Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has released 22-million dollars in funding for Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects that promote healthier, safer and more productive public lands through partnership efforts which will reduce wildfire risk, enhance fish and wildlife habitats, and maintain and improve water quality across all lands. The projects are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says – the best way to improve the health of our nation’s forests is to work across boundaries with an all-lands approach. Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects accomplish a variety of U.S. Forest Service priorities including watershed restoration while supporting sustainable and fire-adapted communities through partnerships at the state, local and private level.

The U.S. Forest Service mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land and is the world’s largest forestry research organization.

The National Corn Growers Association’s 2011 Social Media Training Program continues next week with a webinar focused on social media and agriculture. This session will recap the topics covered in the first five webinars and then look at all of these tools as part of the overarching social media and agriculture movement. In addition to reviewing topics such as blog commenting, Facebook and Twitter, the webinar will cover additional best practices, case studies and some of the top ag social media sites. The program is supported by Pioneer Hi-Bred.

The webinar takes place at 10:30 a.m. CDT Thursday.

Ten beginning farmers have been selected to participate in the National Farmers Union’s new Beginning Farmer Institute. Applicants who will participate in the inaugural institute are from Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Ohio, Montana, Connecticut; and Colorado.  According to NFU President Roger Johnson, – the Beginning Farmer Institute will provide these participants with a better working knowledge of the tools available to help them succeed.

Institute participants will learn about financial planning, farm management, and farmer-owned cooperatives. In addition, they will help determine the agenda based on what they have identified as important on their farm. Topics include marketing, understanding USDA programs, renewable energy, recording keeping or understanding the local food system.

Johnson says – we see farming as both a way of life and a business. Farming is a career and a profession that demands the most of people. Farmers are entrepreneurs, conservationists, mechanics, managers, and the muscle it takes to operate a farm around the clock, month after month. They literally grow our nation’s food, fuel, and fiber from the ground up. The program is sponsored in part by Farm Credit, United Soybean Board, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, and the NFU Foundation.

As you may know, we do all of our stories from the actual location where they occur. While we did travel to this town, our computer ate the interview sometime after the broadcast, but that didn’t keep us from getting John Holtzclaw on the phone to talk about the 600 civil war troops that will soon arrive in his hometown…..

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The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association claims the American Farm Bureau Federation has taken a position on the side of big government by opposing House language to defund the GIPSA rule from 2012 Ag Appropriations Bill.

NCBA, which has worked to stop USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration from moving forward with a proposed rule on livestock and poultry marketing reforms, asked its membership via email this week to turn up the heat on Farm Bureau.  Colin Woodall is NCBA’s Vice President of Government Affairs….

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AFBF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a letter that was read aloud during the House Appropriations Committee markup of the ag spending bill, AFBF President Bob Stallman wrote that the nation’s largest farm group strongly opposes any action that would stop work on the proposed GIPSA rule.

Woodall says the letter caught NCBA off-guard….

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Woodall says he doesn’t think the dust-up over GIPSA will damage NCBA’s collaborative working relationship with AFBF on a host of other issues….

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The House plans to debate the ag spending measure next week. 

 

Story courtesy of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service

The DuPont assembled Advisory Committee on Agriculture Innovation and Productivity, chaired by former U.S. Senator Thomas Daschle, reports the challenge of feeding a growing population of 9-billion by 2050 requires collaboration across all stakeholders on a scale never seen before and it has to start now. According to Daschle, – the complexity of this challenge – substantial urbanization, diminished resources such as arable land and water, increased rates of malnutrition – are complex and can only be addressed with the kind of innovation that comes from partnerships and collaboration on a whole new level.

The committee’s recommendations are focused in three areas: Producing more food with increased nutritional value; Making food accessible and affordable for everyone; and Addressing the challenge in a continuously more sustainable and comprehensive way. Among the specific recommendations were calls for improved public policy in the areas of trade, regulatory approval of agriculture innovations, subsidies and intellectual property protection. The committee also called on the private sector to invest in developing markets to build sustained economic growth.

Key areas where large-scale collaboration was recommended included public/private efforts in research and development, especially to develop and implement a strategy for improving productivity and nutritional value of indigenous crops; investment in farmer extension services and financing; and development of enhanced science-based education systems worldwide and youth and leadership development programs in key developing markets, such as Africa.

Speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns has questioned the sincerity of the Environmental Protection Agency over a campaign the Senator is calling EPA’s “Charm Offensive”. According to Johanns, the problem is – what the EPA is selling publicly to farmers and ranchers just doesn’t match up with reality. They say one thing on the road while the regulatory train just continues to barrel forward in Washington.

Well, not to worry. Johanns says EPA message number one in the “Charm Offensive” is – the EPA doesn’t have any plans to do anything as silly as regulating farm dust. At the same time, EPA assistant administrator Gina McCarthy says National Air Quality Standards – are not focused on any specific category of sources or any activity, including activities relating to agriculture or rural roads. The source of the dust doesn’t matter.

Johanns told Senators, – the reality is – there is a public relations effort. And then there’s a whole separate effort called the “Charm Offensive” effort. And then there is regulatory reality. Instead of spouting charming verbiage about the benefits of increased regulation, EPA should be looking for a way to work with farmers and ranchers and small businesses to find solutions to environmental challenges while creating jobs for Americans who are out of work.

Everett Forkner, a pork producer from Richards, Missouri, has been elected president of the 15-member National Pork Board. Forkner, the board’s vice president, is the owner and president of Forkner Farms, which has 550 purebred sows and markets 75-hundred hogs per year. With members of his family, he also raises corn, soybeans and wheat on 2-thousand acres in west central Missouri.

Nationally, Forkner has served as chairman of the National Pork Board’s producer-led Animal Science Committee. He also has served on the Niche Committee and as a member of the Nutritional Efficiency Consortium.  At the board level, he serves on the Administrative Committee. Previously, Forkner served as president of the American Landrace Association and on the board of the United Duroc Association.

National Pork Board members have also elected Conley Nelson, a pork producer from Algona, Iowa, vice president and Karen Richter, a pork producer from Montgomery, Minnesota, treasurer. All three will serve one-year terms beginning immediately.

USDA has awarded more than 4.5-million dollars in funding to conservation districts across the country to implement conservation practices on agricultural and nonindustrial private forest lands through the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative. Also, over 10-million dollars will be provided for financial and technical assistance to producers in 13 states. Conservation districts from seven of those states received funds, including California, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

Fifteen of the 38 selected proposals will directly support the work of conservation districts. Gene Schmidt, President of the National Association of Conservation Districts says, – the fact districts were awarded a significant portion of these funds demonstrates their proven track-record of success when it comes to working with local landowner customers to enhance clean air, water, soils and wildlife habitat in their communities.

Qualified farmers, ranchers and private landowners located in a project area may now apply for one of three programs, which may be approved for assistance by the NRCS. These programs – the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program – will help leverage additional services and resources from non-federal partners.

The nomination period for local Farm Service Agency county committees begins next Wednesday, June 15. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urges – all farmers and ranchers to participate in this year’s county committee elections by nominating candidates by the August 1 deadline. County committees are a vital link between the farm community and USDA and provide a voice to landowners, farmers and ranchers so they have an opportunity for their opinions and ideas to be heard.

To be eligible to serve on an FSA county committee, a person must participate or cooperate in a program administered by FSA, be eligible to vote in a county committee election and reside in the local administrative area in which the person is a candidate. Farmers and rancher may nominate themselves or others, and organizations representing minorities and women also may nominate candidates.

To become a candidate, an eligible individual must sign the nomination form available online at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/elections. While FSA county committees do not approve or deny loans, they make decisions on disaster and conservation programs, emergency programs, commodity price support loan programs and other agricultural issues. Members serve three-year terms. FSA will mail ballots to eligible voters beginning November 4.