The American Soybean Association will give a scholarship to a high school senior who is interested in pursuing agriculture. The Soy Scholarship is a $5,000 one-time award presented to a high school senior who plans to pursue agriculture as an area of study at any accredited college or university in the 2019-20 academic year. The scholarship is managed by ASA and made possible through a grant by BASF Corporation. High school seniors may apply online Sept. 10-Nov. 19, 2018. The scholarship is awarded in $2,500 increments (one per semester) for the 2019-20 school year. The student must maintain successful academic progress and be in good standing with the college or university to receive the full amount of the scholarship. Final selection will be made in December during the ASA Board meeting. The student will be notified mid-December, with an official announcement made during Commodity Classic in Orlando, Feb. 28 – March 2, 2019. In addition to the scholarship, BASF will provide the winner and one parent or guardian with a trip to attend Commodity Classic in Orlando, where they will receive special recognition at the BASF booth and the ASA Awards Banquet on Friday night of the Commodity Classic.

While trade issues remain a top priority for the soy industry, the American Soybean Association is taking a moment this fall to highlight the importance of monarch habitat in its overall conservation efforts, which include soil and water quality, and pollinator preservation. This week ,ASA launched a month-long effort on social media to showcase the importance of monarch habitat. Three randomly-selected participants who post their unique monarch or monarch habitat pics on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtag #Beans4Monarchs during the contest period will be selected to each win one $100 gift card, to be awarded in October. ASA says that monarch habitat promotes biodiversity and sustainability near farmlands, including attracting pollinators, improving soil health and water quality, housing natural enemies of crop pests, and increasing wildlife diversity. Yet, the monarch population has been alarmingly on the decline since the 1990s. The goal of ASA’s #Beans4Monarchs program is to help turn around those declining numbers and promote fit farmlands through healthy monarch habitat.

President Donald Trump has called on Congress to pass a farm bill with work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. However, there appears to be no clear path forward for the bill if the requirements are included. The bipartisan Senate version of the bill does not include the requirements, and Senators say a bill with the requirements will not pass the chamber. Meanwhile, many U.S. House members remain hopeful the requirements will remain in place. But, as private meetings are now underway to finalize the farm bill, a compromise is on the table, as presented by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway. Little details have been spelled out yet, but following the first public meeting of the conference committee, Conaway told Politico that leaders of the committee had “difficult conversations” about the differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill. Lawmakers have just more than a week to finish a farm bill to get it signed by the President before the current legislation expires. However, Conaway says: “This system can move lightening quick if it wants to and glacier-like if it wants to.”

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway has offered up what he calls a “significant compromise” on nutrition programs in the farm bill. Conaway declined to get into specifics with Politico, but says last week he sent a proposal to his counterparts in the Senate offering a compromise on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. He says the offer demonstrates he’s “willing to move off House positions, but it’s got to make sense.” The farm bill conference committee met Wednesday in its first public meeting, set to iron out the differences between the House and Senate farm bills. The House version seems certain to fail in the Senate with work requirements for the SNAP program. Conaway says the move to offer a compromise was to show the other top conference committee members that Conaway was “willing to make significant changes to the House bill to get this done.”

The farm bill conference committee’s first public meeting Wednesday came with just ten legislative days to complete and pass a new farm bill. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts chairs the committee, working on now his eighth farm bill as a lawmaker. In his opening statement, Roberts told the committee: “Time is of the essence. Let us work together to get this done.” The farm bill conference committee is composed of 56 members, including nine Senators and 47 Representatives. Ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee Collin Peterson told the members: “Nobody in this room is going to get everything he or she wants; this process is about compromise.” The biggest compromise is needed in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, where the House version of the bill includes work requirements. Debbie Stabenow, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, pointed out that the House SNAP provision would cut two million recipients from the program, adding that “these cuts do not have support in the Senate – and do not even have strong consensus in the House.”

(NCGA) As harvest has either begun or looms on the horizon, the National Corn Growers Association reminds photographers, both amateur and professional, they are invited to help share our story of farming field corn in America through the fifth annual Fields-of-Corn Photo Contest. Through this contest, NCGA captures high-resolution photos of corn growth from seed to harvest and the families that grow it. Interested participants will be able to submit multiple entries until November 30, 2018. Open to all, the Fields-of-Corn photo contest offers a free opportunity for photographers to share their work while competing for 25 cash prizes. Prizes include cash awards for the top three entries in eight categories including Corn, Growing Field Corn, Farm Family Lifestyle, Scenery/Landscape, Farming Challenges, SHP Conservation, one for the most popular as determined by Facebook “likes” and, new this year, True Grit. While entries will only be accepted until November 30, 2018, entries may accumulate “likes” until December 31, 2018. Winners will be announced in January of 2019.