Posts in USDA
USDA Unveils Cutting-Edge Map That Shows Planted US Commodities

Imagine this. You are a new farmer who bought a plot of land in your hometown. You’re making important decisions for your operation like what to plant and where. If only you had a tool to identify historical information for what’s been grown on your land and in your area that would allow you to make better informed decisions to set up your new business for success.

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Farm Bill Base Acre Debate Heats Up, Mandated Update Would Mean Big Loss for Louisiana

For more than two decades, and over the course of the last four farm bills, farm program payments have been based on a farm’s historical planted acreage, i.e., base acres, and not on actual plantings each year. Decoupling Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage farm program payments prevents farmers from making planting decisions based on expected program payments. Instead, the current system ensures farmers evaluate only market supply and demand signals and expected returns per acre when determining which crops to plant each year.  

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USDA Introduces Geospatial Data Product To Show Crop Rotation Patterns

The U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a geospatial product called Crop Sequence Boundaries (CSB) that offers public access to national-scale visual crop rotation data for the first time. The new tool was developed by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Economic Research Service (ERS), two of the department’s statistical scientific research agencies.

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USDA Invests in Research, Extension and Education at 1890 Land-grant Universities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today an investment of more than $33 million to support capacity-building efforts at 1890 Land-grant Universities. This investment, administered through USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), will support 82 research, Extension, and education projects across the nation’s 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities designated as 1890 Land-grant Universities.

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Researchers and the Sugar Industry Join Forces to Refresh the Environment

The average American consumes 17 teaspoons of sugar per day, about half from sugarcane. It takes a lot of raw material to create all that sweetness, but there is a downside – what do you do with all the leftover sugarcane processing waste?

Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC), in New Orleans, LA, are working with the sugar industry to improve processing methods and develop new products that will benefit the environment and increase profits.

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US Cattle Inventory Down 3%

There were 95.9 million head of cattle and calves on U.S. farms as of July 1, 2023, according to the Cattle report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

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USDA Accepts Nearly 3 Million Acres In Grassland CRP Signup

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting offers for nearly 2.7 million acres from agricultural producers and private landowners through this year’s Grassland Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) signup, which received a record setting sign-up of 4.6 million acres in offers. This working lands program allows producers and landowners to continue grazing and haying practices while protecting grasslands and further the CRP’s impacts.

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USDA Invests $7.4 M In 25 Urban Agriculture & Innovative Production Efforts

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $7.4 million in 25 selected grants that support urban agriculture and innovative production. Selected grant recipients, including community gardens and nonprofit farms, will increase food production and access in economically distressed communities, provide job training and education, and allow partners to develop business plans and zoning proposals.

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