Doing more with less was a consistent theme at the Cattlemen’s Beef Board summer meeting this week in Denver. “We’re down in funds and the funds are probably going to be lower next year,” said CBB chairman Weldon Wynn of Arkansas. “But we’re doing more with less than we’ve ever done before within this industry and we’re still gaining ground.” … Read More
Beef Checkoff Executive Report
Cattlemen’s Beef Board CEO Polly Ruhland says the summer industry meeting in Denver is about strategy where “the rubber meets the road.” At the general session, Ruhland talked about the new committee structure and shorter format for the conference. “The format focuses more on strategy and the consumer directly than our old format did,” she said in an interview at … Read More
Checking up on Beef Checkoff Dollars
World Dairy Diary has been in Denver this week covering the Cattle Industry Summer meeting which includes the major decision-making meetings of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board regarding the spending of beef checkoff dollars. The Audit Committee of the Beef Board is chaired by Davis Denman (pictured on right). Davis is a dairy and grain farmer in Cortland, Ohio, and was … Read More
Senate Passes Immigration Reform Bill
Despite concerns by some members about the agricultural provisions, the full Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform legislation on Thursday by a vote of 68-32. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) took to the floor Wednesday evening to detail some of his concerns about the farm worker provisions in the bill and amendments that he wanted to see added. The Georgia senator’s main … Read More
Dairy and Food Stamps Kill Farm Bill
Republican amendments to the dairy program and giving states the option to require able-bodied food stamp recipients to seek employment were the straws that broke the camel’s back when it came to getting a farm bill passed in the House last week. The dairy measure was the Goodlatte-Scott amendment, which effectively killed the Dairy Security Act included in the bill, … Read More
House Farm Bill Fails
Despite an impassioned plea by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas to “move this bill forward” the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (FARRM) failed on a vote of 194 to 234, with 60 Republicans joining the majority of Democrats to defeat the House version of the farm bill. “If it fails today, I can’t guarantee you’ll … Read More
Boehner Supports Farm Bill Despite Dairy Provisions
Speaker of the House John Boehner says he would vote for the House Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM) of 2013, but intends to try and change the dairy provisions. “I’ve got concerns about the farm bill, as I told our members,” Boehner said during the Republican Leadership press conference Wednesday. “But doing nothing means that we get … Read More
Farm Bill Now up to House
The Senate passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 by a vote of 66 to 27 on Monday evening, putting even more pressure on the House of Representatives to complete its work to get a bill to conference and passed by the end of summer. Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), a member of the House agriculture committee, is … Read More
Dairies to See More Opportunities to Turn Waste to Energy
The U.S. Department of Agriculture extends the deadline on a program that could see more farmers, especially those in the dairy industry, turning livestock waste into energy. The deadline to submit for funds under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and Dairy Industry Memorandum of Understanding has been extended to to May 31, 2013. During a teleconference moderated by … Read More
House Ag Committee Supports DSA in Farm Bill
The House Agriculture Committee came out in support of the Dairy Security Act (DSA) on Wednesday, voting to reject an amendment by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and David Scott (D-GA) to remove the supply management mechanism of the act. “Supply management is antithetical to the future growth of the dairy industry,” Goodlatte and Scott said in a statement expressing their … Read More