Livestock producers won’t back down on COOL

April 19, 2013Blog

Originally published in the April 18 edition of Iowa Farmer Today. by Roger Johnson Do you know the country where your shirt was made? Probably not off the top of your head, but you could always look at the label to find out. Now, how about the steaks you are about to grill for dinner? … Read More

Tales from Cuba

April 19, 2013Blog

by Tim Velde, Minnesota Farmers Union member I had quite a contrast in surroundings earlier this year. After spending five exciting days in Springfield, Mass., on the policy committee for NFU’s 111th national convention,  a day later my wife and I were on our way to Havana, Cuba. We were on a “People to People” … Read More

What a food consumer wants

April 16, 2013Blog

by Daryll E. Ray and Harwood D. Schaffer, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Read the original post at agpolicy.org. Recently we ran across a White Paper by the advertising and marketing agency, Sullivan Higdon & Sink (SHS) titled, “Building Trust in What We Eat: Consumers’ knowledge of and trust in food … Read More

Highlights from the President’s budget

April 12, 2013Blog

by NFU Government Relations Staff President Obama released his budget for the 2014 fiscal year on Wednesday, largely positioned as a “middle ground” between the tax increases in the Senate-passed budget and the spending cuts in the House-passed budget. The budget replaces the sequestration cuts beginning in 2014 and reduces the deficit by $1.8 trillion … Read More

What do those meat labels mean, anyway?

April 12, 2013Blog

by Amy Lesperance, NFU Intern Have you been at the butcher counter of your local grocery store and wondered about the Country-of-Origin-Labeling (COOL) stickers that say something like, “Product of Canada and the U.S.?” I often feel like I spend an inordinate amount of time at the grocery store mulling over the information included on … Read More

Speak Your Piece: Ethanol Fuels Recovery

April 11, 2013Blog

The following was originally published on the Daily Yonder website on April 11, 2013. To read this story at its original source, click here. By Bob Dinneen | Roger Johnson | Tom Buis Editor’s Note: Yesterday four members of the House of Representatives introduced legislation to reduce the amount of renewable products such as ethanol … Read More

COOL: some are for it, some are not

April 10, 2013Blog

by Daryll E. Ray and Harwood D. Schaffer, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Read the original post at agpolicy.org. More than a decade after mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) was first included in the farm bill, the debate continues. Two weeks ago, we examined a legal opinion by the legal … Read More

What's new in the proposed AMS rule on COOL

April 5, 2013Blog

by Daryll E. Ray and Harwood D. Schaffer, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Read the original post at agpolicy.org. In response to the determination of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body that the U.S. “COOL [Country of Origin Labeling] requirements were inconsistent with the [WTO Technical Barriers to Trade] Agreement’s … Read More

The Truth about COOL

April 3, 2013Blog

by Amy Lesperance, NFU Intern Farmers Union has always supported mandatory labeling as a promotional tool for our domestic producers to highlight the superiority of their products.  American producers are proud of their products and want consumers to know when they are buying the best. In order to dispel some common misperceptions about Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL), … Read More

A Diverse Show of Support for COOL

April 2, 2013Blog

by Brittany Jablonsky, Director of Advocacy Communications Today NFU joined a diverse coalition of 228 other organizations in delivering a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging him to protect the integrity of Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat products. Today’s letter demonstrates the broad-based support for sensible COOL rules. Organizations signing the letter spanned … Read More