress answered those complaints in the budget package passed at the end of last week, making an additional $1.2 billion available for the commodities in coming years. But the package also is likely to result in cuts of nearly the same amount, says the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Farm bill waits as leaders look for more money
The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee appealed for additional funding from Congress for cotton and dairy subsidies in the near term, a step that also would make more money available for those programs in the 2018 farm bill.
USDA unveils website to handle crop supports, land stewardship
During a trip to Michigan, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue introduced a website that will eventually allow producers to file crop support and land stewardship forms digitally instead of having to bring paper copies to their local USDA office.
New cotton subsidies in 2018 farm bill could be costly, says think tank
Cotton growers are pushing for the second overhaul of USDA subsidies in four years and the results could be expensive to taxpayers and risk another trade complaint at the WTO, says the free-market American Enterprise Institute. Congress totally re-wrote the cotton program in the 2014 farm bill to resolve a WTO ruling, sought by Brazil, that over-generous U.S. subsidies distorted world trade.
His eye on USDA office, Northey hears electoral clock ticking in Iowa
President Trump's nominee to run USDA's farm subsidy and land stewardship programs has waited for three months for a Senate vote, and acknowledges he faces a decision: To file for a fourth term as Iowa state agriculture secretary in this year's elections or wait for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to end his opposition to a vote on him. "I believe there is still hope right now," said nominee Bill Northey told Successful Farming.
Farm bill reform would end ‘dishonest’ subsidies, says midwestern senator
On the same day that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue released a 42-point list of farm bill principles, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said the 2018 bill should end the “dishonest” practice of crop subsidy payments to non-farmers.
Policy expert: 50 percent chance Congress extends 2014 farm law
Congress could just as easily extend the 2014 farm law, with add-ons to fix cotton and dairy subsidies, as pass a new farm bill this year, said Texas A&M economist James Richardson, a farm policy expert.
CBO lists ways to carve savings out of costly crop insurance
As Congress expanded the role of crop insurance over the past couple of decades, the cost of the federally subsidized program tripled, to $9 billion annually over the past five years. The Congressional Budget Office says that if lawmakers are worried about costs, they could alter the program to cut outlays by 25 percent or more, with the likely consequence of reducing participation in the largest program in the farm safety net.
USDA green-payment program covers 8 percent of U.S. farmland
Some 72 million acres of farmland are enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), 8 percent of all U.S. farmland and equal in size to Iowa and Georgia combined, says the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in a report. The CSP was the first program at USDA to provide an annual payment to producers who adopt conservation practices as part of their daily operations. The green-payment program is nearly three times larger than the better-known Conservation Reserve, which pays landowners to idle fragile land.
End farm subsidy payments to people who aren’t farmers, says Grassley
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who nearly succeeded in tightening the eligibility rules for farm subsidies in the 2014 farm law, says he’ll try again with the 2018 farm bill to end payments to city dwellers who never set foot on the farm or take no role in running it.