Agribusiness Update for Friday 01/23/15

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Minnesota Senator Al Franken have introduced legislation to reverse the 2012 Hall versus United States Supreme Court ruling - which makes it difficult for family farmers to reorganize their finances during hard times. The Family Farmer Bankruptcy Clarification Act of 2015 clarifies bankrupt family farmers reorganizing debts are able to treat capital gains taxes owed to a governmental unit as general unsecured claims. The legislation also eliminates the IRS' veto power over a bankruptcy reorganization plan's confirmation. Franken says this bipartisan bill is a commonsense fix to ensure the law is carried out as it was intended.

The Beef Checkoff has launched Masters of Beef Advocacy 2.0. This program gives beef and dairy producers the opportunity to become true leaders for their industries and agriculture as a whole. Each course follows the beef lifecycle and take one hour to complete. Cattlemen's Beef Board member Joan Ruskamp says she jumped at the chance to complete the MBA program courses - and it turned out to be a great teaching tool to help her become an informed advocate.

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network of the West.