Moving quickly to help farmers who face difficult planting decisions as a result of uncertainty surrounding sign up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the full House of Representatives today overwhelmingly passed legislation to provide one-year CRP contracts to potential producers of fall-planted crops. The bill - H.R. 1342, which was introduced and shepherded by Agriculture Committee Cha... Read more »
Export tools such as the Export Enhancement Program (EEP) and the Market Access Program (MAP) are needed to ensure a level playing field in international markets, according to Rep. Bill Barrett (R-NE), Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities. Barrett, whose subcommittee held a joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Risk Management and Specialty Crops today, said ... Read more »
Testifying before a key house subcommittee, a Texas agricultural engineer and air quality expert today said the Enviornmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter is "grossly in error", based on faulty data, and should be withdrawn. On November 27, 1996, EPA proposed new ambient air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter, wh... Read more »
Heeding the concerns of thousands of farmers, the House Committee on Agriculture today overwhelmingly passed legislation providing a one-year bridge contract for farmers whose Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts are expiring, and for whom the uncertainty of enrollment in CRP has limited fall planting flexibility. The bill, H.R. 1342, which was introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman ... Read more »
Saying the time to protect farmers who grow winter-planted crops is running out, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committe on Agriculture, today announced that the committee would consider a one-year correction of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to alleviate uncertainty resulting from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) tardiness in issuing a final rule and commen... Read more »
The Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee has postponed it's hearing on U.S. European Union trade scheduled for 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 16. In a letter today to Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), Chairman of the Subcommittee, J. David Carlin, Assistant Secretary of Congressional Relations at USDA, wrote: "Due to the sensitive state of current negotiations with the European Union on veterinary equiva... Read more »
A new scientific report showing that current federal policies for managing public and private forests nationwide are not achieving critical environmental results is powerful evidence of the need for a more creative, active management of the nation's forests, Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, said today. The report, prepared by an independent panel of hig... Read more »
Acting swiftly to end waste, fraud, and abuse in the food stamp program, the House of Representatives today overwhelmingly passed H.R. 1000, a bill requiring states to establish systems to verify that prisoners are not participating in the food stamp program. On Monday, March 10, The General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report which concluded that millions of dollars are wasted in food stamp o... Read more »
Continuing it's effort to reduce trade barriers and open new markets for American farm products, the House Committee on Agriculture, led by Chairman Bob Smith (R-OR), traveled to Mexico last week, seeking Mexico's understanding and flexibility on sanitary and phytosanitary concerns. As a result, in a letter today, the Members have asked President Bill Clinton to recognize the state of Sonora as ho... Read more »
Congressman Bob Smith (R-OR), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, today applauded Canada's decision to drop restrictions prohibiting the transshipment of U.S. durum wheat through St. Lawrence Seaway facilities, shipments previously prohibited by concerns over karnal bunt fungus. Chairman Smith and five other members of the U.S. House of Representatives had raised the issue with Canadia... Read more »
