In the News

Crop insurance push made for conservation requirements

Rep. Mike Thompson wants the subsidized coverage to require compliance for eligibility. Among the differences between the current...

Changes to dairy subsidies may take Boston out of equation

WASHINGTON — No one would mistake Boston for a bovine bastion. So it may come as a shock that the eyes of the nation’s dairy farmers are...

Rep. Mike Thompson wants crop insurance to require conservation

One of the big drawbacks of federally subsidized crop insurance — the new mode for subsidizing farmers — is that it has detached...

Lobbyists for Banks to Beet Farms Feast on $1 Trillion Farm Law

After his side lost a fight over federal sugar aid in the Senate last month, Bob Simpson, the president of Jelly Belly Candy Co. of...

House members push alternative farm bill that cuts subsidies

As the House and Senate tackle competing versions of the farm reform bill, two congressmen from Wisconsin are proposing an alternative bill...

Farm Bill: How to Grow Almost Anything Risk Free

Congress is attempting to pass major farm legislation this year after failing in 2012 amid the hard-fought congressional and presidential...

Congress Poised To Make Crop Insurance Subsidies More Generous

For decades, farmers have been getting checks from the federal government as part of a safety net to help protect against, for instance, the...

Senators fight to cut more farm bill spending

Senators critical of the level of spending in the giant $955 billion farm bill are fighting for floor votes after the Memorial Day recess on...

Faking farm savings;  It’s a time-honored tradition in Washington to do as little as possible and look good while (not) doing it

Sometimes it appears common sense and reality can't penetrate the Capitol's marble-lined walls. This financially costly phenomenon struck...

Bid to end crop insurance subsidy for tobacco worries burley growers

Kentucky tobacco growers are up in arms over a new proposal to eliminate federal crop insurance programs for tobacco. On Monday, Sen....

Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit

Volume XVIII No. 37 Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters...