Month: October 2017

November Clinic Dates

/ nelegalaidfarm / Leave a comment

workshopsFarmers and ranchers are invited to attend a FREE clinic.  The clinics are one-on-one, not group sessions, and are confidential.  The Farm Finance clinic gives you a chance to meet with an experienced Ag law attorney and Ag financial counselor.  These clinic staff specialize in legal and financial issues related to farming and ranching, including financial planning, estate and transition planning, farm loan programs, debtor/creditor law, water rights, and other relevant matters.  Here is an opportunity to obtain an experienced outside opinion on issues that may be affecting your farm or ranch.  Bring your questions!

These FREE farm and ranch clinics are being held in:

Grand Island – Thursday, Nov 2nd

Norfolk – Thursday, November 9th

Valentine – Friday, November 10th

Fairbury – Friday, November 17th

Norfolk – Thursday, November 30th

To sign up for a clinic or for more information, call Michelle at the Nebraska Farm Hotline:  1-800-464-0258.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture and Legal Aid of Nebraska sponsor the farm finance clinics.

Farm mediation

New Rangeland Health Initiative Available Through NRCS

/ nelegalaidfarm / Leave a comment

The USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) is promoting a program statewide designed to increase rangeland health. NCRS will establish up to 12 demonstration farms across the state, hoping to have 2 in each of the six regions outlined in the map.

NRCS Map

Main goals of this program include a better understanding and an increase in adoption of grazing management techniques that enhance rangeland health, increase profitability, and provide other environmental benefits. Ranchers that are selected to participate in this program can receive up to $15,000 in compensation for time and expenses per year. This comparative program’s aim is to introduce new techniques on a ranch, chosen by the rancher working closely with NRCS representatives, comparing it to the previous practices used on the rangeland. Benefits of participating in this program include a rangeland health assessment and monitoring techniques for the property. Deadline to apply for this program is November 17th, 2017. If interested, visit your local NRCS office to complete the program application.  Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this program.

See the original press release here.

 

 

SARE Webinar Series November 7 at 10 am

/ nelegalaidfarm / Leave a comment

You are invited to join a free webinar on Tuesday, November 7th at 10 am. Ashley Conway, PhD student in Animal Science under the direction of Dr. Mary Drewnoski received a SARE Graduate Student Grant.  Ashley will discuss the project and results of the first year of the study.  The title and a description of the webinar are below:

“Cattle management and performance in an integrated crop-livestock system”

Integrated crop-livestock systems offer tremendous potential for backgrounding cattle. Incorporating cereal rye as a winter cover crop and then grazing in the spring is one potential strategy to capture added value to an agricultural system. Year one of a two-year study designed to investigate the impact of cattle and residue management in this type of system specifically looks at the use of ionophore supplementation of cattle grazing cereal rye in the spring.”

The link to the webinar is: https://nebraskaextension.zoom.us/j/800634168  . If you are unable to participate during the live webinar, it will be recorded for future viewing. Please pass this information on to others who you think may be interested.

If you have any questions feel free to contact Gary Lesoing at glesoing2@unl.edu  or (402) 274-4755.

Crop Insurance Survey by NCAT

/ nelegalaidfarm / Leave a comment

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (www.ncat.org) is conducting this survey of attitudes and opinions about crop insurance. The survey is open to anyone who is farming or ranching commercially in the United States. Results will be used to plan educational efforts and make recommendations to the USDA.

The survey takes an average of 20-30 minutes to complete. Your answers will remain anonymous. We do not collect your e-mail or IP address, and you are not required to provide any personally-identifiable information.

As a small gesture of appreciation for your time, we are happy to offer you a $20 check as a “thank you” for  completing the survey.

Please share the link to this survey with others who may be interested: www.ncat.org/cropinsurance.

We welcome your comments and feedback at cropinsurance@ncat.org.

Funding for this survey was provided by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award #2014-51300-22224.

USDA Authorizes 9.6 Billion in ARC, PLC, and CRP Payments

/ nelegalaidfarm / Leave a comment

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on October 3, 2017, that payments totaling 9.6 billion will be paid to producers for crop loss through the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, and for conservation efforts through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Over three quarters of a million producers will see payments under the ARC and PLC programs amounting to $8 billion payments for the 2016 crop year. Crops covered under this program include:

  • Barley;
  • Corn;
  • Grain sorghum;
  • Lentils;
  • Oats;
  • Peanuts;
  • Dry beans;
  • Soybeans;
  • Wheat; and
  • Canola.

Payments will be made for other covered crops under these programs after the marketing year average prices are determined.

CRP payments total 1.6 billion to over 375,000 producers in 2017. This voluntary program focuses on taking environmentally sensitive lands out of production to protect those acres and improve water and habitat quality.

Both of these programs are designed to help farmers and ranchers in time of need and to protect and conserve sensitive land on the operations.

If you have any questions regarding these programs, please contact us. Read the full  Press Release from the USDA.