Federal News
On immigration, Trump's budget calls for far more than a wall
USA Today | Posted on March 16, 2017President Trump’s first budget provides more than $4.5 billion in new spending to fight illegal immigration — not just by building a wall along the southern border but by adding more than 1,700 border officers, prosecutors and judges. Beginning work on the wall comes with the biggest outlay — $2.6 billion — followed by $1.5 billion for expanded detention, transportation and removal of illegal immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the wall will cost $21 billion. The largest staffing increases would be 1,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and 500 new Border Patrol agents — all at a cost of $314 million. In executive orders issued five days after his inauguration, Trump called for adding 10,000 immigration officers and 5,000 border agents. Other immigration-related additions in the budget proposal include:$80 million to hire 75 new immigration judges to handle removal proceedings.Hiring 60 additional border enforcement prosecutors and 40 deputy U.S. marshals to catch and transport criminal aliens.Hiring 20 new attorneys to obtain land needed to secure the southwest border and another 20 attorneys and staff to handle immigration litigation.$15 million to begin implementation of mandatory nationwide use of the E-verify Program, which allows businesses to determine the legal status of new workers.The budget also calls for spending $171 million to add short-term detention space to hold federal detainees, including criminal aliens, awaiting trial and sentencing.
Forgiving farmers’ student loans plants seeds for America’s future
Observer | Posted on March 15, 2017The average age of the American farmer has crept up in the last 30 years—a trend both academia and the U.S. government want to figure out how to reverse. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture, which is published every five years, the average farmer’s age has increased from 50 years to 58 years. Only 6 percent of U.S. farmers are younger than 35. The 2012 Census also showed a few other demographic developments—the number of women who farm has dropped, while the number of minorities who began farming rose—but the graying of the farmer is an issue that universities and policymakers in the United States are beginning to address.
National Milk Producers recommends changes to margin protection program to make it viable
KTIC Radio | Posted on March 12, 2017The National Milk Producers Federation Board of Directors today unanimously approved a series of recommended changes to the dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP) that will restore several key elements first proposed by NMPF during development of the 2014 Farm Bill. These changes to the MPP will ensure an effective safety net for the nation’s dairy farmers – if the recommendations are adopted by Congress. The recommendations range from changing the way dairy feed costs are calculated, to providing farmers greater flexibility in signing up for coverage and using other risk management tools. The four-point plan was developed by NMPF’s Economic Policy Committee, and reflects feedback from dairy producers, economists and members of Congress. It reflects several features originally proposed by NMPF that were subsequently weakened or eliminated as the 2014 farm bill was finalized.
China overtakes U.S. as top government funder of agriculture research
Agriculture.com | Posted on March 9, 2017China leads the U.S. by a large margin in government funding of food and ag research and development. China began pouring money into agricultural R&D at the same time that U.S. funding from federal and state sources stagnated and, about a decade ago, began to decline. According to three USDA economists, China surpassed the U.S. in public funding in 2009 and had a 2-to-1 advantage in 2013. They say reduced U.S. spending “may have negative implications for agricultural productivity” when dealing with new pests and diseases and with climate change.
Latest: Family ordered to pay up for unauthorized grazing
High Country News | Posted on March 9, 2017Starting in the mid-1990s, Nevada rancher Wayne Hage grazed his cows on public land without the necessary permits, saying his rights predated federal ownership. Hage, an outspoken government critic, passed away in 2006, but his son Wayne N. Hage continued the fight, illegally adding more cows annually — up to 648 by 2011. In 2016, after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, an appeals court judge ruled that the Hages did indeed need permits. In late February, a federal district judge in Nevada ended the saga, ordering the Hages to pay $587,294 for “repeated willful unauthorized grazing.” Chief Judge Gloria Navarro said the Hages’ livestock must be removed by the end of March and cannot graze on public lands within Nevada again without written permission from the federal government. Judge Navarro is also presiding over Cliven Bundy’s trial for the armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management on his Bunkerville, Nevada, ranch in 2014.
Asian nations restrict U.S. poultry imports over bird flu
Reuters | Posted on March 9, 2017South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong have limited imports of U.S. poultry after the United States detected its first case this year of avian flu on a commercial chicken farm, South Korea's government and a U.S. trade group said on Monday. South Korea will ban imports of U.S. poultry and eggs after a strain of H7 bird flu virus was confirmed on Sunday at a chicken farm in Tennessee, South Korea's agriculture ministry said. Japan and Taiwan will block poultry from the state, while Hong Kong will restrict imports from the Tennessee county where the infected flock was located, said James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, a trade group.
Six weeks later, senators question delay on Agriculture pick
Capital Press | Posted on March 6, 2017President Donald Trump tapped former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to be his agriculture secretary six weeks ago, but the administration still hasn’t formally provided the Senate with the paperwork for the nomination. The delay is frustrating farm-state senators, who represent many of the core voters who helped elect Trump. The White House said the paperwork, including ethics forms and an FBI background check, is coming soon. The only other nomination that hasn’t been sent to Capitol Hill is that of Alexander Acosta, who was nominated to be labor secretary on Feb. 16 after the withdrawal of the original nominee, Andrew Puzder. Senators say they haven’t been given an explanation for the delay involving Perdue.
Feds Probe After City Bans Man From Using Service Horse
US News and World Report | Posted on March 6, 2017Federal officials are investigating after a city banned a small horse a man says is his service animal needed on walks to improve his health.The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development tells KING-TV (http://kng5.tv/2lYAjTL) that it is investigating Benton City's actions as a possible fair housing violation.Tim Fulton said that his horse, Fred, senses when Fulton is about to fall, gets in front and lets Fulton lean on him for support."I fall down from time to time," Fulton said. "It's really a pain."Fulton said Fred is slightly taller than a large dog but much stronger and able to give Fulton the stability he needs.But Benton City officials say Fred isn't allowed in a residential zone and has issued Fulton a $100 fine. So Fred is staying at a ranch outside city limits."Mr. Fulton has not met the requirements for the City to allow him to keep a miniature horse as a service animal in a residential zone...," said the city's attorney, Eric Ferguson of Kerr Law Group, in a statement.Ferguson also questioned the validity of the documentation for a service animal, noting it was from a nurse practitioner basing the recommendation on what Ferguson said wasn't firsthand knowledge.
The Outlook for U.S. Agriculture From USDA’s Chief Economist
Farm Policy News | Posted on March 2, 2017Dr. Johansson noted that, “Farm income has fallen dramatically since 2013, falling almost 30 percent in real terms. That is the largest 4-year drop in farm income in 40 years, when real farm income fell more than 45 percent between 1973 and 1977. We have seen record production in major commodities over the past few years, and as a result prices are down significantly. Baseline projections show flat farm income throughout the 10-year forecast period.”
Decrying ‘small thinking,’ Trump calls for big infrastructure plans
Agri-Pulse | Posted on March 1, 2017In his first address to Congress, President Trump Tuesday night declared that the “time for small thinking is over” and called for massive infrastructure spending, deep tax cuts and immigration reforms that he promised would unleash new economic growth. “We will look back on tonight as when this new chapter of American greatness began,” he said.Trump also touted his “historic effort” to roll back and eliminate “job-crushing” regulations, and his decisions to clear the way for construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines.He didn’t mention the “waters of the United States” rule directly, but earlier in the day Trump signed an executive order to withdraw and replace the measure issued by the Obama administration to expand the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.