Nothing like a little snow in May to really slow down a planter! This photo from Minnesota was posted last week on the Case IH Facebook page. Despite the snow, Minnesota farmers did manage to get two percent of their corn crop in the ground last week, but they should have over half of it planted by now. Nearly 50% … Read More
Grants for Broadband Service in Rural Communities
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new rules to better target Community Connect broadband grants to areas where they are needed the most. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. This announcement is one part of the Department’s efforts to strengthen the rural economy. USDA Rural Development’s … Read More
Web-based Water Quality Index Tool
Scientists at the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service recently developed a simple, web-based tool that helps producers easily understand the quality of water flowing off their fields – the Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff (WQIag). “Water quality is complex,” said NRCS National Water Quality and Quantity team leader Shaun McKinney. “Experts usually focus on one aspect of water quality … Read More
Ag Organizations Applaud Six Countries
Key members of the U.S. agricultural value chain have joined together to applaud the work of the United States and like-minded governments to promote the importance of science-based regulations to facilitate trade of agricultural commodities derived from agricultural biotechnology. In a joint statement, the United States was joined by the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay to announce … Read More
Conservation Stewardship Program 2013
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) will provide nearly $175 million in funding for up to 12.6 million additional acres of enrollment this year. Vilsack explained that although applications are accepted all year, farmers, ranchers and forestland owners interested in CSP should submit applications by May 31 to their local NRCS … Read More
G-8 Open Data for Agriculture Conf Concluding Presser
The G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture is coming to an end. Interestingly, USDA held a concluding press conference to discuss results prior to the end of the conference. USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki outlined the federal government’s new Food, Agriculture and Rural data community, which offers a catalog of over 300 data sets as well as … Read More
Opening up Global Ag Data Sharing
At the kickoff of the G8 Open Data for Agriculture conference this week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new virtual community to give increased public access to food, agriculture, and rural data. “This new online community is a big step toward opening information for agriculture, making it public in useable formats,” said Vilsack. “This will increase the value of … Read More
Weather Continues to Put Damper on Planting
Planting progress continues to be slowed by wet and cold weather in most of the major corn producing states. According to USDA, just 5% of the U.S. corn crop was planted as of Sunday, only a percentage point of difference compared to the previous week. Last year at this time, nearly half the crop was in the ground and normally … Read More
G8 Conference Kick Off
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, along with Bill Gates, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, today kicked off a two-day international open data conference, saying that data “is among the most important commodities in agriculture” and sharing it openly increases its value. Among some of the speakers will be USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki and Dr. Simon Liu, Director … Read More
Preview of Open Data for Agriculture Conference
USDA just held a preview press conference for next week’s G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture. On the phone with the press were USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki and Dr. Simon Liu, Director of the National Agricultural Library. There are plans to do live streaming during the conference and people are encouraged to tweet about the conference … Read More