2018 Farm Bill

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association with $445,400 in funding to advance the Secure Beef Supply Plan.  The plan would go into effect in the event of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the U.S.   “NCBA is g...

On Wednesday, Idaho Senator Jim Risch, Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher as well as Washington’s Marie Gluesenkamp Perez introduced the Treating Tribes and Counties as Good Neighbors Act.  The legislation looks to fully extend eligibility of the Good Neighbor Authority program for federal forest restoration and management projects to Tribes and counties as well as increase opportunities for cross-bou

Due to language missing from the 2018 Farm Bill, the Secretary of Agriculture is not permitted to waive the match requirement within the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, a key USDA plant pest and disease prevention research program targeting fruits and vegetables...

Last week, USDA’s National Organic Program published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement final rule.  The update to USDA organic regulations strengthens oversight and enforcement of the production, handling, and sale of organic products.  The final rul...

The next deadline for Conservation Stewardship Program applications to be considered for funding this year is February 10th.  Through CSP, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners earn payments for expanding conservation activities while maintaining agricultural production on their land.  The Departmen...

Rural broadband deployment won’t succeed in closing the “digital divide” unless the agencies handling billions of dollars in funding coordinate better.  That’s the collective sentiment of House Ag members.  Ag Chair David Scott said “effective communication” is the key to 100% rural broadband deployment using the historic Infrastructure and Jobs Act funding.   “And this is why we established proce

The 2018 Farm Bill created a grid security division within the rural utilities service of USDA's Rural Development Mission Area. A memorandum of understanding between USDA and the Department of Energy was reached the following year. Rural Utilities Service administrator Chris McClean said some of the efforts to bolster security and provide available financing for rural electric service providers

A hindsight look at how renewable energy programs of projects from the 2018 Farm Bill have provided rural producers and stakeholders opportunities in the now and the future. "When communities lean in to clean energy, as so many are already doing and have been doing for years, the resulting economic prosperity is clear ...

New investments are designed to give local and regional food producers more opportunities to sell their goods locally, to hospitals, universities and government outlets. "This means that roughly $97 million will now be available for a variety of opportunities to create a strong local and regional food system," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ...

Last week, the USDA announced the approval of the Oregon Department of Ag’s plan to regulate hemp production statewide. This mean, through the ODA the state can continue to serve as the primary regulator of hemp production in Oregon. ODA ...