Farm policy, programs and the rules that shape what gets grown and how.
Four packers buy 82 percent of fed cattle and two companies sell most of the corn and soybean seed. What the Packers and Stockyards Act forbids, where USDA's rules and the Justice Department's cases stand this October, and what a small producer can do.
The rules that run Lake Powell and Lake Mead expire at the end of 2026, the seven states have no deal, and spring brought record-low snowpack. How the river is divided, who holds the water, and what an irrigated farm can plan for.
How EBT works at a market stall, what the free equipment program covers, how GusNIP incentives double a shopper's produce money, what the July 2025 reconciliation law changed and when, and the paperwork a vendor or market manager has to do before the season opens.
The farm bill extension and federal funding both run out on September 30, 2025. Which programs keep paying, which stop taking new sign-ups, why the dairy cliff is a December problem, and what to do if your application is sitting in a county office.
Beef and pork left the mandatory labeling law in 2015 after a WTO fight. A new Product of USA standard arrives in January 2026, a Senate bill would bring COOL back, and last week's House bill skipped it. Where a US grass-fed producer stands.
A new President takes office today and USDA's top floor turns over. Here is what that changes at your county office, what the December relief law already locks in, the handful of places worth watching, and how to protect a signed conservation contract.
A dollar a head on cattle, 35 cents per hundred dollars of hogs, 15 cents a hundredweight of milk. Here is where checkoff money goes, why grass-fed and independent producers object, and what the OFF Act would change.
Federal, state and custom-exempt processing explained: why custom-exempt meat cannot be sold by the cut, what state inspection and the Cooperative Interstate Shipment program allow, what the PRIME Act would change, and what the May 2024 farm bill summaries put on the table.
The farm bill is on a one-year extension and the Inflation Reduction Act's conservation dollars are the money in play. How EQIP, CSP, CRP and RCPP are funded, what baseline means, where both sides stand, and what a farm planning a contract should do.
The 2018 Farm Bill runs out on September 30. Here are its twelve titles in plain language, the four that touch a small diversified farm, what expiration means for the programs you use, and how to follow the rewrite without reading a thousand pages.
The US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the third piece of legislation passed in the White House since the end of 2021 that aims to improve US economic competitiveness, innovation, and industrial productivity while promoting a clean energy...
There are many areas in which policy change is needed, to make room for eco-friendly and sustainable approaches to agriculture.
