The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) commends the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new outreach campaign focused on preventing the spread of infectious poultry diseases in both commercial and backyard poultry. Poultry is Georgia’s top agricultural sector, contributing more than $25 billion to Georgia’s economy annually. Georgia also leads in the industry as one of the top five broiler producing …
Senator Takes Aim Again at Garden Regulations
After being unable to get the House to go along during the 2018 legislative session, state Senator Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, will try again to prevent local governments from regulating homeowners’ vegetable gardens. Bradley last week filed a bill (SB 82) that would largely bar regulations on vegetable gardens on residential property. The bill stems from a legal dispute between …
GOP Lawmakers Want USMCA Passed This Year
A dozen Republican lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, asking him to send final legislative language on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) to Congress as soon as possible. They want Congress to be able to vote on it before Democrats take control of the House in 2019. A Bloomberg report says the legislators think the final passage …
Beef Production Forecast Drops Slightly for 2018-2019
USDA recently reduced its forecast for beef production in 2018 by 30 million pounds. The new forecast is 26.9 billion pounds. The slight revision is based on numbers at the end of the third quarter, and from fourth-quarter expectations of slightly fewer steers and heifers to be slaughtered and fewer bulls in the slaughter mix. The industry website Meating Place …
UF/IFAS Economists Issue County-Level Estimates for Hurricane Michael Agricultural Losses
Hurricane Michael devastated coastal communities along the Florida Panhandle but the storm also caused significant agricultural crop losses well inland, as shown by a new report from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). County-level estimates from the UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program (EIAP) indicate that none of the four hardest-hit counties – Jackson, Gadsden, Suwannee …
SBA Offers Disaster Assistance to Residents of Alabama Affected by Hurricane Michael
Alabama businesses and residents affected by Hurricane Michael on October 10 – 13, 2018, can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Administrator Linda McMahon announced. Administrator McMahon made the loans available in response to a letter from Gov. Kay Ivey on Nov. 16, 2018, requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA. The declaration covers …
Georgia NRCS Offers More Assistance for Landowners Affected by Michael
State Conservationist Terrance O. Rudolph announced that additional assistance is being made available to Georgia farmers, ranchers and forestland owners who suffered damage to working lands due to Hurricane Michael. This new signup for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) can protect your land from erosion, support disaster recovery …
Signup Announced for EQIP in Alabama
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist for Alabama Ben Malone announced that January 25, 2019Â will be the signup batching deadline for producers for Fiscal Year 2019 for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and initiatives offered through the program. In addition to the January 25,, 2019 deadline, Malone announced that a 2nd signup batching date has been set …
Rural Population Growing Again
The decline in the nation’s rural population first began in 2010, before reaching its lowest level in 2011-2012. Rural areas lost nearly 62,000 residents that year, alone. However, since then it’s begun to reverse. The Economic Research Service at the USDA made that announcement in its annual report titled “Rural America at a Glance.” As recently as 2016-2017, the ERS …
Incoming House Majority Demanding USMCA Changes
With Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives, key party leaders in the chamber are demanding changes to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. The USMCA, an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, is expected to be signed by the U.S., Mexico and Canada during the upcoming G-20 summit at the end of this month. However, Congress must …