Funding is available in three focus areas, including grazing lands, organic systems and soil health USDA is offering grants for innovative ideas for conservation strategies and technologies. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) plans to invest $10 million in the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program, funding innovative conservation projects in three focus areas: grazing lands, organic systems and soil health. …
NRCS Reminds Landowners about EQIP
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has a variety of programs that can benefit producers and landowners in many ways. One of those is the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). It provides financial and technical assistance to producers in order to address natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits such as improved water and air quality. NRCS Acting Chief Leonard …
Negron Urges Broader Look for Reservoir Land
Senate President Joe Negron wants water managers to expand their search for land to house a reservoir he has backed to help shift water south from Lake Okeechobee. In a letter Thursday to South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Ernie Marks, Negron expressed concern that plans put forward a day earlier “may be unnecessarily constrained by using a limited …
Livestock Producers Need a Fix to CERCLA and EPCRA Issue
Three weeks ago a Washington, D.C. Circuit Court issued a stay regarding farm emissions reporting required under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). The court-ordered stay, which is in effect until January 22, was welcome news to livestock producers across the country. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Chief …
Secretary Perdue Welcomes WTO Statement on MRLs
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued the following statement in response to the joint statement on pesticide maximum residue levels (MRLs) signed at the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture applauds the joint statement on pesticide MRLs issued this week at the WTO ministerial in Buenos Aires. The 17 signatory …
Environmental Proposal Delayed Amid Business Outcry
A proposed constitutional amendment that would redefine legal standing for Floridians when environmental problems occur was put on hold Tuesday as opposition mounts from powerful business groups. With critics arguing the measure is too vague and would create legal gridlock, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, a member of the state Constitution Revision Commission, said she requested more time to work on her proposal …
NRCS Alabama Announces Sign-Up for Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist for Alabama, Ben Malone, announced that eligible producers interested in the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program’s Wetlands Reserve Easements (WRE) and Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) components should apply for program funds by January 19, 2018 at their local NRCS service center. Under the Wetlands Reserve Easements component, financial assistance is available for landowners …
Environmentally Friendly Ways to Eliminate Plastic
Cathy Isom tells us about some environmentally friendly ways to stop buying and using plastic. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Environmentally Friendly Ways to Eliminate Plastic Plastic takes up a lot of space on this Earth. It’s the go-to material for manufacturers of so many products we use everyday. Whether we are buying it for storage or still …
Monsanto Offering Incentive for XtendiMax with VaporGrip Herbicide
Monsanto is offering an incentive for U.S. farmers who buy a dicamba-based herbicide. The incentive to use XtendiMax with VaporGrip could refund farmers over half the sticker price of the product in 2018 if they spray the herbicide on soybeans Monsanto engineered to resist the weed killer, according to Reuters. However, further restriction on dicamba-based herbicides are in place for …
Forever Florida, St. Johns Proposals Get Senate Backing
Measures that would double Gov. Rick Scott’s spending request for the Florida Forever conservation program and earmark money to improve the St. Johns River continued to move easily through the Senate on Thursday. The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously backed a proposal (SB 370) to designate $100 million a year for Florida Forever. Also, it approved a …