Grist | Topics | 56 Results

RESULTS		Results 26 – 50 of 56
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Farm school The Farm Bill debate does hinge on subsidies	David Roberts	09 Nov 2007	Gristmill
This is a guest post from Britt Lundgren, an Agricultural Policy Fellow at Environmental Defense. ----- Tom Philpott's recent column on the ongoing debate over Farm Bill reform raises some interesting points, including the idea that commodity subsidies may not be the root cause of overproduction. But he misses the real point behind the debate, which is whether or not the current suite of farm subsidies are actually an effective and productive way to support agr ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Farm Bill: Support Dorgan-Grassley Call your senator today	Tom Philpott	05 Nov 2007	Gristmill
As most people following the story know by now, the 2007 Farm Bill is looking pretty grim with respect to fundamental reform. The U.S. government seems hell-bent on pushing a policy that on balance rewards farmers for gross output at all costs -- environmental considerations be damned. However, as the Senate debates the ag committee's version of the bill, a chance remains to make meaningful reform at the margins. My friends in the sustainable-ag lobbying world tell m ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Farming and climate change More evidence that industrial ag is destroying the planet	Tom Philpott	04 Nov 2007	Gristmill
From an ecological standpoint, the fundamental problem with U.S. farm policy dating back to the '70s is that it rewards farmers for maximizing yield at all cost. Encouraged to produce as much as possible, all the time, farmers have few incentives to conserve resources or protect water, air, or soil quality. The federal government's dizzying array of biofuel subsidies -- which have propped up crop prices and encouraged yet more production -- only exacerbates the situ ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, climate, industrial ag (all these topics)

Pretty much business as usual The Senate Ag Committee's Farm Bill	Tom Philpott	26 Oct 2007	Gristmill
No jaded observer will be surprised: The Senate Agriculture Committee yesterday released its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, leaving the subsidy mechanisms in the 2002 bill pretty well intact. I'm still trying to chase down details of the proposal, but here are a couple of tidbits. The big news is that the version contains a ban on meatpacker ownership of livestock. This is (potentially) huge. Currently, dominant meatpackers like Smithfield Foods and Tyson also raise ...
Topics: politics, legislation, agriculture, industrial ag, ag subsidies (all these topics)

Our twisted Farm bill An audio story about ag subsidies	Maywa Montenegro	22 Oct 2007	Gristmill
This little radio story, from NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, tells the story of a sprawling ranch in Texas. It was the single largest recipient of federal farm subsidies between 1999 and 2005 -- receiving some $8.3 million, not for cattle, but for cotton. Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group says this: It's the exact opposite of what most taxpayers have in mind when they think of how their farm subsidy money is supporting agriculture. The far ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

The wheat from the chaff Good farm policies support good farm practices	Aimee Witteman	19 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Interest in the Farm Bill is usually confined to policy wonks and agribusiness lobbyists, but this year it has generated more buzz than a cowpie in a June paddock. Despite the stir, most of the public attention has been narrowly focused on only one aspect of the $280 billion policy package: the farm payments paid to corn, soybean, wheat, rice, and cotton producers. Though concerns over the current commodity programs are well-founded, their emphasis has given a neg ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

'Free' market religion kills Noticing the elephant stomping Africa	JMG	13 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Bob ('Prisoner of Trebekistan') Harris notices how often U.S. media aids and abets counterproductive U.S. foreign 'aid' policies. The same people whose worship of the so-called free market allows them to demolish countries are the ones leading the Bush Administration's efforts to ensure that the global response to global heating doesn't adopt any heresies. Which is why our policy response to global heating has been zilch. That's the headline of this front-page story in today's ...
Topics: Malawi, agriculture, ag subsidies (all these topics)

A slew of new reports on biofuel subsidies Evaluating U.S. and EU policies	Ron Steenblik	10 Oct 2007	Gristmill
The last couple of months I've been busy preparing two major reports on government support for biofuels, both for the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). These reports follow on from our October 2006 report on support for biofuels in the United States, which we commissioned from Doug Koplow of Earth Track, and which has been cited numerous times on these pages. Last month, we issued what we call our ...
Topics: energy, biofuels, agriculture, ag subsidies (all these topics)

On not rearing pigs A little weekend humor	Erik Hoffner	29 Sep 2007	Gristmill
In case you missed this hilarious letter that made the email rounds early this year poking fun at bizarre agricultural subsidies ... it gets to carbon credits midway through, naturally: Secretary of State Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Smith Square London Dear Secretary of State, My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a cheque for �3,000 from the Rural Payments Agency for not rearing pigs. I would now like to joi ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, funnies, politics, United Kingdom (all these topics)

'OECD warns against biofuels subsidies' Biofuels subsidies will only lead to increased food costs and habitat destruction	Jason D Scorse	11 Sep 2007	Gristmill
This, courtesy of the Financial Times, is a welcome development. Hopefully, the Doha Round of the GATT will get restarted, and this can be addressed in addition to the more general discussion of agricultural subsidies.
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, energy, food, habitat loss (all these topics)

Subsidizing healthier freedom fries Yet another distortion to correct a distortion	Ron Steenblik	06 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Anybody who closely follows U.S. agricultural policy appreciates the journalism of Philip Brasher and his team at the Des Moines Register. One of Mr. Brasher's recent articles highlights a feature of the farm bill recently passed by the House of Representatives that probably few people have heard of: the 'Healthy Oils Incentive Program.' According to the website of freshman Congressman Nick Lampson (D-Stafford, Texas) -- who recently underwent quadruple heart bypass ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, food, politics (all these topics)

At Last, Some Consensus House votes today on universally despised farm bill		27 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
At Last, Some Consensus House votes today on universally despised farm bill Today finds the House scrambling to pass its controversial version of the 2007 farm bill. And by controversial, we mean everyone hates it -- Democrats, Republicans, and the White House. The $286 billion package, which contains about $42 billion in subsidies, ends subsidies to farmers with an income of over $1 millio ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Congress, news, politics (all these topics)

Myth: Subsidies keep food prices low A guest essay from ED's Scott Faber	David Roberts	12 Jul 2007	Gristmill
The following is a guest post from Scott Faber, Farm Bill campaign director for Environmental Defense. (Scott also has a blog.) --- Congress is in serious negotiations over the next version of the Farm Bill. The debate is fertile ground for food policy myths and misconceptions. Perhaps the best (or worst) example is that old chestnut that farm subsidies keep food prices low. Here's why that's just a myth. Most of the corn and soybeans grown in America en ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, food, 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)

Thirty years to hone an argument Arguments supporting government subsidies of agrofuels are getting polished	biodiversivist	19 Jun 2007	Gristmill
This is my formal rebuttal to David Morris's 'case for corn-based fuel.' I'm using my access to the bully pulpit to pull it out of the comments field. How did the use of ethanol end up alongside tyranny and torture as an evil to be conquered? That's easy. A whole lot of real smart people have been giving corn ethanol a lot of thought and have found that 'an evil to be conquered' isn't a bad description. In smaller quantities, it does smaller amounts of damage, b ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, food, industrial ag (all these topics)

Ungreening the Farm Bill Stop House ag czar Peterson before he kills the conservation title	Aimee Witteman	21 May 2007	Gristmill
Any lingering illusions that Democratic control of the House would automatically lead to more enlightened agriculture policy crumbled last Thursday, when Rep. Colin Peterson (D-Minn.), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, released the conservation section of his 2007 Farm Bill proposal. Peterson kicked off the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization process -- and in the process, kicked the legs out from under one of the country's best agri-environmental programs. ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, Congress, politics (all these topics)

Cob Report Coalition of ranchers and farmers fights subsidies for corn ethanol		19 Mar 2007	Daily Grist
Cob Report Coalition of ranchers and farmers fights subsidies for corn ethanol It's one thing when dirty hippies oppose your energy-independence scheme, but when ranchers, chicken farmers, and pork producers pile on the hate, that's trouble. An ad hoc coalition is opposing U.S. corn ethanol subsidies and pushing to end U.S. tariffs on Brazilian sugarcane ethanol. "This ...
Topics: ag subsidies, energy, ethanol, food and agriculture, grassroots activism, news (all these topics)

Reform School Bush's farm bill 'reform' proposal falls woefully short	Tom Philpott	06 Feb 2007	Victual Reality
Bush's farm bill "reform" proposal falls woefully short By Tom Philpott 06 Feb 2007 Note: This is the third of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first two columns are here and here. The author promises not to return to the topic for at least a few weeks -- but will likely backslide from this pledge in his Gristmill blog posts. Can Bush point the way for America's farmers? Photo: whitehouse.gov/Eric Draper In this series, I promised to lay out new models for ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, food, local food, politics, sustainable ag, Victual Reality (all these topics)

The Short-Term Solution That Stuck Where farm subsidies came from, and why they're still here	Tom Philpott	30 Jan 2007	Victual Reality
Note: This is the second of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first article is available here; the third here. Fencerow to fencerow. Photo: iStockphoto Last week, I argued that it makes sense for society to support farming. Everybody needs to eat, and most would prefer to do so without devastating the environment or exploiting labor. Well, no one can accuse ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, Department of Agriculture, industrial ag, Victual Reality (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)

Risky Business Thoughts from a small farm during the midwinter lull	Tom Philpott	10 Jan 2007	Victual Reality
Before I became a farmer three growing seasons ago, I lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., and reveled in the array of top-flight local produce available from mid-spring to late fall. Long about January, though, a kind of local-food withdrawal would set in. Frosty, with a chance of failure. Photo: iStockphoto By this time of year, the legendary produce aisle of the Park Slope Food Co-op would be given over mainly ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, farmers markets, food, local food, sustainable ag, Victual Reality (all these topics)

Are We There Yet? Not quite, but cellulosic ethanol may be coming sooner than you think	Jennifer Weeks	11 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Even as organizations ranging from Consumers Union to the Cato Institute cast doubt on the environmental value of corn-based ethanol, facilities designed to make it are popping up by the dozen throughout the Midwest. Meanwhile, cellulosic ethanol -- which can be derived from just about any plant matter -- draws near-unanimous environmental raves. Trouble is, the technology requir ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol, politics, scientific research (all these topics)

Give Green, Go Yellow How cash and corporate pressure pushed ethanol to the fore	Tom Philpott	06 Dec 2006	Main Dish
... got all liquored on that road house corn ... -- Tom Waits, "Gun Street Girl" Before it became widely used as a car fuel, ethanol was just grain liquor -- and the federal government was not particularly kind to it. We pledge allegiance to ADM. Shortly after the American Revolution, the new government imposed a draconian tax on the stuff, hoping to pay down wartime debt. ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

The Big Three The numbers behind ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel in the U.S.	Maywa Montenegro	04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
America devours oil like no other country in the world. Representing 5 percent of the global population, the country consumes fully a quarter of the world's oil. Every year, to move ourselves and our goods around, we burn 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 40 billion gallons of diesel -- enough to propel the average U.S. car around the world 1.6 billion times. But rising price ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Celebrate, But Organize What the Democrats' win means for the sustainable-food movement	Tom Philpott	15 Nov 2006	Victual Reality
After being sentenced to death on specious grounds in 1915, the pro-union agitator and singer Joe Hill delivered a bracing message to his supporters: "Don't waste time mourning, organize!" The bums may be gone, but don't get too giddy. Photo: iStockphoto Under more celebratory circumstances, Hill's formulation doesn't seem quite right; after helping purge so many scoundre ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, Big Ag, Congress, grassroots activism, politics, Victual Reality (all these topics)

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