USDA Launches MARS

Delivering Market Data to Agricultural Producers Around the Globe Faster and Easier The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the launch of a new electronic data platform to deliver market price information to the commodities industry. The new web-based platform, Market Analysis and Reporting Services (MARS), uses state-of-the-art technology to present detailed data sets in a …

Florida Ag Policy Conference to Help Growers Deal With the Ever-Changing Global Economy

In light of the competitive and dynamic global economy, experts from UF/IFAS and other organizations will share knowledge about how to deal with pressures facing growers in Florida at the third annual Florida Agricultural Policy Conference. The conference will be held Feb. 21 at the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, Florida. Whether it’s trade agreements, labor, water …

USDA Helped Improve Essential Services for 7 Million Rural Residents in 2017

Funding Supports Schools, Libraries, Municipal Centers, First Responder Vehicles and Equipment, Other Community Needs Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that USDA invested in nearly 400 projects to provide essential services for more than 7 million people in rural areas across the country in Fiscal Year 2017. “Partnering with our small towns and cities to support essential services that rural residents …

Perdue Announces USDA’s Farm Bill and Legislative Principles for 2018

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Bill and Legislative Principles for 2018 during a town hall at Reinford Farms in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. “Since my first day as the Secretary of Agriculture, I’ve traveled to 30 states, listening to the people of American agriculture about what is working and what is not. The conversations …

USDA Appoints 11 New Members and Alternates to National Peanut Board

Broad range of peanut industry and community involvement marks 2018 appointees Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue recently appointed five members and six alternates to serve on the National Peanut Board. The appointees will serve three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2018, and ending Dec. 31, 2020. One appointee, the Texas alternate, will serve the remaining one-year portion of a vacancy. The members …

Secretary Perdue Outlines USDA Services in the Event of a Government Shutdown

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today outlined U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) services available in the event of a government shutdown. “USDA is committed to safeguarding life and property through the critical services we provide – and should the government shut down, we will continue to do just that,” said Secretary Perdue. “I am proud of each USDA employee …

Georgia Peanut Farm Show Provides a Day of Education for Farmers

More than 1,300 attendees were able to fine-tune their farming operations with information gained at the 42nd annual Georgia Peanut Farm Show and Conference on Jan. 18, 2018, at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia. The show is sponsored by the Georgia Peanut Commission. The one-day show offered farmers a chance to view the products …

USDA/NIFA Announces Support for Biomass Genomics Research

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research, announce joint support for research in plant feedstock genomics for bioenergy. NIFA’s support is funded through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), which aims to address challenges in food and agricultural …