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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Sunday, December 22, 2024
The latest Environmental Protection Agency’s Hypoxia Task Force report to Congress concludes farmers and ranchers are succeeding in reducing nitrogen runoff in the Mississippi River watershed, but additional efforts are needed to meet phosphorus load reduction goals.
The Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to increase oversight of animal feeding operations in Pennsylvania, including potentially designating them as point sources that would require discharge permits under the Clean Water Act.
Proponents of conservation drainage management got a bit of good news recently about the $19.5 billion allocated in the Inflation Reduction Act: The Natural Resources Conservation Service said CDM practices could be eligible for some of that money.
USDA is promoting new crop insurance choices this year, even as strong commodity prices and elevated production costs are making existing coverage even more vital to farmers, says Marcia Bunger, administrator of the Risk Management Agency.
Agricultural practices that contribute to nutrient pollution came in for severe criticism at a Midwest regional roundtable Monday hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to gather input on defining “waters of the U.S.” under the Clean Water Act.
The Biden administration is moving toward providing a new round of payments to farmers who have crop insurance and plant cover crops this year, extending a temporary program created last year. A new policy endorsement designed to encourage reduced nitrogen usage also is coming on the market in 2022.
Ohio's Soil and Water Conservation Commission has decided to have a subcommittee look at Gov. John Kasich's plan to develop rules to regulate the use of commercial fertilizer and manure in northwest Ohio.
The health of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, is steadily improving, a strong indication that the six-state-plus-Washington, D.C. effort known as the Chesapeake Bay TMDL is working to reduce pollutants in the Bay watershed.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2017 - Farmers from Maryland to Illinois are turning their soil into a kind of sponge and absorbing the benefits: Planting cover crops such as cereal rye and varieties of radish during harvest season can simultaneously enhance the soil and increase yield. New studies support what farmers and agronomists have been saying for years – that cover crops reduce nutrient runoff, improve soil health and, most important for farmers, increase yields.
