Free Republic

The Senate today easily passed its version of the farm bill by a vote of 86-11,paving the way for a conference committee to reconcile differences with the House's version of the sweeping agriculture and nutrition legislation. The Senate farm bill attracted bipartisan support, as expected, but key differences with the House's partisan version, which passed last week, set up potentially contentious negotiations between the lawmakers who will be tasked with melding the two measures into one. The main differences relate to proposals for the food stamp program, farm subsidy caps and conservation initiatives. Congress has until Sept. 30 to get...

GM Debate Not Settled, Say European Scientists Controversy erupts after World Food Prize awarded to Monsanto By Justina Reichel, Epoch Times | October 24, 2013 In the wake of biotech giants Monsanto and Syngenta being awarded the World Food Prize, a European coalition of scientists is challenging claims that the debate around genetically modified foods is settled and that GM foods are safe. The European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, which consists of more than 90 scientists, academics, and physicians, released a statement Monday in response to “sweeping claims” that GM products are safe. “We strongly reject...

It's no secret that many times the federal government can spend your tax dollars in ways that might leave you scratching your head or even make you angry. But wait until you hear what I-Team Investigator Stephen Stock dug up and who is getting your money now. William Roderick Kent was 87-years-old when he died. He now rests in a mausoleum at Woodlawn Park Cemetery North along Miami's 8th Street. Kent lived in a nice home in Coconut Grove. He owned property throughout South Florida, including a place in multi-story building in Coral Gables. So why -- even two years...

APEC consumed by WTO deadlock, bird flu fears Sat Nov 12, 8:36 AM ET Asian and Pacific nations worked to ease the deadlock in troubled global trade talks and agreed joint measures to help prevent a possible bird flu pandemic. The 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum began talks in the South Korean city of Busan amid gloomy predictions about the December 13-18 World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong. A US official said the fate of the 2001 Doha round of WTO talks, which has foundered mainly over trade-distorting agricultural subsidies in rich countries, would dominate...

U.S. Wants Global Farm Subsidy Curbs WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration, criticized overseas for supporting a huge increase in U.S. farm subsidies this year, said Thursday it was prepared to seek cuts in such support as part of a new global trade agreement. The proposal was included in a negotiating package the administration unveiled in advance of World Trade Organization farm negotiations scheduled to resume next week in Geneva. "This plan is a win for America's farmers, ranchers and consumers and also a win for the global economy," U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told reporters at a news conference....

<p>That great rooting, snooting noise you hear in the distance, dear taxpayers, is the sound of election-year, farm-state politics rolling out of the U.S. Congress. We all know democracy isn't cheap, but this is ridiculous.</p> <p>Senate and House conferees this week unveiled their final farm bill, a 10-year, $173.5 billion bucket of slop that has even Washington agog. By the time all the handouts and payoffs were complete, the well-fed conferees had agreed to increase agricultural spending by no less than 70%. This alone amounts to one of the greatest urban-to-rural wealth transfers in history, a sort of Farm Belt Great Society.</p>