American Farm Bureau Federation Archives

Challenges that will shape the next farm bill — and how the U.S. eats

Changes to U.S. menus will invariably impact Canadian agriculture

By Kathleen Merrigan May 26, 2023

Congress is again writing a multi-year farm bill that will shape what kind of food farmers grow, how they raise it and how it gets to consumers. It’s projected to cost taxpayers US$1.5 trillion over 10 years. Legislators’ response will show whether Congress supports business as usual in agriculture or a more diverse and sustainable

Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow and the Democrat’s ranking member on the Senate agriculture committee told reporters April 10 the U.S. must be “strategic” when pushing China towards fair trade so as to avoid “unintended consequences.”

News

American farmers want markets, not subsidies, legislators say

Trump promises to protect wary farmers if there’s a trade war between the U.S. and China

By Allan Dawson April 19, 2018

American farmers are on the front lines of U.S. trade spats. Uneasy about losing NAFTA, an agreement they say is mostly working for them, they’re now even more jittery about becoming collateral damage in a China-U.S. trade war, despite President Donald Trump’s promise of protection. Farmers prefer markets to largesse, two senior federal farm state

U.S. President Donald Trump celebrates after signing a pair of documents meant to promote rural internet access, after his remarks to the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Nashville on Jan. 8. Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Markets

Better trade deals coming for U.S. farmers, Trump says

By Allan Dawson, GFM Network News January 8, 2018

In a 40-minute speech to the United States’ biggest farm organization, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about free trade for 49 seconds. In 120 words Trump told the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting Monday in Nashville he was working to get U.S. farmers better trade deals. “To level the playing field for our great

Photo taken on July 28, 2015 from NASA’s Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 showing algal blooms on Lake Erie.

Comment

Going against the flow on water quality issues

Strong leadership is needed to address problem of deteriorating water quality

By Alan Guebert August 5, 2015

As summer heats up so too will agriculture’s ongoing water quality problems. On July 10, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that Lake Erie’s algal bloom will be “more severe in 2015” due to “historic rains in June.” On a scale of 1 to 10, forecasts NOAA, this year’s bloom will be 8.7,

Crops, Markets

In bid for Syngenta, Monsanto woos U.S. farmer support

By Carey Gillam, GFM Network News July 18, 2015

Reuters — As Monsanto struggles to convince rival Syngenta to discuss a potential merger, the seed and agrochemical giant is also wooing U.S. farmers, aiming to ease concerns about the proposed tie-up that could prompt regulatory challenges. Company executives have been criss-crossing the U.S. heartland, meeting with soybean and corn growers and a range of

Crops, International news, News

Farm group backs U.S. immigration reform

By Charles Abbott February 15, 2013

The largest U.S. farm group is throwing its weight behind a new immigration law reform that would allow undocumented workers already in the country to gain legal status. Delegates at the annual meeting of the six-million-member American Farm Bureau Federation issued the call after U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked them to speak up for

News

Separate path for farm labour in U.S. Senate immigration plan

By Charles Abbott February 12, 2013

Reuters / Agricultural labourers would be on a separate path to U.S. citizenship than other undocumented workers in the immigration reforms proposed by eight senators Jan. 28 that cited the importance of feeding America. Many of the 1.5 million farm workers employed in the United States annually — perhaps 500,000 to 900,000 in all —

Crops, News

U.S. crop insurance a post-election target

By Charles Abbott November 30, 2012

The federal government will likely shell out $15 billion or more for its share of crop losses caused by drought

Reuters – Federally subsidized crop insurance will be a big target for U.S. lawmakers looking to cut the budget deficit in the lame-duck session of Congress that opened recently after a status quo general election. But lawmakers aren’t expected to break their deadlock over enacting a five-year, $500-billion Farm Bill covering a wide range of

International news, News

Bigger U.S. subsidy cuts considered

By Charles Abbott January 24, 2012

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

Livestock

Flood, Cold Spring Threatens U.S. Crop Output

June 2, 2011

Nearly 3.6 million acres of farmland in the Mississippi River Valley, including 40 per cent of U.S. rice area, have been affected by spring flooding. The figure was larger than earlier reports of three million acres of flooded farmland and amounts to 1.1 per cent of land usually planted in the two dozen principal U.S.

Daily Network News

B.C. ostriches culled, CFIA confirms

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs end week on high note

U.S. grains: Soybeans bounce as Chinese demand assessed, wheat drops

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