News you can use
News you can use
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Press release Jan. 13, 2024, is the deadline for Montana farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to submit applications for assistance through the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program for those who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. USDA Farm Service Agency is encouraging people who think they may be eligible to check out the program website at https://22007apply.gov. People will find there various assistance to help learn about the program and help them apply. Borrowers hav...
MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer Jonnie Jonckowski didn't meekly break down gender barriers in the ever dangerous sport of bull riding, she brazenly rode through obstacles en route to becoming a Hall of Fame pioneer in the male-dominated rodeo arena. Now, the retired Jonckowski wants to see more doors open in the sport for women, and her dream is being revived through athletes like Najiah Knight, the 17-year-old who is trying to make it to the highest level of the all-male...
Press release WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday that it is hiring 40 Climate Change Fellows to help with the record numbers of applications from farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses seeking funding for clean energy projects under the Rural Energy for America Program, or REA. The new positions are being funded by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the nation’s largest-ever investment in combatting the climate crisis, a key pillar of Bidenomics and part of the Investing in America...
Press release WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that agricultural producers can now enroll in the Farm Service Agency’s Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2024 crop year. Producers can enroll and make election changes for the 2024 crop year starting Dec. 18, 2023. The deadline to complete enrollment and any election change is March 15, 2024. Nov. 16, 2023, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6363, the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act...
Press release WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture reminds specialty crop growers that assistance is available for producers who incur eligible on-farm food safety program expenses to obtain or renew a food safety certification through the Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops program. Producers can apply for assistance on their calendar year 2023 expenses through Jan. 31, 2024. “The Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops program is just one of the many ways USDA is helping support local and reg...
Press release USDA continues to accept applications for assistance through the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program for Montana farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. The application process will close Jan. 13, 2024. Borrowers have the option to apply for assistance online via https://22007apply.gov or through a paper-based form. Details about the program, including an application and e-filing portal, are available at 22007apply.gov....
Press release Honeybee producers are required to file an initial report of colony inventory by January 2 each year and report any changes to inventory, including movement of colonies into or outside of the county, within 30 days. Beginning with the 2024 crop year, honeybee producers will need to use the new Honeybee Colony Inventory Reporting Form, CCC-771. The established crop year for honey is January 1 through December 31. An initial report of colonies on a CCC-771 must be submitted to your local FSA office for each unit...
Press release WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy will host a series of listening sessions this winter. The agencies invite perspectives on the benefits and challenges of the rapidly increasing levels of clean energy located on agricultural lands and in rural communities. USDA and DoE seek feedback directly from a diverse set of stakeholders about what the agencies can do through their leadership, program guidance or research and information sharing to encourage locations p...
Press release DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States’ leadership in climate-smart agriculture and forestry took center stage at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference — COP28 — as Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and other U.S. Department of Agriculture officials highlighted the U.S. commitment to investing in innovative climate solutions, quantifying and demonstrating results, and sharing resources and solutions with the world. “COP28 comes at a critical juncture, seven years after the Paris Agr...
Press release WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched an online application for Direct Loan customers. More than 26,000 customers who submit a Direct Loan application each year can now use an online, interactive, guided application that is paperless and provides helpful features including an electronic signature option, the ability to attach supporting documents such as tax returns, complete a balance sheet and build a farm operating plan. This tool is part of a broader effort by USDA’s Farm Service Age...
Press release BOZEMAN — The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Montana is accepting applications for the Organic Transition Initiative. This is a USDA initiative that provides financial assistance and technical assistance for conservation practices that support organic production. NRCS accepts applications year-round, but applications for the current funding cycle must be submitted by Dec. 30, 2023. The Organic Transition Initiative furthers USDA’s objective of developing diverse food systems while enc...
Susan Shain High Country News via Montana Free Press This story also appeared in High Country News In a squat 1,100-square-foot building on the outskirts of Helena lies a pile of enormous tongues. They are thick and leaden, stacked on a steel table like fish out of water. The bovines from which they came hulk nearby, cold carcasses hanging from cold hooks. Bearded men, their white coats covered in blood, rhythmically chop livers, punctuating the hum of industrial refrigeration. This small meat-processing facility, which a...
Press release HELENA — The Montana Stockgrowers Foundation — MSF— Cattle Drive program has set out to do something no other cattle organization in the state has done — using a fundraiser to match Montana-born, -raised and -fed cattle with local restaurants and retailers. The “Montanans Feeding Montana Initiative” seeks to connect the Montana food service industry to the high-quality beef raised by Montana ranchers. The Cattle Drive program is in its sixth year, with this year launching the value-added focus that intentional...
Press release Blaine County is a contiguous county where ag producers are eligible to apply for assistance due to a disaster declaration declared due to flooding in June. The presidential disaster declaration allows the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock,...
The OFF Act is getting real traction and has a number of co-sponsors in both the House, in HR 1249, and the Senate, in S 557. What these bills aim to do is reorganize 22 commodity checkoff programs such that USDA has actual authority to oversee how the money is used. The aim is to ensure that the programs are accountable to the farmers and ranchers who pay the checkoff taxes. It appears that all of the checkoff programs are plagued by allegations that they are not effective or transparent. The big ones such as eggs, beef,...
Press release BOZEMAN — U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development in Montana State Director Kathleen Williams announced Monday awards of more than $1.1 million in grant funding to 12 agricultural producers and rural small businesses across Montana through the Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP, so they can invest in renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements. “These projects are part of one of the largest investments in history to foster a wider use of renewable energy. They benefit Mon...
SCOTT McFETRIDGE The Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa — Called cover crops, they top the list of tasks U.S. farmers are told will build healthy soil, help the environment and fight climate change. Yet after years of incentives and encouragement, Midwest farmers planted cover crops on only about 7% of their land in 2021. That percentage has increased over the years but remains small in part because even as farmers receive extra payments and can see numerous benefits from cover crops, they remain wary. Many worry the p...
Press release WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced loan interest rates for November 2023, which became effective Nov. 1, 2023. USDA’s Farm Service Agency loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operation, purchase equipment and storage structures or meet cash flow needs. Operating, ownership and emergency loans FSA offers farm ownership and operating loans with favorable interest rates and terms to help eligible agricultural producers, wh...
Press release WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin mailing ballots this week for the Farm Service Agency county and urban county committee elections to all eligible agricultural producers and private landowners across the country. Elections are occurring in certain Local Administrative Areas for these committee members who make important decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally. Producers and landowners must return ballots to their local FSA county office or have their bal...
MELINA WALLING and BRITTANY PETERSON The Associated Press HUDSON, Colo. - Alan Mazzotti can see the Rocky Mountains about 30 miles west of his pumpkin patch in northeast Colorado on a clear day. He could tell the snow was abundant last winter, and verified it up close when he floated through fresh powder alongside his wife and three sons at the popular Winter Park Resort. But one season of above-average snowfall wasn't enough to refill the dwindling reservoir he relies on to...
Press release DES MOINES, Iowa — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing $2.3 billion to help American producers maintain and develop markets for their commodities and use U.S. commodities to bolster international food aid. Consistent with a bipartisan request from the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, USDA is utilizing funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation to address challenges related to trade and food insecurity impacting U.S. f...
Press release KANKAKEE, Ill. — U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week highlighted progress made in partnering with farmers and American businesses to increase innovative domestic fertilizer production and in making it easier for U.S. farmers to grow food through the practice of double cropping. USDA also announced $52.6 million in awards under the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program, which will fund 17 new projects to boost domestic fertilizer manufacturing, support innovative fertilizer t...
Press release The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center announced their 16th class of inductions into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame, including legacy inductee Clarence Cuts the Rope of Hays and living inductee Leon Lasalle of Laredo. The inductees were chosen from a field of candidates nominated by the general public. Inductees are honored for their notable contributions to the history and culture of Montana. "The Hall of Fame exists to honor those who...
Press release BOZEMAN — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making more than $3 billion in funding available for agricultural producers and forest landowners nationwide to participate in voluntary conservation programs and adopt climate-smart practices in fiscal year 2024. As first announced in August, Montana private land managers interested in participating in Natural Resources Conservation Service programs must apply by Oct. 27, 2023, be considered for the current funding cycle. “We know that funding provided thr...
Press release Livestock producers in 14 Montana counties are eligible to apply for 2023 Livestock Forage Disaster Program benefits on small grain, native pasture, improved pasture, annual ryegrass, and forage sorghum. The Montana counties that have triggered the 2023 LFP drought criteria are Blaine, Chouteau, Flathead, Glacier, Hill, Lake, Liberty, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Pondera, Sanders, Teton, and Toole. Producers must complete a CCC-853 and provide required supporting documentation no later than January 30, 2024, for...
