FarmPolicy

Presidential Press Conference Drought, But Farm Bill Noted-

Josh Earnest, the White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary held a briefing with reporters today in Washington, D.C.

Reporters noted at the press briefing that it has been “quite some time” since the president has held a “full-blown” press conference.

Here is one exchange from today:

QUESTION: One other thing, on the — you know, the president this week has done a number of interviews — People magazine, “Entertainment Tonight,” local morning radio, everywhere — but we haven’t heard from the president in terms of a — a full-blown press conference in quite some time. Any updates on when we could see the president again?

EARNEST: I don’t have any scheduling announcements to make here today about a press conference, actually.

EARNEST: I do have a week ahead that we’ll get to at the end of this — at the end of this session, but I don’t have anything new in terms of the timing of a news conference.

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The issue of presidential press conference came up again later, and at this time Mr. Earnest noted that the president had addressed Farm Bill issues, here is the full exchange:

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 17, 2012 • 4:33 pm

CNBC Interview with Sec. Vilsack (8.15)

A wide ranging and informative interview with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack; he discusses the drought, Farm Bill politics, GMO issues, ethanol and food prices.

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 17, 2012 • 5:44 am

Wall Street Journal- Opinion: Obama Farming Votes (8.15)

Wall Street Journal Columnist Kim Strassel presents her perspective on President Obama and drought relief politics.

For more background on this presentation, and other views regarding the Farm Bill, see this August 15 FarmPolicy.com update, “Farm Bill Politics: Two Different Views.”

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 17, 2012 • 5:42 am

Economic Research Service: Oil Crops Outlook

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released its Oil Crops Outlook, “Adverse Weather Slashes U.S. Soybean Yields.”

The ERS report contained a detailed summary of recent USDA projections regarding oil seeds and noted that, “This month, USDA reduced the U.S. soybean yield forecast for 2012 to 36.1 bushels per acre from 40.5 bushels last month. Along with a 680,000-acre reduction in the harvested acreage estimate, the lower yield reduces the forecast of U.S. soybean production this month by 358 million bushels to 2.692 billion.”

The ERS report also contained a couple of graphs.

Included below, the first depicts U.S. soybean production and yield since 1993, while a separate graph illustrates soybean production in the U.S. and Brazil (click on the graphs for an expanded, full view).

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 17, 2012 • 5:39 am

Farm Bill; Ag Economy; RFS; Nutrition, and Food Safety

Farm Bill

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) was a guest on yesterday’s AgriTalk radio program with Mike Adams where the discussion focused on the Farm Bill (unofficial transcript here, audio replay here).

Mike Adams asked Rep. Peterson, “What do you think is going to happen when you get back in session in September? Are you going to get a bill done?”

The Minnesota Democrat noted that, “We’re trying. We’re trying. We’re using August here to see if we can narrow the differences and get language written and get language scored and so forth so that when we get back, if there’s motivation to move this thing, we’re in a position to do it. But it’s kind of going slow at this point, but we’re trying, we’re pushing.”

Rep. Peterson added that, “I think what people are hoping for is that people will get an earful when they’re home for August and come back on September 10th with a number of members putting pressure on their leadership to try to get this thing moved.”

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 17, 2012 • 4:10 am