Trump
Most farmers expect lower income because of trade war
Seven of 10 farmers participating in a Purdue poll said they expect lower net income this year due to the tit-for-tat tariff war - a dour outlook that pulled down the monthly Ag Economy Barometer to its lowest reading since President Trump was elected in November 2016. The 26-point drop wiped out the remnants of "Trump bump" agricultural euphoria that propelled the barometer to a record high as Trump took office.
Representative urges colleagues to fight an ‘unconscionable’ House farm bill
Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, a longtime champion of nutrition programs and a farm bill conferee, urged his colleagues not to support the House bill’s language around nutrition programs. “It is vital that we stand strong and that we side with the Senate … with regard to their language in the nutrition title,” he said in an interview on Thursday with the Food Research and Action Center.
Trump pardons Oregon ranchers whose case sparked Malheur takeover
Father-and-son Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, sent to prison for arson on public land, received full pardons from President Trump on Tuesday, more than halfway through their five-year sentence. Farm groups applauded the decision while the Center for Western Priorities said the Trump "has once again sided with lawless extremists."
Despite big sales, Trump says it’s ‘impossible’ to sell U.S. ag in Europe
The European Union is the fifth-largest customer for U.S. farm exports but it is "impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe," said President Trump on social media on Tuesday.
White House backs House farm bill as ‘meaningful welfare reform’
With the farm bill facing a test vote in the House today, the Trump administration called the bill "a step toward meaningful welfare reform" with its stricter work requirements for SNAP recipients. "The administration believes that work reforms like those in HR 2 are a critical component of any multi-year farm bill reauthorization," said the White House on Tuesday.
Trump okays E15, will mull whether to count ethanol exports as part of RFS
President Trump resolved two persistent questions about biofuels on Tuesday, allowing the year-round sale of higher blends of ethanol in gasoline, which will benefit corn farmers, and saying he will consider whether ethanol exports should be counted as part of the government's target for biofuels use, a step that would relieve pressure on oil refiners.
Reply to Trump aid offer: ‘We don’t need another subsidy program’
President Trump says his administration will "make it up" if farmers and ranchers are hurt by Chinese trade retaliation. Two agricultural leaders in Congress were skeptical of possible politically driven bail-outs on Tuesday, with Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts saying, "We don't want another subsidy program. We need to sell our product."
China’s new tariff target list: U.S. soybeans, cotton, corn, beef, wheat
As the Trump administration is moving ahead with $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese-made technology products, Chinese officials "indicated in a very gentle way" that U.S. soybeans could face retaliation, said Iowa Sen Chuck Grassley. "Only time is going to tell" if President Trump will win the trade dispute, said Grassley, who met Chinese officials last week as part of a congressional delegation visiting China and South Korea.
In biofuel tussle, farm-sector fear that Trump will side with oil industry
President Trump campaigned as a champion of corn ethanol but, as a boon to the oil industry, he could put a cap on the price of credits, called RINs, that refiners must buy if they don't blend enough ethanol and biodiesel into the U.S. fuel supply. The idea, which Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley calls "a non-starter," splits two blocs of Trump's supporters, farmers and refinery workers.
Top SNAP counties are rural, analysis finds
Of the 150 counties with the highest percentage of households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 136 are rural, according to a new analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Fearing Trump policies, immigrants drop out of SNAP, WIC
Amid fears of a new immigration policy from the Trump administration, immigrants hoping to become permanent U.S. residents are dropping out of public food assistance programs, reports the New York Times.
No deal on RFS revisions, Trump asks to meet industry officials
President Trump could meet with oil and ethanol industry officials as early as Thursday, as the White House tries to resolve complaints about the federal requirement to blend biofuels into gasoline and diesel fuel. There was no agreement during a head-to-head session with four Republican senators at the center of the dispute, so the White House will "continue having conversations," said press secretary Sarah Sanders.
Former EPA employees slam Trump budget
The Environmental Protection Network, a group of former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, released a report slamming President Trump’s 2019 budget. The group says that if the budget is approved by Congress, its effects on the EPA “would be more punishing than for any other federal agency.”
Bourbon, cheese could be targets of brewing trade battles
The Trump administration is considering new limits on imported steel and aluminum. Now U.S. trade partners are warning that trademark American products, like bourbon, cheese, and orange juice, could face higher tariffs in retaliation.
EPA’s Pruitt says he will bring clarity to clean water law
The EPA will provide clarity to the reach of the clean water law with its revisions of the so-called Waters of the United States that was proposed by the Obama administration and blocked by court challenges, said administrator Scott Pruitt in a Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette interview. Pruitt said the new rule would be “objectively measured and traditional in its view of how we should measure waters of the United States.”
Disease, drought, government. Pick the existential threat to farmers.
For the second time in a week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told lawmakers that government is a greater threat to U.S. farmers than drought or disease. And in nearly the same words at two House hearings, he offered the might of the U.S. government to boost farm income through larger food and ag exports.
Trump dumps Clean Power plan
President Trump officially rolled back Obama’s Clean Power Plan, signing a document called the “Energy Independence” executive order, says The New York Times. Even though many economists have said that the rise in demand for natural gas — and not climate change regulations — are to blame for a depressed coal market, Trump promised his order would put the miners back to work.
Clinton dominates on food and ag campaign donations
"Big Food and Ag" has donated more heavily, by almost a 2-1 margin, to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton than Republican nominee Donald Trump, says Mother Jones, although Trump began catching up in August when his electoral prospects brightened.
House conservatives would rewrite farm supports in Trump’s name
Congress would cut off crop subsidies to wealthy farmers and require growers to pay at least half of the cost of crop insurance premiums if it adopted the policies proposed by Donald Trump when he was president, said the Republican Study Committee in its budget outline for this fiscal year. The group, which speaks for social and fiscal conservatives, said its budget "adopts many of the reforms proposed by the Trump administration to reform and streamline federal spending on agricultural programs."