We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Terms and Cookie Policy
Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
An increase in capacity for technical assistance within the Natural Resources Conservation Service is necessary as the agency looks to integrate $18.5 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding into its conservation programs, but the agency will likely need to look at ways to expand its roster of non-government experts as it struggles to bring in enough qualified professionals to fill its internal workforce needs.
USDA is releasing the first $850 million in conservation program funding from the $18 billion provided by the Inflation Reduction Act to ramp up the adoption of climate-smart farming practices.
Natural Resources Conservation Service offices in states like California are gearing up to take in a surge of Inflation Reduction Act funding centered around the conservation programs they operate.
Moving livestock from field to field to lessen the impact of their grazing practices is a practice slowly taking hold, and some proponents say new federal funding coupled with better outreach could get more producers on board.
A contingent of Republicans from the prairie pothole region want to prohibit federal agencies from entering into permanent conservation easement agreements with landowners, putting an expiration date on contracts that otherwise would last forever.
Freezing the wage rate paid to farmworkers in the U.S. under the H-2A program “could encourage a faster expansion” of the program and may reduce the wages of the U.S. domestic workers who account for 90% of average employment on U.S. crop farms, the Economic Research Service said in a report released Tuesday.
President Joe Biden intends to nominate Doug McKalip, a senior adviser to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, to be chief agricultural negotiator for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The Agriculture Department plans to loosen up existing Conservation Reserve Program rules by allowing participants to request termination of their CRP contract if they are in their final year of the agreement.