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News archives

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Educate yourself about proposed U.S. Farm Bill
?Tis the season for raising awareness and taking action. While most people are busy preparing for holiday festivities, Congress is busy preparing a piece of legislation that affects every American and many people worldwide. The Farm Bill, redrafted every five to seven years, impacts more than jus... Continued...

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Nebraska's Nelson: return to 1949 farm law unlikely
There's been some recent talk by prominent lawmakers about the possibility of letting the current farm bill expire and letting the underlying 1949 farm law kick back in. Just last week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson suggested a return to the 1949 law might not be the worst thin... Continued...

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Liberals threaten not to back farm bill
House liberals are threatening to withhold their support of a carefully negotiated farm bill if it doesn’t make hikes in anti-hunger programs permanent. Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) and other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus organized a campaign to demand that House Agriculture Co... Continued...

The New Food Inspector: You
Ina Fernandez admits it. She's a little obsessive-compulsive about grocery shopping. How else to explain that in a single week the 40-year-old Woodbridge resident visits as many as seven grocery stores -- Trader Joe's, Wegmans, Harris Teeter, Costco, Safeway, Giant and a local Latin market -- to fin... Continued...

California’s Genetic Engineering Bill Approved in the State Assembly
AB 541, which could become California’s first state law protecting farmers from the hazards of genetically engineered crops, passed out of the full Assembly on January 29 with a vote of 49-12. It has the support of the California Farm Bureau as well as California Certified Organic Farmers, Community... Continued...

Bush committed to farm bill reform -USDA's Schafer
President George W. Bush opposes raising taxes to pay for increases in several programs in the new U.S. farm law, the top U.S. agriculture official said on Wednesday, as he underscored crafting a new farm bill as his top priority while in office. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, in his first sit... Continued...

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Meeting seeks unity on bioenergy and water
WATER USE EQUIVALENTS--Scott Ross, water commissioner at the Stockton field office of the Division of Water Resources of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, tells attendees that with current technology, a 50 million gallon ethanol plant might use about 614 acre-feet of water a year. This is compar... Continued...

Prices, farm bill provision threaten food aid
Rising food costs already are squeezing international hunger relief efforts. Add a new potential problem: the U.S. farm bill. The Bush administration and the United Nations' World Food Program say provisions in both the House and Senate versions of a new farm bill could slash the amount of money ... Continued...

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Tyson Adjusting Advertising After Complaints
Tyson Foods Inc. said in federal district court that it is revamping the advertising of its antibiotic-free chicken products, after competitors had alleged false and misleading advertising by the company. In court filings, the company brushed off competitors' allegations and said it had already i... Continued...

Friday, January 25, 2008

Thinking the unthinkable: Agriculture under a 1949 farm bill
Remember these prices: $4.12 1/2 per bushel for corn; $8.32 per bushel for wheat. Under economic conditions of late 2007, those would be the new loan rates if Congress and the Bush administration can't agree on a farm bill, Congress doesn't extend the 2002 bill, and farm programs revert to perman... Continued...

NFU Prez: 1949 Farm Law a Viable Option
National Farmers Union President Tom Buis is willing to see farm policy revert back to 1949 law rather than have Congress extend the current farm programs if a deal cannot be reached on a new farm bill. Buis said there was growing frustration throughout rural America that there was not a new farm... Continued...

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Farm Bill Talks Stall
Washington, D.C. – Congress and the White House have reached a stalemate over a new Farm Bill. The main disagreements are over its price tag, and subsidies. If the current bill expires, farm policy could revert to 1949 farm support prices. Comments from Rep. Colin Peterson (DFL-MN), chairman, House ... Continued...

CLIMATE HOT TOPIC IN SENATE
WASHINGTON - Barely 5 feet tall, Sen. Barbara Boxer Enhanced Coverage LinkingBarbara Boxer -Search using: Biographies Plus News stepped onto a wooden box to reach the microphone at a global warming rally. But her voice was big. "We are putting global warming on the map," she told supporters ... Continued...

Bovine TB detected in ninth beef herd in Minnesota
ST. PAUL (AP) -- The Minnesota Board of Animal Health said Tuesday that a beef cattle herd in Roseau County has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis. The herd is the ninth in Minnesota where the disease has been confirmed. All cases have been in northwestern Minnesota. The board said the ... Continued...

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

House Ag Chair discusses farm bill options
House Ag Committee Chair, Collin Peterson says there are a lot of negotiations going on over the farm bill. “Lots of staff meetings going on the last couple of weeks and we are making significant progress in a number of areas.” However, there remains a big difference among the parties as to how the ... Continued...

RENEWS CALL FOR LABELING OF CLONED FOOD
The office of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Enhanced Coverage LinkingBarbara A. Mikulski, -Search using: Biographies Plus News D-Md., issued the following press release: As the Senate reconvenes today, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski Enhanced Coverage LinkingBarbara A. Mikulski -Search using: Biog... Continued...

Congress, White House spar over farm bill
WASHINGTON (AP) Farm-state lawmakers say tough negotiations lie ahead for the five-year farm bill passed by Congress last year, mostly due to strong opposition from the White House to the $286 billion bill. Members of the House and Senate agriculture committees say two issues stand out above the ... Continued...

Monday, January 21, 2008

Some milk already comes from the offspring of clones
Lots of shoppers think they have a new reason to be mad at the Food and Drug Administration. The agency concluded last week that it's safe to eat meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle, goats and their progeny _ and didn't require labeling of such products. But there's something many shoppers don't ... Continued...

Conservation Reserve needs quick boost
When wildfire roared through southern California last year, the fiery destruction captured nationwide attention. People still talk about the forest fire that destroyed nearly 800,000 acres in Yellowstone Park in 1988. Destruction on a similar scale is under way on grasslands in prairie states. Bu... Continued...

At food banks, a pinch of scarcity
To Gladys Jacques' relief, a grocery bag filled with chicken, bread and canned corn or string beans arrives on her doorstep once a month, delivered by church volunteers. Retired, the 76-year-old registered nurse lives alone in South Los Angeles on a small Social Security income, hindered by diabe... Continued...