The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $10 million in a new initiative to sample, measure, and monitor soil carbon on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres to better quantify the climate outcomes of the program. CRP is an important tool in the Nation’s fight to reduce the worst impacts of climate change facing our farmers, ranchers, and foresters. This initiative will begin implementation in fall 2021 with three partners. Today’s announcement is part of a broader, long-term soil carbon monitoring effort across agricultural lands that supports USDA’s commitment to deliver climate solutions to agricultural producers and rural America through voluntary, incentive-based solutions.

If Martin Barbre has his way, it soon may be a whole lot easier to certify your acres with the Farm Service Agency.

How easy? Think from your home, at your computer — without a trip to the FSA office, which could be clear across the county.

“All producers will be able to sit at home and do acreage reporting at their own computer, rather than going to the FSA office and standing there with stacks of books and maps,” Barbre says.

On September 29, USDA announced $3 billion in investments targeting “urgent challenges facing agriculture today,” as part of Secretary Vilsack’s work as co-chair of the President’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force. Of the $3 billion total, $500 million will be made available via the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide relief from increased transportation challenges, scarcity and rising costs of certain materials, and other near-term obstacles related to the marketing and distribution of certain commodities .

An extensive report on the U.S. cattle market, including information on supply chain disruptions, has been completed by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, AFPC.

The 180-plus page book, titled “The U.S. Beef Supply Chain: Issues and Challenges” is the result of proceedings from an AFPC-hosted workshop on cattle markets held in June in Kansas City, Missouri.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today an investment of $4.7 million to establish partnerships with organizations to provide outreach and technical assistance to historically underserved farmers and ranchers. The partnerships will support participation in Farm Service Agency (FSA) programs, including those that are part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative.

This article contains a summary of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA) report on commodity program choice for the 2021 crop year. For most crops, share of base acres enrolled in ARC-CO (Agriculture Risk Coverage – County version) increased. Share decreased in ARC-IC (ARC farm version) and PLC (Price Loss Coverage).

Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the selection of recipients for more than $6.6 million in grants and cooperative agreements through the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. These grants and cooperative agreements build on $4.1 million in projects funded in 2020.

Through a comprehensive set of investments, USDA announced an additional $3 billion will be made available through the Commodity Credit Corporation to take action to prevent the spread of African swine fever, assist producers grappling with drought and market disruptions at ports and help school nutrition professionals obtain nutritious food for students.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing a higher loan limit will be available for borrowers seeking a guaranteed farm loan starting Oct. 1, 2021, from $1.776 million to $1.825 million.

“Farm loans are critical for our customers’ annual operating and family living expenses, emergency needs, and cash flow,” FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said. “Raising the guaranteed loan limit will allow FSA to better meet the financial needs of producers as natural disasters and the pandemic continue to impact their operations.”