From Washington with John Block

From Washington with John Block: Challenges

The corn and soybeans on my farm are growing tall and beautiful. And also important to note, without weeds. Today we use, and have for years, Roundup weed killer, a Bayer Ag product. The most important ingredient in Roundup is glyphosate, and it is the most widely used herbicide in the world in growing corn, soybeans, and cotton. [READ MORE…]

From Washington with John Block

From Washington with John Block: Tough Times

Just last Monday we celebrated Memorial Day honoring our fighting men and women that have given their lives to protect our country and keep us safe. Then the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas was hanging over us. I don’t have the words to express the level of sadness as they bury those children and two teachers. They are all in our prayers. [READ MORE…]

From Washington with John Block

From Washington with John Block: Energy

Why don’t we do more to address our fuel problems? We are in the process of planting the 2022 crops. All the reports tell us that there is severe risk of a world food shortage. Solving this problem is not going to be helped by the sky rocketing cost of diesel fuel – a 56% increase. [READ MORE…]

From Washington with John Block

From Washington with John Block: Issues

Here is something proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that will cost family farms and small business agriculture a lot of time and money. They want to require corporations to report on greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chain. [READ MORE…]

From Washington with John Block

From Washington with John Block: Food Production

President Biden announced his proposed $5.8 trillion budget for the 2023 fiscal year. Now Congress will begin work to change, add and subtract that budget. As always it is a long and difficult road to get it passed. The President wants to increase the Department of Agriculture spending by 9%. That would give us $2.6 billion more than budgeted for this year. His priority is to fill staffing shortages, fund nutrition programs, and climate issues. [READ MORE…]