The road to farm bill passage in the Senate was surprisingly relatively smooth. The path in the House will likely prove a bit more challenging. House Republicans are complaining the Senate bill favors Midwestern crops. Southern lawmakers say the bill’s crop insurance and risk management programs aren’t as helpful to rice and peanut growers. They are also asking for deeper cuts to the food stamp and crop insurance programs. House Ag Chair Frank Lucas has promised the House version of the farm bill will cut at least 33-billion dollars from the federal deficit – which is 10-billion more than the Senate-passed measure. He says those cuts will come equally from food stamps and commodity programs. On the other side of the aisle – The Washington Times reports Democrats don’t want safety net programs cut in the face of unemployment.

We should have the World Trade Organization’s final say on the U.S. country of origin labeling rule Friday. The WTO’s highest tribunal is expected to have its decision on the U.S. government’s appeal of a dispute panel’s ruling in the COOL case. Canada and Mexico have argued the rule violates international trade agreements – specifically a WTO deal that limits the use of technical barriers to trade. The dispute panel sided largely with Canada and Mexico in its final decision – which the U.S. government appealed in March. The ruling of the Appellate Body – expected June 29th (Friday) – is the final step in the case. If the U.S. loses the case – the Obama Administration will likely get a request from the WTO to change the existing COOL rule.

According to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association – the COOL issue is costing their industry more than 100-million dollars each year. The group says it has spent more than two-million Canadian dollars to support their government’s case and they will not back down until the issue is resolved. The group is hopeful that will be soon.

The National Fire Protection Association has voted to amend its standards for animal housing facilities – requiring fire sprinkling systems in newly constructed and some existing facilities. The National Pork Producers Council says this is a substantial change of the standards for animal housing. The sprinkler requirement has only applied to facilities like zoos, veterinary clinics and pet shops in the past. These revisions would cover all barns and other facilities where animals are kept or confined. The NFPA’s uniform codes and standards are widely used by state and local governments to set building and fire codes. They are also used as minimum standards to maintain coverage by insurance companies. NPPC believes the overbroad fire codes could significantly increase the cost of new barn construction and maintenance and could subject producers to biosecurity risks during annual sprinkler system inspections. The group is in the process of appealing the decision.

The World Trade Organization will investigate and decide if Indian restrictions on U.S. poultry meat and eggs break global commerce rules. India says its ban on imports of various U.S. farm products is needed to prevent the spread of low-pathogenic avian influenza. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative accuses India of ignoring scientific evidence. The U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council has called India’s restrictions protectionist policy that is inconsistent with accepted international standards and has no health or safety justification. In fact – according to USDA – low-pathogenic bird flu causes minor illness, poses no risk to human health and sometimes manifests no clinical signs. The Council estimates the value of poultry-product exports to India could exceed 300-million dollars a year.

When consumers think about farmers and ranchers – their perceptions don’t always match reality. There are farmers and ranchers throughout the U.S. doing wonderful things to bring food to tables around the globe. But these important figures are not recognizable by consumers, mainstream media and influencers. Bob Stallman – American Farm Bureau Federation President and U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance Chairman – says the people who grow and raise are food are often missing from the many voices leading conversations about food. USFRA is looking to change that. He says they want to find the best people to be part of these conversations and represent the real farmers and ranchers of America.

The organization announced during the Food Dialogues event in Los Angeles that it is looking for the “Faces of Farming and Ranching” as a way to put a real face on agriculture and shine a light on the heart, personalities and values that are behind today’s food. They are looking for farmers and ranchers who are proud of what they do, eager to share their stories of continuous improvement with others and who are actively involved today in sharing those stories. USFRA is accepting entries through September 8th at www dot FoodDialogues dot com. In November – at the Food Dialogues event in New York City – 10 to 15 finalists will be announced. The announcement will open a public online voting period. Based on those votes and the recommendation of a panel of judges – “The Faces of Farming and Ranching” will be selected – with winners announced in early January 2013.

For all of the details on the application process, what USFRA is looking for and what the winners will receive – visit www dot Food Dialogues dot com (www.fooddialogues.com).

A poll released by National Farmers Union shows that the nation’s farmers believe conservation programs and environmental stewardship are key components of the farm bill. More than five-hundred American farmers across 13 Midwestern and Great Plains states were surveyed. Eighty-six percent of respondents said the level of conservation funding should be maintained or increased – with nearly half stating they would be less likely to support a member of Congress who voted to cut conservation funding more than the six-billion dollars in the Senate-passed legislation. Conservation programs ranked as the second-highest priority for inclusion in the farm bill – with farmers viewing conservation as a priority that’s vital to their long-term economic viability. In fact – nearly three-quarters said conservation programs help their bottom line. Also – by a nearly two-to-one margin – NFU says the poll shows farmers believe farmers should be required to meet some environmental standards in order to receive federal benefits such as crop insurance.

NFU President Roger Johnson says these survey findings demonstrate the deep commitment farmers across the heartland have to conservation. As Congress moves forward with the farm bill – Johnson says NFU would emphasize the important role of conservation programs in environmental stewardship and continued productivity.

Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday – Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack called the Permanent Normal Trade Relations for Russia a significant opportunity for America’s farmers, ranchers and producers. According to Vilsack – it will provide improved, predictable access to Russia’s 140-million consumers and an expanding middle class that has grown by more than 50-percent in the last decade. By granting PNTR – he says the U.S. will not provide additional market access to our domestic market for Russian agricultural imports. Instead – Vilsack says it will simply make the market access we’ve been extending to the country since 1992 permanent. If Russia is not granted PNTR – Vilsack says the nation’s farmers, ranchers and producers will face an uneven playing field as their competitors benefit from Russia’s guaranteed tariff treatment and obligation to apply science-based sanitary and phytosanitary standards. With the help of Congress – he says U.S. agriculture can soon reap the benefits of improved market access and Russia’s obligations in a rules-based system.

In fiscal year 2011 – U.S. ag exports to Russia were nearly 1.4-billion dollars. Vilsack told committee members that the U.S. only imported 25-million dollars of agricultural products from Russia las year. He said that impressive performance was accomplished despite Russia’s imposition of non-science based sanitary and phytosanitary measures and unjustified technical barriers to trade.

As part of its WTO accession agreement – Vilsack notes Russia has agreed to reduce tariffs on a number of imported ag products. For instance – soybean tariffs will be bound at zero and maximum bound tariffs on most cheeses will drop from 25-percent to 15-percent within three years. Vilsack says Russia also applies tariff-rate quotas on a variety of U.S. agricultural imports. Upon WTO accession – he says the country will implement a U.S. country-specific TRQ of 60-thousand tons of frozen beef with an in-quota tariff of 15-percent. Russia’s membership in the WTO will also lock in the current applied global TRQs for pork. Russia will immediately eliminate the in-quota 15-percent tariff and significantly lower the out-of-quota tariff upon accession. According to Vilsck – a critical market access barrier for U.S. dairy exports will also be removed.

Bank of America is partnering with the Humane Society of the United States – releasing a new HSUS-themed credit card. The card will provide HSUS with 60-dollars for every new account opened and an additional 25-cents for every 100-dollars spent. The Animal Agriculture Alliance wrote to Bank of America’s President to request that the bank stop funding groups like HSUS that seek to eliminate animal agriculture. The Alliance is currently a Bank of America customer – but says it would be forced to reconsider that relationship if the bank continues to support groups that unfairly attack the way of life of America’s Farmers and Ranchers. The Alliance has not received a response.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance is encouraging all ag stakeholders to write their own local Bank of America to share the true agenda of animal rights extremists and ask them to drop their support for HSUS. They note social media can also be utilized by tweeting concerns to Bank of America or sharing a post on the bank’s Facebook page.