Alabama Agriculture Project Brings Christmas Trees and Holiday Joy to Marines in North Carolina The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries has announced a heartwarming outcome from one of its efforts to strengthen and modernize Christmas tree production across the state. A research project conducted in partnership with Auburn University has resulted in the donation of more than 200 Christmas …
US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Schedules Confirmation Hearing Amid Shutdown
Senate Agriculture Committee to Consider USDA Nominees Amid Government Shutdown Despite the ongoing government shutdown, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry will move forward this week with a key confirmation hearing to review three nominees for leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “The US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairman John Boozman, …
Southeast Commissioners of Agriculture Push for Forestry Industry Inclusion in Ag Relief Package
Southeastern Commissioners of Agriculture have joined their counterparts from across the country in urging the Trump administration to include the forestry industry in the forthcoming agricultural relief package. In a joint letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the commissioners emphasized the need to support one of the nation’s most vital renewable resource …
USMEF Shares Perspective of EU move to delay implementation of Deforestation Regulation
USMEF Responds to EU Deforestation Regulation Delay and Impacts on U.S. Meat Exports The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) is closely monitoring developments as the European Union moves to delay the implementation of its EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This delay could have major implications for U.S. meat exports. USMEF Vice President of Economic Analysis, Erin Borer, recently addressed how the …
Fire Danger Increased From Dry Conditions At Harvest
Harvest 2025 Ahead of Average, But Dry Conditions Raise Fire Concerns Harvest 2025 continues to move ahead of the five-year average in several key states, fueled by another week of dry weather. While this helps speed up fieldwork, the lack of moisture is increasing fire danger across much of the country. Conditions in some areas are less severe than in …
The Roots of U.S. Forest Management
Early Recognition of Forest Stewardship Even as America’s early settlers were clearing land to establish homesteads and plant crops, the government recognized the importance of protecting and managing the nation’s forests. By the mid-19th century, concerns about forest conditions and sustainability began to take shape in national policy. Establishing Federal Oversight In 1876, Congress created an office within the U.S. …
Twenty-Six Hundred Acres Preserved Through Florida’s Rural and Family Lands Protection
The Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Wilton Simpson, has announced that the State of Florida has preserved approximately 2,600 acres of Florida farmland. The Tumlin Terwillegar Properties Project, located in Alachua, Bradford, Clay and Putnam Counties, is a three-parcel pine plantation preserved through the approval by the Governor and Cabinet, serving as the Board of Trustees of the internal Improvement Trust …
Secretary of Agriculture Issues Forestry Executive Order
The US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued an executive memorandum to the National Forest Service earlier this month with the goal of increasing timber outputs, simplifying permitting, removing the processes outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as reducing implementation and contracting burdens. The memo also authorizes the US Forest Service to work directly with states, …
American Agriculture History Minute: Missouri Boot Hill Logging Industry Begins
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Agricultural development flourish in most Midwestern states, including Missouri. But the Missouri Bootheel remains swampy and subject to flooding and remain heavily forested, remain underdeveloped, underpopulated. But, beginning in the 1880s, railroads opened up the Bootheel to logging. 1905, Little River Drainage District constructed elaborate ditches, canals, and levees to drain …
FL Ag Commissioner Simpson Opposes EU Deforestation Rule
Eighteen state agriculture commissioners, led by Florida Commissioner Wilton Simpson, have urged U.S. lawmakers to push for exemptions to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), set to take effect on December 30, 2025. The commissioners argue that the rule, intended to prevent deforestation, would impose unnecessary burdens on the U.S. timber and agricultural industries. In a letter addressed to U.S. …









