Month: September 2024

Republicans ‘just don’t have the votes’ for farm bill The Republican-controlled House has not advanced a new farm bill because “they just don’t have the votes” to pass a bill that is $33 billion over budget, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack over the weekend. Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow was… Continue reading

House Republicans press leaders for a farm bill vote Six of every 10 House Republicans signed a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson asking for a floor vote on the new farm bill during the lame-duck session of Congress, arguing that the legislation is a “must-pass item.” The letter was released… Continue reading

Farm bill is on the lame-duck agenda of House Democrats House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries put the farm bill third on his short list of must-pass bills for the post-election session of Congress on Wednesday, behind averting a government shutdown and assuring military preparedness. The lame-duck session is the last… Continue reading

Greater focus on sustainable food and ag carries global benefits As a step to expand the global food supply and mitigate global warming, countries should spend more money on climate-smart food and agriculture innovations and use public-private partnerships to speed the adoption of promising practices, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack… Continue reading

Rural Americans are less optimistic about inflation than the rest of the country There is an urban-rural split as well as a partisan split in how Americans view inflation, one of the driving issues in this fall’s elections, said three analysts on the farmdoc daily blog on Monday. Rural Americans… Continue reading

USDA says land near solar and wind farms tends to remain in agriculture Solar and wind farms occupy a sliver of rural land — an estimated 424,000 acres in 2020 — but the large majority of renewable energy projects installed in recent years are located on agricultural land. USDA researchers,… Continue reading

AG Committee Chair insists on balanced agriculture and nutrition in farm bill With time running short for action on the new farm bill, Senate Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said on Wednesday that the legislation has to consider public nutrition and agricultural programs equally. While lawmakers have disagreed for months… Continue reading

One in three consumers expect inflation to worsen this fall The U.S. inflation rate is the lowest in three and a half years, but six of 10 consumers say inflation affects them more now than it did three months ago, and more than one-third of them expect inflation will be… Continue reading

Third year of farm income decline is on the horizon Lower market prices for many crops and for poultry will pull down farmer income in 2025, bringing the third year in a row of declining net farm income, said the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) on Monday. Net… Continue reading

Political polarization makes farm bill extension more likely The traditional urban and rural coalition that carried the farm bill to passage in the past is losing its appeal, said farm policy expert Jonathan Coppess on the farmdoc daily blog, pointing to partisan polarization and “negative-sum factional polarization.” Bird flu spreads… Continue reading