Udall/Bennet Bark Beetle Mitigation Amendment Passes Senate
An amendment that Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet added to the pending 2012 Farm Bill increasing funding for bark beetle mitigation in the west, passed the Senate Tuesday.
View ArticleHickenlooper: Keep Forest Health in Farm Bill
The Farm Bill is so massive that experts typically quip we may as well call it the "food bill," or perhaps maybe the “forests bill.”
View ArticleUdall Urges Passage Of 2012 Farm Bill
The U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass the 2012 Farm Bill before starting their August recess. With the bill expiring in September, will Congress have time to pass the important bill when...
View ArticleWhy Do Taxpayers Subsidize Farmers' Insurance?
This summer's drought has hit more than half the states in the country. Crops are suffering, but farmers might not be. Most farmers have crop insurance. U.S. taxpayers spend about $7 billion a year on...
View ArticleSo What Happens If The Farm Bill Expires? Not Much, Right Away
Congress is set to make a brief appearance in Washington this week, then recess until after Election Day. That means a farm bill is likely to be left undone, just one of the many items on...
View ArticleFarm Bill Becomes Fodder In 'Fiscal Cliff' Wrangling
Among the loose ends that lawmakers would like to tie up before the end of this lame-duck session is the farm bill, which is made up mostly of crop subsidies and food stamps.The last farm bill expired...
View ArticleUnderstanding The 'Milk Cliff'
You've heard of the "fiscal cliff," but have you heard of the milk cliff"?If Congress doesn't take action in the next four days, milk prices could shoot up dramatically.Here's why:The farm bill...
View ArticleInside The Fiscal Cliff Budget Compromise Bill: Tax Cuts and Tax Hikes
The budget compromise bill that is meant to allow the U.S. government to avoid higher tax rates and austere budget cuts has tax rates as its central issue, with discussions about more spending cuts,...
View ArticlePartial Victory Claimed Even As Farm Bill Reform Fails Again
It's amazing how many different kinds of people have been trying to abolish or at least change the government's payments to farmers. They include economists, environmentalists, taxpayer advocates,...
View ArticleDrought Assistance Designated For 43 Colorado Counties
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has designated 597 counties in 14 states as primary natural disaster areas due to drought and heat. All qualified farm operators within those areas will be...
View ArticleFarm Bill's Sugar Subsidy More Taxing Than Sweet, Critics Say
While you indulge in some Easter Peeps and chocolates this weekend, you might want to think about all that sugar. No, this isn't a calorie warning. In the U.S., raw sugar can cost twice the world...
View ArticleThe Lollipop War
I recently got a tour of the Spangler Candy Co., a family-owned firm in Bryan, Ohio. The company makes 10 million Dum Dums lollipops there every day, and it has a whole separate building where it...
View ArticleWho Paid For Last Summer's Drought? You Did
Say the words "crop insurance" and most people start to yawn. For years, few nonfarmers knew much about these government-subsidized insurance policies, and even fewer found any fault with them.
View ArticleBig Ag Agrees to Conserve Cropland, But At What Cost?
Taxpayers help subsidize crop insurance premiums for farmers to the tune of about $9 billion dollars, a figure that's growing each year. These policies protect farmers from major losses, and help...
View ArticleCongress: Where Food Reforms Go To Die?
Two seemingly common-sense, bipartisan food reforms have gotten mugged on Capitol Hill in recent days. If you're a loyal reader of The Salt, you've heard of them.First, there's the proposal— backed by...
View ArticleFederal Funds Flow Into Rural Communities
In the small town of Staunton, Ill., the new $9 million water plant is a welcome addition. After all, when the 80-year-old facility it replaces seized up last year, the community’s 5,000 residents were...
View ArticleCongress Poised To Make Crop Insurance Subsidies More Generous
For decades, farmers have been getting checks from the federal government as part of a safety net to help protect against, for instance, the financial ruin of drought or floods.So last year when a big...
View ArticleSenate Passes Farm Bill
The U.S. Senate approved a new comprehensive farm bill Monday, its plan for everything from food and nutrition assistance to disaster aid for livestock producers to crop insurance for farmers.
View ArticleFood Stamp Use Doubles In Colorado
47 million Americans are enrolled in the SNAP program – short for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps.
View ArticleAt The Farmers Market, With Food Stamps
April Segura is a regular at the Old Cheney Road Farmers Market in Lincoln, Neb.
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