Issues

47 posts

Press Release: More than 100 Groups Urge Congress to Support Tester Amendment in 2013 Farm Bill

May 22, 2013
More than 100 farm organizations, scientists, businesses and nonprofits, including Organic Seed Alliance and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, have signed a letter urging Congress to support Senator Tester’s amendment to the Senate Farm Bill. The proposed Farm Bill currently on the Congress floor fails to direct more research dollars to classical breeding projects that would result in the benefit of publicly owned plant cultivars and animal breeds.
Read >

A Critical Moment for a Resilient Food System

May 16, 2013
The full Senate is taking up the Farm Bill debate today, and, right now, there is no language in the bill that protects funding for classical breeding and research that results in publicly owned varieties. If the Senate Farm Bill goes through in its current form, American farmers and researchers looking for publicly owned crop varieties will find themselves with almost no options.
Read >

Crop Insurance, Farmer Income, and the Drought

August 3, 2012
On July 31, the Wall Street Journal online ran an article entitled “Crops Hurt, But Farmers Will Still Get Paid.” The article begins “A historic drought across the middle of the U.S. is shriveling crops—but not many farmers' incomes.” Citing USDA statistics that 70% of crops are covered by crop insurance, this article is part of a growing voice that crop insurance means there is no financial emergency behind this historic drought. Numbers like these look good from behind a desk, but not from behind the wheel of a tractor. Here’s why.
Read >

GIPSA Fact Sheet

January 7, 2012
This fact sheet was produced by the RAFI in cooperation with the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform and Farmersʼ Legal Action Group
Read >