small farms

USDA Helping Small Farms

Dan Agri-Business, Conservation, Economy, Environment, Funding, Greenhouse Gas, This Land of Ours

How the USDA is helping small farms. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Testifying before the House Agriculture Committee Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack listed several ways the USDA is helping small and mid-sized farms. “Climate Amart Agriculture Commodity initiative helping smaller-sized producers get a value-added proposition. Having farmers qualify for ecosystem service markets and when they do …

usda

USDA Sees Record Interest in Conservation and Clean Energy Programs

Dan Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Wetland Reserve Easements (ACEP-WRE), Biofuels/Energy, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), Environment, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Greenhouse Gas, Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), USDA-NRCS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has seen record interest in the conservation and clean energy programs that received funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA made nearly $20 billion available over five years for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to address continuous high demand for popular conservation programs. This will help farmers and ranchers implement expanded conservation practices …

usda

USDA Announces Projects to Boost Access to Green Space for Millions

Dan Agri-Business, Environment, Forestry, Funding, Greenhouse Gas, USDA

Historic funding from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will increase urban tree cover, boost equitable access to nature, and improve climate resilience in communities covered by the Justice40 Initiative (USDA/WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2023) — Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service is awarding more than $1 billion in competitive grants to plant and maintain …

recycling

Manure Recycling on the Farm

Dan Beef, Biofuels/Energy, Cattle, Dairy, Environment, Equine, Fertilizer, Greenhouse Gas, Livestock, Pasture, Pork, Poultry, Sheep-Goats, This Land of Ours

It’s another type of recycling on the farm. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Farmers who utilize manure as a fertilizer mostly get the aromatic livestock byproduct from their own operations. New data from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows most manure applied to U.S. cropland, 78 percent, comes from animals raised on the same operation. Meanwhile, 14 percent …

carbon

USDA Investing to Expand Measurement and Monitoring of Soil Carbon on Working Agricultural Lands

Dan Environment, Greenhouse Gas, Soil, USDA-NRCS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $8 million in four regional partnerships across the nation to support and expand measurement and monitoring of carbon in soil on working agricultural lands and to assess how climate-smart practices are affecting carbon sequestration. Here in the Southeast, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will be working with American Climate Partners on a regional …

ncba

NCBA Applauds Protect Farmers from the SEC ACT in Senate

Dan Cattle, Environment, Greenhouse Gas, Legislative, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), Regulation

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) supports the Senate version of the Protect Farmers from the SEC Act, a companion bill to legislation introduced into the House of Representatives by Oklahoma Republican Frank Lucas. “The Securities and Exchange Commissions’ overly broad rulemaking has the potential to increase burdens on cattle producers by requiring data that’s impossible to provide,” says NCBA …

New Zealand

New Zealand Plans to Tax Cow Methane

Dan Cattle, Economy, Environment, Greenhouse Gas, This Land of Ours

New Zealand is the Latest Country to Tax Cow Burps. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. New Zealand farmers recently gathered in towns and cities across the country to protest against the government’s plan to tax “agricultural emissions.” Reuters says the government confirmed plans to price agricultural gases and biogenic methane, which it says come from cow and …

off act

NCBA Sees Wins as Stopping Bad Ideas

Dan Cattle, Environment, Greenhouse Gas, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA)

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) says stopping bad ideas for them, is a ‘win’…and their CEO Colin Woodall says NCBA’s been busy trying to do that. Woodall says sometimes winning isn’t passing things, but stopping them, including burdensome greenhouse gas reporting. “Such as being able to fight back against the SEC rule…in things such as, making sure that legislation was not …

yeast

Brewer’s Yeast to Cut Methane

Dan Beef, Cattle, Dairy, Environment, Greenhouse Gas, Livestock, This Land of Ours

A good use for leftover brewer’s yeast. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Brewer’s yeast used to make beer is typically discarded once it’s no longer needed. Sometimes, though, the leftover yeast is mixed into livestock feed as a source of protein and vitamins. Now, there may be even more reason to continue this practice, according to findings …

ncba

American Farmers are Dropping Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Dan Climate Change, Environment, Greenhouse Gas, USDA-EPA

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), American agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions fell over four percent from 2019 to 2020. The recent Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks shows ag represents only 10 percent of total U.S. emissions, much lower than other economic sectors. Farm Bureau economists analyzed the EPA data and found that total agricultural emissions in …