Grist | Topics | 25 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 25
Headline	Author	Published	Section
The farm bill ups the cellulosic ethanol ante Lost amid the crop-subsidy battle, a new biofuel regime	Tom Philpott	24 May 2008	Gristmill
Amid all the thunder and lightening about subsidies in the new farm bill -- which officially became law Thursday -- Congress made a major policy shift with regard to the goodies lavished on ethanol makers. Under previous policy, biofuel makers -- whether conventional or cellulosic -- benefit from a 51 cent a gallon tax credit conferred on gasoline blenders. No any more. According to a recent Environmental Law & Policy Center memorandum [PDF] summing up th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Night of the living farm bill After blunder, the legislation slouches back to limbo	Tom Philpott	22 May 2008	Gristmill
For the first time in its long process, the 2008 -- née 2007 -- farm bill was going according to script. Congress finally came up with a final version. Bush vetoed it, just as he had promised. The House overrode the veto, just as everyone knew it would. Next stop: the Senate, where Bush's veto was due meet another overwhelming override. And after that, law. Remember at the end of Chinatown, when everything gets hopelessly screwed up? Leading away a stunned and speechle ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics, shenanigans (all these topics)

Farm and function Agriculture produces more than just crops -- and it's time for policy to reflect that	Thomas Dobbs	22 May 2008	Gristmill
In spite of the best efforts of sustainable agriculture, environmental, and healthy food advocates over the past two years to reform U.S. farm policy, the bill recently passed by Congress lacks fundamental reform. Although the bill includes some environmental and healthy food system improvements over existing legislation, the system of commodity subsidies remains intact, and it is these subsidies, together with biofuels subsidies and mandates embodied in the farm bill a ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

The 'maverick' speaks on agriculture McCain thunders against ag subsidies, vows fealty to trade agenda	Tom Philpott	19 May 2008	Gristmill
Speaking before the National Restaurant Association on Monday, John McCain delivered a stirring rant against agriculture subsidies and the latest farm bill (text here.) No doubt burnishing his "maverick" image among editorial writers, the senator lambasted the bill as a giveaway of "billions of dollars in subsidies to some of the biggest and richest agribusiness corporations in America -- many of which are heavy political contributors to members in bot ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, John McCain, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Siding with the Bushies? Why a Bush veto of the farm bill is bad for the food movement (and the world)	Elanor Starmer	12 May 2008	Gristmill
My former boss in D.C. once said that if she ever found herself on the same side of an issue as the Bush administration, it was time to go back and look more closely: There must be a hidden agenda. That was the thought that struck me as I contemplated the administration's farm bill veto threat on Friday. I understand the calls from some in the sustainable-ag community to veto the farm bill (and thank Tom Philpott and the comment crew for outlining them). The argume ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Thinking outside the cereal box Thoughts on the farm bill and the skyrocketing cost of food	Guest author	24 Apr 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post by Alan Hunt, senior policy analyst for food and farm policy at the Northeast-Midwest Institute and coordinator of the Farm and Food Policy Project. ----- The rising cost of food worldwide is more complex than portrayed in recent articles in The New York Times and the Washington Post. Like a magician revealing his secrets, the once-invisible farm and food system is drawing scrutiny from the media, policymakers, and the public as we realize h ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Agro-sham Bush and farm policy 'reform'	Tom Philpott	17 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In the farm bill debate, the Bush administration has joined Environmental Defense Fund, The Environmental Working Group, and other Big Green groups in taking a 'reform' position: subsidies are bad, so let's cut them. I've been arguing that this position amounts to no reform at all, because it doesn't address the underlying problem of U.S. farming: the relentless pressure on our farmland from chemical-intensive agriculture -- an arrangement that in the end benefits ag ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, George Bush, industrial ag, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Putting your money where your mouth is How expensive is food, really?	Sharon Astyk	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
There is no doubt whatsoever that rising food costs are hurting people all over the world. More than half of the world's population spends 50 percent of their income or more on food, and the massive rise in staple prices threatens to increase famine rates drastically. We are already seeing the early signs of this in Haiti and in other poor nations. It is also undoubtedly true that rising food prices are digging into the budgets of average people, including me. An ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, economy, food, legislation, politics, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Crunch time for the farm bill The legislation isn't perfect, but it's far better than extending the 2002 bill	Aimee Witteman	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
With the new farm bill languishing in the last stages of negotiations, many are bemoaning its lack of sweeping reform, suggesting that we have gained very little from months and years of work. But if the new bill is not to be the visionary document that many hoped and advocated for, what, if anything, do we stand to lose if the new bill is vetoed or negotiations reach an impasse and the 2002 farm bill is extended for two years? There are several small but import ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, local food, organic food, politics, sustainable ag (all these topics)

Farm subsidies: beyond simplistic outrage Gourmet magazine points the way toward a green and smart farm policy	Tom Philpott	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, there's a detailed article about the farm-subsidy mess. It can be summarized as follows: 1) the government-engineered ethanol boom has driven up farm-commodity prices; 2) farm incomes are sharply up; yet 3) the government still makes subsidy payments in the billions per year; and thus 4) it's time to cut the subsidies.The logic is impeccable. And surely, payment caps should be much lower and blocked from going to high-income farmers an ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, industrial ag, legislation, politics (all these topics)

A storm is brewing Why the disaster trust fund is bad news	Guest author	04 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Britt Lundgren and Jason Funk. Britt Lundgren is an agricultural policy fellow at Environmental Defense Fund. Jason Funk is a Lokey Fellow in the Land, Water and Wildlife program at Environmental Defense Fund. ----- The recent fires in California and the severe drought in the Southeast are just two of the litany of disasters that have hit agriculture in recent memory. When natural disasters happen, members of Congress (at l ...
Topics: legislation, agriculture, politics, ag policy (all these topics)

Farm bill agonistes After all the fuss, looks like we might get an extension of the 2002 farm bill	Tom Philpott	27 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Photo: iStockphoto Remember the farm bill -- the omnibus federal legislation that generated so much sound and fury last year? Like a downer cow slouching toward its executioner, the farm bill still lives, sort of. The House, Senate, and president are haggling over it, squabbling over the bill's price tag and how it will be funded. If they don't hash something out by March 15, they may just extend the 2002 farm bill. Here's what Tom Harkin, chair of th ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part IV The Conservation Security Program	Aimee Witteman	16 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the fourth in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For more information about the status of other sustainable agriculture programs in the Senate and House versions of the bill, please see this 2008 Farm Bill legislative tracking chart (PDF). The 2008 Farm Bill conference committee negotiations are just getting underway at the staff level -- please contact members of the Agriculture Committee and weigh in! In add ...
Topics: politics, agriculture, ag policy, legislation (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part III Organic production and research	Aimee Witteman	15 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the third in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For more information on the status of all sustainable agriculture provisions in the Senate and House versions of the farm bill, please visit SAC's farm bill legislative tracking center. Despite the fact that organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing sectors of American agriculture, the U.S. is currently experiencing a domestic shortfall of organically pro ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, food, legislation, organic food, politics (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part II A livestock title for fair and competitive markets	Aimee Witteman	11 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the second in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Want more details on all of the sustainable agriculture provisions in the next Farm Bill? Go here (PDF) for a matrix that shows the status of provisions in the House and Senate versions. A shrinking number of companies dominate the nation's food supply, exerting market power over the entire supply chain from farm gate to dinner plate. In the livestock sector, th ...
Topics: politics, agriculture, ag policy, legislation, business (all these topics)

Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part I Supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers	Aimee Witteman	10 Jan 2008	Gristmill
This is the first of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For the diehard policy wonks out there, you can also download the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's matrix (PDF) showing the status of sustainable agriculture priorities in the House and Senate versions of the farm bill. Soaring demand for organic and local foods means exciting market opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers, but the current public policies require ...
Topics: politics, agriculture, ag policy, legislation (all these topics)

Senate farm bill post-mortem The Sustainable Ag Coalition delivers its assessment	Tom Philpott	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has been involved in farm bills since the mid-1970s, working behind the scenes to try to snatch farm legislation from the paws of agribusiness. So when he delivers his assessment on how things went, he does so from the perspective of long memory. His insights are particularly important now, as sustainable-ag and food-justice advocates figure out what's in the Senate version that's worth fighting for. And there ...
Topics: industrial ag, sustainable ag, agriculture, legislation, ag policy, politics (all these topics)

Time for some rehab Agriculture is drunk on corn-based ethanol	Thomas Dobbs	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Thomas Dobbs is Professor Emeritus of Economics at South Dakota State University, and a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow. ----- American agriculture is becoming addicted to corn-based ethanol, and the economic and environmental effects of this addiction call for some intervention! The explosive growth in U.S. ethanol production from corn is having worldwide ramifications. December 6 articles in The Economist ('Cheap no more' ...
Topics: legislation, ag subsidies, ag policy, politics, food, economy, ethanol, biofuels, agriculture (all these topics)

Farm bill update Payment limits topple, but the livestock title looks good -- for now	Tom Philpott	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Update [2007-12-14 13:5:54 by Tom Philpott]:The Senate just passed the farm bill, 79-14. Presumably the livestock title is intact. Now it's time to mount an epochal battle to defend that important title as Congress reconciles the House and Senate versions, which will take place in early 2008. The Senate is set to vote on the farm bill this afternoon. I'll be trying to pull a Brian Beutler and follow the debate via CSpan. An amendment that would have limited subsi ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

On corn, meat, and the myth of Big Farma Why we shouldn't target farmers for our farm bill frustrations	Guest author	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
We're very pleased to run this guest essay by Elanor Starmer, an independent activist scholar who lives in California. Elanor recently published an important paper (PDF) on the livestock industry with Tim Wise of the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University. As the farm bill lurches to its conclusion amid shrill rhetoric about the 'farm bloc,' Elanor redirects our attention to the real beneficiaries of both federal farm policy and conventional at ...
Topics: politics, legislation, industrial ag, ag policy, agriculture, food (all these topics)

Farm bill: Stick it to Big Meat Back under debate in the Senate, the farm bill lurches ahead	Tom Philpott	07 Dec 2007	Gristmill
The farm bill has been languishing in the Senate for weeks, buried under the weight of hundreds of specious, unrelated amendments. But the chamber reached a deal Thursday; each party agreed to float only 20 amendments. That means the bill is back on track. Majority leader Harry Reid vowed the Senate would hammer out a version by holiday break, meaning it would go to reconciliation and then to the president's desk early in the new year. So now it's crunch time. Th ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

It's economics, not agronomy Why gutting commodity subsidies should be the focus of Farm Bill reform efforts	Thomas Dobbs	19 Nov 2007	Gristmill
Thomas Dobbs is Professor Emeritus of Economics at South Dakota State University, and a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow. ----- Tom Philpott wrote an article in which he challenged some of the key assumptions underlying Farm Bill reform efforts of the past year ('It's the Agronomy, Stupid'). He contended that gutting commodity subsidies would not solve the U.S.'s long-standing oversupply problems, and that we need the money currently in t ...
Topics: ag policy, politics, ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation (all these topics)

Business as usual? Why we shouldn't forget the Farm Bill	Aimee Witteman	02 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Once again, a prime example of our misguided farm policies hits like a ton of factory-farm manure sludge -- or in this case, a massive sack of federally insured, genetically modified corn. Last Wednesday, Monsanto announced that the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) approved a pilot program that will give farmers a 20 percent discount on insurance premiums if they plant a majority of their corn acres with seeds featuring Monsanto's trademarked YieldG ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, business, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Ag policy as if people mattered Time to kick it old school on the farm bill.	Tom Philpott	24 Jun 2007	Gristmill
The terms of debate around the 2007 farm bill's controversial commodity title have gotten rather narrow.On the one hand, you've got the House subcommittee on ag commodities, which essentially cut and pasted commodity language from the subsidy-heavy 2002 farm bill into the 2007 version now being drafted.On the other hand, you've got a chorus of critics, ranging from Oxfam to the Cato Institute to the Environmental Working Group, demanding an end to ag subsidies. This gro ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Paying the Farm Bill Why federal farm support deserves a fresh look	Tom Philpott	23 Jan 2007	Victual Reality
Note: Over the course of three weeks, as Congress begins discussion of the 2007 farm bill, Victual Reality will be devoted to analyzing the political economy of farming and teasing out an agenda for a socially and environmentally sustainable farm policy. It's more exciting than it sounds, we swear! [Read the first installment below, the second installment here, and the third here.] Like a barnyard sow ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, industrial ag, legislation, politics, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Stories About: ag policy AND agriculture AND legislation AND politics