California Ag Network

Category: Ag Legislation

  • Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Help Communities Reduce Vulnerability to Drought

    Following a tour of the Syphon Reservoir Improvement Project at the Irvine Ranch Water District today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced the allocation of $309.8 million in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $1 million in appropriated funding for the planning, design and construction of water reuse projects across the country. The selected projects will advance drought resilience and are expected to increase annual capacity by about 213,000 acre-feet of water, enough water to support more than 850,000 people a year.

    The announcement caps a two-day swing through central and southern California to highlight how investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help address the worsening drought crisis and expand access to clean drinking water for families, farmers and wildlife. On Wednesday, Secretary Haaland, Commissioner Touton, and federal, state and local leaders visited with farmers and water users in Fresno to discuss water solutions for farmers and highlight investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

    “Water is essential to everything we do and it will take all of us, working together, to address the significant drought impacts we are seeing across the West. As the climate crisis drives severe drought conditions and historically low water allocations, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is making historic investments to address water and drought challenges and invest in our nation’s western water and power infrastructure,” said Secretary Haaland.

    “Water reuse helps communities diversify their water supply as they are facing an unprecedented drought and a changing climate,” said Commissioner Touton. “This has tangible impacts and can help feed families, grow crops, sustain wildlife and the environment and help more families access safe, clean, reliable water. These projects will provide flexibility for communities and help them stretch their current drinking supplies as they will be treating wastewater that continues to be available.”

    Funding will support local water management agencies with stretching existing drinking water supplies and helping to ensure that growing water needs can be met through the advanced treatment of wastewater and naturally impaired surface and groundwater. Along with non-federal contributions, today’s investment will support an overall $1.2 billion in infrastructure projects.

    The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocates $8.3 billion for Bureau of Reclamation water infrastructure projects to repair aging water delivery systems, secure dams, complete rural water projects, and protect aquatic ecosystems. The funding announced today is part of the $1 billion in WaterSMART Water Recycling and Reuse grants provided by the Law. The Department previously announced $52.2 million this year in WaterSMART grants funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support water and energy efficiency projects and conserve watersheds and restore aquatic habitats.

    Selected Projects

    The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture co-lead the Drought Resilience Interagency Working Group and recently released their Drought Resilience 2022 Year One Summary Report.

    More information, including details about other current opportunities to apply for funding available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is available on Reclamation’s WaterSMART program webpage.

    About the U.S. Department of the Interior

    The Department of the Interior (DOI) conserves and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people, provides scientific and other information about natural resources and natural hazards to address societal challenges and create opportunities for the American people, and honors the Nation’s trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities to help them prosper.

  • How Young Soil Supports Plant Life with Naturally Occurring Fungus

    In order to grow well, plants need a place to grow, access to nutrients, and in most cases sunlight. A rich soil provides that home and a good supply of nutrients. But young soils have less to offer – yes, soils can have different ages ranging from hundreds, to thousands, to millions of years old. According to soil scientist and Soil Science Society of America’s (SSSA) blogger Madhav Dhakal, soil is being made and lost all the time, with various dynamic processes.

    The process of soil formation is often given the acronym ClORPT for: climate, organisms, relief, parent material and time. Soils in warmer climates tend to be older than ones in colder climates. Many organisms, like microbes or insects, help aid soil formation. The term “relief” refers to the topography area. So, usually soil at the bottom of a mountain range – exposed to less erosion and warmer weather, will be older than soil at the top of a mountain.

    The major parent material for soils are rocks. Soil formation takes place after a gradual exposure of rocks to the elements and activity of organism – called weathering.

    One important thing to consider during this whole transformation is time. Time is relatively long for the formation of soil. It happens over geologic time – or millions of years. Over these long periods, landscapes and soils are continuously transforming from one form to another. With time, soil forms different horizons or layers, parallel to the earth’s surface.

    However, soils of recent origin may not contain a distinct horizons or formations. For example, Entisol and Inceptisol are among the 12 soil orders in the U.S. Soil Taxonomy that contain no or very weak horizons or layers of soil.

    In addition to the variety and ages of soils as a home for plants, plants themselves have different types of adaptability. For millions of years, the plant kingdom endured several catastrophic events, geological changes, and climatic extremes. Plants were able to adopt to incredibly different types of surfaces or soil, where the soil itself is highly dynamic and changeable.

    The versatility of plant species may have allowed them to survive in extreme conditions such as hostile climate, rocky, acidic, and salty surfaces.

    There are nearly 435,000 unique land-dwelling species of plants in the world. Some of them grow with very little ingredients or even without sufficient water. For example, some cactus species thrive in the desert. Similarly, lithophytes can grow either on the surface of rocks or in crevices.

    What is it about some plants that allows them to grow in unfavorable conditions? There are a few things. Rock felt ferns, orchids, and liverworts can grow on a rocky substrate, with different tactics or physiological adaptation. They are even capable of feeding off the nutrients from rainwater and nearby decomposed plants, including their own dead cells.

    Lithophytes are a type of plant that grows well on rock surfaces. For most of the lithophytes, the nutrient nitrogen is available from the atmosphere in the form of ammonia. Lithophytes have a smaller number of root hairs and larger root diameters compared to common plant species. This makes them able to efficiently absorb nutrients.

    Lithophytes are a type of plant that grows well on rock surfaces. For most of the lithophytes, the nutrient nitrogen is available from the atmosphere in the form of ammonia. Lithophytes have a smaller number of root hairs and larger root diameters compared to common plant species. Provided by Madhav Dhakal

    Other plants have developed cooperative relationships with soil microbes, which may help them survive in younger soils. Cacti can metabolize a type of acid that helps them with photosynthesis. Plants like peas are legumes – and can work with a bacterium in the category of Rhizobium, and this helps them acquire nitrogen.

    Newly formed soils, such as Entisols and Inceptisols can support plant that have these built-in strategies to supplement their essential nutrients. Depending on the parent material, these soils can provide mineral nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, as well as micronutrients like calcium, iron, zinc, boron, etc.

    Indeed, as adaptable plants colonize these soils, they also start to help build more soil, in conjunction with microbial and insect activity. Their dead roots and waste products become organic matter, building up the soil bit by bit. One example of how plants can improve soils is the plant lupine (Lupinus Lepidus). Lupine’s metabolites can neutralize acids produced by volcanic emanations. This makes the soil more habitable by other types of plants that cannot survive in acidic soils. There are hundreds of plant species that can survive on and improve young soils over time.

    The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) is a progressive international scientific society that fosters the transfer of knowledge and practices to sustain global soils. Based in Madison, WI, and founded in 1936, SSSA is the professional home for 6,000+ members and 1,000+ certified professionals dedicated to advancing the field of soil science. The Society provides information about soils in relation to crop production, environmental quality, ecosystem sustainability, bioremediation, waste management, recycling, and wise land use.

  • FDA Releases Spanish and English Paper-Based Versions of Ag Water Assessment Builder Tool

    The FDA has released paper-based versions of its agricultural water assessment builder tool in both English and Spanish. The agricultural water assessment builder was released in March 2022 as user-friendly, online tool to help farms understand the proposed requirements for an agricultural water assessment in the Agricultural Water Proposed Rule. The paper-based versions of the tool will make the content more accessible to a broader array of users. Use of the online tool, and its paper-based companions, is optional.

    If finalized, the proposed rule would require farms to conduct systems-based agricultural water assessments to determine and guide appropriate measures to minimize potential risks associated with pre-harvest agricultural water. The assessment would include an evaluation of the water system, agricultural water use practices, crop characteristics, environmental conditions, potential impacts on source water by activities conducted on adjacent and nearby land, and other relevant factors, such as the results of optional testing. Covered farms would be required to conduct pre-harvest agricultural water assessments annually and whenever a significant change occurs that affects the likelihood that a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard will be introduced into or onto produce or food contact surfaces.

    We welcome feedback on the online and paper-based versions of the tool, such as suggestions related to the tool’s functionality and useability. Feedback on the tool can be sent to agwaterbuilder@fda.hhs.gov.

    For Additional Information

  • Milk and Dairy are Critical to Child Nutrition as Children Return to School

    As nearly 50 million children return to public school, a group of dairy and nutrition advocates is encouraging parents and policymakers to prioritize the health of students by making milk and dairy options more accessible in the coming school year.

    A fact sheet released today by the group highlights that milk is the top source of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamin D in kids ages 2-18. However, according to the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, American children over four years old and adolescents are not consuming enough dairy to meet the recommendations in the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), thereby under consuming a variety of nutrients they need to grow.

    The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the School Nutrition Association (SNA) look forward to working with parents and school nutritionists to increase consumption of dairy in keeping with recommendations from the 2020-2025 DGA report and leading health organizations. Moreover, because of falling participation rates in school breakfast and lunch programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and removal of universal free meals in the upcoming school year, there are growing concerns for nutrition security among students.

    “Dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own have for generations taken pride in the fact that the milk they produce is critical in meeting the nutritional needs of schoolchildren,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “Milk makes school meals more healthful and offering many varieties of milk encourages children to consume these products vital for their own development. From low-fat flavored to lactose-free options, parents, educators, and policy leaders overwhelmingly agree that milk on the menu encourages healthy kids and ensures that everyone has equitable access to the 13 essential nutrients milk provides through school meals.”

    “The most recent DGA report is clear: children are not receiving enough essential nutrients for growth, development, healthy immune function, and overall wellness,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA. “School meals offer the most important opportunity of the day for children to get the essential nutrients they need in an 8-ounce serving of milk. Now is the time of year when our parents, educators, school meals professionals, and policymakers need to work together to encourage school meal participation and nutritious milk consumption each day. Survey data shows the best way to do that is by offering many varieties of milk, including different fat varieties, flavors, and lactose-free options. There is nothing more important than the health of our children.”

    “Research shows children eat their healthiest meals at schools, which provide balanced nutrition including milk, whole grains and a variety of fruits, vegetables and lean protein. School nutrition professionals are committed to ensuring access to and promoting consumption of healthy school meals to support student success,” said SNA President Lori Adkins, MS, SNS, CHE.

    An overall decline in school milk consumption has been identified in recent years, particularly after whole milk and low-fat flavored milk options were removed from school meals more than a decade ago. The fact sheet released by the group today underscores how all milk is a source for 13 essential nutrients, including calcium, vitamin D and potassium—nutrients of public health concern for children. In addition to being nutritious offerings for children, flavored milk has been shown to decrease food waste from school meals and increase overall meal participation.

    View the fact sheet here.

  • Novel Strawberry IPM Tool Included in CA DPR Grant Funding

    The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced $1.78 million in Alliance Grants for five projects that aim to increase the speed and the scale at which safer, more sustainable pest management practices are adopted across the state. Each project will promote innovative Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems and practices in agricultural, urban or wildland settings.

    “Alliance Grants directly support the department’s mission to foster methods and tools to reduce reliance on pesticides and their impact on human health and the environment,” said DPR Director Julie Henderson. “We are excited by the potential of these five projects and will continue to invest in projects that promote the development and use of safer, more sustainable pest management.”

    DPR’s Alliance Grants Program funds projects that promote IPM, an approach that uses the least-toxic, effective method to solve pest problems. Since 2007, DPR has awarded more than $7.8 million in Alliance Grants. The enhanced funds for the 2022 DPR Grants Programs cycle were allocated by the 2021-22 state budget and represent a more than five-fold increase in available funding opportunities compared to historical funding levels.

    Alliance Grants are awarded to groups of experts and partners, also referred to as Alliance Teams, who work collaboratively to accomplish the goals of a given project.

    Alliance projects funded for agricultural pest management:

    • Promoting IPM practices that incorporate natural-enemy habitat to control pest insects. This project’s Alliance Team will engage in outreach with producers and agricultural professionals through videos that feature producers and researchers, field days and webinars, which will include an online continuing education course for pesticide applicators. This project will be led by Jo Ann Baumgartner at Wild Farm Alliance, a local non-profit conservation group in Watsonville.
    • Promoting the adoption of UV-C light, a non-chemical control, by strawberry growers on California strawberry farms. This project’s Alliance Team will showcase UV-C light as an effective, non-chemical alternative to chemical pesticides for controlling mites, mildew and mold. This project will be led by Dr. John Lin at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

    Alliance projects funded for urban pest management:

    • Addressing management of Argentine ants, the most common nuisance ant for which pesticide treatments are applied in urban environments. The Alliance Team for this project is focused on the implementation and promotion of a low-impact IPM approach for pest management professionals that uses pheromone attractants during initial treatment visits and targeted chemical baiting for maintenance visits, to reduce reliance on repeated use of insecticide sprays. This project will be led by Dr. Dong-Hwan Choe at University of California, Riverside.
    • Home visits to provide IPM education and intervention to disadvantaged communities in South Los Angeles. To improve the health and well-being of South Los Angeles residents, this project’s Alliance Team will make home visits to each family that enrolls in the program. The team will assess housing conditions; provide IPM interventions, including caulking cracks and sealing large holes; and offer other IPM education on reducing pest infestations. This project will be led by Nancy Ibrahim at Esperanza Community Housing.

    Alliance projects funded for wildlands pest management:

    • Combining manual removal of invasive primrose with native plant restoration through a private property owner incentive program, and an AmeriCorps partnership that will provide education and outreach to the community. The Alliance Team for this project is focused on management of creeping water primrose, an invasive aquatic plant, that is usually controlled with chemical pesticides. This project’s combination of IPM methods will improve water quality, protect fish habitat and enhance flood protection and prevention, as well as create strong and sustainable natural vegetative wetland communities around the shores of Clear Lake, California. This project will be led by Angela De Palma-Dow at the Lake County Watershed Protection District.For details about past recipients of DPR’s Grants Programs, please visit our department’s Pest Management Grants webpage.

      ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF PESTICIDE REGULATION

      The California Department of Pesticide Regulation protects human health and the environment by fostering safer and sustainable pest management practices and operating a robust regulatory system to evaluate and register pesticides and monitor and regulate their sale and use across the state.

      DPR’s work includes conducting scientific evaluations of pesticides to assess and mitigate potential harm to human health and the environment prior to and following registration registering all pesticides prior to sale or use in California, monitoring for pesticides in the air and water, and enforcing pesticide laws and regulations in coordination with 55 County Agricultural Commissioners and their combined 400 field inspectors across the state’s 58 counties. DPR invests in innovative research, outreach, and education to encourage the development and adoption of integrated pest management tools and practices and conducts outreach to ensure pesticide workers, farmworkers and local communities have access to pesticide safety information.

  • Agave: The New Drought-Tolerant California Crop?

    Agriculture in California faces an uncertain future as drought, wildfires and other climate extremes become more commonplace in the West. But a fledgling industry focused on growing and distilling agave plants, which are used to produce tequila and mezcal in Mexico, could be California’s answer to fallowed fields and a lack of water.

    Earlier this year a group of growers, distillers and retailers formed the California Agave Council to foster collaboration and offer a chance to share knowledge among members who previously had no formal network.

    Now, the University of California, Davis, has established the Stuart & Lisa Woolf Fund for Agave Research to focus on outreach and research into the plants and their viability as a low-water crop in the state.

    “The rainfall patterns and growing conditions in California are different from those where tequila is made,” said Ron Runnebaum, an assistant professor of viticulture and enology. “It is exciting to begin to harness the capabilities at UC Davis to determine which agave varieties can be grown commercially in California and what flavors can be captured by distillation to make unique California agave spirits.”

    The fund was created with a $100,000 seed gift from Stuart and Lisa Woolf, who are Central Valley farmers and have a test plot of about 900 agave plants on 1.5 acres. They hope this gift will encourage others to also contribute.

    The gift is focused primarily on optimizing production in California relative to Mexico, where labor costs are lower, and the farmers rely on rain rather than irrigation for water.  Stuart Woolf believes California producers could grow larger plants with higher sugar content.

    “I really believe we could be very competitive with Mexico,” he said.

    The research also offers a chance to better understand the impact of location on the growth of the plant, which can be a source of fiber and alternative sweetener as well as the distilled spirits it can produce.

    “As a drought-tolerant plant, agave holds great potential in water-stressed California,” Woolf said. “It’s a crop that could get by with little to no water during periods of extreme drought.”

    A Crop with Low Water Needs

    Mezcal can be made from any agave variety in Mexico while tequila, Runnebaum said, comes solely from the blue agave plant grown within the geographically defined region of “Tequila.” In California, blue agave plants can weigh 110 pounds or more, and it takes about 11 pounds of agave to produce one bottle of tequila, according to a UC Davis article published last year. The plants in Mexico weigh 50 to 60 pounds on average, Woolf said.

    Agave plants require minimal watering, can serve as firebreaks from wildfires and offer a chance for farmers to plant crops on land that would otherwise have to be fallowed, or abandoned because of a lack of water. It takes roughly six to eight years for the plants to mature.

    “If we enter a severe drought, this is a crop I think we can avoid watering totally,” Woolf said. “For me, this plant is kind of coming around at the right time.”

    Craig Reynolds, the California Agave Council founding director who has about 500 plants growing, says the industry is in “an embryo stage” and organizing can help the crop expand. He runs California Agave Ventures, which grows blue agave and sells starter plants to other growers.

    “It’s really taking off,” he said.

    Coming Together

    About 40 growers and distillers gathered for a symposium in May to talk about the crop, from economics and logistics to site planning and processes. It ended with a tasting and sensory analysis of California products.

    UC Davis hosted the event to bring people together and introduce them to what the university could offer in terms of research, training and outreach, Runnebaum said.

    “I think there’s a lot of promise in this potentially being a drought-tolerant crop in California,” he added. “UC Davis can help organize and research.”

    The Woolfs would like their gift to be used to answer early research questions about growing sites, plant attributes and possible funding agencies, as well as gathering harvest data and producing a database with that information, according to the gift agreement.

    Some key questions to answer: Is frost risk in California too high in relation to Mexico, where the plants thrive? Can California produce a fast-growing, high-sugar, disease-resistant crop?

    In addition to creating best agricultural practices for the crop and doing economic analysis, UC Davis could serve as a training ground, much as it does for brewing and winemaking.

    “UC Davis also has the potential to train future leaders for this industry,” Stuart Woolf said. — By Emily C. Dooley, UC Davis

  • USDA to Invest $5 Million in the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that it is investing up to $5 million in the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program (WMBP). This grant program supports the development of mitigation banks for use by agricultural producers seeking to maintain eligibility for USDA programs. Funds are available to Tribes, state and local government entities, nonprofits and other organizations.

    “Our goal is to ensure that agricultural producers have the tools they need to successfully farm or ranch and conserve natural resources,” said Terry Cosby, Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “This investment will help Tribes, states, local governments and other qualified partners work with producers to restore, create, and enhance wetland ecosystems.”

    To participate in most USDA programs, agricultural producers agree to comply with the wetland conservation provisions, which means producers will not farm converted wetlands or convert wetlands to enable agricultural production. In situations where avoidance or on-site mitigation is challenging, the Farm Bill allows for off-site mitigation through the purchase of mitigation banking credits.

    About the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program

    Since 2016, NRCS has awarded 25 projects in 13 states. The 2018 Farm Bill provided an opportunity for funding for this program through fiscal year 2023. NRCS is prioritizing funds in states with large amounts of wetlands as well as large amounts of producers with wetland determination requests, including Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

    Awardees may use WMBP funding to support mitigation bank site identification, development of a mitigation banking instrument, site restoration, land surveys, permitting and title searches, and market research. WMBP funding cannot be used to purchase land or a conservation easement.

    NRCS is accepting proposals from eligible entities through Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 10, 2022.

  • USDA Invests $14.5 Million in Taxpayer Education, Program Outreach Efforts for Farmers

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing in two outreach and education efforts for farmers and ranchers, including those who are new to farming or who have been historically underserved by USDA programs. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is investing $10 million for agriculture-oriented taxpayer education as well as $4.5 million in outreach for the Conservation Reserve Program’s Transition Incentives Program (CRP TIP), which helps with access to land for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Both efforts help advance equity and access to USDA programs and agriculture.

    “Running a farm operation is tough, and we are working to help meet gaps where farmers need assistance,” said Blong Xiong, FSA Executive Director in California. “First, filing taxes for an agricultural operation can be challenging and many agricultural producers may not have the funds to hire accountants or tax professionals to assist, especially for new and historically underserved producers. This new initiative offers support to producers in navigating tax season. Second, we want to make sure producers are aware of our many program options, and Conservation Reserve Program Transition Incentives Program (CRP TIP) provides a unique opportunity for producers with expiring CRP land to help bring new farmers into the fold.”

    Taxpayer Education 

    FSA’s $10 million investment funds the new Taxpayer Education and Asset Protection Initiative. As part of the first phase of this work, FSA has established a partnership with the University of Arkansas and the National Farm Income Tax Extension Committee. This partnership is establishing hubs for taxpayer education while developing and delivering tax education resources to farmers, ranchers, agricultural educators and tax professionals through partnerships with stakeholders and minority- serving institutions across the country.

    Many producers are not aware that receiving USDA program funds for activities, such as conservation contracts, disaster assistance payments, and pandemic relief are taxable income, and need support to assist with short- and long-term business planning associated with their program payments. To address these issues, FSA is investing in partnerships with the University of Arkansas, the National Farm Income Tax Extension Committee and other partners to develop and deliver taxpayer education to producers to help them better understand the important relationships between federal income taxes and USDA farm programs. The next phases of this work will include a suite of online resources for producers, continuing education opportunities for tax attorneys and CPAs, as well as cooperative agreement funding and training opportunities for stakeholder organizations.

    “Many rural areas lack legal and certified accounting services, and agricultural producers need additional knowledge and/or resources to integrate tax planning into their financial planning,” said Ronald L. Rainey, Assistant Vice President of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “This partnership will help the University of Arkansas and USDA work together to overcome inequalities in tax services to serve agriculture communities.”

    These tax education partnerships focus on addressing the immediate needs of producers by delivering agricultural tax and asset protection training and information to farmers as well as developing infrastructure to support rural taxpayer education and tax preparation for limited resource, beginning, and historically underserved farmers and ranchers for the long term.

    Tax Estimator Tool

    Additionally, USDA is updating and expanding online tax resources for producers, including the new Tax Estimator Tool,an interactive spreadsheet that producers can download to estimate tax liability. It is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered tax or legal advice. Producers may need to work with a tax professional to determine the correct information to be entered in the Tax Estimator Tool. The tool is available at ruraltax.org.

    Registration is also open for a webinar on Using the Tax Calculator to estimate your tax burden. The webinar will be held on Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Previous webinars, fact sheets and other resources are available on farmers.gov/taxes.

    Available Funding for CRP TIP Outreach

    TIP provides financial incentives to CRP participants with expiring contracts, if they sell or rent the land to a beginning producer, veteran farmer or rancher, or a producer from a socially disadvantaged group.

    FSA is making available up to $4.5 million in funding and expects to award 15 to 20 partner and stakeholder organizations to conduct outreach and provide technical assistance to promote awareness and understanding of CRP TIP among agricultural communities, in particular those who are military veterans, new to farming, or historically underserved.

    Eligible stakeholders include Federally-recognized Indian tribal organizations, State governments, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and higher education institutions. Interested stakeholders may submit one-to-two-year proposals, and must submit their applications via Grants.gov by October 14, 2022.

    Deputy Under Secretary Montaño added: “This technical assistance funding will be critical in helping our external stakeholders connect contract holders to beginning producers, and make sure landowners understand TIP.”

    CRP TIP Training for Staff

    FSA will also train field employees on CRP TIP to improve and increase staff and producer awareness and support participation. Training will help staff understand the larger issues that can affect landowners’ considerations around CRP TIP and allow them to further help producers.

    More Information 

    Producers interested in CRP TIP and other USDA programs should contact their local USDA Service Center to learn more or to apply for programs.

  • American Society of Agricultural Consultants Annual Conference, Oct. 23-25

    REGISTER NOW

    The 2022 Annual Conference and Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural Consultants (ASAC) will be held Sunday, October 23 – Tuesday, October 25 in Oklahoma City at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.
     
    An engaging lineup of speakers is scheduled to present on a variety of topics pertinent to the challenging environment in which we live and operate our businesses. From sharpening our communication skills, discussing best practices for our consulting roles while adhering to the Society’s Code of Ethics, understanding the environment of diversity and inclusion issues across all sectors of the economy and society, finance and economics from both a macroeconomic perspective and at the business, boots-on-the-ground level, to technology on the farm, Monday’s sessions will keep you on point to continue to develop your knowledge base.

    Monday’s session will wrap up with a banquet featuring keynote speaker, Brittany Krehbiel-Hukill, a third-generation farmer from Hydro, Oklahoma, who is among the vanguard of an emerging generation of young leaders in the state, regional and national agriculture. Her story is truly inspirational. You won’t want to miss her presentation.

    Tuesday’s sessions will include a presentation from the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas, discussing many of the current regulatory issues confronting agriculture, tax law and estate planning, property rights, carbon credits, solar/wind issues, and many other issues that we are dealing with daily.  Noble Research Institute will present a program on their initiative to transition the organization to a more research-focused business in promoting regenerative agriculture concepts.

    Tuesday afternoon includes a tour of the USDA-ARS National Grazing Lands Research Station, located west of Oklahoma City.  We plan to visit one of the large livestock commission yards on the route to the USDA station.  These yards market thousands of head of cattle per week and are something to experience.  October runs of cattle are expected to be large.

    Come to Oklahoma City and “Imagine the Possibilities – The Sooner the Better”!

    Register for the conference on the ASAC website:  www.agconsultants.org/2022_annual_conference.php

    About the American Society of Agricultural Consultants

    The American Society of Agricultural Consultants (ASAC) was founded in 1963 to promote and deliver knowledge and advice to agricultural producers independent of product sales.  Since its founding almost 60 years ago, ASAC has become recognized as a knowledge base and a source for unbiased advice and critical thinking. To learn more about how ASAC can help you grow your ag consulting business, go to: www.agconsultants.org.

  • California Association of Winegrape Growers Announces Natalie Collins as Interim President

    California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) Chairman Tom Slater announced the appointment of Natalie Collins as interim president on July 27th. She replaces John Aguirre who retired after twelve years of service.

    “CAWG is very happy to have Natalie in this role,” Slater said. “She has been a part of the CAWG family for many years, and her insight and dedication to the association are well received. The CAWG board of directors looks forward to working with Natalie on all issues and appreciates her contributions toward the future success of our membership.”

    Collins said, “I am honored to serve as interim president and humbled by this opportunity. I look forward to continuing the legacy of strong leadership and advocacy on behalf of our growers. Winegrape growers in California today are facing unprecedented challenges, and I take seriously CAWG’s leadership role in this iconic industry.”

    Collins joined CAWG in 2015 as the director of member relations and quickly established herself as integral to the advancement of the association. She is a graduate of California State University, Chico with a Bachelor of Science in agricultural business and minors in organizational communications and business administration. Prior to joining CAWG, she was a program director for the San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation and a 2015 graduate of the Leadership Farm Bureau program.

    Natalie resides in Lodi with her husband Kyle and their two children.