Ag Policy

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the availability of more than $19 million in grants to help train, educate and enhance the sustainability of the next generation of agricultural producers through initiatives such as the Beginning Farmer and Rancher...

Producers in southwest Georgia have always been peanut farmers who grew cotton and corn, but the mainstay was and still is peanuts. When the 1985 Farm Bill became law, that enabled producers to build cotton base. In 1988, Georgia...

Five years ago, I was sitting on my tractor in the middle of a cotton field in Frog Jump, Tenn., when I received a phone call that changed my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. One of my trusted friends asked me to run for Congress, something that this seventh- generation farmer had never considered.

The Cotton Board recently conducted its March Annual Meeting in Santa Fe., N.M., where board members, in their respective committees, reviewed Cotton Incorporated’s proposed plans for 2015 and developed strategic recommendations. The meeting was well attended by both producer...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will make $6 million in grants available this year, and up to $30 million total over the next five years as part of a...

The new farm bill repeals the direct and counter-cyclical programs and authorizes a new revenue insurance product that can be purchased in addition to a producer’s existing coverage. However, enactment of the new law came too late for USDA and the private sector to offer the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) until 2015. Then, it will be available for purchase on all acres planted to upland cotton. As with existing insurance products, STAX

Wallace L. Darneille, a Lubbock, Texas, cooperative marketer, was elected National Cotton Council chairman for 2014. Named during the NCC’s recent annual meeting in Washington, D.C., he succeeds Jimmy Dodson, a Robstown, Texas, cotton producer. Since 2004, Darneille has been...

Red River Crops Conference To Address Variety Of Topics Producers in the Red River area of Oklahoma and Texas will have a chance to hear an update on several important ag production topics on Jan. 28-29 at the Southwest Technology...

Honey bee health decline threatens the world’s agricultural enterprise and ecosystems, which rely on bees for pollination. Among several factors contributing to bee colony losses is the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, which was first detected in the United States in 1987. Researchers have agreed that this parasite remains the single most detrimental pest of honey bees and is closely associated with overwintering colony declines

OSHA has rewritten the Hazard Communication Standard, and all employers (including agricultural employers) were required to have their workers trained on this new standard by Dec. 1. This rulemaking is complete and being implemented. A second rulemaking that would directly...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has recently announced funding for projects in 40 states to finance investments in improved water and waste-water systems for more than 200,000 rural residents. “Rural businesses and residents need access to clean water and modern waste...

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have released two mobile phone applications, or "apps," to make things easier for anyone who needs to adjust insecticide spray equipment. The apps were developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists Bradley...

By Christine Souza Calif. Farm Bureau Federation While Congress reconvenes for a post-election, "lame-duck" session, farmers and ranchers are urging their representatives to work together to address pressing issues facing agriculture. Rayne Pegg, manager of the California Farm Bureau Federation Federal Policy...

By Tommy Horton Editor When an overseas retail representative sees U.S. cotton in the field for the first time, an important message is reinforced. In essence, it becomes a mutually beneficial situation for all parties. That is precisely what happened last month...

Unless Congress acts before the end of the year, come Jan. 1, the U.S. economy will fall off a “fiscal cliff.” That’s when a number of tax breaks and government program spending will be cut in order to try...