Category Archives: News

Crop losses due to freezing conditions followed by excessive snow has moved USDA to designate Deuel County in Nebraska a natural disaster area. Several other counties in Nebraska and Colorado that are contiguous to Deuel also qualify for natural disaster … Continue reading →

More tests are needed before the Environmental Protection Agency can agree to allow more ethanol in gasoline, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Speaking before a Senate panel on Tuesday, Vilsack said the EPA is awaiting more tests to see … Continue reading →

USDA has designated Yellowstone and Stillwater Counties in Montana as natural disaster areas due to heavy freeze conditions that occurred last October. Eight other counties in Montana that are contiguous to Stillwater and Yellowstone also are considered disaster areas and … Continue reading →

Five Nevada counties along with Carson City have been designated a natural disaster area due to drought conditions that occurred throughout 2009. Several other counties in Nevada and California also qualify because they are contiguous. Farmers and ranchers in this … Continue reading →

A nonprofit organization in California wants to ensure the future of family Farming. FarmLink connects aspiring, young farmers with those who are ready to retire, but want the family farm to remain in operation. According to the 2007 USDA census, … Continue reading →

Although details for the 2010 general signup for the Conservation Reserve Program — the first general signup offered in four years — have not been released, Assistant Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs Lynn Tjeerdsma said one goal of the program … Continue reading →

USDA launched the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers Program today, which will help agricultural producers adjust to challenging economic conditions. "As we work to help rural America recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the Trade Adjustment … Continue reading →

Applications for a grant program designed to help fund access to healthy nutritious food by improving and expanding domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs and other producer-to-consumer market opportunities, are now available online. The Farmers Market Promotion Program … Continue reading →

The USDA Commodity Credit Corporation, which helps stabilize, support and protect farm income and prices, released interest rates for March. The borrowing rate-based charge is 0.375, unchanged from February, while the 1996 and subsequent crop year commodity and marketing assistance … Continue reading →

Researchers from USDA’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory may have found a way to use biochar — a charcoal-like material produced when biomass is burned under low oxygen conditions so the materials do not combust — as a clean fuel source … Continue reading →