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The House Agriculture Committee voted last week by a vote of 36-10 to approve the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act of 2013 (H.R. 1947). Following the markup, Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) said he has received assurances from House leadership that the bill will be taken up by the full House in June.

The legislation is largely similar to the bill that was approved by the committee last year, though additional savings from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) were included in this year’s bill. The legislation approved by the Committee last week would save approximately $40 billion over ten years, with approximately 6$ billion of that coming from sequestration-related savings.

Among the amendments adopted during the committee’s markup were an amendment by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI) that would allow the use of Specialty Crop Block Grant funds for equipment or capital-related research ...

Registrations are now being accepted for the Governor’s Ag Development Summit on Wednesday, June 26 in Pierre. This year’s theme is “Agriculture – A Call to Action.”

South Dakota Department of Agriculture (SDDA) Secretary Lucas Lentsch invites you to participate in the Fourth Annual “Governor’s Ag Development Summit” to be held at 8 a.m. CST at the Best Western Ramkota Inn. At the summit, the SDDA will update attendees on the progress of recent agricultural initiatives.

Since the SDDA has had such a great response to the Key Leaders’ Roundtable in the past, this year, the roundtable is combined with the Governor’s Ag Development Summit.

The keynote speaker will be former Congressman Charlie Stenholm, Senior Policy Advisor at Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, Matz Law Firm in Washington, DC. In his 26 years as a U.S. House member, Stenholm served in the House Committee on Agriculture. He earned a reputation for building ...

By Matthew J. Lohr, Commissioner, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS)

One of the marvels of the human race is that we were able to make a transition from eating what we could hunt or gather to a systemized method of producing food at will. We call that agriculture.

Agriculture has made some amazing strides in the years since it caught on, due to the creative spirit and sheer determination of the world’s farmers. Often this creativity manifests itself in dramatic ways; other times it is smaller and quieter. In both cases, it changes the landscape of the industry of agriculture and, more importantly, it gives people new ways to make a living within that industry.

We have been able to assist some of our hard cider makers and apple producers with grant funding through our Specialty Crop Competitive Grants program. Nelson County used them to fund an economic feasibility study for artisanal hard cider producers using an economic model very similar to ...

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its Farm Bill on Tuesday with a 15-5 vote. Below is C-SPAN's coverage of the markup.

Requirements for agricultural producers to have oil spill prevention plans in place took effect Friday. These Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans are required for farms that store more than 1,320 gallons of oil in aboveground containers or more than 42,000 gallons buried containers and which could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to waters of the U.S. Though the deadline to have the plans in place was May 10, the March 2013 Continuing Resolution prevented EPA from enforcing the SPCC requirements until September. More information on these requirements is available online.

Last week the Senate adopted an amendment by Sen. Pryor (D-AR) to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that would modify SPCC requirements for agricultural producers. As the Senate continues its consideration of WRDA this week, the bill faces unclear prospects in the House.

Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee blocked the committee from voting last week on the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head EPA, saying she failed to respond to their questions on a number of issues. EPW Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) rescheduled the committee vote for Thursday, May 16, saying that the attendance of Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Max Baucus (D-MT) who both missed last Thursday’s vote, will allow the committee to advance McCarthy’s nomination to the full Senate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee began markup on the Senate Immigration bill (S. 744) last Thursday. The Committee is continuing its work today and is expected to complete the markup sometime on Thursday. With more than 300 amendments to be considered, the Senators have their work cut out for them. Last week, they completed debate on Sections 1-8 (mainly dealing with the trigger for legalization) and Title I (border security). The agriculture provisions could be considered today. For view the markup or to see the proposed amendments, click here.

The World Trade Organization last week named Roberto Azevedo of Brazil as its new Director General, replacing French diplomat Pascal Lamy who served since 2005 and was unable to guide the organization through the now stalled Doha Round of free trade talks. Azevedo’s name may be recognized by those familiar with the Brazilian cotton case in which the U.S. lost a WTO challenge by Brazil over direct payments. He was Brazil’s trade minister at the time and helped press the case. He has also served as Brazil’s chief negotiator to the Doha round of negotiations and was instrumental in ending the Doha talks, which were paralyzed by opposition in the manufacturing sectors in emerging economies such as Brazil and India.

The Summer 2013 National Drought Outlook will be held this Thursday from 10 AM - 12:30 PM ET at the United States Capitol Visitor Center (Room SVC 209-08) in Washington, DC. No registration is required for this event.

The event will also provide outlooks related to agriculture, wildfires and national water supplies, as well as discussion of short-term recovery and flooding concerns certain areas of the country face. Details about the re-authorization of the Drought Information Act of 2013, as well as available resources for drought preparedness and response, will also be provided. For more information, contact Veva Deheza, 303-497-3431, Veva.Deheza@noaa.gov, or visit www.drought.gov.

Co-Sponsors: NIDIS, NOAA, National Drought Mitigation Center, Western Governors' Association, Southern Governors' Association, Midwestern Governors Association, USDA

Follow this event on Twitter using #droughtoutlook.

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