Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. ZimmComm is now entering its 21st year. Who would have thought? We officially announced our company at the 2004 National Agri-Marketing Conference. We had our first booth at the conference in 2005 which means we’ve exhibited for twenty of them! I thought you might like to hear the first audio podcast I recorded in …
Farm Groups Pleased with Relief in CR
It was supposed to be a simple continuing resolution to keep the government operating into March of 2025, but it ballooned into a 1,547 page measure that includes several provisions for agriculture, including $10 billion in aid for struggling farmers as well as a second one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill. In addition, a provision to allow the sale …
Angie Craig Elected House Ag Ranking Member
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) was elected Tuesday to serve as Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture, replacing David Scott of Georgia. “I just won my D+1 district by nearly 14 points because my farmers and rural constituents know that I’ll meet them where they’re at, I’ll listen to their concerns and I’ll work with whoever I can to …
Farm Income Continues to Fall
The USDA Economic Research Service 2024 Farm Sector Income Forecast shows farm income is down again this year, but not as much as it was last year. While the report compares different measures of farm income, the bottom line is that, adjusted for inflation, net farm income is forecast to decrease by $9.5 billion (6.3 percent) from 2023 to 2024. …
Grassley Sounds Off on Senate Farm Bill Proposal
During his weekly call with farm reporters Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) gave his opinion on the last minute Farm Bill introduced Monday by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow. “The timing of this bill is disappointing and unrealistic,” said Grassley. “It’s a sad commentary that Senate Democrats kept farmers waiting two years before even releasing a bill text, while …
Last Minute Senate Farm Bill Introduced
On Monday, with only weeks before the end of this session of Congress, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) at last released the text of her nearly 1400 page farm bill the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act. According to Sen. Stabenow, the bill includes funding from the IRA. “This bill will roll the historic investment we made in …
NCBA Pleased with Election Results, Hopeful for Farm Bill
The 2024 election turned out well for the nation’s cattle producers, according to National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “Whether it be a president that we’ve worked with before, whether it be the defeat of radical animal rights action around the country, a tremendous election cycle, and I think now eyes turn to what can …
Grassley Says Lame Duck Farm Bill Unlikely
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) believes getting a farm bill through during the lame duck session of Congress is unlikely. “I haven’t heard of any movement during the month of October,” Grassley told reporters during a weekly call on Tuesday. “We have two weeks before Thanksgiving, we have three weeks before Christmas, and the way Schumer runs the Senate that’s only …
Walz References Farmers in Debate
Minnesota Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz brought the farm bill into the debate Tuesday night, in answer to a question about when he was in China. Walz was asked about a discrepancy between when he said he was in Hong Kong in the spring of 1989 during the Tiananmen Square protests and media reports that he was not …
USDA Awards More Processing Plant Grants
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Thursday more than $35 million in grants to 15 independent meat processors in 12 states to increase processing capacity, the final installment in the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP) launched in 2022. Over $325 million total investment in 74 independent meat and poultry processing projects have been awarded. Joining Sec. Vilsack in making …