farm bill

Battles over spending, farm bill, Ukraine and yet more loom over a divided Congress

BY: , , and - September 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House and Senate are both back in D.C. on Tuesday following a long summer recess, facing an overwhelming agenda of unfinished work — funding the federal government and reauthorizing major programs set to expire at the end of the month. Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden have only a few weeks […]

Farm bill timeline in flux as a messy September for Congress nears

BY: - August 15, 2023

WASHINGTON — The roundtables, listening sessions and appearances at farm shows have largely wrapped up, and lawmakers tasked with reauthorizing the nation’s agriculture and nutrition programs are comparing notes and beginning to draft the massive, multi-year farm bill. The 2018 version expires Sept. 30, just as many urgent priorities compete for floor time in Congress […]

New work requirements for some SNAP recipients included in debt limit deal

BY: - May 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — The holiday weekend debt ceiling deal struck by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy preserves in part new work requirements for some food stamp recipients but with exceptions for certain populations, including veterans. The agreement released late Saturday night showed concessions from both sides — from GOP members, who wanted to […]

Rural lenders, crop insurance agents push for bolstered safety net at farm bill hearing

BY: - May 4, 2023

WASHINGTON — Rural bank executives and crop insurance agents testified at a Thursday Senate hearing in support of a modernized crop insurance market that helps upstart producers manage growing risks, and supports food security.  The witnesses told the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry that crop insurance represents one of the most important financial […]

Iowa farmland stretches to the horizon in 2019. (Lyle Muller / Investigate Midwest IowaWatch)

Agriculture leaders urge a stronger farm safety net at U.S. Senate farm bill hearing

BY: - May 2, 2023

WASHINGTON — Farm and commodity trade association leaders lobbied for updating commodity programs and strengthening crop insurance programs at a Tuesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committee.  The industry officials said federal crop insurance and the Department of Agriculture’s Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage programs are not serving as […]

Indiana farmer Glenn Morris, 83, harvests corn on October 11, 2021. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Ag leaders lobby for better risk management programs at U.S. House farm bill hearing

BY: - April 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — Commodity trade group leaders at a U.S. House Agriculture subcommittee hearing this week advocated for bolstered risk management programs and maintaining foreign market access as tools to support farmers amid volatile times.   The industry representatives said supply chain disruptions and increased production costs have tightened margins for large-scale farmers, and decreased the effectiveness […]

Congressional farm leaders split over work requirements for food aid, climate funds

BY: - April 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — Three of the four top agricultural leaders in Congress are emphasizing writing a farm bill that meets the needs of all rural Americans, but they diverge sharply over food assistance work requirements pushed by U.S. House Republicans as well as uses of Inflation Reduction Act conservation funds.  Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, […]

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and two of his colleagues met at a Grand Junction ethanol plant on April 12, 2023, to discuss the upcoming farm bill. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Iowa ag groups seek more robust vaccine support in farm bill

BY: - April 12, 2023

GRAND JUNCTION, Iowa — Amid ongoing worries about avian influenza that has led to the culling of more than 13 million chickens and turkeys in Iowa in the past year, a priority among agricultural groups for the next federal farm bill is vaccine funding. They want “enough vaccines for any pandemic that might come to […]

USDA secretary battles with U.S. House Republicans over costs of federal nutrition programs

BY: - March 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans tussled with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Democratic committee members over work requirements in federal nutrition programs as well as spending levels for those programs at a Tuesday hearing.  Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee charged Vilsack with evading bipartisan oversight in the USDA’s 2021 redesign of the Thrifty […]

Research assistant Kyle Kootswaytewa of the Institute of American Indian Arts Tribal College and University checks on the health of native corn crops in the IAIA Demonstration Garden, in Santa Fe, NM in 2019. (USDA photo by Lance Cheung)

Native American agricultural leaders detail farm bill priorities at U.S. Senate hearing

BY: - March 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — A roundtable of Native American agricultural leaders at a recent U.S. Senate hearing lobbied for increased sovereignty and social justice in the coming farm bill by expanding tribes’ jurisdiction over U.S. Department of Agriculture programs.  It’s called “638” authority and refers to Public Law 93-638, which gives tribes the power to manage certain […]

U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas) at a Feb. 16, 2023, meeting of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. (Photo courtesy of Boozman press office)

Members of U.S. Senate agriculture panel spar with Vilsack over USDA spending, response

BY: - March 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack bristled at complaints from both Democrats and Republicans of unchecked departmental spending and delayed support for farmers during a Thursday U.S. Senate oversight hearing. He also lobbied Congress to provide a farm bill that will balance large-scale productivity with the needs of small and mid-sized producers, a theme the […]

South Dakota congressman advocates expansion of work requirements for federal food aid

BY: - March 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republican South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at expanding work requirements for federal nutrition aid, reigniting a perennial conflict over how Congress navigates both the farm bill and federal spending.  “Work is the best pathway out of poverty,” Johnson, who in his home state has talked about growing up […]