A drop in good pasture condition ratings this past week is equivalent to an increase in poor pasture ratings. USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, has a detailed look at pasture conditions around the country. Latest Pasture Condition Numbers
Livestock Groups Highlight Misuse of Environmental Laws
Cattle and sheep producers warned Congress that environmental laws are increasingly being misused by fringe activist groups and pose a growing threat to grazing on federal lands. The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy, and the Environment held a hearing. It was in response to mounting challenges faced by ranchers who graze livestock on federal lands …
Large Livestock Loan Drive Rise in Farm Lending
The Federal Reserve’s Agricultural Finance Databook says lending activity in the agricultural sector increased slightly in the second quarter of 2018. The overall number of non-real estate farm loans was roughly two percent higher than at the same time in 2017. The slight increase was supported primarily by larger loans for livestock. In the short term, The Kansas City Fed …
Report Says Meat, Dairy to Become World’s Biggest Polluters
The world’s five biggest meat and dairy producers could soon take the top spot as the world’s biggest polluters. A new report from the nonprofit GRAIN and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy says meat and dairy could soon produce more greenhouse gasses than oil giants Exxon, Shell, and BP. Zero Hedge Dot Com lists those five ag companies …
Sommet De L’Elevage Livestock Show Coming Up in October
A 27th Edition that is Looking Extremely Promising With 1,500 exhibitors from 32 countries occupying 180,000 m² of show space, 2,000 animals and 95,000 visitors from the farming industry, the SOMMET DE L’ELEVAGE is now recognised as a reference among the world’s largest livestock shows. Judging and animal presentations, technical innovations, business meetings, farmer events and conferences covering the hot …
USDA Seeks Feedback from Growers about 2018 Crops, Stocks, Livestock Inventories and Values
During the next several weeks, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct two major mid-year surveys, the June Agricultural Survey and the June Area Survey. The agency will contact nearly 700 producers across Florida to determine crop acreage and stock levels as of June 1, 2018. “Two of the most important and well-known surveys NASS …
Thune Seeks Livestock Indemnity Program Changes
South Dakota Senator John Thune has asked the Department of Agriculture to make urgent changes to the Livestock Indemnity Program to assist farmers and ranchers. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Thune says a series of winter storms across the upper Midwest in March and April, the peak lambing and calving months for many livestock producers, has taken …
USDA Highlights Feedback from Stakeholders in Review of Livestock Mandatory Reporting Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) submitted a Report to Congress that reviews the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) Program and includes feedback from a broad range of stakeholders. The program gets its authority through the LMR Act of 1999, which must be reauthorized by Congress every five years, and the most recent reauthorization was in 2015. …
Livestock Producers Pleased with Legislative Fix
Many in the livestock industry were pleased to see the omnibus appropriations spending bill passed by Congress and signed by the President, as one of agriculture’s wins in that bill ended the court-ordered reporting of manure air emissions as Superfund events. The measure overrides the courts and exempts farmers from having to report manure air emissions as a Superfund emergency. …
Omnibus Spending Bill Also Contains Livestock “Fixes”
The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association was pleased to see that the omnibus appropriations spending bill released on Wednesday night has what it called “two common-sense solutions to regulatory overreach in the Fiscal Year 2018.” The spending bill includes a one-year delay of the Electronic Logging Devices mandate for livestock haulers. It also excludes livestock producers from the reporting requirements of the …