"Help the farmers or help the poor? The farm bill House lawmakers will consider Wednesday forces vulnerable Republicans in contested House races in largely rural districts to make a difficult, perhaps politically lethal choice between the two constituencies."
"House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway on April 12 kicked off a battle over the next farm bill by releasing draft legislation that would make some improvements to major commodity programs, while overhauling conservation policy and making sweeping reforms to nutrition assistance."
"A Trump administration outline for farm legislation calls for pushing some food-stamp recipients back to work, a GOP priority."
"Advocates on both sides of the aisle say doubling funding for the USDA’s organic research program will help farmers meet demand and remain competitive."
"ATWOOD, Kan. — Kevin Holle's farm field is crowded with dried cornstalks that crackle in the breeze and ground that's dusty despite recent rain. Three years ago, this tract was one of the Earth's most endangered ecosystems: native prairie."
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientist nominee, Sam Clovis, who now serves as the agency’s senior White House adviser, confirmed in an Oct. 17 letter obtained by The Washington Post that he has no academic credentials in either science or agriculture."
"The USDA’s research section studies everything from climate change to nutrition. Under the 2008 Farm Bill, its leader is supposed to serve as the agency’s 'chief scientist' and be chosen 'from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics.' But Sam Clovis — who, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment and members of the agriculture trade press, is President Trump’s pick to oversee the section — appears to have no such credentials."
"Over the past decade, farmers in the Great Southern Plains have suffered the worst drought conditions since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. They've battled heat, dust storms and in recent weeks, fires that devoured more than 900,000 acres and killed thousands of cattle. These extreme conditions are being fueled by climate change. But a new report from an environmental advocacy group says they're also being driven by federal crop insurance policy that encourages farmers to continue planting crops on compromised land, year after year."
The next farm bill will be the first in a long time put together entirely by a Republican government. How will big agribusiness and ordinary food consumers fare?
"Urban farming received a legitimizing nod last month when Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) introduced the Urban Agriculture Act of 2016 in hopes of getting it included in the next Farm Bill."
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