senate

Congress Returns Next Month Facing Challenges

Dan Industry News Release, Legislative

Congress returns next month and immediately faces huge spending and debt ceiling challenges, before other politically important measures like tax reform and the farm bill. House and Senate appropriators have both sent USDA spending bills to the full House and Senate, though neither has acted yet, and the two bills that both reject big cuts proposed by the president would …

ncba

EPA Administrator Asks Cattlemen to Submit WOTUS Comments

Dan Cattle, Industry News Release, Industry Videos-Promoting Agriculture, Water

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association released a video featuring Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, in which Pruitt urges farmers and ranchers to submit official comments on the repeal of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule before the Agency’s deadline of Monday, Aug. 28, 2017. “When comments are made a part of a record – as rule-making – we have an …

coalition

Family Farm Action Lobbying Group Launched

Dan Industry News Release

A new political organization says it will fight for America’s family farmers and rural communities. The Family Farm Action group was launched this week, and says it will “fight to protect” America’s family farms and rural communities from multinational agribusiness monopolies that are “destroying rural economies and way of life.” The Kansas City, Missouri-based group’s President Joe Maxwell, a Missouri …

roberts

Roberts, McCaskill To Host Agriculture Security Roundtable

Dan Industry News Release

Senate Agriculture Chair Pat Roberts of Kansas, along with Senate Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri will hold a roundtable discussion Friday on agriculture security. Senators McCaskill and Roberts will discuss the role of the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies in protecting farmers and ranchers, and our nation’s food supply. The discussion Friday in Kansas City, Missouri is hosted …

fried

Not All Ag Groups Happy with Direction of NAFTA Talks

Dan Industry News Release, Trade

A handful of farm groups says the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation goals favor corporate agribusiness over family farmers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Politico reports that a coalition of farm groups argues that increasing exports won’t replace the need for fair prices in disputes such as the one over Canada’s dairy supply management system, along with eliminating …

disaster designation

USDA Disaster Designation for 11 Alabama Counties

Dan Alabama, Industry News Release

United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, announced that 11 Alabama counties are under a Secretarial natural disaster designation.  Farmers in these counties which are classified by USDA as “primary” may be eligible for emergency loans from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA).  Those farmers in counties that are contiguous to these primary counties may be eligible as well. The …

Alabama NRCS Soil Quality Sign-Up Continues

Dan Alabama, Soil, USDA-NRCS

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist for Alabama, Ben Malone, recently announced the agency is providing funding to help landowners improve soil quality through a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project. But the signup deadline is August 28.

nrcs

Agritourism Offers Luxury in Northwest Florida

Dan Florida, USDA-NRCS

According to USDA’s Ag Census, 105 million visitors spent more than $85 billion in 2015 on agritourism in Florida. The number of Florida farms offering recreational experiences more than doubled from 2007 to 2012. And technical and financial assistance available from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Florida has helped some of these small farms achieve their goals.

trade deal

U.S., Canadian and Mexican Farm Groups Support Modernized NAFTA

Dan Industry News Release, Trade

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and Mexico’s Consejo Nacional Agropecuario (CNA) sent a joint letter to Canadian, the United States, and Mexican government officials reiterating their calls that NAFTA renegotiations should aim to modernize the agreement, rather than dismantle it. The AFBF, CFA, and CNA agree that agriculture represents one of NAFTA’s biggest success …