Farm Service Agency Continues Close Scrutiny of Loans to Contract Poultry and Hog Producers
May 3rd, 2012
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides guaranteed loans and direct loans to farmers for the purchase or operation of their farms. FSA can provide lenders with a guarantee of up to 95 percent of the loss of principal and interest on a guaranteed loan. FSA has a duty, both to the public and to farmers Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Research, Education, Extension
May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the ninth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. The bill that the Senate Agriculture Committee voted out of committee last week now makes its way to the Senate floor and hopefully will be taken up Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Local Food and Rural Development
May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the eighth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. The Senate Agriculture Committee voted the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act — the proposed name for the 2012 Farm Bill — out of Committee on Thursday, Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Organic Agriculture
May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the seventh in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. Overall, the bill that was reported out of Committee last Thursday supports key pieces of the suite of unique programs that serve the organic sector. Most of Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Energy Title
May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the sixth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. Major action on the Farm Bill’s Energy Title was mostly about money as the Senate Agriculture Committee marked up the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act – Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Funding Levels
May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers: This is the fifth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. How does the version of the 2012 Farm Bill passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee stack up against the farm bill budget recommendations made by the National Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Conservation Title
April 30th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the fourth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. With respect to conservation issues, previous posts have covered the Conservation Stewardship Program and sodsaver/highly erodible land and wetland conservation. This post covers other conservation title programs. Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Sodsaver and Conservation Compliance
April 30th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the third in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. With much of the rhetoric and substance of the new, in-the-making 2012 Farm Bill revolving around the rapidly growing and expensive crop insurance title, major corresponding attention Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Conservation Stewardship Program
April 30th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the second in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. Step Forward, Two Steps Backward for Conservation Stewardship Program First the good news: the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) remains part of the revised conservation title for the 2012 Read the Rest…
Senate Committee Approves 2013 Agriculture Spending Bill
April 27th, 2012
On Thursday, April 26, while the Senate Agriculture Committee was busy passing their version of the 2012 Farm Bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee was also meeting to approve the Fiscal Year 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill. The spending bill covers the majority of the functions of USDA as well as the Food and Drug Administration. We Read the Rest…
