Senate ag leaders face a looming deadline Thursday of this week to finish the Senate farm bill or risk having to pass yet another farm bill extension.Critical to the issue is an agreement to limit amendments; farm bill Senators will try to get a deal to whittle down...
The world's largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods, is set for acquisition by Chinese meat processor Shuanghui pending review from the Justice Department and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.The news has raised concerns, notably from Iowa Senator Chuck...
USFRA says the voices of people like pork producer Dave Struthers, above, are missing from conversations about food.The US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance is trying to start a dialogue with consumers, primarily to address perceptions of agriculture that may be...
In 2008, Canada complained to the World Trade Organization that the country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements as contained in the 2008 farm bill violated US trade obligations. A WTO panel agreed that the U.S. has not met its obligations under the WTO Agreement on...
Above: Iowa Senator Chuck GrassleyAmong the Senators voting in support of an amendment cutting crop insurance assistance to high income farmers in the Senate farm bill was Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.The Durbin-Coburn amendment (so named for Illinois' Dick Durbin and...
Above: Iowa Soybean Association Director of Policy and Producer Outreach Carol Balvanz.With debate over the Senate farm bill set to restart until June 3 and the House version rumored to hit the House floor the week of June 17, the first drafts of the farm bill are...
Above: Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow.The Senate continued to dispose of farm bill amendments Wednesday, rejecting more attempts to change the bill?s food stamp provisions before launching into a crop insurance fight.The Senate rejected 36-60 an...
Above: Iowa Pork Producers Association Communications Director Ron Birkenholz.On May 16, the first confirmed cases of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) in the United States were found in swine herds in Iowa and Indiana, with suspected cases in Illinois and...
Above: Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.With the Senate beginning its farm bill debate yesterday, Senator Chuck Grassley says protecting crop insurance and ensuring that his payment limit reform survives the Senate floor remain his top two priorities.Grassley's reform...
Above: Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw.The 2013 Farm Bill as passed by the House and Senate Ag Committees shows a shift from government subsidies to an agricultural system more sensitive to higher commodity prices. The only reason that's...
