DTN Farm Bill Resources
July 24, 2008
Conservation Provisions of the New Farm Bill -- High grain prices caused by burgeoning world demand forced lawmakers to make a major change in farm legislation. Using adjustments in the conservation provisions, the 2008 bill encourages farmers to produce more crops and keep fewer acres idle. The farm bill reflects a shift to spend more money directly on working lands and places less emphasis on set-aside programs such as the farm bill’s traditional conservation anchor program, the Conservation Reserve Program.
http://www.dtn.com/…
June 6, 2008
Answers to Your Questions About the New Farm Bill -- With the farm bill completed, DTN is getting a lot of questions from producers about specific provisions in the bill and changes to programs involving commodities, conservation and livestock. A webinar with DTN reporter Chris Clayton and farm bill expert Wayne Myers of the firm Kennedy & Coe will take questions Friday and explain some of the various provisions in the legislation. If you have questions in advance that you would like addressed, please send them to farmbill@dtn.com.
http://www.dtn.com/…
Federal websites
USDA’s Farm Bill Home Page:
Important farm bill dates, news updates, upcoming farm bill meetings, learn more about the law
http://www.usda.gov/…
Farm Service Agency:
Your first place to go when looking up program information, dates, deadlines and requirements for commodity programs and comparison with old farm bill
http://www.ers.usda.gov/…
http://www.fsa.usda.gov/…
Natural Resources Conservation Service: The lead agency for technical and enrollment assistance for most USDA conservation programs. Information on enrollment, pilot programs and eligibility are posted on the website for the farm bill's major programs.
www.nrcs.usda.gov
Economic Research Service breakdown of difference between 2002 and 2008 farm bill, farm policy glossary, previous farm bills
http://www.ers.usda.gov/…
University sources:
An ACRES Q+A from Gary Schnitkey at University of Illinois
http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/…
Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri, provides analysis of USDA programs and baseline data projections on income and costs.
http://www.fapri.missouri.edu/…
Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) farm bill 2008 seminar: presentations of farm bill overview, conservation, livestock and dairy provisions, payments limits and southern crop provisions, SURE, disaster programs and crop insurance, ACRE and other program crop provisions
http://www.fapri.missouri.edu/…
FAPRI Iowa State University, examines trade and agricultural data on more global scale
http://www.fapri.iastate.edu/…
Kansas State University's Agricultural Economics website background papers and presentations on the 2008 Farm Bill, including the various ACRE and SURE programs, and crop insurance
http://www.agmanager.info/…
Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD), Iowa State University, provides economic analysis of government agricultural policy
http://www.card.iastate.edu/…
Farm Gate, University of Illinois Extension, provides analysis of farm programs and market issues in a blog format.
http://www.farmgate.uiuc.edu/…
Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center, examines agricultural policy decisions with an emphasis on southern crops and livestock
http://www.afpc.tamu.edu/…
Ohio State University Professor Carl Zulauf's analysis of farm programs, includes focus on ACRE and SURE
http://aede.osu.edu/…
Private Organization Resources:
National Farmers' Union, with grassroots members in organized chapters in 32 states, works to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers and ranchers and their rural communities. The NFU developed a Farm Bill Toolbox to help people understand the Farm Bill.
http://nfu.org/…
American Farmland Trust, a non-profit membership organization dedicated to protecting the country's strategic agricultural resources, gave its analysis of the farm bill.
http://www.farmland.org/…
American Farm Bureau Federation, an independent, non-governmental, voluntary organization governed by and representing farm and ranch families, released its summary of the farm bill's provisions.
http://www.fb.org/…
Senator Sees Debt Committee Accelerating Change in Safety Net 
