Obama calls for end to direct payments

With Congress beginning an overhaul of U.S. farm law, President Barack Obama called Feb. 13 for elimination of a $5-billion-a-year subsidy paid to farmers regardless of need but held steady funding for the department’s often-criticized data forecasting arm. Obama proposed reforms totalling $32 billion over 10 years for farm supports in his new budget. It



After the bust, the Irish look back to the land

After the Celtic Tiger died, Anthony Slattery quit his job as an accountant and bought some cows. With food and drinks exports rising by close to a billion euros a year and food firms among the best performers on Ireland’s bruised stock market, agriculture is one of the few sectors to survive a devastating property

Bigger U.S. subsidy cuts considered

Congress could slash U.S. farm subsidies far more than expected, perhaps by twice as much as proposed two months ago, to help trim the federal deficit, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Jan. 8. “It could be $23 billion. It could be $48 billion. It could be $33 billion,” Vilsack said on the sidelines of the


U.S. Farm Subsidy Reform Favours Midwest

A plan to reform farm subsidies by guaranteeing revenue levels for farmers is a good deal for corn and soybeans growers but unfair to the rest of the country, senators from wheat states said. The senators demanded changes in a package drawn up by the chairs of the House and Senate agriculture committees. Those leaders

Reformist Japan Farmers Urge Free Trade To Spur Change

Like other farmers on this fertile, coastal plain in northeast Japan, where patchwork rice fields stretch to the mountains beyond, Kazushi Saito knows first hand that the nation s shrinking agricultural sector is in dire straits. But unlike many, the 54-year-old rice farmer backs a controversial free trade deal that could remove a near 800


Canada Looking Good To American Farm Expert

A leading American scholar came north bearing good news for Canadian farmers – expect a levelling of the farm-subsidy playing field and new opportunities to profitably feed a hungry planet. The Canola Council of Canada brought Robert L. Thompson to its annual meeting here and the scholar from Johns Hopkins University delivered a hopeful message

Farm Subsidy Cuts Eyed

Republicans are proposing to slash farm spending by $30 billion o ver 10 years as part of a controversial plan to tackle the giant federal budget deficit. House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan has proposed reducing the $5-billion-a- year “direct payments” subsidy made to growers each year regardless of need. He also wants farmers to


U.S. Budget May Cut Farm Subsidies

Farm subsidies could be cut as part of efforts to reduce federal spending, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid March 8, pointing to high grain, soybean and cotton prices. Reid was the latest congressional leader to say farm subsidies could be a target for budget cuts. House Speaker John Boehner said last week he was

Record Farm Income Claims Challenged

Predictions that Canadian farm income will set a new record high in 2010 are wrong, according to Darrin Qualman, a former researcher with the National Farmers Union (NFU). “These income levels are in no way a record,” Qualman said in an interview last week in response to a report prepared by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada