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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Dispatches From the Fields: My ride in a combine How commodity grain farmers have sown the seeds of their demise	Ariane Lotti	03 Oct 2008	Gristmill
In 'Dispatches From the Fields,' Ariane Lotti and Stephanie Ogburn, who are working on small farms in Iowa and Colorado this season, share their thoughts on producing real food in the midst of America's agro-industrial landscape. ----- A field of dried soybeans ready to be combined. Although 'that time of year' in corn and soybean country is a few weeks late, it has finally arrived. Whether starting up their new $300,000 capital investment for the first ti ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, economy, food, industrial ag, Iowa (all these topics)

An economist's eye view Outline for a move to a sustainable agriculture system	Jason D Scorse	29 Jul 2008	Gristmill
The agricultural industry is one of the biggest users of water, energy, and chemicals on the planet. Overall it poses one of the biggest threats to global biodiversity, which is why it deserves significant attention from the environmental community. But when it comes to defining what is meant by 'sustainable agriculture,' there is a lot of confusion. Many people think 'organic,' or 'local,' or 'non-GMO,' or even 'biodynamic.' It will come as little surprise that e ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, economy, food, World Trade Organization (all these topics)

Farm-subsidy shenanigans Beware of U.S. trade officials bearing gifts	Tom Philpott	25 Jul 2008	Gristmill
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab made headlines this week by offering to reduce U.S. farm subsidies. The context was the so-called Doha Round of trade talks -- the WTO's latest, oft-stalled effort to grease the wheels of global trade. Among sustainable-food advocates, there's a reflexive tendency to cheer whenever farm subsidies go on the chopping block. But as is often the case in the farm-policy debate, this progressive-looking offer is anything but. First ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, industrial ag, shenanigans, World Trade Organization (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)

More than money Other conservation tools at stake in the Farm Bill, too	Guest author	05 May 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Britt Lundgren, an agricultural policy fellow at Environmental Defense Fund. ----- Although recent reports indicate that the new farm bill will provide a $4 billion increase for voluntary farmer conservation programs, there's more to the conservation policies in the bill than just money. Recent attempts by the conference committee to dramatically weaken the new Sodsaver provision are just one example of the one-step-forward, ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation (all these topics)

Perry and Thrust U.S. should back off from biofuels to bring down food prices, says Texas guv		28 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 4:56 PM on 28 Apr 2008 Has the U.S. push for biofuels contributed to rising global food prices? Well, yes, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday: "There has been apparently some effect, unintended consequence from the alternative fuels effort." But, she hastened to add, "biofuels continue to be an extremely important piece of the alternative energy picture" and & ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, economy, energy, food, news, politics, state politics, Texas (all these topics)

Sticker shock! What's causing the sudden run-up in food prices?	Tom Philpott	25 Apr 2008	Gristmill
A lot of people are wondering what the hell is going on with food prices. Rice, dollars per ton Source: Reuters The price of bulk rice on global markets has tripled since the start of the year, school children in some of the world's poorest nations are losing access to school-lunch programs, and people in places like Haiti are literally scrounging through garbage dumps in search of something to eat. Here in the U.S., heightened prices are putting a ha ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, economy, energy, food (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)

The corn identity How Congress is shortchanging our health and sweetening things for the food industry	Bill Chameides	24 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Are we becoming children of the corn, thanks in part to large subsidies and overproduction? Photo: NREL/Warren Gretz At dinner Sunday night, I asked my friend Prasad if he knew about the new farm bill and what it means for average Americans. He didn't. I wasn't surprised. With the election, the war, and rising prices to fret about, not many people are pondering legislation about farms. But they should, because it has huge implications for the country's n ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food, health, legislation (all these topics)

Who is a farmer? Linguistic insights into agriculture	Sharon Astyk	23 Apr 2008	Gristmill
One of the problems people have discussing sustainable agriculture is the question of language. I was trained originally in English literature and hold as an article of faith that language matters -- deeply. That is, I believe that we can only come to an honest vision for the future with a shared language that accurately describes our world. Agriculture is in the news, obviously -- and the future of farming is a big question. But we keep running up against the ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food, gardening, green space, placemaking (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)

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)

Crop, Stop, and Roll E.U. likely to cut subsidies for farmers		13 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 1:11 PM on 13 Mar 2008 With crop prices through the roof and scientific concerns being raised about the greenness of biofuels, various European countries have cut back tax breaks and subsidies for farmers -- and now the European Union as a whole is planning to follow suit. source:� The Wall Street Journal see also, in Grist:� E.U. says it will be mindful of sustainability in boosting biofuels From ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, energy, European Union, news, politics (all these topics)

Election '08: Real alternatives for real food? Questions for Obama and Clinton from a Wisconsin farmer	Guest author	19 Feb 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Jim Goodman, a farmer in Wonewoc, Wisc., and a Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow. It first appeared in the Capitol Times (Madison, Wisc.). ----- The candidates have come and gone through Wisconsin for the primary season, but I still have some questions for the Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. I would like to be enthusiastic about this election, I really would. After the past ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Barack Obama, biofuels, elections, food, health, Hillary Clinton, local food, politics, presidential race 08, Wisconsin (all these topics)

European biodiesel: riding on empty? Unlike the U.S., European governments are cutting back on agrofuel goodies	Tom Philpott	27 Dec 2007	Gristmill
European biodiesel makers have entered a rough patch. The price for their main feedstock, rapeseed, has risen more than 50 percent since the beginning of the year. But the price of the final product, biodiesel, has plunged, because producers are churning out far more biodiesel than the market can absorb.Similar conditions hold sway among U.S. ethanol makers: heightened corn prices combined with an ethanol glut. But U.S. producers are celebrating while their European cou ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, energy, European Union, industrial ag (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: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, economy, ethanol, food, legislation, politics (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)

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)

A bumper crop of corn Malawi celebrates, but for how long?	Maywa Montenegro	03 Dec 2007	Gristmill
So while the U.S. Farm Bill is out to pasture until 2008, it looks like most commodity subsidies will remain untouched. Agricultural price supports may be the law of the land here, but it's certainly not what we've been advocating abroad. A bittersweet story on page one of today's NY Times documents how Malawians are pulling back from the brink, largely because -- going against the wishes of the World Bank -- they've begun to reinstitute government crop subsidies: ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, food, Malawi, politics (all these topics)

Will conservatives eliminate farm subsidies? A clip from the Republican YouTube debate	David Roberts	29 Nov 2007	Gristmill
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you small-government conservatism:
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, elections, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Will the energy bill bail out ethanol? The corn industry hopes Congress will pull its fat out of the fire	Tom Philpott	28 Nov 2007	Gristmill
I used to love to start my writing day by taking a poke or two at the corn-based ethanol industry -- you know, the biggest greenwash ever. Photo: mrobenalt These days, the debunking of corn fuel almost seems like it's piling on. Today, two major newspapers -- the LA Times and The Wall Street Journal -- ran front-page stories that essentially say: everyone hates government support for corn-based ethanol, except for people with a direct financial (or polit ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

How egregious are farm subsidies?	Jason D Scorse	25 Nov 2007	Gristmill
So egregious that they make the Bush administration look reasonable. I repeat my contention that completely eliminating this boondoggle that trashes the environment, increases incentives for obesity, and distorts the entire global agricultural trade should be a high priority for environmentalists. Step #1: call it what it is -- corporate welfare.
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, politics (all these topics)

Revamping the current ag subsidy system Revenue insurance is a promising option for farm aid	Grist	20 Nov 2007	Gristmill
This is a guest post from Britt Lundgren, an Agricultural Policy Fellow at Environmental Defense. It is part of a recent conversation on agricultural policy. ----- Fixing farm policy, which has been the single largest influence on the shape of agriculture in the U.S. since the Dust Bowl, is not easy. 'Not easy' will seem a drastic understatement to anyone who has followed the endless debate on the Senate floor over the past two weeks, which has produced much hand ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, 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, ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Subsidies and the agony of modern farm policy A response to my critics	Tom Philpott	14 Nov 2007	Gristmill
Last week's Victual Reality column startled a lot of sustainable-food advocates, particularly folks not immersed in the details of U.S. farm policy. Subsidies, I argued, do not cause the ravages of industrial agriculture; rather, subsidies are a symptom of a food policy gone wrong. Moreover, I continued, gutting subsidies won't end the ubiquity of cheap and empty calories in the U.S. diet; or stop the devastation of waterways from fertilizer runoff; or make CAFOs ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, politics (all these topics)

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