Farm Bill Obstacles & Wild Horse Trouble plus Animal Welfare

Farm Bill Obstacles & Wild Horse Trouble plus Animal Welfare

Farm Bill Obstacles & Wild Horse Trouble plus Animal Welfare. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

We are hearing rumor that there may be some discussion next week on the farm bill or at least the nutrition portion but no one is really holding their breath. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talks about what he says is the main issue holding back a new Farm Bill.

VILSACK: Until the House of Representatives votes on a rather significant and deep cut to the SNAP program totaling nearly $41-billion dollars they have not identified conferees to a conference committee to work out their differences between a bill that was passed earlier by the House that didn't include nutrition and the comprehensive Senate bill that included all of the farm bill programs. It will not contain a $40-billion dollar reduction in SNAP. I honestly think the whole purpose of this exercise is to put a focus on entitlements without paying a political price.

The National Horse and Burro Rangeland Management Coalition has submitted a statement for the meeting record of the Bureau of Land Management National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board. While the Coalition generally supports the findings of the National Academies of Sciences report - it offered compelling evidence that there are more horses on public rangelands than reported and horse population growth rates are high. The coalition says this suggests the effects of fertility intervention may not completely alleviate the challenges BLM faces in the future to effectively manage the nation's free-ranging equid populations - given legislative and budgetary constraints.

Now updating the Animal Welfare Act. Rod Bain reports.

(USDA Report)

Thanks Rod. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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