The U.S. House of Representatives has passed and sent to President Barack Obama a bill that boosts funding for the school lunch program by $4.5 billion through 2020 and bans “junk” food from school buildings. Backers said it would be the first real increase in reimbursement rates for schools in 30 years and a step
U.S. Bill Boosts School Lunch Funding
U.S. Election Means A Pinch On Farm Funds
U.S. lawmakers will face increasing pressure to constrain spending on farm subsidy programs, possibly as part of government-wide austerity, in the wake of large Republican gains in the midterm elections. At its most extreme, the budget cutting could push millions of acres back into production by slashing long-term reserves that idle 10 per cent of
U. S. Election To Take Toll On Farm Funding
U. S. lawmakers will face increasing pressure to constrain spending on farm subsidy programs after mid-term elections on Nov. 2, possibly as part of government- wide belt tightening. At its most extreme, the budget cutting could push millions of acres back into production by slashing long-term reserves that idle 10 per cent of U. S.
U. S. Ethanol Makers Seek Renewal Of Tax Breaks
Attacked as subsidy addicts, U. S. ethanol makers may need help from friends in high places, including the White House, to hold on to lucrative tax breaks set to expire at the end of the year. The industry says it is ready to discuss revisions in the incentives, worth $6 billion a year. An amalgam
High Prices Don’t Discourage Set-Aside Enrolment – for Sep. 23, 2010
Despite a late-summer surge in wheat prices, landowners offered to enroll 1.5 per cent of U. S. cropland in a federal program that pays them an annual rent for taking fragile land out of production. Some 4.3 million acres (1.7 million hectares) will be accepted of 4.8 million acres offered for the Conservation Reserve, said
Farm-Gate Corn Price Seen As Record – for Sep. 16, 2010
Voracious demand and a smaller-than-expected crop will bring the tightest U. S. corn supply in 15 years, the government said Sept. 10, but its forecast for the drought-stressed world wheat supply was not as low as expected. The Agriculture Department said the U. S. corn stockpile would shrink to 1.116 billion bushels by the end
U. S. Farmers Can’t Meet Booming Corn Demands
Exporters, livestock feeders and ethanol makers are going through the U. S. corn stockpile faster than farmers can grow the crops, the government said July 9. Despite record crops in two of the past three years and another record within reach this year, the USDA estimated the corn carry-over will shrink to the lowest level
U. S. House Votes To Revive Biodiesel Tax Credit
The U. S. House voted May 28 to revive the $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax credit for this year as part of passing a mammoth jobs bill. The bill now goes to the Senate, which is in recess until June 7, for a potential final vote. The biodiesel credit expired at the end of 2009. The revived
Rural Growth Key To New Farm Bill
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called for rural economic development as the key to a vibrant farm sector April 21, an unorthodox beginning for an overhaul of U. S. farm policy. Marking the start of a two-year process to forge a new Farm Bill, Vilsack told a House Agriculture Committee hearing that he wanted to “expand
U. S. Farm Subsidy Debate Rekindled
The U. S. farm program should be refined but does not need to be radically rewritten to replace crop supports with revenue guarantees or to make rural economic development the centrepiece, a key senator says. Saxby Chambl iss of Georgia, the Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he hoped “that we don’t talk
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