Federal

From NAWG Today, the House Committee on Agriculture held a Full Committee hearing on the “State of the Rural Economy.” U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue shared his perspective on the on the current state of the agricultural economy and how to make USDA programs work better for America’s farmers and ranchers. National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) President David ... Read More »

From NAWG Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the creation of an undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He continued by declaring that the reorganization includes the formation of a newly-named Farm Production and Conservation mission area to have a customer focus and meet USDA constituents in the field. National ... Read More »

From NAWG Last night, congressional leaders announced an agreement to fund the government through the remainder of FY 2017 (through September 30, 2017).  The full bill text of the agreement can be found here, and the report language for the Agriculture Appropriations bill (which provides explanations and some more details about the funding bill than is in the bill text) ... Read More »

From Politico’s Morning Ag TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS ON THE FARM: Tomorrow marks 100 days in the White House for President Donald Trump, and it took 95 of them to get Sonny Perdue confirmed as Agriculture secretary. Perdue was announced as Trump’s pick on the eve of Inauguration Day, so for agriculture, the story of the first 100 days has really ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse After his state was shorted in recent enrollment of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts, South Dakota Sen. John Thune is suggesting the next farm bill give the program a higher acreage cap and more flexibility. In a release last week, Thune, a republican who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, proposed a CRP cap of 30 million acres and expanded ... Read More »

From USW’s Wheat Letter U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) shares strong support for more investment in agricultural research with our sister organization, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). NAWG notes that wheat relies on public, private and grower funding for crop innovation. Only 1.6 percent of the $142 billion U.S. federal investment in research is allocated toward agriculture research, according ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse Capitol Hill appropriators received a pair of letters Wednesday outlining funding priorities for conservation and waterway infrastructure. One letter was signed by more than 220 ag, wildlife, and conservation groups; the other by 22 farm organizations. Read the rest of the story here. Read More »

From Brownfield Ag News The president of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) says current federal commodity support programs must be tweaked before reauthorization in the next Farm Bill. During a House Ag Subcommittee hearing on general farm commodities and risk management today, Kansas farmer David Schemm spoke about his personal experience utilizing both the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse When President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law in 1862, he set in motion the development of a system of land grant colleges and helped create the foundation for U.S. agricultural research that’s endured until today. That foundation is still strong, thanks to formula funding established by Congress over the years, but there are new fears that the ... Read More »

Before the Feb. 7 comment period closed, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers submitted comments in a letter on the proposed scoping process for the Columbia River Systems Operations Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The letter outlined the organization’s opposition to any consideration of dam removal or breaching, saying, “…it is important that the scoping effort recognize that there is no ... Read More »