Agriculture

By July of next year, a practice in Ohio’s commercial harbors will no longer be allowed — the dumping of dredged materials into the open waters of Lake Erie. This ban is the result of a bill passed by the legislature in 2015 (SB 1), and is part of the state’s broader efforts to keep excess nutrients from entering the shallowest of the Great Lakes, causing harmful algal blooms and degrading water quality. [node:read-more:link]

Wisconsin farmers showed the effects of continued low prices for their products in 2018 as the state led the nation in farm bankruptcies for the third straight year and dairy farms closed at the highest pace this century.The state had 47 Chapter 12 bankruptcies, a chapter designated almost specifically for family farms last year, according to data from the U.S. Bankruptcy courts. That was 16 more than second-place Nebraska. [node:read-more:link]

Farmers are leading stewards of the land and water, making conservation decisions that impact almost 1 billion U.S. acres every day. Farmers understand the importance of habitat for wildlife and outdoor recreation, and they know firsthand the critical role productive land plays in economic success.
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The United States, Canada and Mexico are partnering to prevent the African swine fever (ASF) virus from entering their borders. ASF has been spreading throughout pig farms and wild boar in China and parts of Europe since last summer, and has resulted in the death or culling of hundreds of thousands of pigs. It recently was detected for the first time in Vietnam.Although ASF does not affect humans, it is highly contagious and deadly among pigs, cannot be cured and has no vaccine.At the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Annual Agriculture Outlook Forum this week, U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The Agriculture Department faces large spending cuts, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday while a White House official said President Trump will ask for one “one of the largest spending reductions in history” in the upcoming fiscal 2020 budget. Perdue told reporters that he encouraged the administration to submit a package “within the realm of negotiation,” considering Congress rejected outright Trump’s previous budgets. [node:read-more:link]

A northeast Washington legislator Friday laid out for the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee the state of ranching in wolf country. "My folks are at the breaking point right now. I've got people who are not going to continue in the business," said Rep. Joel Kretz, who figures about 90 percent of the state's wolves are in the four counties he represents."We're going to see more family ranches going by the wayside. That might not sound like a big deal to some of you in more urban areas, but it is the base economy in some of these counties," he said. [node:read-more:link]

Washington dairy farmers and fruit growers would have to report to retailers whether they use slaves under a bill endorsed Thursday by Democrats on the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee. [node:read-more:link]

Enacted at the end of last year, the new law legalizes industrial hemp (it must have a THC concentration level of below 0.3 percent), allowing for market-scale  cultivation and the interstate sale of products. In another important change for producers, the new farm bill allows hemp to be included in federal crop insurance.What is the role for states?Some may choose to serve as the primary regulatory authority of hemp production, by establishing a licensing system that conforms with federal guidelines and that gets approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. [node:read-more:link]

This week, Senate Bill 57, sponsored by Republican legislators Brian Hill and Stephen A. Huffman, was introduced in the Ohio Senate. The bill aims to legalize hemp cultivation and processing in Ohio as well as legalize the sale of hemp-derived products like CBD oil. The state-level legislation follows on the heels of December’s signing of the 2018 federal farm bill, or the U.S. Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, which removed hemp from its illegal classification under the Controlled Substances  [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. agricultural trade surplus will shrink to $13.5 billion this fiscal year, the smallest in at least six years, as exports stagnate at $141.5 billion and imports tick upward to $128 billion, said the USDA in a quarterly forecast. Farm exports are a consistent bright spot in the U.S. trade picture and generate at least 20 cents of every $1 in farm receipts. [node:read-more:link]