Government funding bill has $1.5 billion for ag disaster relief The House will vote as early as Tuesday on a mammoth government funding bill that allots an additional $1.5 billion for disaster relief for agriculture and rejects the 25 percent cut in SNAP benefits proposed by President Trump. The… Continue reading
Sino-U.S. trade deal: Big numbers, few details, many questions for ag Although President Trump declared “a very large Phase One Deal with China,” the White House put few agricultural details in writing over the weekend, saying the agreement calls for “substantial purchases” of farm exports, rather than the quadrupling… Continue reading
Peterson leaning, Van Drew certain to vote against impeachment “Blue Dog” Democrats Collin Peterson and Jeff Van Drew voted in October against the House impeachment inquiry of President Trump — the only Democrats to do so — and they may vote against the impeachment articles next week. As Agriculture… Continue reading
House sends bipartisan farm labor bill to Senate On a strong 260-165 vote, the House passed a bipartisan bill on Wednesday to give legal status to undocumented farmworkers and modernize the H-2A guestworker program. Lead sponsor Rep. Zoe Lofgren said that although action in the Republican-controlled Senate is not… Continue reading
A deal on USMCA, but final approval will wait until 2020 U.S. farmers and ranchers would see modest gains in food and agriculture exports under the revised North American trade agreement announced by the White House and House Democrats on Tuesday. Poultry leads as U.S. meat consumption flies… Continue reading
Painful ag restructuring if Sino-U.S. trade war persists If there is no near-term resolution of the Sino-U.S. trade war, the Trump administration will need to spend billions of dollars in additional trade-war payments to farmers and ranchers or watch their income sink, said two economists on Monday. Majority… Continue reading
Farm-labor reform bill heads for House vote this week Six weeks after sponsors unveiled their plan, the House is scheduled to vote on a bipartisan bill to provide legal status to undocumented farmworkers and to modernize the H-2A guestworker program. If passed, the bill has an uncertain future, with… Continue reading
USDA opens enrollment as Conservation Reserve grows for first time since 2007 The Conservation Reserve signup that opens on Monday could see landowners idle the largest amount of fragile cropland in years, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, although some analysts say lower government payment rates will hold down enrollment… Continue reading
Trump administration issues first of three rules to restrict SNAP access Nearly a year after President Trump announced “immediate action on welfare reform,” his administration said on Wednesday that it would more stringently apply a 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, a step that would disqualify 688,000… Continue reading
Farmers expect trade deal soon, but Trump says maybe not In the largest numbers yet, farmers say they expect a trade deal soon with China and they believe it will benefit them, said a Purdue University poll released on Tuesday. Yet President Trump said an agreement could be a… Continue reading
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