Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is in Brussels today starting a week-long trip to Europe to meet with European agricultural and trade officials and other industry stakeholders. In addition to Brussels, Vilsack will visit with officials in Luxembourg, Paris, and Dublin. While overseas, Vilsack will discuss the expansion of agricultural trade, the importance of agriculture’s role in the U.S.-European Union (EU) …
BCAP Funding Application Period Opens
One energy and ag program that was saved by the 2014 Farm Bill was the Biomass Crop Assistance Program or BCAP, designed to provide financial assistance to mainly farmers and ranchers who establish and maintain new crops of energy biomass or harvest and deliver forest or ag residues to a qualifying energy facility. Farmers who harvest ag residues such as …
Ag Secretary Announces PEDv Action at WPX
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited World Pork Expo in his home state of Iowa Thursday to announce federal actions to help combat porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV). For one, Vilsack says there is now a Federal Order requiring the reporting of new detections of these viruses to its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) or …
“New Era in Conservation” Launch
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) this week launched “a new era in American conservation efforts with an historic focus on public-private partnership.” Vilsack and Stabenow announced the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) Tuesday during a visit to the Saginaw Bay watershed of the Great Lakes agricultural region. “This is an entirely new approach …
School Lunch Food Fight
A school lunch food fight is underway between House Republicans and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee FY 2015 bill approved this week would establish a waiver program for schools having trouble with provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) says the program is resulting in rising costs for schools …
USDA Chinese Trade Mission
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse led a mission to promote U.S. biofuels and agricultural product exports in northeast China May 5-13. The mission was part of President Obama’s “Made in Rural America” export and investment initiative, designed to help rural businesses and leaders take advantage of new investment opportunities and …
USDA Outlook Board Chair to Retire
After 43 years with USDA and 20 years as chairman of the World Agricultural Outlook Board, Dr. Gerald Bange has decided it’s time to retire. USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber announced today that Bange will retire at the end of this month and Dr. Seth Meyer will become Acting Board Chair. Dr. Meyer is currently a Senior Economist in the …
ASA Pushes for Broad Land Grant Coalition
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this morning, the American Soybean Association (ASA) and six other national farm groups urged USDA to consider the needs of soybean growers and growers of all crops when awarding funds included in the 2014 Farm Bill to land grant universities for the development of websites and web-based tools to assist producers in …
Soy Checkoff Request for Referendum
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a request for referendum on the Soybean Promotion and Research Program (soy checkoff) during a four-week period, from May 5 through May 30, 2014. This referendum is authorized under the Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act. The request for referendum will determine whether U.S. soybean producers want a referendum on the …
Vilsack and Farm Workers Want Immigration Reform
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez and Nisei Farmers League President Manuel Cunha on a conference call Monday to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform for California’s agriculture economy and rural communities. “There’s no more important state to agriculture than the state of California,” said Vilsack. “It is a farm economy that is very …