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Senate approves farm bill (May 9, 2002 – CropChoice news) – The Senate yesterday approved a $190 billion farm bill by a vote of 64 to 35. Most of the money called for in the legislation, which the House approved last week, would subsidize large-scale commodity growers (e.g., corn, cotton and soybeans). President Bush has said that he’ll sign the legislation. In addition to providing millions of dollars on efforts to "enhance foreign acceptance of agricultural biotechnology," the bill will: raise marketing loan rates for the first time since 1981; improve the nationwide safety net for dairy producers; mandate country-of-origin labeling for meats, fruits, vegetables, fish and peanuts; require U.S.-labeled foods be from plants and animals born, raised and processed in America; give producers the option to update yields under the counter-cyclical target price program; prohibit farm benefits to the wealthiest landowners and Fortune 500 companies; increase conservation and rural development funding; institute a new Conservation Security Program for working lands; and create a first-ever energy title. A number of U.S. trading partners, including the European Union, Canada and Australia, have vowed to fight the subsidies in the World Trade Organization on grounds that they interfere with free trade.