Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Politicians don’t usually get noticed for what they write in the Farm Bureau’s semimonthly newsletter, but some of their responses to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s candidate survey might be news to you. Sen. John McCain said he would exempt agriculture from his carbon cap-and-trade program. Sen. Barack Obama said he supported a drastic reduction of the estate tax.
From the Farm Bureau’s release listing some takeaway points from their candidate survey responses:
When asked about the farm bill, Obama said it was important to implement the 2008 bill as passed by Congress. McCain, who did not support the bill, instead focused his answers on expanding foreign markets and reforming the crop insurance program.
According to the survey, both candidates support creating a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program. McCain goes a step further by saying he would exempt farmers from greenhouse gas caps.
Both candidates pledge to cut the estate tax, with McCain promising a lower tax rate and higher estate value exemption (15 percent and $10 million) than Obama (45 percent and $7 million).
To read the questionnaire in the newsletter, click here (pdf) and go to page 3.
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