2018 Farm Bill

The 2018 Farm Bill modified milk pricing rules to facilitate improved risk management for beverage milk processors, cooperatives and dairy farmers. While the goal of improving risk management was achieved, American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist John Newton says the change cost dairy farmers millions ...

Senate Ag Committee Chair Pat Roberts took part in a discussion on the Senate floor this week about the replenishment of the Commodity Credit Corporation. The Kansas Republican pointed out that failure to do so would not only hurt already-struggling farmers, ranchers, and growers, it would jeopardize the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill programs ...

In a typical year, funding for the Commodity Credit Corporation is one of the least controversial items on Capitol Hill. However, as we’ve learned the hard way, 2020 is not your typical year. Andrew Walmsley, senior director of congressional relations with the American Farm Bureau, said CCC funding is in jeopardy unless Congress approves money that USDA needs to support farmer and ranchers. ...

On Wednesday, the USDA announced changes to streamline the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection program. The modifications, according to USDA, will decrease paperwork and recordkeeping burdens for direct marketers beginning with the 2021 crop year ...

The USDA is out with its final rule on payment limits and its definition of farmers who are “actively engaged”, under the 2018 Farm Bill. Senate Finance Chair and Agriculture Committee member Chuck Grassley has pursued farm payment limits for years, getting language in House and Senate farm bills twice, only to see it ditched in conference negotiations both for the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. “Th .

Several Northwest lawmakers are asking the USDA why funds have been redirected from a program designed to help farmers who are immigrants, people of color and veterans. The letter signed by Washington Senator Patty Murray, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer, asks the USDA’s Mike Beatty to explain why funding appropriated for  the Outreach and Assistance for Soci

Last week, the USDA announced Organic Certification Cost Share Program funds to offset the cost of receiving and maintaining organic certification. Applications for eligible certification expenses paid between October 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020, are due October 31st of this year ...

On Tuesday, the USDA announced approximately $15 million to help socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers own and operate successful farms. Funding is made through USDA’s Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program, also known as the 2501 Program. The ...

The FSA accepted more than 1.2 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program Grasslands during the recent signup. The number of acres offered during signup was 1.9 million, more than three times the number offered during the last signup period in 2016 ...

On Wednesday, the USDA announced the initial purchase of vaccines for the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will invest $27.1 million for foot-and-mouth disease vaccines, which the agency would use in the event of an outbreak. ...