Florida farmers awaiting federal disaster relief to help cover losses from Hurricane Irma last September may learn more details this week about the highly anticipated program. The $2.36 billion Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program is expected to offer a direct-payments model that would not hold growers to traditional payment limitations and would establish a state-managed program to handle tree losses. …
Rural Mainstreet Index Hurt by Trade Concerns
The Rural Mainstreet Index, which measures the economic outlook in rural America, was hit hard by rural bankers who expressed concerns about trade tensions and their effect on the farm economy. “An unresolved North American Free Trade Agreement and rising trade tensions with China are significant concerns,” says Ernie Goss, Creighton University economist and author of the Rural Mainstreet Index. …
Agri View: Current Land Prices
Everett Griner talks about current land prices in today’s Agri View. Everett looks at the different land values. He also explains some of the different things one might need to know if selling their land. Current Land Prices Farmers, both those with land to sell and those looking for land to buy, stay alert to land values across most of …
New USDA Website for Farmers
USDA has started a new website, farmers.gov. As Tryon Spearman reports, it is a point of access to agricultural programs and information, tools and personal advice for America’s farmers, ranchers and private foresters. New USDA Website for Farmers Sponsored ContentCIR Agriculture Harvester ProductsMarch 1, 2025Nuseed Carinata Covers New GroundOctober 1, 2024TriEst Ag Group: Partners in ProfitabilityApril 1, 2024
UF Leads Trend to Open Food Businesses with Workshops
Kimberly and George Vecchio wanted to reinvent their 20-acre farm near Vero Beach from mostly animals to produce so they could start a food business. Though George had been a gourmet chef for more than 20 years, they didn’t know how to start the new enterprise. “We didn’t know what questions to ask, or even where to start, even though …
Ending Payment Limits Could Cause Farm Consolidation
The farm bill draft released by the House Agriculture committee includes provisions that “would reverse decades of precedent,” and usher in an era of “unlimited farm subsidies for the nation’s largest mega-farms,” according to the National Sustainable Ag Coalition. The coalition calls the farm bill a “brazen attempt to undo years of statute for the benefit of the nation’s largest …
Farmers Have Other Concerns Than Farm Bill
Farmers are more concerned with trade and being burdened with over-regulation, rather than the farm bill, according to one U.S. Senator. Republican Roy Blunt of Missouri said during a Senate hearing last week that “the farm bill never came up” during a recent listening session with farmers in his state, as pointed out by the Food and Environment Reporting Network. …
Farm Credit Administration Releases Quarterly Report
A report on the performance of the Farm Credit System shows 2018 is another challenging year for agriculture. The report, presented to the Farm Credit Administration board, outlines the economic issues affecting agriculture. Based on its first forecast of the 2018 farm economy, The Department of Agriculture projects net farm income to decline by 6.7 percent, with both crop and …
Trump’s EO on Reducing Poverty Promotes Economic Independence
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue applauded President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order (EO), titled “Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility,” which calls for lifting American citizens from welfare to work, from dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity. Perdue issued the following statement: “I commend President Trump for his leadership on moving Americans back …
USDA Assistance for Livestock, Honeybee and Farm-Raised Fish Losses
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will issue $34 million to help agricultural producers recover from 2017 natural disasters through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), which covers losses not covered by certain other USDA disaster assistance programs. These payments are being made available today, and they are part of a broader USDA effort to help producers …