In a release by the American Soybean Association and published in the Delta Farm Press, the organization is hoping to assist farmers during this year’s difficult harvest. With floods, hurricanes, natural disasters and excessive rains, there are far too many fields these days with ruts in them as farmers try to harvest despite the moisture. My thoughts and prayers are with all of the crop farmers who are trying to get harvest done.
The American Soybean Association is urging Congress to provide funding to deliver much-needed financial assistance to farmers and rural communities to assist them in recovering from devastating losses caused by hurricanes, excessive rain during harvest and other natural disasters across the country, including catastrophic weather-related losses in the Mid-South and neighboring states.
“Soybeans, rice, cotton, peanuts, sweet potatoes and other crops and segments of the agricultural economy currently are experiencing devastating weather-related losses,” said Johnny Dodson, ASA president and soybean producer from Halls, Tenn. “In some cases, the 2009 losses follow on the heels of similar losses in 2008.”
Although loss estimates are preliminary, they have already reached the hundreds of millions of dollars. Many producers need assistance within weeks to repay loans and secure new financing in time for spring planting, so prompt action on this measure is vitally important. Alternative means of providing assistance cannot be delivered before late 2010 or early 2011.
Source: Delta Farm Press
American Farmland Trust has launched a new blog called 
Our sponsor for AgWired coverage of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference again this year was 
Besides talking about how the agency was started in 1951 and how it has evolved I thought it very interesting to hear how they’re working with clients on new communications channels. For example, they say that clients are surprised at how low the costs are to get started with social media. They also offer some good advice for implementing it into a communications plan like making a commitment to it and staying engaged. They also acknowledge the difficulty with measuring ROI for digital marketing campaigns but with a little effort there are ways to judge how well it’s working for you.
The 
With a title like Director of Molecular Biology you might think that it would be hard for a non-technical person to carry on a conversation with Ramesh Ramakrishna. Not so. Ramesh works for 
Last month’s Farm Foundation “30-Year Policy Conference” drew agribusiness leaders, government officials, and other interested parties. “Because 30 years from now, we’re going to be looking at over 9 billion people on the planet and with rising incomes, people begin to eat more meat and a more varied diet and that means that agriculture has to deliver more,” says Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin. “As we deal with how to make the best use of our increasingly scarce natural resources to produce food, feed fiber, fuel – and even flowers – we need to be sure that we are thinking about policies that will help us in that environment, not the environment we have lived in for the last 30 years.”
‘Tis the season…for giving! That’s exactly what Christmas tree growers are doing in Indiana this year. In a spirited event that should remind us all to step up and help others, this is a charity worth giving cheers to! Check it out!
Let’s meet one of the columnists for the United Soybean Board’s