Natalina Sents, a recent Iowa State graduate in ag business, has been crisscrossing the country as part of a yearlong project sharing farmers’ stories on a blog, whyifarm.com. The project, funded by Beck’s Hybrids seed. “I have talked to some very strong men, whose families have not seen them cry for a very long time, if ever,” she said. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. dairy industry faced difficult economics in 2016 with dropping milk prices. However, many producers felt the government safety net in the 2014 farm bill did little to help. As work starts on the 2018 farm bill, the House Agriculture Committee heard shortcomings of the present act and challenges of a farmer-friendly version. Scott Brown, University of Missouri Extension dairy economist, testified Feb. 15 in Washington, D.C., before the committee in the House of Representatives. Dairy policy is not easy, Brown testified. [node:read-more:link]
In hopes of courting more specialists in science, technology, engineering and math to Maine, the Harold Alfond Foundation is rolling out a new grant program to help them pay off college debts. With an initial investment of $5.5 million, the Alfond Leaders competitive grant program will give about 150 recipients up to $60,000 in college debt relief per person over the next three years, the foundation announced Tuesday. The grants will be administered by the Finance Authority of Maine. [node:read-more:link]
Expanded immigration enforcement and potential trade renegotiation are casting a shadow over Kansas City area residents and businesses. Both topics surfaced Wednesday during an agricultural trade forum at Union Station. Talk focused mostly on trade and President Donald Trump’s calls to renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement that covers the United States, Canada and Mexico. “For all those who are thinking about renegotiating NAFTA, our request is do no harm first and foremost,” said Neil Herrington, executive director of the Americas for the U.S. [node:read-more:link]
There are many challenges to farming for a living: It's often grueling work that relies on unpredictable factors such as weather and global market prices. But one aspect that's often ignored is the cost of health care. A University of Vermont researcher found that nationally, most farmers cited health care costs as a top concern. Shoshanah Inwood is a rural sociologist at UVM. She has been studying the aging and shrinking farm population, and what components are needed to build a prosperous farm economy. [node:read-more:link]
President Trump is preparing executive orders aimed at curtailing Obama-era policies on climate and water pollution, according to individuals briefed on the measures. While both directives will take time to implement, they will send an unmistakable signal that the new administration is determined to promote fossil-fuel production and economic activity even when those activities collide with some environmental safeguards. Individuals familiar with the proposals asked for anonymity to describe them in advance of their announcement, which could come as soon as this week. [node:read-more:link]
Federal authorities would be empowered to immediately deport vastly more undocumented immigrants as part of a broad crackdown being developed by the Trump administration that would significantly change the way federal agencies enforce immigration laws. Two draft memos signed on Friday by John F. [node:read-more:link]
The Trump administration is considering changing the way it calculates U.S. trade deficits, a shift that would make the country’s trade gap appear larger than it had in past years, according to people involved in the discussions. The leading idea under consideration would exclude from U.S. exports any goods first imported into the country, such as cars, and then transferred to a third country like Canada or Mexico unchanged. [node:read-more:link]
Organic grain is flooding into the U.S., depressing prices and drawing complaints from domestic organic farmers who fear their harvests are held to stricter standards than foreign-raised crops.
More than 500 national, state and local farm, conservation and nutrition organizations have signed a letter urging the House and Senate budget committees not to propose cuts in the farm bill that this Congress will be writing. The groups point out that the 2014 farm bill was required to make $23 billion in cuts, and that spending on crop insurance and nutrition assistance is dropping sharply, according to recent cost estimates. [node:read-more:link]
