NSAC Archives for the 'Competition & Anti-trust' Category
House Subcommittee Debates 2014 Farm and Food Funding
Friday, April 26th, 2013
Over the last two weeks, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held a series of hearings to examine the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s and the Food and Drug Administration’s budget requests for fiscal year (FY) 2014. We previously posted about the first Subcommittee hearing of the year, which featured Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and the second Read the Rest…
Secretary Vilsack Promotes Cover Crops, Local Foods, Contract Fairness during House Hearing
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies today to discuss his agency’s FY 2014 budget requests. The Subcommittee will consider USDA’s requests as it writes its funding bill for the year. Conservation, Drought, and Crop Insurance Early in the hearing, Subcommittee Read the Rest…
Final 2013 Funding Bill Clears Congress
Thursday, March 21st, 2013
On Thursday, March 21, the House of Representatives voted 318-109 to adopt the Senate-passed continuing appropriations resolution, which will fund federal programs through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2013. The House did not make any changes to the bill, as amended and passed by the Senate yesterday by a vote of 73-26. Conservation Stewardship Read the Rest…
House and Senate Debate 2013 Farm Funding Levels
Wednesday, March 13th, 2013
Late on Monday, March 11, the Senate released appropriations legislation to keep the government running through the remainder of fiscal year 2013. Recall that the House passed its own FY 2013 legislation last week. Overview The Senate bill provides a total of $20.532 billion in discretionary agriculture spending, inclusive of a 2.513 percent “across-the-board” cut. Read the Rest…
Department of Justice Drops Monsanto Antitrust Investigation Without Explanation
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
In late November, U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division decided to drop its investigation of Monsanto’s control over much of the U.S. seed market. Monsanto has gained this control through the buyout of numerous seed companies and its use of the patent system to extract concessions from farmers who buy the seed. As noted by Read the Rest…
Mandatory Price Reporting Final Rule for Wholesale Pork Transactions
Friday, August 24th, 2012
This week, USDA issued a Final Rule that requires meatpackers to report information on wholesale pork transactions under the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act. The rule is set to take effect on January 7, 2013, but USDA will have an additional four months to train meatpackers in meeting the requirements of the reporting program. As enacted in Read the Rest…
House and Senate Leaders Agree to Extend FY 2012 Funding Levels
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
On Tuesday, July 31, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that the House and Senate had reached a deal on a six-month continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded at FY 2012 levels through March. It has been reported that the CR will be a “clean extension,” Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Bill Includes Anti-Farmer, Anti-Environment Riders
Friday, July 13th, 2012
The House Agriculture Committee farm bill that passed out of committee early yesterday morning includes a number of anti-regulatory riders. As we previously reported, the House mark included three riders before Committee markup began. The mark includes a provision that significantly weakens USDA’s ability to regulate the use of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The provision Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: NSAC Assessment of House Committee-Passed Bill
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
In an earlier post we provided highlights and lowlights of the House Agriculture Committee one-day markup of their version of the 2102 Farm Bill, including a rundown of sustainable agriculture amendments passed and defeated. Here we turn to an assessment of the bill overall. Still to come is a piece discussing possible next steps in Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Committee Debates and Passes Its Farm Bill
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
After a full-day marathon markup that started on Wednesday morning and went into the early hours of Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill by a vote of 35-11. Seven Democrats and four Republicans voted against the bill. The Republicans who voted against the bill did so based on Read the Rest…
