acquired August, 2012
Nearly two thirds (click here) ( Ya, get that part? The two thirds part.) of the contiguous United States was experiencing some level of drought by the end of August 2012, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. 39 percent (Ya get that part? The 39% part.) of the nation suffered from severe to extreme drought. Though the numbers changed a bit in mid-September, the drought parched much of the interior United States and left both domestic and wild animals scrounging for food....
...The United States of America has profound problems of sustainability that haven't gone away for years now. Problems of sustainability that are completely neglected by a wayward federal government locked in hideous deadlocks to win elections. I have little patience for nonsensical chatter about a loved and respected African American minister, whom's message to the Chicago community was about life and peace, not violence.
Bill Graham, Jr. should fall under such hideous defamation and we would see what the political Right Wing media would say then.
TWO-THIRDS EXPERIENCED SOME LEVEL OF DROUGHT !!!!!
Thirty-nine (39%) of the nation suffered from severe or extreme drought.
October 2, 2012
Parsons, Kansas — Drought has cost Arkansas’ beef cattle industry $128 million and the losses may continue to rise, with three percent of ranchers saying they planned to sell all their livestock, according to a study released Thursday by University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
The study’s authors cautioned that the $128 million figure “should be deemed a conservative estimate of the direct economic impact of the drought on cow-calf producers’ income.” When induced impacts are calculated, the numbers increase to $133 million in labor income losses and a $136 million loss in value added.
The study, “Estimate of Economic Impact of Drought on Commercial Beef Cow/ Calf Operations in Arkansas,” is the second phase of the university’s analysis of the drought’s impact. A preliminary report, which also included row crops, was released Aug. 24....
Posted: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 1:59 pm
Brandy VanDeWalle, UNL Extension Educator in Fillmore County
With harvest underway, most likely producers are suffering yield losses in rainfield fields. Many producers will have very high energy bills from the long irrigation season.
High nitrate issues are of concern for livestock producers. The list goes on for the problems this year’s drought caused. With that can come an emotional stress that directly impact farm families as they cope with those burdens....
Indemnity payments do NOT fill the bellies of the nation.
National Crop Insurance Services | October 2, 2012
With the vast majority of the U.S. corn, cotton, soybean and sorghum crops yet to be harvested, crop insurance companies have already paid out nearly $2 billion in indemnities to farmers who have suffered losses this year.
“America’s heartland has taken a beating from Mother Nature and the crop insurance industry is committed to servicing the nation's farmers and getting indemnity payments into the hands of policyholders as quickly as possible,” said Tom Zacharias, president of National Crop Insurance Services (NCIS). Zacharias noted that the industry’s 5,000 claims adjusters are working day and night to expedite claims for farmers who have suffered from this year's drought.
By Erika Mahoney
September 28, 2012
Whitney Point, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Farmers across the United States are left hanging when it comes to the future of their farm and food policy legislation.
Last week, Speaker of the House John Boehner said the House of Representatives will not vote on a new bill before the current one expires this Sunday, Sept. 30.
Judi Whittaker of the Whittaker Dairy Farm in Whitney Point said she is frustrated with the government for not passing the bill because legislators have been talking about this for years.
She said there is no reason why they couldn't pass it on time, other than the discord between the Senate and the House.
The Senate was able to pass its version in June, but it has since been suspended in the House.
Both Whittaker and the Chenango County Farm Bureau say because legislators waited so long, it's making it even tougher for local farmers.
"They don't understand from where they sit how it directly relates and affects us everyday, on a farm," said Whittaker. "Some of the programs involved in the Farm Bill definitely will hurt September 30th when that sunsets. There's going to be some large effects on a lot of farms in Broome County."
"It' very disappointing at this stage of the game that our legislators are more concerned about the November election than America's food supply," said Bradd Vickers, President of the Chenango County Farm Bureau. "And talk about a national security issue... I think that is one of the biggest."
They said once the bill sunsets on Sunday, one of the biggest losses will be a USDA program called The Milk Income Loss Contract.
M.I.L.C. compensates dairy farmers when domestic milk prices fall below a certain level.
Whittaker said now she can only hope lawmakers finish a new bill by the end of the year.
October 2, 2012
By Richard WhitbyThe Daily StarSeveral area consumers said Monday they would be willing to pay more for milk — if that extra money went to producers.
“If the farmer got the money, I wouldn’t mind,” Joy Brown of Sidney said as she waited for her groceries to be loaded into a car outside the Hannaford supermarket in Oneonta, where milk was selling at $3.19 a gallon for the house brand and $3.59 a gallon for a dairy brand.
“But the farmer doesn’t get the money,” she added. “The middleman does.”...
Rich Pottorff, Doane chief economist & Washington analystUpdated: October 1, 2012It is still unclear if the House will bring up and vote on the farm bill in the lame-duck session after the election.
But the House vote on the farm bill will have to happen near the beginning of the session or there won’t be time to get the bill completed before this Congress ends. And once the new Congress is sworn in, all the work that was done on the farm bill this year disappears and the new Congress must start the process over!
Most observers believe there will be less money available for farm programs if the farm bill is pushed off into next year. But if we are to get a farm bill yet this year, first the House needs to pass their version. Then it needs to go to a conference committee with the Senate to mesh the two bills together. And then the compromise bill has to be approved by both the full House and Senate. And all this needs to happen in about a four week period....
By AMY MAYER
The farm bill expired Monday and lawmakers didn’t pass a new one, thanks largely to election-year politics.
Despite the partisan bickering in Washington, though, many in farm country are working together to keep their concerns on the front burner.
Take Brad Moeckly, for example. Harvesting corn near Boone, Iowa, he wears looks the typical farmer, wearing a seed-company hat and sunglasses. He’s recently back on the farm after a trip to Washington, D.C. As the Iowa Farm Bureau secretary for Polk County, he works locally with the national advocacy group American Farm Bureau Federation and he cares about the Farm Bill. That’s why he joined many other farmers at a rally on Capitol Hill in September. He says the proposed farm bill isn’t perfect....
I think these two maps are self-explanatory. If not? Then finish High School or your GED.
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