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 »
From Agri-Pulse U.S. farmers are getting grayer, their national numbers are on the decline and fewer young people are moving back to farms and ranches. The average age of a principal operator of a U.S. farm is now over 58 years old. Absent opportunities for manufacturing, recreation or other industries, many of their surrounding small towns are dying off, too. ... Read More »
From NAWG The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) joined 16 agriculture organizations in voicing support for sufficient financial resources to write the next farm bill. A joint letter was sent to House and Senate leaders of the Budget and Appropriations Committees and echoes the sentiments of the House Agriculture Committee’s annual budget and views and estimates letter to the House Budget ... Read More »
From DTN The U.S. Department of Agriculture would take a $4.7 billion cut in discretionary programs next year under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, or about a 21 percent cut from 2017 spending levels. The budget blueprint released Thursday by the White House proposes a $17.9 billion discretionary budget at USDA, down from $22.6 billion for the current budget year. The ... Read More »
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