By Clint Thompson The Georgia Cotton Commission (GCC) is excited to announce the slate of expert speakers scheduled to present at the commission’s annual meeting on Jan. 26, 2022, at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia. Taylor Sills, executive director of the GCC, talked about each of the presenters. “We’ve got three fantastic speakers. Kent …
Conservation Effort Completed at Florida’s Big Bend
According to USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Florida (NRCS-FL) and The Conservation Fund, a multi-year effort to conserve working forestlands and habitat along Florida’s Big Bend coast, has been completed. The “Gulf of Mexico – Forest to Sea” project will provide a vast buffer of conservation lands for wildlife habitat, water quality and quantity, and resilience against extreme weather and climate change. The effort was …
USDA?Continues to Invest in Wetland Mitigation Banks
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to award grant funding for the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program (WMBP). The latest one announced this week is nearly $5 million and will support development of mitigation banks for the restoration, creation or enhancement of wetlands to compensate for unavoidable impacts to wetlands at another location. This latest announcement adds to the more than $12.4 …
A Cowboy’s Christmas Prayer
As we celebrate Christmas this year, Southeast AgNet’s Randall Weiseman brings back an old favorite, “A Cowboy’s Christmas Prayer” written by S. Omar Barker. A COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS PRAYERby S. Omar Barker (1895-1985) I ain’t much good at prayin’,and You may not know me, Lord —For I ain’t much seen in churches,where they preach Thy Holy Word.But you may have observed …
New H-2A Labor Wages Effective Dec. 29
A recent issue of the Florida Citrus Mutual Triangle newsletter provided information about the wage that growers must pay H-2A labor, effective Dec. 29. H-2A workers are foreign agricultural workers who are allowed to work in the United States temporarily. In recent years, the vast majority of Florida citrus has been harvested by H-2A workers. The Employment and Training Administration …
USDA Expands Partnerships for Conservation Through CREP
(WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2021)?— The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is leveraging its authorities under the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to bring in new types of partners and ultimately expand opportunities in voluntary conservation for the country’s agricultural producers and private landowners. USDA has updated CREP’s rule regarding matching fund requirements and invested in additional staff to work directly with partners for streamlined, partner-driven conservation …
Seven Alabama Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas by USDA
(WASHINGTON/USDA-FSA/Dec 14, 2021) — This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation …
USDA Releases 2020 Sheep Death Loss Report
The USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) has released the Sheep Death Loss 2020: Sheep and Lamb Predator and Non-predator Death Loss in the U.S. report. The study is a collaborative effort between USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service; USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services; and NAHMS. The iterations occur every five years along with NASS’s Sheep …
Florida NRCS CSP Signup Ends Friday
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida reminds agricultural producers and forest landowners to apply for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) by Friday, December 10 to be considered for funding in the current cycle. CSP provides assistance to improve soil, water, air, plants, animals, and related resources. It is for working lands, including cropland, pastureland, rangeland, nonindustrial private forest land and agricultural …
USDA Opens 2022 Sign-up for Dairy Margin Coverage
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has opened sign-up for the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program and notes they’ve expanded the program to allow dairy producers to better protect their operations by enrolling supplemental production. Supplemental DMC will help small and mid-sized dairy operations that have increased production over the years but were not able to enroll the additional production. …