The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) encourages urban producers and others to attend the second public meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production on August 5. The Committee will discuss new urban conservation practices, focus areas and priorities for the Commission, and the new Farm Service Agency (FSA) urban county committees, among other topics.
Read MoreEarlier this week, USDA surprisingly lowered soybean crop conditions for week 27 of the calendar year (which corresponds to the second week of July) to 62% good or excellent vs 63% last week.
This ran counter to trade expectations of a 1% to 2% improvement in the top two rating categories given good amounts of rain that fell in key soybean producing areas last week.
Using our usual ratings system, we weight the crop based on the percent in each category and assign that category a factor of 2 for very poor, 4 for poor, 6 for fair, 8 for good, and 10 for excellent and then sum the results.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced an additional investment of more than $14 million to support agricultural workforce training in historically underserved communities that will increase the resilience of the U.S. meat and poultry processing sector.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting offers for more than 3.1 million acres from agricultural producers and private landowners through this year’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Grassland Signup, the highest in history. This program allows producers and landowners to continue grazing and haying practices while protecting grasslands and promoting plant and animal biodiversity and conservation, and it’s part of the Biden-Harris administration’s broader effort to address climate change and to conserve natural resources.
Read MoreThe Biden Administration recently appointed Ronald Guidry, Jr. as the new State Executive Director (SED) for the USDA Louisiana Farm Service Agency (FSA). Cole joined the Louisiana FSA team on July 6, 2022.
Read MoreTwenty-three USDA/ Foreign Agricultural Service agency members representing 21 U.S. Embassies visited the Southern University Ag Center’s Research Unit on July 7, 2022 as part of the USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service Locally Employed (LE) Staff Training Tour.
Read MoreOn a hot Wednesday morning in early June, Joseph Bravata pulled a black SUV with federal plates into a suburban playground parking lot outside New Orleans. The asphalt was bounded on the north by a tangle of oak and tallow trees, and to the east it faced a subdivision with big lawns and wide streets.
Read MoreSpecialty crop producers can now benefit from greater flexibility to use their own records to meet crop insurance reporting requirements. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced revisions that will make it easier for specialty crop producers and others who sell through direct marketing channels to obtain insurance, report their annual production, and file a claim.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for July 2022, which are effective July 1, 2022. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operation, purchase equipment and storage structures or meet cash flow needs.
Read MoreUSDA’s National Agricultureal Statistics Service released its latest Grain Stocks Report Thursday.
Read MoreAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced, agricultural producers nationwide have already received more than $4 billion through the Emergency Relief Program (ERP), representing nearly 67% of the more than $6 billion projected to be paid through this phase of the program.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now accepting nominations for county committee members. Elections will occur in certain Local Administrative Areas (LAA) for members. LAAs are elective areas for FSA committees in a single county or multi-county jurisdiction. This may include LAAs that are focused on an urban or suburban area.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announced today that it does not expect to purchase and sell sugar under the Feedstock Flexibility Program for crop year 2021, which runs from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service in cooperation with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) - Wildlife Services, is conducting a Feral Swine Damage survey to measure the costs of feral swine damage to crop producers growing corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, peanuts, and sorghum in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has signed a cooperative agreement with Louisiana under the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA). LFPA funds will be used to fund the Nourishing Louisiana program which aims to support Louisiana producers and underserved communities.
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