Chuck Abbott from Reuters writing about President Obama's speech last night as it pertains to farm programs.

President Barack Obama, in his first speech to Congress, called on Tuesday for an end to "direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them," an apparent attack on subsidies costing $5.2 billion a year.

The proposal echoed a leading point from his presidential campaign, although the idea was not certain of success. President George W. Bush, for example, fruitlessly backed a $250,000 annual cap on payments per farmer.

While running for president, Obama said in campaign documents that farm subsidies should go to farmers who need them and "not millionaire farmers who rely on American taxpayers to protect their multimillion dollar profits."

In remarks prepared for Congress, Obama said the White House has identified $2 trillion in wasteful and ineffective spending, including unneeded direct payments to large farms.

"In this budget, we will ... end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them," he said. He did not say how much money would be saved by the step or how it would be structured.

Two farm-group spokesmen said the president apparently meant a farm subsidy known as direct payments that was created in 2002 and is made regardless of crop prices or farm profits.

But they noted "direct payments" also is a term meaning all types of federal support made in cash.

EWG has released an analysis of "Direct Payments" that you can find here.

Statement of Ken Cook
President, Environmental Working Group

"President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack have done the public a great service by nominating Kathleen Merrigan for deputy secretary of agriculture.

"It is a strong signal that under the Obama administration, USDA will not be doing agribusiness as usual.

"In a policy realm dominated by the endless clamor of the subsidy lobby, Kathleen has distinguished herself by hearing and responding to the concerns of those who too often have been ignored by agriculture's officialdom: small farmers, advocates for sustainable agriculture, the organic food community, conservationists, and the economically disadvantaged.

"Kathleen has had a distinguished career in agriculture policy, not least of which was her prodigious work for Senator Patrick Leahy to create a national standard for organic food as part of the 1990 farm bill and over the objections of much of the agriculture establishment. She is diligent, creative, forward looking, and deeply committed to public service.

"EWG wishes Kathleen all the best in this new role and looks forward to working with her at USDA."

If you are unable to watch the embedded video, go here.

That's the sub headline for Tom Philpott's recent article on Grist, Don't Suffer Biofuels Gladly. Tom covered the recent release of a comprehensive biofuels platform developed by a coalition of environmental groups, including EWG.

Whether or not you agree with their analysis, it's hard to see how any sane person could object to their policy proposals, which I've pasted below the fold. Their suggestions amount to safeguards to ensure that federal biofuel policies actually reduce greenhouse gas and don't contribute to a food crisis.

Under the previous regime, such standards seemed too high. Few assumed that President Bush promoted biofuels because he thought they might reduce gas consumption (never much of a priority) or mitigate climate change (which he never took seriously).

After all, as Dennis Keeney, emeritus professor of agronomy at Iowa State, recently wrote, "money, not science, has driven ethanol fuel policy." Keeney's assessment applies to U.S. biofuel policy since its inception under Jimmy Carter.

From Jeff St. John at Greentech Media:

It's been tough times recently for companies seeking to make commercial quantities of "next-generation" ethanol made from non-food sources like wood chips, switch grass or municipal waste.

and

The slow going for cellulosic ethanol companies could stymie the federal government's goal of getting 100 million gallons of the stuff by 2010, according to research firm ThinkEquity, which estimates that only 28.5 million gallons will be available by then.

Read it all here.

From the Senator's web site:

Friday, February 6, 2009

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate reports of animal neglect and abuse at a ranch in North Dakota that is owned by a millionaire real estate developer from Florida.

Dorgan sent a letter today to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking for an investigation of the incident. Press reports have indicated that hundreds of bison - many of them bearing evidence of starvation and illness - escaped from a sprawling ranch in south-central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota. The ranch is owned by Maurice Wilder, a resident of Clearwater, Fla., who owns hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land and has collected more than $3 million in farm subsidies.

Dorgan has also asked USDA to have its Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Animal Care division look into the matter.

--END--

New developments in the ongoing saga over top federal farm subsidy recipient Maurice Wilder and the six thousand head bison herd he owns. The Associated Press reports this morning that the Sheriff of Sioux County will sign a complaint that Wilder's herd has been neglected. Reports in recent days have surrounding landowners complaining that starved bison are breaking from their corrals in search of food.

The public response from the Wilder corporation:

Bonnie Kemerling, whose husband, Jack, is the local manager, said a South Dakota veterinary inspector looked at ranch bison this week. "He thought the herd was OK as far as he could see. Some are skinny, but they're old, and there are a few dead ones," Kemerling said.

People don't realize that bison are tall and skinny, not round and fat like cattle, she said. "People don't understand bison," she said.

I'm pretty sure folks from North and South Dakota "understand" bison. That's like saying New Yorkers don't "understand" bagels.

USDA released their every five year census of US agriculture Wednesday. Keith Good at Farmpolicy.com immediately noted the significance of one of the department's findings.

The latest census figures show a continuation in the trend towards more small and very large farms and fewer mid-sized operations. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of farms with sales of less than $2,500 increased by 74,000. The number of farms with sales of more than $500,000 grew by 46,000 during the same period.

This new data helps support the notion that the flawed policy of federal farm subsidy payments, funded by taxpayers, is accelerating the consolidation of farms into the hands of bigger and wealthier operations. Our data shows that just a narrow band of farms, 10%, receives over 70% of total farm subsidy payments.

When funds are doled out based on land ownership and not need, then the big guys get bigger, and other farms, in this case medium sized operations, struggle to survive.

The fact that the numbers of small farms are increasing is good news, despite a huge inequity percentage wise in federal support compared to large commodity farmers. Imagine the difference real support could mean for the organic and localvore movements.

Secretary Vilsack's concerns over the loss of medium sized farms are encouraging, especially how he views conservation playing a role.

Jessica Hoffman at Color Lines Magazine does an exceptional job chronicling the plight of minority farmers and the discriminatory practices they have endured.

For years, the GAO and major media outlets have documented wasteful farm subsidies to ineligible rich people, dead people and people who don't even farm. Less well documented is the other side of the story: that crop-subsidy programs systematically fail to support small farmers--and this disproportionately impacts farmers of color.

EWG has partnered with the National Black Farmers Association on landmark minority farmer investigations like Short Crop and Obstruction of Justice.

Read all of Jessica's piece here.

For weeks, Waliser and other Selfridge area landowners have been seeing renegade, possibly starving bison, crashing fences and running loose into their yards, hay yards and pastures.

At least 500 bison have moved north out of an 18-mile stretch of pasture that runs along Highway 6 between McLaughlin, S.D., and Selfridge.

The animals are part of a 6,000-head herd belonging to the vast Wilder Ranch that straddles the North Dakota and South Dakota state line, part of a corporation owned by Maurice Wilder of Clearwater, Fla.

According to the Environmental Working Group, Wilder was the country's largest individual recipient of farm subsidies, receiving $3.2 million from 2003 to 2005, as owner of 200,000 agricultural acres. He also owns 10 office buildings in Tampa, Fla., 4,500 mobile home lots and 12,500 recreational vehicle lots.

Read it all here in the Bismarck Tribune.