Articles by Sara Wyant

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2012 -A 10-year, $31-billion cut to direct payments and crop insurance proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on Tuesday is too much, according to the two largest U.S. farm organizations.

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2012 -Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum cruised into Osage Beach, MO (pop. 4,700) last week, hoping to rally rural voters who could perhaps provide the delegates he needs to win in an uphill battle for the GOP presidential nomination.

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2012 -New Senate Democratic legislation repealing tax benefits for the oil and gas industry while extending several renewable energy tax credits is on the Senate calendar with a vow by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2012 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released a report USDA officials said highlights “the ways in which USDA's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) contributes to U.S. energy independence and helps rural small businesses and farmers become more energy efficient.”

– A new report comparing the farm safety net provisions of the House and Senate farm bills on 64 representative crop farms finds that, under prices projected in the current farm bill baseline, those farms would prefer the House Agriculture Committee’s Price Loss Coverage (PLC) option over any optio

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2012-With Russia set to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in August of this year, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hear testimony Thursday on the implications of the accession for the United States.

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2012-An amendment to the surface transportation bill that would revive and extend expired and existing renewable energy tax credits

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2012-A Senate Agriculture Committee farm bill hearing on risk management and commodities scheduled for Wednesday was pushed back to Thursday due to a busy Senate floor schedule.

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2012 -In a case with national implications, North Carolina’s largest egg producing facility is continuing its fight though an appeals process in a 10-year legal dispute with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.