agriculture

Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson announced that $1 million in grant funding is being made available to livestock producers in the state for on-farm improvements. The Livestock Investment Grants help farmers stay competitive and reinvest in their industry. Qualifying...

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has announced a new pilot program designed to assist farmers transitioning their land or livestock to certified organic status. The program is the first in the nation to provide an incentive for farmers to work with a USDA-accredited organic...

The future of federal farm programs is uncertain, at best, after a sharply divided House on Thursday passed a stripped-down farm bill on its second try. The 216-208 vote mostly was along party lines, a rarity for farm bills, with all but 12 Republicans voting for it and all Democrats...

A sharply divided U.S. House passed a farm bill 216-208 today amid complaints that it is the first time federal farm programs have become embroiled in partisan politics. Its future is uncertain since senators passed a far different bill. U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, a western...

The Republican-controlled U.S. House planned today to debate farm funding programs over strong objections from Democrats, including the president. A late Wednesday decision by the House Rules Committee sent the farm bill to the full House, first for a parliamentary debate and,...

U.S. House Republicans want to remove food stamps from a farm bill, then pass the previously defeated agriculture funding legislation on its own. The effort that surfaced Tuesday comes against advice from farm-state politicians of both parties and more than 500 farm-related groups. “This...

Some $1 million in grant funding is being made available to livestock producers in the state for on-farm improvements. The Livestock Investment Grants help farmers stay competitive and reinvest in their industry. The 179 grant recipients to date have invested an estimated $55 million...

Nearly 50 Minnesota farmers, producers and processors will share $1 million in Value Added Grants distributed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). The Value Added Grant Program helps agricultural producers add value to their businesses resulting in the development...

U.S. House agriculture leaders will try, try again to pass a five-year farm bill. “It’s been four years and we are not going to give up now,” U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson said Thursday after the House defeated on a 234-195 vote a bill setting federal agriculture and nutrition...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House this afternoon defeated 234-195 a farm bill that would have funded agriculture and nutrition programs for the next five years. The defeat came after House Speaker House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., agreed to support...

A U.S. House vote on new federal farm policy may not come until next week. With 103 amendments to be debated after a late start on Wednesday, it appeared it would be difficult to meet today’s 3 p.m. deadline to vote on the nearly $1 trillion bill establishing American farm and...

The Farm Bill now being considered by the U.S. House isn’t all about farm programs and food stamps. It also funds rural development programs, and that money will be missed more than most people realize if it goes away, according to St. Paul-based think tank Minnesota 2020. In...

Food stamps are at the same time the biggest hurdle to enacting federal farm policy and a necessary part of passing the farm bill. Discussion about cutting spending for the program to feed poor Americans dominated Tuesday as three days of U.S. House debate began on the farm bill,...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton officially launched a new agricultural water quality pilot program designed to enhance water quality in the state. The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification program is the first of its kind in...