USDA Invests $7 Million in Wetland Mitigation Banking to Support Producers and Protect Wetland Ecosystems
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $7 million to support the development of wetland mitigation banks for agricultural producers through the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program (WMBP). Through wetland mitigation banks, wetlands are restored, created or enhanced, generating credits that can be purchased by producers looking to compensate for unavoidable impacts to wetlands at another location. The funding is available to Tribes, government entities, nonprofits and other organizations.
“Wetlands provide important ecosystem services, like storing floodwaters and filtering pollutants, while also serving as critical habitat to wildlife,” said USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Terry Cosby.
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USDA Announces $824 Million in New Funding to Protect Livestock Health; Launches Voluntary H5N1 Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced it is taking several additional actions to ensure the health and viability of the nation’s livestock and poultry. In the two months since the initial detection of H5N1 in dairy cattle, USDA has worked quickly and in concert with its federal and state partners to better understand the virus and contain the disease and remains committed to seeking additional ways to collect the data needed to better understand and mitigate the risk created by this outbreak.
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Biden-Harris Administration to Invest $50 Million in Projects that Restore Natural Functions and Values of Wetlands As Part of Investing in America Agenda
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest up to $50 million in fiscal year 2024 through the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP) to support conservation partners with local projects that help protect, restore and enhance critical wetlands on agricultural lands and help mitigate climate change as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. With funding from the 2018 Farm Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history, including historic funding for conservation easements and other conservation programs—WREP empowers eligible conservation partners to work with local agriculture producers to protect, restore and enhance high-priority wetlands on agricultural lands.
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USDA and FarmRaise Launch Additional Online Disaster Assistance Decision Tool for Livestock, Honey Bee and Farm-Raised Fish Producers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in partnership with FarmRaise, today launched a new, online Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP) Decision Tool. The USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) tool is designed to assist agricultural producers who have been impacted by natural disasters access available program support. This ELAP Decision Tool, a component of a broader disaster assistance program educational module, further expands the library of online FSA disaster and farm loan program reference resources and decision aids currently available to agricultural producers on the FarmRaise FSA educational hub.
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USDA Expands Support for Producers to Stop the Spread of H5N1 in Dairy Cattle
Since the detection of H5N1 in dairy cattle in March, USDA has worked swiftly and diligently to assess the prevalence of the virus in U.S. dairy herds and to use the latest scientific data to learn about the virus and to quickly contain the disease event. As part of this multifaceted approach, on May 10, USDA announced several financial assistance options for producers with affected herds.
USDA is announcing the expansion of some of these support options to include dairy producers whose herds have not tested positive for H5N1.
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Delta Regional Farm Labor: May 2024
This report includes Number of Workers, Hours Worked, and Wage Rates by Type of Worker…
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Share Of Farmland Rented Holds Steady At 39 Percent In US
Thirty-nine percent of the 880 million acres of U.S. farmland in 2022 was rented or leased, a similar rate to that in 2017, according to new data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
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USDA Awards $300 Million to Diversify Export Markets for U.S. Agriculture
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is allocating $300 million to 66 U.S. organizations, under the new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP), to build demand for American food and farm exports in high-potential markets around the globe.
Secretary Vilsack launched RAPP in October 2023, authorizing $1.2 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funding to help U.S. exporters expand their customer base beyond traditional and established markets, focusing on regions such as Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South and Southeast Asia, where consumer demand and purchasing power are growing.
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Soybean Request for Referendum to Begin May 2024
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct the Soybean Request for Referendum May 6 through May 31, 2024, in county Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices.
The Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act requires USDA to conduct a Request for Referendum every five years to determine if producers want to vote on continuation of the Soybean Checkoff Program. The last Request for Referendum was conducted in 2019.
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Impact of Selected Adjuvants Combined with Vantacor Against the Sugarcane Borer, 2023
The efficacy of 3 adjuvants combined with a standard rate of insecticide applied for sugarcane borer (SCB) control was compared with untreated controls in second ratoon sugarcane (HoCP 00-950) in 2023 at the USDA-ARS Sugarcane Research Unit Ardoyne Farm in Schriever, Louisiana. Plots consisted of 3, 60-ft rows, with 4 replications assigned using a RCBD. All insecticide applications used the insecticide Vantacor (FMC) at a rate of 1.2 fl oz/acre and were applied when the infestation reached the threshold level (3% of stalks with SCB larvae present in leaf sheaths) on 29 June 2023.
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USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs of Organic, Transitioning Producers
Agricultural producers and handlers who are certified organic, along with producers and handlers who are transitioning to organic production, can now apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Organic and Transitional Education and Certification Program (OTECP) and Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which help producers and handlers cover the cost of organic certification, along with other related expenses. Applications for OTECP and OCCSP are both due October 31, 2022.
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NRCS Gives Farmers Avenues for New Technology
Public and private cost-share programs give farmers the option to test new technology and conservation practices with lower financial risk before footing the bill of whole-scale implementation.
For the Wiggers Farm Partnership in Winnsboro, La., utilizing cost-share programs available through NRCS, especially the Conservation Stewardship Program, has enabled them to make compounding changes to irrigation equipment, soil improvements and more.
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Urban Youth Loan Borrower Grows Lettuce and a Passion for Hydroponics
Trinity Waguespack is an 11-year-old urban farmer in Lafayette, Louisiana. When she’s not tackling her schoolwork, Trinity is busy growing lettuce in her three hydroponic garden towers. Through precision agriculture and artificial intelligence technology, the towers notify her when the lettuce needs water, even when she’s at swim practice.
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USDA Ready to Help Crawfish Farmers Hurt in 2023 Heat
The U.S. Department of Agriculture expanded emergency assistance to crawfish farmers who suffered from weather issues last summer.
USDA changed regulations of the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish, called ELAP, to include crawfish farmers in the federal grants for disasters.
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USDA Seeks Proposals for $10 Million Partnership Funding Opportunity to Assess CRP Benefits
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) strongly encourages eligible conservation partners to submit proposals for $10 million in available funds to research the Conservation Reserve Program’s (CRP) environmental benefits and outcomes. CRP is one of the world’s largest voluntary conservation programs with an established track record of preserving topsoil, sequestering carbon, reducing nitrogen runoff and providing healthy wildlife habitat.
Funding this research with partners outside of USDA will enable USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) — the agency responsible for administering CRP — to best focus the program’s future functionality and goals based on the collective research results.
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