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Trade Agreements Finally Moving for Real

Cindy Zimmerman

After more than four years in limbo, trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama have finally been sent to Congress by the White House and could be voted on by next week. “The series of trade agreements I am submitting to Congress today will make it easier for American companies to sell their products in South Korea, Colombia, and …

AFBF, Beef, NCBA, Trade

Farm Bill Forecasting at Peanut Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

Prospects for a new Farm Bill dominated a discussion at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Panama City over the weekend. Congressman Stephen Fincher (R-TN) of the freshman class in the House of Representatives for 2010 would like to see the next Farm Bill delayed until after the 2012 election. “We’ve got to make sure as we approach writing a …

AFBF, Peanuts, politics, SPGC

Interactive Website for American Century Farms

Cindy Zimmerman

Celebrating our nation’s rich agricultural heritage and educating others about it are the goals of a new interactive website launched by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture with the sponsorship of Bayer CropScience. Appropriately named “Agriculture’s Lasting Heritage,” this website tells the story of American farm and ranch families who have shaped the history of our nation. “Agriculture’s Lasting …

AFBF, Bayer

GIPSA Heating Up

Cindy Zimmerman

It’s been almost exactly a year since USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) published a controversial proposed rule that would fundamentally change the way livestock is marketed in this country, and those opposed to it remain hopeful that the proposal itself will be fundamentally changed – or just eliminated. Colin Woodall with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) …

AFBF, GIPSA, Livestock, NCBA, NPPC

Ag Groups Call For Trade Agreement Approval

Cindy Zimmerman

Since May is both World Trade Month and National Beef Month, it was appropriate for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) to host a news conference on Capitol Hill today urging the Obama administration to send pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea to Congress immediately. NCBA was joined by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), American …

AFBF, Audio, NCBA, NCGA, Trade

Farm Bureau Estimates Flooded Farm Acres at Over 3.5 Million

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Farm Bureau Federation is estimating that nearly 3.6 million acres of farmland in the southern United States have been impacted by flooding, including about 40 percent of the rice crop. AFBF received flood damage estimates from individual state Farm Bureaus in the affected areas. Arkansas topped the list with a million acres affected, including 300,000 acres of rice …

AFBF, Weather

Lots of Trade Talking This Week

Cindy Zimmerman

Since May is World Trade Month, you would think it would be a great time for Congress to pass those pesky pending Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama that have been awaiting approval for years. Several of the nation’s largest agricultural organizations who testified before the House Agriculture Committee this week on why it is so important to …

AFBF, NCBA, NCGA, Trade, USDA

Communicating With A Non-Farm Audience

Chuck Zimmerman

What is the perception of farmers and ranchers? That’s the broader question that was being addressed by participants at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit according to Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation. She was one of the many people I had the pleasure to speak with. One of the things she got out of Frank Luntz’s presentation had …

AFBF, Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture, Audio

Agriculture Excited About Colombia Free Trade News

Cindy Zimmerman

It’s taken over four years to get to this point, but some action is finally happening on the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) and U.S. agriculture interests are thrilled. President Obama announced today that an agreement has been reached on the deal that was signed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Colombian trade minister on Nov. 22, 2006. The …

AFBF, Beef, NCBA, NCGA, NPPC, Trade, USDA

Congress Repeals Stupid 1099 Provision

Cindy Zimmerman

Put this in the “who thought this was a good idea in the first place?” file. By a vote of 87-12, the U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to repeal the idiotic health care reform provision that would have required businesses to file a 1099 form with the IRS any time they spend more than $600 a year with another business, sending …

AFBF, NCBA