November 2011 Blog Posts

House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders developed a bipartisan, bicameral proposal for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that would save $23 billion.  However, the Joint Select Committee’s failure to reach a deal on an overall deficit reduction package effectively ends this effort.  We are pleased we were able to work in a bipartisan way with committee members and agriculture stakeholders to generate sound ideas to cut spending by tens of billions while maintaining key priorities to grow the country’s agriculture economy.  We will continue the process of reauthorizing the farm bill in the coming months, and will do so with the same bipartisan spirit that has historically defined the work of our committees. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Representative Frank Lucas (R-OK) November 21, 2011

“There is no evidence of a relationship between subsidies and the overproduction of commodity* crops, or between subsidies and obesity” according to a new report by Food & Water Watch and Public Health Institute. They claim that the root problem is not federal payments made to farmers but rather the deregulation of the entire food system that began in the 1980s.

An analysis of farmers markets in 19 towns and cities across 6 states in the Southeast and Appalachia found the vast majority to be price competitive with supermarkets on an array of food items, including produce meats and eggs. 

Sam Shina’s family owns 14 small grocery stores in Detroit. One of them could soon be part of a market incentive experiment designed to improve public health, expand sales for Michigan farmers, and grow local economies.