Federal

From the Capital Press USDA’s Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service have both introduced new Internet features to meet a 2014 Farm Bill mandate that they improve electronic record access for their customers. FSA Farm Plus launched in January, offering producers web-based reports on their base acres, planting histories, ownership and rental records, fields in the Conservation Reserve ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse If one headline could summarize the challenges confronting the crop insurance industry in 2016, it might be “No Shortage of Critics,” lamented Mary Kay Thatcher, senior director for congressional relations with the American Farm Bureau Federation, in a speech to industry leaders today. As a result, it will be even more important for all sectors of the agriculture ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse The 150,000 to 180,000 wheat farmers in America are facing a double-barrel challenge: 1. The declining role and power of agriculture generally; and 2. The declining position of wheat farmers compared to both foreign competition and compared to other major commodities here, specifically, corn and soybeans. If anyone needs any proof of the declining role of agriculture, all ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse Trade ministers have officially signed off on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but that doesn’t look to be speeding up congressional approval in the United States. The officials from 12 Pacific Rim countries gathered in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday (Wednesday in the U.S.) to sign the final text of the TPP, signaling the official end of the deal’s negotiations. Attention ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse In the most extensive poll of how U.S. farmers and ranchers plan to vote for president, respondents overwhelmingly say they’ll support a Republican, and among those, 40 percent say they will support Donald Trump. “It’s clear that GOP-leaning voters are very dissatisfied with the direction of the country, the way President Obama is doing his job and the ... Read More »

By Dalton Henry Director of Policy, U.S. Wheat Associates Representatives from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating countries are set to sign the agreement in New Zealand next week. Though signing the pact is primarily ceremonial, it marks another step forward in the long process of putting the world’s largest free trade agreement into action. In the months since the ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse Congressional Republicans have set the stage for President Obama to issue an election-year veto to preserve his administration’s Clean Water Act rule that is widely unpopular with farm groups. In a largely symbolic gesture, the House on Wednesday gave final congressional approval to a disapproval resolution that would eliminate the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule. Obama ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse Darci Vetter, the top agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, says the longer Congress waits to take action on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the greater the potential loss for U.S. exporters and for the country’s farmers and ranchers. During a press conference Sunday at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Orlando, Fla., a reporter noted ... Read More »

The war against genetically modified organisms is full of fearmongering, errors, and fraud. Labeling them will not make you safer. From Slate Is genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past five years, companies have submitted more than 27,000 products to the Non-GMO Project, which certifies goods that are free of genetically modified organisms. ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse Farmers, ranchers and grain elevator operators who use the commodity futures market to manage risk are getting relief from some record-keeping requirements. Under a final rule approved today by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, certain participants in the commodities markets will not have keep written pre-trade communications or records transmitted via text messages regarding transactions that lead to the execution of ... Read More »