If ethanol were made from sugar, we would never hear a word about it until the snows had melted and it was time to start considering the sacred cows in warmer regions. But it is in corn country that the first significant event of the presidential season occurs, and every Democrat with a hope of winning the Iowa caucus in January is vowing to make every American put ethanol in the tank.
A great rift is opening in America's once-impregnable farm lobby. It is a gap between those forms of agriculture that can prosper on their own and the ones that must be perpetually propped up by huge subsidies.
The U.S. war on terrorism suffered a huge blow last week — not in Baghdad or Kabul, but on the beaches of Cancún.
The World Trade Organization meeting in Cancún, Mexico, has highlighted a surprising new cause, promoted by a surprising new alliance. The new cause is the campaign to reduce or eliminate agricultural subsidies in the United States, Europe and Japan, to make room for agricultural exports from poor nations. The alliance between idealists of the left, third world producers and traditional conservative promoters of free trade is equally unprecedented.
Beware of farm lobbies asking Washington for a one-time "going out of business" deal. They often return for more, starting with a "this time we mean it" pitch. That is one of many reasons to be leery of a $13 billion buyout plan for tobacco farmers that is being floated in Washington.
The more than $10 billion that American taxpayers give corn farmers every year in agricultural subsidies has helped destroy the livelihoods of millions of small Mexican farmers, according to a report to be released on Wednesday.
Hubert Duez, a successful French farmer, has the English Navy to thank for his good fortune.
If it weren't killing them, people in Burkina Faso might get a good laugh at America's unprofitable cotton-growing fetish.
The French don't like change. For weeks now, nationwide strikes have regularly caused chaos in the country's transport system and schools, as public-sector workers demonstrate their opposition to planned reforms of the country's pensions system. But such protests are a pale shadow of the havoc that French farmers are prepared to wreak when they see their livelihoods threatened.
The most ambitious environmental rescue operation ever tried in this country — a $7.8 billion plan to restore the Everglades — is suddenly at risk.
If it weren't so dangerous, the chicken fight going on in Congress would be laughable.
...American products raised on megafarms that use satellite imagery to mete out fertilizer. These products are so heavily subsidized by the government that many are exported for less than it costs to grow them.
This is an example of someone doing an end run to manipulate the government with disregard for the public's wishes...
Several nonprofit bodies are promoting the use of organic methods — those that recreate the natural process — to maintain lawns and gardens...
...Congress's immense capacity for self-indulgence at the expense of sound public policy.
We have always known that Sen. Patty Murray has air in her shoes. Clearly she has a fair amount of air in her head as well.
The decision to reduce water flows from the Colorado River to farmers in California's Imperial Valley and 17 million urban consumers in Southern California was right on the mark
As it runs through Orin Edwards's ranch, the Belle Fourche River bubbles like Champagne. The bubbles can burn. They are methane, also called natural gas...
The Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a case that, while it turns on arcane issues, could have a major impact on endangered wetlands.
In other words, we subsidize our farmers so heavily that they can undersell poor competitors abroad.
The debate touches on issues of water rights and responsibilities, and spills over into farm policy,..
"The farmer on the dole ... greedy welfare kings undermining poor farmers in Africa, Latin America and Asia"
"Energy and dollar costs of Ethanol production with Corn" by Dr. David Pimentel
"At first blush this subsidy might look like a handout for farmers, but really it's a form of welfare for the plant itself"
New Farm Bill pays New York Times journalist for "farming the government, rather than farming the land."
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