The Lake Okeechobee green algae saga continues. As I suggested in a report a few days back, it appears to be becoming more and more of a political football. This week a candidate for Governor of Florida appeared at a rally of coastal and inland fishermen in Clewiston, expecting to find a supportive audience for anti-agriculture rhetoric on the topic. …
Judge Refuses to Leave Conservation Funding Case
A Leon County circuit judge this week refused a request by legislative leaders for his disqualification from a case about whether the state has properly carried out a 2014 constitutional amendment backed by environmental groups. Judge Charles Dodson issued a one-paragraph order Monday denying a motion for his disqualification. Dodson last month ruled that lawmakers had failed to properly comply …
EWP Helps Florida Landowners after Storms
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida wants landowners to remember that if your area does suffer damage from a natural disaster, the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP) can help relieve imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms and hurricanes. EWP Helps Florida Landowners after Storms Sponsored ContentFlorida Cattle Enhancement Board Provides Production ResearchMay 8, …
Agri View: Farming Problems
Everett Griner talks about the difficulty of farming in today’s Agri View. Farming Problems A North Carolina hog farmer was fined $50 million dollars because of some of the displeasure of some of the people near his farm. Yet he operated under every state and federal regulation required. A community fought vigorously to stop a meat processing plant in Kansas. …
New Test Can Determine Nitrogen Levels in Soil
Nitrogen is the main nutrient added to cereal crops like corn, which makes them grow faster and stronger. But too much of a good thing could sometimes have negative outcomes. Too much nitrogen can run off with rainwater or leach through to soil and contaminate groundwater. Now, a simple, rapid and reliable test can determine the nitrogen amount in soil. …
Do NRCS Business through Conservation Client Gateway
If you have business to take care of with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), but don’t have the time to run in to their office, much of that business can be done from your home or farm office. It can all be handled through Conservation Client Gateway, their secure online portal. NRCS Acting Chief Leonard Jordan encourages farmers, ranchers and …
White House Backs Everglades Reservoir
The White House on Tuesday backed Florida’s effort to secure federal funding for a reservoir intended to move water away from Lake Okeechobee and reduce discharges that residents blame for repeated toxic algae outbreaks spreading on both coasts. The request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to include funding for the roughly $1.6 billion Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, approved …
EPA Proposes Biofuel Requirements for 2019; On Track to Meet Congressional Deadline
WASHINGTON (June 26, 2018) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a proposed rule under the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) program that would set the minimum amount of renewable fuels that must be supplied to the market in calendar year 2019, as well as the biomass based diesel volume standard for calendar year 2020. “I’ve traveled …
EPA Considering Dicamba Registration as Injury Reports Climb
Herbicide injury reports are mounting in the South and the Midwest. A DTN report says state regulators and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are looking at the situation carefully. Most of the damage reports revolve around dicamba. However, there are 2,4-D damage reports coming out of the southern states. Most of the dicamba injury complaints are coming out of the …
Two Mosquito Species Can Transmit New Chikungunya Virus in the Americas
Yellow fever and Asian tiger mosquitoes from Florida and Brazil can transmit an Asian strain of chikungunya virus that’s emerging in North, South and Central America, a University of Florida scientist says. The Asian strain of the virus is not currently circulating in Florida, and Barry Alto, associate professor of entomology at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, …