Weekly Update for
April 25

On April 17, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) CEO Chandler Goule joined Agriculture of America host Jesse Allen to discuss the latest NAWG events and Farm Bill updates. They also talked about the Biden Administration’s latest climate smart Ag initiatives.

On April 29, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) and U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) will participate in the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Washington Watch. Washington Watch is held each spring in Washington D.C. and gives members the opportunity to hear from agriculture organizations, officials from the United States Department of Agriculture, and leadership of the House and Senate. Tune in next week.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Rural Minds is partnering with the National Grange to present a webinar to coincide with National Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week. The next Rural Mental Health Connections Webinar - “Managing Tardive Dyskinesia in Rural America” will be on Thursday, May 9, 2024 7pm ET | 6pm CT | 5pm MT | 4pm PT. This one-hour, professionally moderated webinar will feature Todd Donovan, President of the Board of Directors, National Alliance on Mental Illness-New Hampshire, sharing his lived experience managing tardive dyskinesia in his rural community. Dr. Mark Frye, a psychiatrist with Mayo Clinic, will provide his medical expertise and perspective on screening for TD and managing the condition when living in a rural area. They would also appreciate your engagement with Rural Minds social media posts on Facebook and LinkedIn promoting this event on April 25, May 2, and May 8.

On April 23, which marked Earth Day for 2024, U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced that the agency is funding more than 700 clean energy projects across the country. These programs look to lower energy bills and input costs, expand access to domestic biofuels and create jobs and new market opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers. This funding is funneled through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP). REAP has seen funding of up to $2 billion dollars to support renewable energy and energy efficient improvements that aim to help rural business owners lower energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen their resiliency of operations. The USDA will continue to accept REAP applications and will hold funding competitions quarterly through September 30, 2024.

On April 18, the U.S. Department of Agriculture alongside the U.S. Agency for International Development will develop $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funding to purchase U.S.-grown commodities to provide emergency food assistance to people in need throughout the world. This also comes after an announcement in October 2023 where the USDA stated its intention to bolster efforts to combat global hunger by purchasing domestic commodities to lead disaster assistance and ensure the products reach people in need around the world. In the initial round of countries selected for support there are the ones USAID has chosen: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen. According to the Global Report on Food Crises estimates that 205 million people need life-saving food assistance worldwide and 768 million people are facing chronic hunger.

On April 18, U.S. Senator and Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) applauded the $1 billion investment to provide international food assistance to address a growing crisis of hunger around the world. Stabenow said, “Violence, armed conflict, rising food prices, and the climate crisis are driving a global crisis of hunger. It is clear that our country must do everything we can to meet humanitarian needs around the world, and American farmers are up to the task. I applaud Secretary Vilsack and the teams at the USDA and USAID for working with me to find creative solutions that meet the needs of this critical moment.”

On May 1 at 1:00PM Eastern Standard Time, the House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee will host a hearing discussing the budget for the USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) program mission area. Testifying at the hearing is Risk Management Agency Administrator Marcia Bunger with appearances from Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie, Chief of Natural Resources Conservation Services Terry Cosby, and Administrator of the Farm Service Agency Zach Ducheneaux.

Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and North Carolina are in the lead with the number of entries in the contest for the Winter Wheat category!  The deadline to enter is May 15, 2024. One new wheat grower from Illinois has two entries; everything is the same except for tillage method. He is using the contest to help learn what works best on his farm to get high yields and high quality. The contest encourages you to try for yield, quality, and profit. Challenge yourself today! Get registered for an account and put in some entries below.

The Wheat Quality Council will sponsor a Hard Winter Wheat Tour again this May. We will follow our traditional routes and make field stops every 10-15 miles along the way. We will provide expertise in each car to train with throughout the day. These tours are a great way to see this year’s crop firsthand and get training in the fields to learn about yield, insects and disease problems that may affect the crop. We have dinner together each night and hear reports from each car. We will also get reports from Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma from crop scouts traveling through those states on the same days. We shuffle car assignments each day. It is a great way to meet others in the industry. Hotel blocks are filling up. Get Signed up Today!