U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the removal of lenders from the USDA Rural Development Lending program. The lenders removed from participation in the OneRD Guaranteed Lending program include portfolios with approximately $620 million in delinquent loans. According to the department this accounts for approximately 47% of Rural Development’s delinquent loans. Secretary Rollins said, ““The Trump Administration has absolutely …
Southern Ag today reports that the United States is a major competitor in producing agricultural products, but one area that erodes U.S. competitiveness is the increase in government regulations. Southern Ag reports that it shows that the total number of pages of the Code of Federal Regulations increased from around 15,000 in 1950 to around 190,000 today. If the cost of U.S. regulations were …
Earlier this week we shared that USDA had released the final rule for the Whole Milk For Healthy Kids implementation and we caught up with Bryce Trotter with the Georgia Milk Producers to learn their reaction. “Our dairy producers are excited to see this next step in bringing whole milk or 2% milk back to our schools. The rule issued by …
We’re familiar with the weekly crop ratings, various categories from very poor all the way up to excellent. The condition index is also part of the trade we don’t talk about often, but winter wheat index for mid-May is near the lowest in 40 years. Crop index, again considering all the ratings categories and then relates them to history, the 10-year average index for …
Life Before Electricity on the Farm By 1930, rural life in America looked vastly different from what we know today. More than 90% of rural homes still relied on kerosene lamps for lighting. When the sun went down, so did most daily activity. Illumination was dim, limited, and often hazardous. Without electricity, running water systems and indoor bathrooms were largely …
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is introducing legislation to cut taxes for Georgia farmers. Sen. Ossoff introduced the Farm Disaster Tax Cut Act this weekto provide eligible farmers with a tax cut after natural disasters, revenue losses or pest outbreaks. The bill would exclude crop insurance indemnity payments, which are made to farmers after they face qualified losses, …
The American Soybean Association is responding to the announcement by The Mosaic Company’s plan to scale back domestic phosphate production. American Soybean Association (ASA) President Scott Metzger said, “This unsettling news from Mosaic comes at a time when U.S. soybean farmers are facing major economic headwinds, and neither the skyrocketing cost nor the availability of inputs – like phosphate fertilizer …
Scott Monfort, the peanut specialist in Georgia provided an update and some recommendations for peanut growers. Monfort said, “The best thing as you can walk outside and see right now is rainfall. We needed that to get this moving in the right direction. We estimate that we’re about a quarter of the acres being planted at this point. And if I …
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has released results of a study of the Forest Industry in Florida. The findings show that Florida’s forest industry supports more than 103,000 jobs and generated nearly $29 billion in total economic input. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, “Florida is home to approximately 16.76 million …
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is keeping a close watch on the WOTUS Rule as it goes through rulemaking by the EPA. We caught up with Mary-Thomas Hart with NCBA to learn more. “We are always watching the WOTUS rule as it goes through yet another iteration of rulemakings. NCBA commented on that last year. We expect to see that …
