Thank you to more than 700 Farm Bureau leaders who have responded to the recent action alert on solar. As responses continue to roll in, members of the General Assembly are taking notice of your advocacy. We are still waiting for SB697 (VanValkenburg) to be docketed and will continue to provide updates. This week, we’re bring you the latest on the budget and giving you a sneak peak at the Young Farmer Winter Expo being held in Richmond.
Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division provides this week’s market updates.
#merchandiserminute #grainfuture #virginiafarmbureau
Virginia Farm Bureau’s Governmental Relations department has seen a few changes this year, and we’re excited to help you get to know our new staff members.
Rachel Henley is the working lands and state advocacy specialist where she handles the Urban Legislative Program, ag land preservation, energy, labor and policy development. Prior to this role, she worked as an agriculture and natural resources Extension agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension and co-led state efforts related to farm transition and farmland preservation. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from Virginia Tech in Agribusiness Management and Livestock Production Business. She also received her Master’s of Agriculture from Colorado State University in Integrated Resource Management. Rachel grew up in Hanover County participating in 4-H. She is married to Thomas, a fourth generation dairy and grain farmer, and they reside in Hanover County with their two children. They are growing a beef operation and Rachel supports the family farm with agritourism efforts.
Jake Tabor is the legislative specialist where he handles commodity Issues (animal- and plant-based), environmental issues, wildlife and game laws, advisory committees and policy development. Prior to this position, Jake worked for the Mount Rogers Regional Partnership for four years, doing regional economic development in Southwest Virginia. Jake is a 2019 graduate of Virginia Tech, where he earned a bachelor’s in Agribusiness with minors in Political Science and Animal Science. While at Virginia Tech, Jake was on the Livestock Judging Team, and involved with Student Government and Block & Bridle. He is very involved with his family’s commercial cow/calf operation in Pulaski County and now resides in Richmond.
Drought conditions affected many of Virginia’s agricultural producers in numerous localities and all parts of the state during the 2023 growing season. To provide assistance to affected producers, USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack began designating Virginia counties as primary natural disaster areas in October of 2023 and continued through December. Producers within identified areas have eight months from the date of designation to apply for certain USDA assistance. The 23 Virginia counties that received primary natural disaster designation include:
Farmers in these primary counties are eligible to be considered for assistance from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). In addition to the 23 primary counties, the 39 localities that are contiguous to the primary counties are also eligible for drought emergency assistance. A full listing of all primary and contiguous localities receiving a natural disaster designation are available at www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pdf/drought-disaster-designations-map.pdf.
This natural disaster assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Provided eligibility requirements are met, the FSA will assess each emergency loan application individually and will consider specific circumstances and needs. Farmers in eligible localities have eight months from the date of the disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. Producers should contact their county’s FSA Service Center for more information on this designation, services available, date of declaration and application deadline.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the disaster designated localities suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for eight or more consecutive weeks or 2) D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional.
For more information on available assistance programs and the application process, please contact the FSA Service Center in your county of operation, Virginia FSA State Office website, or call 804-287-1500. For additional information on USDA assistance programs, please visit the USDA Disaster Assistance Programs website.
Thank you to the 550 Farm Bureau leaders who responded to two recent action alerts on solar. Our voices have been heard on two of the three bills as they were continued to 2025. Unfortunately, SB697 continues to advance. Please be on the lookout for a third action alert soon to address this bill. This week, in addition to sharing updates on top Farm Bureau legislative priorities, we have included updates on legislation that GR staff has been monitoring due to their potential impacts on our rural communities.
Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division provides this week’s market updates.
#merchandiserminute #grainfuture #virginiafarmbureau
Today, we’re coming to you from the Virginia capitol as the General Assembly closes out its fifth week of business. Legislators have seen many late nights this week as they worked to close out any remaining business before crossover next week. Watch now for more details on solar bill SB697.
Information provided by the Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program.
Before you can practice sustainable forestry, you must commit to doing it. What this commitment entails will vary depending on you and your land. But most natural resource professionals agree that a key component to making this commitment is obtaining a written forest management plan for your land.
What exactly is a forest management plan? A forest management plan states your goals for the future of your forest, describes the current conditions of your forest, and includes a list of activities to help you achieve your goals. The complexity of your plan will depend on the size of your land and the intensity of your management. Plans can be simple, including only a list of your goals, a collection of maps, a description of your trees (age, species, condition), and a list of activities; or they can be more in-depth, like a Forest Stewardship Plan, suitable for those of you who are doing a lot of active management (like timber harvesting).
The first step in the development of a forest management plan is to determine your land ownership goals. Goals are general statements about how you want your land to be in the future and do not include a timeline or any specifics of how or when you are going to reach them. Examples of common forest owner goals include:
For more information on determining your goals, with real life examples, watch this short video: Management Goals and Objectives. Once your goals are set, you should work with a forester and/or wildlife biologist who can help assess the current condition of your forest and develop a list of activities to help you achieve your goals. You can find your local forester here: https://dof.virginia.gov/ and your local wildlife biologist here: https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/dmap-map.pdf.
You may also want to check these upcoming and recurring educational opportunities for Virginia forest landowners:
Featured Events
Fifteen Minutes in the Forest videos are shown every other Friday at 12:15 on Facebook and YouTube Premiere.
2024 Landowner Woods & Wildlife Conferences
These long-running full-day conferences provide information, tools, and personal contacts to help private woodland owners keep their woods, and the wildlife that live in them, healthy and productive. A variety of topics are offered to appeal to owners of both small and large tracts, and both new and experienced owners.
2024 Woodland Steward Webinar Series: Focus on Silvopasture
This free webinar series will teach you how to establish, manage, and fund silvopasture systems. Established producers will share their experiences.
Learn about the conservation tools available to help you pass your land and your legacy on to the next generation while keeping it intact, in forest and in family ownership.
Landowner Retreats are co-hosted by the Virginia Department of Forestry and Virginia Cooperative Extension. Retreats provide information on hardwood and pine forest management, legacy planning, management planning, and more. They combine classroom, field trip and hands-on activities to teach concepts of sustainable woodland and wildlife management.
Visit the Blue Ridge PRISM website for programs on nonative invasives
This week has been busy at Virginia’s Capitol. Here’s a rundown of the important bills we’ve covered this week, but first we’re excited to share a face that is new to Farm Bureau Governmental Relations but is certainly not a stranger to Farm Bureau.
Robert Harper with Virginia Farm Bureau’s grain division provides this week’s market updates.
#merchandiserminute #grainfuture #virginiafarmbureau
Plows and Politics 