Farm bill takes effect
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Federal financial support for herbals and other specialty crops through the farm subsidy programs reauthorization becomes available Sept. 30 as the legislation, H.R. 6124, takes effect with the start of fiscal 2009. The five-year, $289 billion farm bill Congress passed in May over President Bush's veto authorizes $466 million to be appropriated over 10 years to expand the Department of Agriculture's specialty-crop block grant program (1"The Tan Sheet" May 19, 2008, p. 11). The law also requires retailers to provide country-of-origin labeling for raw ginseng as well as for other perishable agricultural commodities, beef and poultry