The Farmstand: RAFI’s Blog

724 posts

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.
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Moore County Church Serves as Gathering Site for Local Food Business

July 31, 2012
West End is one of several sites that offers its space for delivery and distribution in exchange for a small percentage of the co-op's profits, but according to Peggy and Ed, the church's annual income of $3,500 from serving as a host site doesn't nearly reflect the importance of its three-year partnership with SF2T.
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Conaway-Costa Farm Bill Amendment Threatens Hard-Won GIPSA Rule

July 11, 2012
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee is voting on amendments to the Farm Bill. We found out last night that one of those amendments - the Conaway-Costa Amendment - will be designed to gut the GIPSA rule that protects contract poultry farmers from company abuses.
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Press Release: Appropriations Bill Threatens GIPSA Rule

June 19, 2012
The version of the FY2013 agriculture appropriations bill passed by the Appropriations Committee of the US House of Representatives today would overturn a rule that provides important protections from unfair treatment to thousands of American contract poultry growers.
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Robersonville Packing Company: Family-Owned Meat Packing Business Starts Selling Vegetables through EBT

June 15, 2012
Danny and Jackie Peed have been in the business of slaughtering, processing, and distributing eastern North Carolina meat for over thirty years. But what they’re most excited about are their new vegetable boxes. In the spring of 2011, the Peeds received a small grant from RAFI’s Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund to purchase equipment that would allow them to sort and process produce from local farmers and deliver low-cost produce boxes to homes throughout northeastern North Carolina.
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