skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Key Farm Bill Proposals for WI Are “On the Fence”

play audio
Play

Tuesday, January 22, 2008   

Madison, WI – As the U.S. Senate gets back to work this week, it's crunch time for the U.S. Farm Bill. A number of key proposals contained in the bill are on the fence between the two houses of Congress.

Jeanne Merrill, with the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, says Wisconsin's farmers should watch closely as the two versions of the Farm Bill are pulled together, because some items important to the state's agricultural community were passed in one house but not the other. Merrill places funding for the Conservation Stewardship Program at the top of the list. She says it's an opportunity to reward farmers who work to improve Wisconsin's natural resources.

"The Conservation Stewardship Program provides financial rewards for farmers who do good things for our environment. Farms can protect waterways and provide clean air and wildlife habitat. It’s an important program for the environment."

She adds other important items in limbo include assistance for beginning farmers and organic farming research, and a grant program that helps farmers process raw materials into more profitable finished products. All would have been easy to fund, Merrill believes, if Congress had tackled commodity subsidy payment reform, which would have freed up a lot of farm funding.

"Unfortunately, both the Senate and the House failed to reform commodity payments, which means that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars will continue to go mega-farms. And that will hurt family farmers and rural communities."

Farms that receive those subsidies say they help keep consumer prices down.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021