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Maryland Farm & Harvest Season 4 Premiere
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Did you tune in for the Season 4 Premiere of MPT’s Maryland Farm & Harvest on Tuesday night? The new season kicked off, highlighting one of our very own, Bobby Hutchison. The show looked at how Bobby uses satellites to monitor his fields and farm sustainably. Also on the first episode were Triple R Bull Company of Washington County, Briar Branch Alpaca Farm of St. Mary’s County, and the Yoder Family of Garrett County. Other episodes this season will feature board members Steve Ernst on November 22, Chip Bowling on January 17, and Drew Stabler on February 7. The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board is the primary sponsor of the award-winning series, which reaches over one million people each week. New episodes air Tuesday night at 7 pm, or you may watch previous episodes online.
Watch Season 4, Episode 1
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Bowling Elected Vice Chairman of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance
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Congratulations to Chip Bowling, who was elected to serve as vice chairman of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) during the group’s board meeting in Kansas City last week. "I have always felt strongly about the importance of the work done by USFRA, and I am humbled my fellow ag leaders entrusted me with this position," said Bowling. "Farmers and ranchers work hard every day to become increasingly sustainable and continue improving. Through USFRA, we all can play an active part in sharing that story." USFRA was founded in 2010 to unite agriculture and earn consumer trust in today's farming and ranching practices. Bowling previously served as the President of the National Corn Growers Association and is now also serving as chairman for that organization.
Learn More About USFRA
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Field Notes Talks Corn Harvest with the Foodie Farmer
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National Corn Growers Association's Field Notes caught up with MGPUB President Jennie Schmidt, The Foodie Farmer, who took a break from combining to discuss harvest in her area. “We are wrapping up harvest right now. I only have about ten acres left in this field,” she explained. “Unfortunately, we experienced some side effects of Hurricane Matthew, which came through a couple of weeks ago. I do have one field with about 20 acres of pretty broken off corn. We didn’t get a lot of rain, but we did get some high winds,” she reported on October 24. Follow the link below to hear the full interview, including what she is seeing in terms of yields.
Full Interview
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What’s Ahead for Agriculture under Trump
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Last week, Donald Trump was elected to be the next President of the United States. After eight years of heavy regulation under the Obama administration, agriculture may begin to see some changes under Trump. Many rural Americans supported Trump following his comments on the EPA. Trump is expected to target some of the important rules created under the previous administration, including the highly unpopular Waters of the U.S. rule. He has also promised to renegotiate trade deals, including NAFTA, as well as oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). “He’s in favor of trade. He just wants trade agreements that don’t take away jobs,” says Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter. Trump claimed during his campaign that he was in support of ethanol, but he is has people from both sides on his team so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. “I think you’ll see a very pro-agriculture administration that will see exports grow and have fair trade agreements,” Rastetter summarized.
Read More
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Eastern Shore Land Conservancy “Food Fight”
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Last Thursday, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) hosted their 17th annual planning conference. The theme for this year’s event was “Food Fight! Healthy? Sustainable? Realistic?” With much of the conference focusing on environmental concerns, we were happy to have Trey Hill on the agenda to advocate for Maryland farmers. There were many false accusations made throughout the day, including that voluntary conservation is not effective, ethanol is responsible for spikes in corn prices, farmers apply fertilizer because “it’s cheap and they use it for insurance,” and that food, with an emphasis on beef, is the largest component of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Hill shined a positive light on conventional agriculture when he shared information about his family farm. He identified issues facing food production on the Eastern Shore including yields, labor, and the amount of disposable income being spent on food. One point Trey made was that there is never going to be any more land for production, so we are going to need to rely on technology to feed the growing population.
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Conservation Innovation Grants
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The USDA is now seeking proposals for cutting-edge projects that will provide new conservation opportunities through its competitive Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. The department will invest up to $25 million for projects that spark the development and adoption of innovative conservation technologies and approaches in areas like conservation finance, data analytics, and precision conservation to benefit producers on private agricultural and forest lands. Proposals are due by Jan. 9, 2017.
More Information
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