07-13-09 *USDA NEWS* New Livestock Indemnity Program Announced by FSA…

LAKEWOOD, COLORADO – Eligible ranchers and livestock producers can begin applying for benefits through the Livestock Indemnity Program provided in the 2008 Farm Bill today, July 13.

“This program will provide livestock producers with a vital safety net to help them overcome the damaging financial impact of natural disasters,” said Gary Wall, Acting Executive Director for USDA Farm Service Agency in Colorado.

The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) provides assistance to producers for livestock deaths that result from disaster.  LIP compensates livestock owners and contract growers for livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather, including losses due to hurricanes, floods, blizzards, disease, wildfires, extreme heat and extreme cold. Eligible losses must have occurred on or after January 1, 2008, and before October 1, 2011.

The following table provides the final dates to file a notice of loss and/or application for payment for either 2008 or 2009 livestock losses:

07-08-09 *National FFA Alumni News* National FFA Alumni – Catch the Fever…Catch the LIVE VIDEOCAST…State Leaders Conference July 15-19 in Montrose!

To watch & listen to the LIVE VIDEOCASTs July 16-18th...CLICK HERE

SLC Online Registration Goes Live

Get Ready for the 2009 State Leaders Conference (SLC)
July 15-19, 2009 – Montrose, CO

Learn How to … “Say It, Do It, Live It!”   at the 2009 National FFA Alumni State Leaders Conference (SLC) July 15-19, 2009, in Montrose, CO. Sponsored by (TSC and Farm Credit Services. All FFA Alumni members can attend this dynamic four-day conference designed to gather local and state FFA Alumni leaders for workshops, updates, and idea sharing!

If you can’t be there in person, no worries the BARN has teamed up with the National FFA Alumni Foundation to bring you a LIVE VIDEO Webcast of the daily morning sessions on July 16th, 17th & 18th. (Open the AGENDA below to view the start times). And if you are interested in obtaining a DVD copy of an individual session, they are just $20 each OR save $10 and buy a set of 3 DVD’s for just $50…nearly 12 hours of audio & video…Now you have no reason to miss any of the action or education from the 2009 National FFA Alumni’s State Leaders Conference LIVE from Montrose, CO!

To download a DVD Order Form…Click Below

BARN DVD ORDER FORM_09 NatFFAAlumniStateLeadersConference

Resources from State Leaders Conference

2009 SLC Agenda tentative

2009 SLC Fee Breakdown

2008 SLC Resource Materials

07-13-09 New Ethanol Marketing Efforts…

Renewable Fuels Association Targets Motorcyclists and Increases On-Line Presence

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features an interview with Renewable Fuels Association Director of Market Development Robert White about some new tactics they are using to promote ethanol and answer questions about its use. White talks in particular about one upcoming event that will target thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts, RFA’s new website “Choose Ethanol,” and using social media tools to reach out to the public…ethanol-report-7-10-09

07-13-09 *USDA NEWS* AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK ANNOUNCES $18 MILLION IN CONSERVATION INNOVATION GRANTS

Grants Will Help Producers Conserve and Sustain Natural Resources

DEARBORN, Mich., July 13, 2009-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced $18.4 million in Conservation Innovation Grants to fund 55 projects to develop and refine cutting-edge technologies and approaches to help farmers and ranchers conserve and sustain natural resources. Vilsack made the announcement in a speech at the Soil and Water Conservation Society annual meeting in Dearborn, Mich.

“New technology can play an important role in addressing environmental problems, and the Obama Administration is committed to developing innovative solutions to natural resource management and conservation issues facing farmers and ranchers,” Vilsack said. “These Conservation Innovation Grants will benefit both agriculture and the environment by getting 21st century ideas in the hands of our producers across the country.”

The Conservation Innovation Grant program is designed to speed the transfer and enhance use of technologies and methods that show promise in solving the nation’s top natural resource problems by targeting innovative, on-the-ground conservation. Approved projects address issues such as water quantity and quality, grazing lands, soil and forest health, and air quality.

“The Conservation Innovation Grant program enables USDA to review, field test, and demonstrate practices and ideas that have yet to be successfully mainstreamed into our portfolio of practice options,” said Dave White, Chief of the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which administers the program and provides technical oversight for each project.

Some recent examples of completed Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) projects include:

07-13-09 *BREAKING USDA NEWS* USDA Will Not Issue Final 2008 Wheat, Barley and Oat Counter-Cyclical Payments

Commodity Prices Averaged Above Trigger Levels

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2009 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today said that USDA will not issue final 2008 counter-cyclical payments to farmers enrolled in the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program for wheat, barley and oats because prices for these commodities have averaged well above levels that trigger counter-cyclical payments.

The 2008 Farm Bill requires 2008 final counter-cyclical payments to be paid as soon as practical following the end of the marketing year, but not sooner than Oct. 1, 2009. Because the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) published the final marketing year average prices for wheat, barley and oats on June 29, 2009, Secretary Vilsack can now tell producers that no final payments will be made for these commodities. The 2008 Farm Bill provides that one partial counter-cyclical payment may be issued after 180 days of the marketing year. However, USDA did not issue a partial payment for the 2008 crop of wheat, barley or oats because markets were strong. NASS is scheduled to announce the final market year average price for peanuts, the next commodity that may be eligible for final counter-cyclical payments, on Aug. 31, 2009.

07-11-09 *CSU NEWS* Running Head: Carbon Credits…What are Carbon Credits & Should you sell them ro a New York Salesman…?

This article comes to the BARN courtesy of CSU Graduate Student Stacia Berry.

-On behalf of the Western Center for Integrated Resource Management from Colorado State University, we want to thank you for this opportunity. I hope this is a good fit for your publication. This is the paper on carbon credits. If you need anything please let me know.

Candice Rose (candice_curry@hotmail.com) WCIRM Program Aide

Running Head: CARBON CREDITS

What are Carbon Credits and should you sell them to a salesman from New York?

Stacia Berry, Graduate Student, Western Center for Integrated Resource Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

At a recent visit home to my family ranch, I was searching for a book when my father’s voice boomed down the stairs, “Get up here!  There is something I want you to hear!” I scurried up the stairs to see a stranger sitting at our kitchen table.  My curiosity had been piqued and he said to me, “Let me tell you a little bit about carbon credits.”  I was excited; having learned a bit about global warming in school, I was sure that I could handle whatever he had to throw at us.  An hour later, I had learned a lot about what was happening in the carbon industry.  This man wanted to buy carbon credits attached to the work that our land was doing.  I immediately became skeptical. Was it possible that particles of air could make us money?  It is possible.  Carbon credits are being bought, sold and traded around the world.  The question becomes, “Should we join this movement, or is it going to disappear into thin air?”

07-11-09 *CSU NEWS* Wind Energy Lease Agreements…What Landowners Should know…

Photo courtesy of Steven Trainor, 2007

This article comes to the BARN courtesy of CSU Graduate Student Courtney Krueger.

-On behalf of the Western Center for Integrated Resource Management from Colorado State University, we want to thank you for this opportunity. I hope this is a good fit for your publication. This is the paper on carbon credits. If you need anything please let me know.

Candice Rose (candice_curry@hotmail.com) WCIRM Program Aide

Wind Energy Lease Agreements…What Landowners Need to Know

Courtney Krueger, Graduate Student, Western Center for Integrated Resource Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

In recent years society has demanded clean, renewable ways to produce energy to either augment or replace current energy production methods in the U.S. Wind energy has become a leading alternative energy source in the western United States, especially in Wyoming and eastern Colorado. Rather than buying land to construct and operate wind turbines, wind energy companies typically lease private land. However, because wind energy is a new technology, leasing procedures and agreements are not well known or documented. Landowners are left with little knowledge of what should be included in lease agreements and what to expect after wind turbines have been installed on their land. The following information provides basic guidelines for landowners that can be used to review wind energy contracts, and indentify potential pitfalls of wind energy contracts.

Payment Types

There are three common, payment types:

• Lump sums
• Fixed annual payments
• Royalty payments.

07-13-09 *DOT News* Mendez Confirmed as Federal Highway Administrator

Former Arizona DOT Director to Lead Nation’s Highways

WASHINGTON – Former Arizona state transportation official Victor Mendez has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

“Victor’s lengthy record of delivering major infrastructure projects on time and his enthusiasm for innovative solutions to complex transportation problems make him an excellent addition to the team,” said Jeff Paniati, FHWA’s Executive Director, who had been serving as Acting Administrator since January 20. “His leadership and experience are exactly what the nation’s highways need right now.”

07-13-09 *FS4JK News* Tractor Runover Survivor Shares Story to Save Lives…

Urbandale, Iowa (AgPR) (July 13, 2009) – Trevor Hoff is living proof that miracles happen every day. Hoff, a high school senior from New Windsor, Maryland, bravely shares his tractor incident survival story to raise awareness about farm hazards. Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, a non-profit organization in Urbandale, Iowa, is proud to appoint Hoff to their youth network to promote the rural safety movement.

On July 21, 2005, then fourteen year-old Hoff was climbing off a tractor at a grain elevator when the tractor began to roll forward. He was pulled into the path of the oncoming tire and the upper-half of his body was crushed under the weight of the tractor. The incident occurred on a concrete surface breaking Hoff’s pelvic bone in half and shattering the bones from his jaw to his forehead. Hoff was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland where he began a four month journey to recovery.

07-13-09 AgRobotics and GVM Form Strategic Alliance…

New AgJunction GPS/GIS online telematics software forms the foundation

Springfield, Ill., (AgPR) – AgRobotics, LLC, Little Rock, Ark., www.agrobotics.com, and GVM Incorporated, Biglerville, Penn., www.gvminc.com, have formed a strategic alliance and marketing partnership for a ‘next generation’ GPS/GIS telematics offering  which allows agricultural retailers to schedule, monitor, control and track the AgRobotics™ soil sampling services using the on-the-go AutoProbe™ machine.

“Accountability, accuracy and environmental responsibility are what drew us to GVM and the new AgJunction^® online GPS/GIS telematics software,” says AgRobotics CEO Jeffrey Burton. “They clearly have the vision for ‘Precision Ag 2.0′ with an open source marketplace attitude. We believe this strategic alliance will make it easy for dealers to manage fall acres for our soil sampling services using the AutoProbe™.”

07-13-09 MARKEY INTRODUCES TAX CUT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Bi-partisan measure will rush tax relief to Colorado’s job creators

WASHINGTON—Congresswoman Betsy Markey today introduced the Small Business Growth Act, which will cut taxes for small businesses by allowing them to deduct up to $125,000 in real property from their federal income taxes. Co-sponsoring the bill are Congressmen Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Missouri) and Ron Paul (R-Texas).

“Small businesses are the backbone of America’s economy, and so many of them have been hamstrung by today’s economic crisis,” said Rep. Markey. “The small businesses that are critical to rebuilding and re-growing our economy are the ones that are hurting most. My bill will let small businesses do what they do best: pull themselves up without a handout or a bailout. Cutting taxes here will keep more money in the hands of small businesses and encourage investment, stimulate expansion and create jobs.”

07-13-09 NAFB National Ag News for July 13th…including the latest WASDE Report…

National Ag News for July 13, 2009

Sponsored by the American Farm Bureau Federation

“WASDE Report Released”

The monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report has been released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its’ World Agriculture Outlook Board. The report utilized information from the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Encouraging Word for the day…

Encouraging Word – Courtesy of KLOVE

Monday 7/13/2009

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.

~ 1 Peter 3:15, NLT

View in context

07-12-09 *NAWG News* This Week’s Wheat News Digest…

HERE’S THIS WEEK’S NEWS DIGEST

Hearings Set on Climate Change; Mark-Up Delayed — Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and three other cabinet-level members of the Obama Administration testified before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee this week on pending climate change legislation.

House Adds Food Safety Hearing to the Schedule – The House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing next week to examine food safety issues in the wake of a pending bill that could have wide- ranging effects on even low-risk commodity production.

Both Chambers Move on Approps, Include Cuba Change – The appropriations process made strides in both chambers this week as Members aim to have all 12 bills finalized by the end of the federal government’s fiscal year, Sept. 30 – a rarity in recent years.

Word on Wheat: Looks Like It Might Be a Long Five Years — This spring I was selected as NAWG’s new secretary-treasurer, meaning, barring some unforeseen circumstance, I will be a NAWG officer for the next five years. As you can imagine, I’ve spent some time daydreaming about the issues that might be before us.

ATTN: 4H & FFA Members…7th Annual Briggsdale Classic set for July 10th & 11th

RESULTS POSTED BELOW:

07-11-09 *CAWG News* Colorado Wheat Harvest Update for July 10th…

Winter Wheat Harvest Report - July 10, 2009

Winter wheat harvest covered a wide swath of Colorado as of Friday, July 10, with harvest extending from Prowers County in the south to near Haxtun in the north. Rain, fog, and humidity delayed harvest around the state. Harvest has barely progressed in the I-70 corridor from Burlington to Seibert, but has also inched north into Yuma County and the Bennett and Roggen areas in Adams and Weld counties.

Sunflower Market Closing Report

Courtesy of the

National Sunflower Association

& Northern Sun / ADM of Goodland, Kansas

07-10-09 Governor proclams July 12-18th as Colorado Weed Awareness Week…

Gov. Proclaims July 12-18 as Colorado Weed Awareness Week

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Governor Bill Ritter declared July 12–18 as Colorado Weed Awareness Week to highlight the importance of managing noxious weeds, which negatively impact agriculture, water quality, recreational opportunities and wildlife.

“Noxious weeds threaten the integrity of Colorado’s lands,” said Colorado State Weed Coordinator, Kelly Uhing.  “Together, we can effectively and appropriately control weed infestations and minimize the threat weeds pose to agriculture, Colorado’s natural heritage, and our quality of life.”

There are 71weeds on Colorado’s noxious weed list.  Colorado’s most aggressive and widespread weeds are:  Canada thistle, field bindweed, leafy spurge, Russian knapweed, and yellow toadflax.

07-10-09 The NAFB’s National Ag News for July 10th as heard on the BARN’s Morning Ag News…

National Ag News for July 10, 2009

Sponsored by the American Farm Bureau Federation

“House Passes Ag Appropriations Bill”

07-09-09 AGRICULTURE SECRETARY VILSACK NAMES WILLIAM J. MURPHY ADMINISTRATOR OF THE RISK MANAGEMENT AGENCY

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2009 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today named William J. Murphy as Administrator of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA).

“Bill has spent nearly three decades in the Federal crop insurance community and he brings valuable hands-on expertise and executive management to the USDA’s leadership team,” Vilsack said. “His expansive program experience and knowledge of the agency’s responsibilities will be invaluable as President Obama and I work to assure the soundness of the safety net for American farmers and ranchers.”