Higher reference prices would benefit mostly Southern growers
U.S. farm groups are giving priority to winning higher reference prices, a key factor in calculating crop subsidies, in the farm bill due this year in Congress. But the benefits would flow to a relatively small handful of large cotton, rice, and peanut growers, said an environmental group on Tuesday.
Farmers say carbon contracts ought to pay more
The small portion — 2 percent — of corn and soybean farmers who have signed carbon contracts said they were ready, if required, to change their production practices to earn the money, according to a Purdue University poll on Tuesday. Most growers said the payment rates were too low to entice them.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Alleged pipeline influence peddling: Agribusiness magnate Bruce Rastetter is using political influence, through meetings and meals with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, to stack the deck in favor of a carbon-capture pipeline in the state, an attorney alleges; the governor’s office denies it. (Des Moines Register)
Schumer lists farm bill: The Senate agenda includes “advancing a farm bill,” but the first item on the list is preventing a government shutdown on Oct. 1, said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as the Senate resumed work after the August recess. (C-SPAN)
Brown’s re-election strategy: Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, is running for his fourth term “with a personal appeal to working-class families and particularly trade unions” in a state that is trending Republican. (Washington Post)
Dryness hurts Australian wheat: With the El Niño weather pattern expected to reduce crop-nourishing rainfall, government forecasters said Australia’s winter wheat crop would be 25.4 million tonnes, 36 percent smaller than last season’s. (Reuters)
Test of ‘produce prescriptions’: A study of 4,000 people in 12 states who struggle to afford healthy food found favorable changes in weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar when participants were given vouchers for up to 10 months to buy produce. (NPR)
