This just in from The Rural Blog: House leaders look for ways to help farm-district members after blocking floor vote on Farm Bill “Having blocked the pending five-year Farm Bill, House Republican leaders now appear to be racing ahead of their own Agriculture Committee to come up with some alternative to protect the party’s farm [...]

Posted on July 26th, 2012 by Debby
Filed under: Agriculture, Election 2012, Farm Bill 2012, Politics and Political Issues, Republicans | No Comments »

There’s good news and there’s bad news out of the U.S. House of Representatves Committee on Agriculture. The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM) passed by a bipartisan 35-11 vote. The committee rejected amendments to alter the no-cost sugar program and also voted not to remove the Dairy Market Stabilization Program (DMSP) from [...]

Posted on July 12th, 2012 by Debby
Filed under: Agriculture, Buy Local, Childhood Hunger, Clean Energy, Farm Bill 2012, Farms & Farmers, Food, Food Safety, Nutrition, Rural Issues | 1 Comment »

The 15th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival opens tomorrow in the singer-songwriter’s hometown of Okemah, Okla., and it will be a special one, running through the 100th anniversary of his birth on Saturday, July 14. The Woody Guthrie Centennial website says, “His songs have run around the world like a fast train on a well oiled track. [...]

Posted on July 10th, 2012 by Debby
Filed under: History, Rural Life, Social Justice | No Comments »

The race is on for rural America’s support come November. Both campaigns have just about four months to woo voters in America’s non-metro areas. And both sides have specific campaign messages to induce small town and rural constituents to cast a ballot their way. Former Massachusetts Governor Romney has been making the rounds, flipping flapjacks [...]

Posted on July 5th, 2012 by Debby
Filed under: Democrats, Election 2012, Republicans | No Comments »

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which [...]

Posted on July 4th, 2012 by Debby
Filed under: History, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the farm bill. Up next, the U.S. House of Representatives.  Word from Ag Chair Frank Lucas, R-Okla., is that mark-up of the bill is expected to begin on July 11 with high hopes that the bill will go to the full House before August recess. The biggest stumbling [...]

Posted on July 2nd, 2012 by Debby
Filed under: Agriculture, Farm Bill 2012, Nutrition | 1 Comment »