Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today unveiled the new programs included in the 2014 Farm Bill to help farmers better manage risk. The new programs, Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC), represent the end of direct payments by offering farmers protection when market forces cause substantial drops in crop prices and/or revenues. Producers will have through early spring …
Canadian Farm Writers Conference Preview
This week on the ZimmCast we are previewing the upcoming Canadian Farm Writers Federation 2014 conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island October 2-5. That’s just a week from now, but if you have ever wanted to learn more about eastern Canadian agriculture, this would be the event to do it – and they would be happy to welcome more attendees! …
New Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture
The inaugural meeting of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture was held this week in conjunction with the UN Climate Summit in New York City. “I am glad to see action that will increase agricultural productivity, build resilience for farmers and reduce carbon emissions,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “These efforts will improve food and nutrition security for …
FFA Membership at Record Level
Membership in the National FFA Organization is exploding. Membership in the student organization that was founded 86 years ago now stands at 610,240 – which represents an increase of more than 30,500 since last year. The number of new, local FFA chapters throughout the country grew to 7,665. “FFA, through agricultural education, is preparing our youth to ensure the security …
Nutrient Management with N-Watch
This is the second of a four part series on Nutrient Management sponsored by FS/GROWMARK Two years ago, GROWMARK started a pilot program in the state of Illinois called N-Watch to help farmers determine the concentration, form and location of plant-available nitrogen. It started with about 45 sites in Illinois and it has grown quite a bit since then. “Right …
My American Farm App
If you want to play My American Farm on your smartphone or tablet, there’s a new app for that. The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has released a new version of its popular My American Farm app for iPads, Android tablets and Kindle Fire. The app is available for download on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon. The new version …
Farms and Legs Relay
Twelve runners represented agriculture this past weekend on a more than 200 mile run through California wine country in the annual Ragnar Napa Valley relay. The “Farms & Legs” team, organized by Case IH, started out Friday morning from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and ran 36 legs for 34 hours to wind up in Calistoga near the northern …
Subway Introduces “Crop Fit”
This is pretty funny. Maybe agriculture could develop a new side business of fitness training …. hmmmm??
USDA Deregulates ENLIST Crops
USDA has issued a decision to deregulate Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist™ 2,4-D and glyphosate-resistant corn and soybean traits in the United States. “Gaining approval for this important technology has been a long, hard fought battle,” said National Corn Growers Association Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team Chair Jim Zimmerman of Wisconsin. “It is important that farmers continue to gain access to …
USDA Offers Aid to Replant Florida Citrus
USDA is offering new financial assistance to eligible Florida citrus growers for the removal of trees afflicted with Huanglongbing (HLB), better known as citrus greening, and for replanting groves with new healthy stock. The support comes through USDA’s Tree Assistance Program. Making the announcement today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said this action is to help growers as USDA continues to …