NSAC Archives for the 'Farm Program Reform' Category
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Hearing on Commodity and Crop Insurance Subsidies
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held a series of farm bill hearings this week to examine commodity and crop insurance programs in advance of writing their version of what will hopefully become the 2012 Farm Bill. The full House Agriculture Committee expects to mark up and vote on a Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Letter Signals Senate Floor Amendment to Cap Insurance Subsidies Per Farm
Friday, May 11th, 2012
On Tuesday, May 8, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) sent a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee leaders in support of reforming the federal crop insurance program by placing caps on the amount of taxpayer subsidies any one farm could receive annually. The letter represents a first step toward an amendment to the 2012 Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Commodity and Crop Insurance Subsidy Provisions
Friday, May 4th, 2012
Note to Readers: This is the tenth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. Commodity Title The main storyline of the commodity title emerging from Senate Agriculture Committee markup of the 2012 Farm Bill is the elimination of direct payments and counter-cyclical Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Sodsaver and Conservation Compliance
Monday, 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…
For Immediate Release: NSAC Comments on Senate Farm Bill Markup and Passage
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
For Immediate Release April 26, 2012 Contact: Ferd Hoefner, 202-547-5754 NSAC Comments on Senate Farm Bill Markup and Passage Washington, DC – The Senate Agriculture Committee voted a new farm bill out of committee today by a vote of 16-5. The committee bill saves $23 billion over the next ten years according to budget estimates. Read the Rest…
Guest Blog: Insuring and Financing Healthy Farms
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Editor’s Note: We want to thank Jeffrey O’Hara from NSAC member the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) for his contribution. Dr. O’Hara is an agricultural economist in the Food & Environment Program at UCS; his expertise includes local food systems and community development. Farm policy has historically disregarded whether domestic crop production is aligned with Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Local Food and Rural Development Drilldown
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Agricultural policy that bolsters community economic development serves as a cornerstone of NSAC’s advocacy. Within this framework, we support strong Rural Development programs that target small business development and job creation. Similarly, NSAC recognizes the economic opportunities inherent in food produced for local markets and thus urge Congress to address infrastructure and information barriers to Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Writes a Farm Bill
Friday, April 13th, 2012
The Senate Agriculture Committee is on track to meet its timeline for marking up a farm bill later this month. Agriculture staffers in the Senate have been meeting throughout the two-week Congressional Easter recess to discuss issues and proposals. The Senate Agriculture Committee leadership is writing a draft of the farm bill – known as Read the Rest…
GAO Report Triggers Crop Insurance Debate
Friday, April 13th, 2012
On Thursday, April 12, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report detailing ways to better target federal crop insurance subsidies. The targeting would aim to get some control on rapidly escalating taxpayer costs while also reducing the program’s impact on subsidizing the destruction of family farming and reducing new farming opportunities. The report, “Crop Read the Rest…
Path to the Farm Bill: House Budget Complicates Farm Bill, but Senate Committee Will Begin Anyway
Friday, March 30th, 2012
On Thursday, March 29, the House approved the FY 13 Budget Resolution introduced by Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) by a 228-191 vote, with all Democrats and 10 Republicans voting no. The budget resolution will not be taken up by the Senate and hence will only control spending actions in the House. The resolution Read the Rest…
