Charles Abbott

Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack downplayed his own department’s analysis of U.S. climate legislation Dec. 15, saying “more current” studies do not foresee carbon-capturing trees taking over millions of acres of farmland. Up to 59 million acres of pasture and cropland could be converted to woodland by 2050 under a cap-and-trade system, according to the Agriculture […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute The largest U.S. farm group called on Congress on Jan. 12 to prevent the government from regulating greenhouse gases if lawmakers kill climate change legislation. The six-million-member American Farm Bureau Federation also underlined its firm opposition to legislation to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for boosting global temperatures. In their first […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Obama administration should drop its proposal to end the direct payment subsidy to large U. S. farmers, the National Farmers Union said March 9, pointing to a slump in dairy and crop prices. The White House proposal has few supporters among farming groups and farm-state legislators. It calls for a three-year phase-out of direct […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes After trai ling byN10 points in U. S. rural areas, Democrat Barack Obama is neck-and-neck with Republican John McCain among rural voters in 13 swing states, a potentially key group for winning the White House, according to a poll released last month. Obama was supported by 46 per cent and McCain by 45 per cent […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes The U. S. government issued a first-of-its-kind correction last Tuesday to its monthly crop report, usually the authoritative word on U. S. farm output, that was flawed this month by bad data on corn and soybeans. The U. S. Agriculture Department lowered its forecast for the corn crop by 1.4 per cent to 12.033 billion […] Read more