by Claire Kelloway | December 20, 2018 Last week, Congress passed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, a.k.a, “the Farm Bill.” While Democrats managed to evade Republican efforts to add work requirements to SNAP benefits, this Farm Bill otherwise maintains a status quo that pushes farms to get big or get out, promotes exports over…
by Corie Brown | December 20th, 2018 Kansas producers say policy solutions aren’t necessary to save the Ogallala Aquifer, the state’s most economically important natural resource. That’s up for debate—but a Koch think tank may make regulation impossible anyway. For the past year, I’ve traveled across Kansas, a journey that’s entailed half a dozen visits…
by Chris McGreal in Langdon, Missouri | December 12, 2018 ‘The changes have become more radical’: farmers are spending more time and money trying to grow crops in new climates Richard Oswald did not need the latest US government report on the creeping toll of climate change to tell him that farming in the midwest…
by Andrew Whalen | December 7, 2018 Dollar-store chains like Dollar General and Dollar Tree are rapidly expanding by targeting the poor, particularly in predominantly black neighborhoods and rural areas, while planning for a permanent American underclass, according to a new report from the community development nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR). Though dollar stores…
December 13, 2018 Brand new farms and food businesses. More job opportunities. Small enterprises, eager to grow, finally scaling up and family farms going organic. A Real Food economy is here and growing — and this growth is anchored by institutions of higher ed. That’s the picture that emerges from our new report. More than…
by Michael Gebert | December 14, 2018 Behind a Rick Bayless sandwich at the airport, there’s the story of a family farmer reinventing farming YOU ARE BEING HERDED UP one way and down the other. Shuffling along in a slow procession until you reach the inspector, who looks you over and with his stamp, sends…
by Krissa Welshans | Dec 14, 2018 Company paid $29k back in June for failing to properly maintain carcass monorail scales. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced Dec. 14 that it has reached a consent decision with JBS USA Food Company, also known as Swift Beef Company (JBS Swift), Greeley, Colo., for alleged violations of…
The Farm Bill Ignores the Real Troubles of U.S. Agriculture True farming reform means adjusting the system to support small and midsize producers and cultivating a more sustainable system of agriculture. By Gracy Olmstead Ms. Olmstead is a writer who contributes to The American Conservative, The Week, The Washington Post and other publications. Dec. 14,…
The world’s largest beef processing corporation, JBS, is underpaying family farmers and ranchers for their cattle. Even worse, our government is letting them get away with it. A recent announcement of yet another case where a JBS meatpacking plant failed to properly weigh and keep track of cattle delivered to its plant resulted in a…
posted December 12, 2018 Today, Organization for Competitive Markets received information indicating that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will be releasing the terms of a settlement agreement with JBS Swift over its gross mishandling of beef carcasses at its Grand Island, Nebraska facility, its largest beef processing plant in the U.S….