The Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology will be hosting a Poultry Litter Injection Workshop and Field Day Event on July 6th from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM at the Wye REC. The goal of the meeting is to update stakeholders on progress to date in the development of these technologies, demonstrate them in the field, and then seek recommendations from stakeholders on next steps needed to bring these technologies to commercial markets. Grain producers that use poultry litter would be in a great position to provide feedback in this regard. Although the meeting is free, please register ahead of time so they can have an accurate headcount for lunch. 

Register

2017 is a census year for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The information produced by the Census of Agriculture guides Congress, agribusiness, policymakers, researchers, local governments and many others on the creation and funding of agricultural programs and services – decisions that can directly impact your local operations and the future of the agriculture industry for years to come.

New farmers or existing farmers who have not participated in a prior Census of Agriculture still have time to sign up to be counted through the end of June. The survey takes less than a minute – and will ensure that you receive a Census form (that you can fill out in paper form or online.)  If a farmer/rancher is not on our list frame by June 30th, 2017, the producer will not have an opportunity to participate in the 2017 Census of Agriculture. 

Sign Up

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh joined his counterparts in six states in filing a formal challenge on Tuesday of the Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to not label a common pesticide as unsafe for humans in any quantity. It's the latest action by Frosh and other Democratic attorneys general against environmental actions taken by President Donald Trump's administration.

In this one, the attorneys general of Maryland, California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and Vermont accuse the EPA of violating federal law by ignoring a science-based recommendation regarding the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Under former President Barack Obama, the agency had been on track to revoke standards setting "safe" chlorpyrifos exposure levels, but the Trump EPA reversed course in March, saying the decision required further study.

Identifying corn diseases and pursuing the best management plan available just got easier, faster and more cost effective due to new testing protocols announced recently by the National Agricultural Genotyping Center (NAGC) located in Fargo, North Dakota. NAGC is targeting a couple of key diseases, Goss’s Wilt and Xanthomonas, in their first disease assays, or tests now available to corn farmers, agronomists and crop consultants.

Cost savings from the actual testing are as much as 75 percent less with a move from single sample testing to utilizing 96 sample trays. NAGC is working with farmers via crop consultants and agronomists to streamline the process of collecting samples and ramping up the assay process.

Read More

More than a decade after the original renewable fuel standard (RFS) was signed into law, tremendous progress has been made toward its goals of energy security, clean air and boosting local economies, according to a new analysis  by the Renewable

Fuels Association, “RFS Impacts: By the Numbers.” The analysis comes as EPA is expected to soon issue its proposed 2018 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the RFS.

Among the highlights are U.S. corn production has grown from 11.1 billion bushels in 2005 to 15.2 billion gallons in 2016, a 36 percent increase, while average yields grew from 147.9 bushels per acre to 174.6 bushels per acre, and U.S. ethanol industry jobs grew 121 percent from 153,725 in 2005 to 339,176 in 2016, and the value of the industry’s output quadrupled from $8.1 billion to $32.8 billion. 

Read More