News Archive

2010

April

USDA willing to work with Congress on budget baseline
High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal — April 30, 2010
USDA officials indicated recently they would work with Congress to somehow preserve 2012 farm bill budget baseline that could potentially be lost through the renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement...

Will the next farm bill cause civil war in rural America?
High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal — April 30, 2010
The first hearings of the 2012 farm legislation were held last week, and as expected, they revealed the Barack Obama administration wishes to take money from farm programs and move it to other priorities. The Secretary of Agriculture pressed the issue with farm-state lawmakers by suggesting rural communities need more jobs and rural economic development funding should increase. That difference in priorities may set up a conflict in which direct farm payments are pitted against rural development with all casualties inflicted on the same people...

Congress should set crop insurance plan
Des Moines Register — April 28, 2010
The ink is barely dry on the 2008 farm bill, but discussions are already under way for the 2012 version...

Climate Issues; Farm Bill; Food Security; Biotechnology; Clean Water Act; Planting Progress; Budget; and Financial Regulation
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — April 23, 2010
Dan Looker reported yesterday at AgricultureOnline that, "Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, told reporters Thursday that the new ACRE (Average Crop Revenue Election) program in the 2008 Farm Bill may need some changes when Congress writes a new farm bill in 2012...

Vilsack Outlines Farm Bill Priorities
Obama Administration Backs Safety Net for Farmers, Support for More Rural Jobs
Jerry Hagstrom, DTN The Progressive Farmer — April 22, 2010
WASHINGTON (DTN) — The Obama administration will leave the writing of the 2012 farm bill largely up to the congressional agriculture committees, but the administration believes the bill should contain a safety net for farmers as well as provisions to help create better off-farm jobs in rural America, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday...

Farm Bill; Climate Issues; Clean Water Act; Food Security; Biofuels; and Financial Regulation
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — April 22, 2010
A news release issued yesterday by the House Ag Committee stated that, "Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson held a hearing to discuss U.S. agriculture policy in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack...

North Dakota native tapped for federal ag post
AgWeek — April 21, 2010
North Dakota native Ellen Linderman has been appointed to serve on the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) Board of Directors. The selection was announced late yesterday by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack...

US farm supports may need change -key lawmaker
Charles Abbott, Reuters — April 21, 2010
WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - U.S. farm groups and lawmakers must consider whether fundamental change is needed in farm subsidies that date from the Depression, said the head of the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday after the opening work on the new farm bill, due in two years...

Constructing a New Farm Bill
Roger Bernard, Farm Journal — April 21, 2010
The 2012 Farm Bill. That phrase seems like a place well into the future. But in reality, or at least in the terms of a farm bill, constructing a new bill is a lot like road work season — you wonder if it is ever gonna end once it's started...

USDA to resurvey corn farmers in Dakota states
BusinessWeek — April 21, 2010
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to resurvey some corn producers in North Dakota and South Dakota because of the weather-delayed fall harvest...

Groups: Stop crop insurance negotiations
Jerry Hagstrom, Agweek — April 19, 2010
WASHINGTON — Farm groups have expressed concern that the Obama administration's negotiations with crop insurance companies to cut their subsidies could produce budget savings that would reduce the amount of money available for the next farm bill, but a spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said April 12 the administration is willing to work with Congress to address those concerns...

Work on new farm bill to begin shortly
David Bennett, Southwest Farm Press — April 19, 2010
The newest farm bill may be less than two years old — and is yet to even be fully implemented — but the House Agriculture Committee is already set to take on the next. During an April 16 press conference, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said a handful of pressing issues had moved him to push those with an interest in the coming legislation to begin thinking about the "broad picture of how they perceive the current (farm) bill working, or not, trends they see in the future and things we should be considering...One of the reasons to kick this off early is to get people thinking ahead of time."...

USDA To Work With Congress On Budget Baseline
Corn & Soybean Digest — April 19, 2010
USDA officials indicated last week they would work with Congress to somehow preserve 2012 Farm Bill budget baseline that could potentially be lost through the renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA). The comments, delivered to CongressDaily on the record by a USDA spokesperson and in less official terms to Capitol Hill leaders, came days after 10 commodity groups, including the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), wrote Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, expressing "grave concern" about baseline losses from savings achieved through the process, which was called for in the 2008 Farm Bill...

Farm Bill; Biofuels; Crop Insurance; Animal Agriculture; Food Safety; Climate Change; and Financial Regulation
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — April 19, 2010
A Daily Radio News Service audio report from USDA on Friday noted that, "USDA's top Risk Management official [Bill Murphy] says balancing the profit structure of the Federal Crop Insurance Program regionally is one way to improve the program overall nationwide." To listen to this brief audio report, just click here...

Policy specialists discuss farm bill
Larry Dreiling, High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal — April 16, 2010
While the next U.S. farm bill is not scheduled for passage until 2012, the work of shaping the legislation already is under way on Capitol Hill...

Rural Mutual: Crop Hail Insurance is Good Risk Management
Wisconsin Ag Connection — April 15, 2010
With spring storm season underway, farmers may want to consider crop hail insurance as part of their risk management program, especially if they did not enroll in multi-peril crop insurance before the March 15 deadline. That's according to Tom Thieding of Rural Mutual Insurance Company. He says each year, some farmers in the state are hit by localized storms that put their profit at risk...

Iowa lawmakers agree on something
Philip Brasher, Des Moines Register — April 14, 2010
It's not often that Iowa's five U.S. House members find something they can agree on. But all five are telling Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to back off of his proposed cuts to the crop insurance industry...

Climate Issues; Brazil Cotton Case; Crop Insurance; Animal Agriculture; Biofuels; and the Ag Economy
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — April 13, 2010
DTN Political Correspondent Jerry Hagstrom reported yesterday (link requires subscription) that, "A spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday that the Obama administration is willing to work with Congress on the budget challenges that might arise in creating the 2012 farm bill, because of potential budget savings from a proposed contract with crop-insurance companies...

NFU Calls for Crop Insurance Baseline Protection
Missouri Ruralist — April 13, 2010
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson Monday sent a letter to U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack on the renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement for the federal crop insurance program, as mandated by the 2008 Farm Bill...

Reinsurance Analyst Fears Cuts In Agriculture Subsidy
Arthur D. Postal, National Underwriter Property And Casualty Insurance News — April 12, 2010
WASHINGTON — Proposed cuts in the subsidies provided crop insurers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture could lead some reinsurers that support the program to withdraw or scale back their capacity, according to an insurance brokerage...

U.S. Corn Planting Ahead of Year-Ago Pace, USDA Says (Update1)
Jeff Wilson and Tony C. Dreibus, BusinessWeek — April 12, 2010
April 12 (Bloomberg) — The pace of corn planting in the U.S. is ahead of last year as warm, dry weather firmed Midwest fields for farm machinery, government data show. Winter-wheat conditions were unchanged from a week ago...

Climate Issues; EPA Pesticide Issue; Brazil Cotton Case; Crop Insurance; Ag Economy; and Biofuels
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — April 12, 2010
Chris Clayton noted on Friday at the DTN Ag Policy Blog that, "Last week, 30 senators wrote USDA cautioning against cuts to crop insurance in the Standard Reinsurance Agreement. Now, agricultural groups write another letter on the topic...

Now is not time to make cuts to federal farm programs
The Prairie Star — April 9, 2010
Just as producers prepare for another spring planting season, we are hearing of cuts to the federal farm programs in the 2011 proposed budget, particularly in the crop insurance program...

Sestak Calls for Dairy Farmer Insurance Support
Charlene M. Shupp, Lancaster Farming — April 9, 2010
LITITZ, Pa. — While farmers have had access to the Livestock Gross Margin Program (LGM) to manage their risk, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., said participation in the program has not been strong enough...

Lincoln, Chambliss Concerned About Crop Insurance Cuts
Farm Progress — Mid South Farmer — April 9, 2010
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and 28 other senators in a letter yesterday expressed appreciation to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency's for its willingness to reconsider its previous proposals as the Standard Reinsurance Agreement negotiation proceeds...

Groups: Insurance Cuts Hurt Farm Bill Baseline
Chris Clayton — DTN Ag Policy Blog
One clear benefit out of the crop-insurance negotiations is that everyone has got their letter-writing skills down. Last week, 30 senators wrote USDA cautioning against cuts to crop insurance in the Standard Reinsurance Agreement. Now, agricultural groups write another letter on the topic...

Crop Insurance; Ag Economy; Biofuels; Climate Issues; and Trade
Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com — April 6, 2010
A news release issued by USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) on Good Friday stated that, "[RMA] has released an update of a study completed by Milliman Inc., which determines a reasonable rate of return for crop insurers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance Program, and compares that rate to the historical rates of return for those companies. The newly updated report now includes data for 2009, which show that the return on equity during 2009 was 26.4 percent, the second highest return in the past 21 years and well above the reasonable rate of return for 2009, 10.7 percent...

Insurance Industry Questions Profit Numbers
Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Blog — April 6, 2010
The battle over future billions of dollars for crop insurance continued on Monday, with the crop-insurance industry questioning USDA's profit analysis, saying USDA's Risk Management Agency "understands too well that conclusions can't be drawn from data representing such a narrow timeframe. A long-term view is essential when analyzing a program based on a private insurance model, where any year's returns can vary due to weather or fluctuating crop prices. In fact, when discussing the rating of crop insurance policies in a recent interview, USDA's Risk Management Agency Administrator William Murphy indicated that a short timeframe is inappropriate when making crop risk-based policy decisions, adding that the analytical horizon had to extend back to the middle 1970's to ensure the policies were correct."...