The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat and passed a Farm Bill Thursday that expands the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance system but omitted food stamps for the poor. Lawmakers passed the 608-page bill, unveiled by Republican leaders late on Wednesday night, on a 216-208, party-line vote after two hours of debate
U.S. House passes Farm Bill sans food stamps
U.S. House deals shock defeat to Farm Bill
Republican budget-cutters joined with Democratic defenders of food stamps on Thursday to deal a shocking defeat to the proposed US$500 billion, five-year farm bill backed by Republican leaders, undermining hopes of enacting such legislation before the current stop-gap law expires. “Today’s failure leaves the entire food and agriculture sector in the lurch,” the American Soybean
USDA probe finds GM wheat was ‘isolated incident’
The unapproved genetically modified wheat that was discovered sprouting in Oregon appears to have been “a single isolated incident,” U.S. agricultural officials said on Friday in their most detailed description yet of their ongoing investigation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement it had found no genetically modified (GM) seeds in any field
U.S. seeks source of errant GM wheat as importers flee
The United States is still racing to determine how unapproved genetically modified (GM) wheat was found growing in an Oregon field, a discovery that continued to roil global wheat markets on Friday as South Korean buyers stepped aside. A top official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said investigators are “pursuing many avenues” to determine
Global inventories of corn, wheat and soybeans higher than expected
Global inventories of corn, wheat and soybeans will be much larger than expected at the end of 2012-13, with much of the increase driven by bigger U.S. supplies and lower Chinese feed demand, says the USDA. It sharply raised its estimates of ending stocks of the three crops compared with March. Projected corn carry-out was
Ethanol eyed for lowering U.S. surplus sugar mountain
Reuters / The U.S. government is readying a tool created during last decade’s biofuels craze — a never-used program to sell sugar at a loss to ethanol makers — as a way to whittle a looming sugar surplus down to an affordable size. The sugar-for-ethanol program could be a lower-cost way for the Agriculture Department
Latest USDA supply-demand report delivers few surprises in key commodities
The U.S. Agriculture Department delivered few surprises in its monthly crop and world agricultural supply-demand reports, keeping U.S. corn and soybean supplies tight but raising global soybean and wheat stockpiles from a month ago. The Argentine soybean and corn crops were both lowered by drought, USDA said. Projected soybean output was trimmed by three per
USDA chief says meat inspector furloughs still months away
Furloughs of U.S. meat inspectors that could disrupt meat delivery throughout the country will probably be concentrated in July through September, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told lawmakers March 5. Vilsack said furloughs of meat inspectors required under sequestration, or automatic budget cuts that took effect this month, will disrupt the meat industry. He said USDA
U.S. budget axe fells data from cattle to spuds, milk to veggies
Reuters / Budget cuts have forced the USDA to suspend the publication of 10 statistical reports or series, including a semi-annual cattle inventory and monthly milk production data, for the rest of the fiscal year. The mid-year cattle report was arguably the most prominent report to get the axe, and reaction from livestock traders and
Conservatives call for big cut in U.S. crop insurance subsidy
A coalition of fiscal conservatives March 5 called for a steep cut in federal subsidies for crop insurance, setting up a clash with U.S. farm groups that see the program as their top priority in a new Farm Bill. Growers have collected more than $15 billion in payments for 2012 losses resulting from the worst
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