USDA Offers Annual Installment Deferral Option for Farm Storage Facility Loan Borrowers
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2020 – To assist Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) borrowers experiencing financial hardship from the pandemic and other challenges in production agriculture, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is offering a one-time annual installment payment deferral option. No fees or prepayment penalties apply for borrowers who choose this FSFL loan flexibility option.
https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/news-releases/2020/usda-offers-annual-installment-deferral-option-for-farm-storage-facility-loan-borrowers?utm_campaign=0806fsfloptions&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Yard by Yard Community Resiliency Project Launches in Tulsa
NACD BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVES STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
On Monday, July 20, the NACD Board of Directors conducted a virtual board meeting in place of the 2020 Summer Conservation Forum and Tour, which was to be held this week in Bismarck, N.D., but was moved to a virtual format given the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The organization’s governing body voted to amend the national association's bylaws to permit virtual board meetings in times of state or federal emergencies and conducted the business meeting over Zoom.
UPDATE: Senate confirms the appointment of Gary Crawley to serve on the Oklahoma Conservation Commission
Today, the Oklahoma Senate confirmed the appointment of Gary Crawley of Pittsburg County and the community of Savanna to serve as a member of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission to serve a 5-year term ending June 30, 2025. It will now go to Governor J. Kevin Stitt, who nominated Crawley, for signature.
Fire, mixed-species grazing enhance livestock production in research project
From the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
STILLWATER – Researchers from Oklahoma State University are partnering with university scientists and researchers in two other states on a project using fire and mixed animal species to graze in an effort to enhance livestock production and more sustainable rangelands.Enhancing Livestock Production from Rangelands in the Great Plains is a research project funded through a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Partnering with OSU are researchers and scientists from Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension and the University of Nebraska.
The project will help agriculture producers adopt management practices that will increase food production and more sustainable rangelands, said Sam Fuhlendorf, regents professor and Groendyke Chair in Wildlife Conservation with OSU’s Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management.
”We’re dealing mostly with cattle and goats in this project. Cattle have always been important in the Great Plains,” said Fuhlendorf, who serves as the lead OSU principal investigator on the research portion of the study. “We’re using goats because they eat different plants than cattle, and many of the types of plants they eat are species ranchers spend a lot of money trying to control.”He said the project team will be working with a team of ranchers from Texas, through Oklahoma to Nebraska who are doing various aspects of the project’s objectives.
For many years, fire has played an important role in rangeland landscapes that are managed for livestock production. Fuhlendorf said it controls woody plants that are invading rangelands throughout the Great Plains.
”We view invasive plants as the greatest threat to rangeland agriculture and conservation in the region,” Fuhlendorf said. “Fire increases forage quality and quantity, manages the distribution of livestock and improves wildlife habitat. Prior to European settlement, Native Americans burned these landscapes nearly every year.
The grasslands that were here when settlement occurred were dependent on these fires. However, those fires were stopped upon settlement, and in some cases, became illegal. This socio-ecological transformation is finally catching up with us.”Laura Goodman, assistant professor and OSU Extension range specialist, said prescribed fire is very effective in controlling all woody plants when they are young. However, when plants get larger, it can be more difficult to control some resprouting species.
”Woody brush encroachment is a big problem for ranchers. Species such as honey locust and sumac can resprout, but fire can make those more accessible to goats to browse,” said Goodman, who is the lead principal investigator for the Extension part of the Prairie Project. “Research shows prescribed fire and grazing have been used to decrease the spread of wildfire by decreasing fuels, but by combining fire and grazing, you can increase how long fuels are suppressed.”
from The Ada News
Senate Committee confirms the appointment of Gary Crawley to serve on the Oklahoma Conservation Commission
NACD Summer Meeting Canceled
NACD SUMMER MEETING CANCELED
Today, NACD has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Summer Meeting, scheduled for July 18-21, 2020 in Bismarck, N.D., in light of ongoing concerns with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
At this time, NACD would like to thank the hard work of the North Dakota Association of Soil Conservation Districts in helping plan the meeting. Additionally, NACD has discussed tentative plans to hold a virtual summer board meeting. More information, including a meeting date, will be provided in the near future. In the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions.
“Where would we BEE without Pollinators?!”
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day with EPA
This year, April 22nd, marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a day celebrated by millions of people across the world. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the United States has made tremendous progress improving air quality, cleaning up contaminated lands, and protecting our water resources. As part of that progress, EPA is working hard to ensure all Americans have a clean, healthy environment and a more prosperous future.