Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds expensive industrial agriculture practices, turns aspiring conservationists away

MINNEAPOLIS—A new report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) finds that an outsized share of the funding for the conservation program Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) financed expensive practices with little or no conservation benefits, while two-thirds of farmer applicants were rejected from the program

Weak COP28 outcomes on climate action, finance and food systems lack needed urgency, leaving it to countries to take the lead

Before dawn in Dubai, COP28 negotiators issued a final text that included a call to transition away from fossil fuels. Yet, the call sets a feeble course for the phaseout of their use, finance commitments are weak and equity is largely ignored.

IATP reacts to FAO’s Achieving SDG2 without Breaching the 1.5C Threshold: A Global Roadmap

MINNEAPOLIS—Today, in response to the launch of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s launch of its anticipated Roadmap to achieving SDG2 without breaching the 1.5˚ C Threshold: A Global Roadmap, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Executive Director Sophia Murphy, Ph.D., issued the following statement:

Farm Bill extension locks in status quo that leaves behind farmers, eaters

MINNEAPOLIS—Yesterday, Congress extended the current 2018 Farm Bill for an additional year. The fate of the Farm Bill has remained uncertain since its expiration at the end of September until Speaker of the House Mike Johnson included an extension of the current Farm Bill through September 2024 in the continuing resolution.

MinneAg Network named one of 10 recipients of USDA Regional Food System Partnership grant

Minneapolis—The MinneAg Network is pleased to announce its selection as one of the recipients of the 2023 Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) grant, presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service.

Groups formally request to support Mexico’s ban on GM corn in USMCA trade dispute

MINNEAPOLIS—The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the Rural Coalition and the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas filed a formal request to file written views in support of Mexico’s ban on genetically modified (GM) c

Commodity Futures Trading Commission takes stand against election betting

MINNEAPOLIS—On September 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) made the broad determination to protect the public interest and the integrity of United States elections by prohibiting KalshiEX, LLC’s self-certified event contract based on the political party control of each chamber of the U.S. Congress.

Supreme Court Can Close Huge Loophole that Exposes Businesses and Consumers to Commodity Market Manipulation

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Yesterday, Better Markets, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to review and reverse a lower court decision that dramatically limited protections against manipulation in the commodity markets, in the case of Laydon v

Unfair U.S. trade practices undermine Mexico’s food self-sufficiency efforts

MINNEAPOLIS—Today, a new report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Timothy A. Wise documents how the United States’ practice of agricultural dumping of cheap exports into Mexico has hampered the Mexican government’s efforts to improve food self-sufficiency.

Agroecology is the transformation needed for LDC food sovereignty

Doha, Qatar—Meeting in Doha for the 5th United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDC) Conference 4-9 March, civil society organizations (CSOs) from around the world organized a panel to present and discuss the challenges that face LDC agriculture, the promise of agroecology and the importance of investing in agroecological practices to build food sovereignty.