This week on Wednesday, April 18, the full House Agriculture Committee met and successfully voted to report its version of a 2018 Farm Bill, based on a draft released last week by Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and backed by Committee Repu…
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Tags: Agriculture, Conaway, Congress, Conservation, Crop Insurance, Farm Bill, Food, House Agriculture Committee, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Legislation, Molly S. O'Connor, Nutrition, Peterson, SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Trade
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
It has been 25 years since a President of the United States addressed the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). The last President to speak was President George H. W. Bush. President Donald Trump spoke th…
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Tags: Agriculture, Broadband, Crop Insurance, Estate Tax, Farm Bill, Farm Bureau, Farmer, John R. Block, NAFTA, Rancher, Regulation, Rural America, Tax Reform, Trade, Trump, WOTUS
Of all the issues surrounding a new Farm Bill in 2018, perhaps none unifies American agricultural producers more than Federal Crop Insurance, provided by USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). Be it North or South, big or small, row cr…
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Tags: Agriculture, Congress, Crop Insurance, Farm Bill, Farmer, FCIC, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, Government Relations, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Law Firm, Lawyer
It will take months to calculate the damage Hurricanes Harvey and Irma unleashed on Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and other states this summer: lives lost, homes destroyed, businesses wrecked, property damage in the tens of billions of dollars. But be…
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Tags: Attorney, Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, Congress, Crop Insurance, FCIC, FEMA, Flood, Florida, Harvey, Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, Hurricane, Insurance, Irma, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Law Firm, Lawyer, Louisiana, National Flood Insurance Program, NFIP, Texas
It will take months to calculate the damage Hurricanes Harvey and Irma unleashed this summer on the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida: dozens of lost lives, hundreds of thousands of destroyed homes, tens of billions in property damage and untol…
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Tags: Attorney, Crop Insurance, Crop Loss, Elliot Belilos, Farm, Farmers, FCIC, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, Flood, Florida, Harvey, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Irma, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Law Firm, Lawyer, Louisiana, Risk Management Agency, Texas, USDA
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
Back in March, President Trump gave us a look at his budget plan. Although without much detail, it made clear to us that one of his highest priorities was to downsize the federal government. And, he would do tha…
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Tags: Agriculture, Budget, Congress, Crop Insurance, Farm Bill, Farmer, Food Stamps, John R. Block, Mulvaney, President Trump, SNAP, Trump Administration, White House, Work Requirement
This week, Counterpoint Press announced the release of the newest book by OFW Law’s own Ken Ackerman called TROTSKY IN NEW YORK, 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution.
Far afield from agriculture and crop insurance — Ken’s usual spec…
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Tags: Boss Tweed, Charles Percy, Crop Insurance, J. Edgar Hoover, James Garfield, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Leahy, Leon Trotsky, OFW Law, The Gold Ring, Trotsky
As published in Agri-Pulse
“I have sometimes thought it might be well to establish an office of insurance for farms against the damage that may occur to them from storms, blights, insects, etc. A small sum paid by a number would repair such los…
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Tags: Agri-Pulse, Agriculture, Congress, Crop Insurance, Farm Bill, Farmer, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Marshall L. Matz, Nutrition, Risk Management Agency, RMA, SNAP
People often ask why Washington has to involve itself at all in providing crop insurance to American farmers. After all, homeowners across the country buy fire insurance, individuals buy life insurance, business owners buy casualty and liability insu…
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Tags: Agriculture, Agriculture Insurance, Crop Insurance, Drought, Elliot Belilos, Farmer, FCIC, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, Insurance, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Lawyer, Risk Management, Risk Management Agency, RMA
At the recent crop insurance industry conference in Indian Wells, California, Brandon Willis, administrator of USDA’s Risk Management Agency or RMA, surprised many and made some trade-press headlines by announcing a seemingly-obscure statistic: tha…
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Tags: Agriculture, Agriculture Risk Protection Act, AIP, Crop Insurance, Improper Payment, Kenneth D. Ackerman, National Program Operations Reviews, Risk Management, Risk Management Agency, RMA, Standard Reinsurance Agreement, Supplemental Company Operations Review and Evaluation
