Changes are coming to the state Women’s Committee Awards. New to the program, the Distinguished Farm Bureau Woman Award will recognize a woman for her contribution in either farm business and community activities; agricultural business and community activities; or agricultural leadership and community involvement. This award is open to all Farm Bureau women producer and associate members. It will replace the Farm Woman of the Year recognition.
The state women’s committee will also honor an Outstanding Woman in Agriculture. The recipient will be selected by the state committee and will recognize a woman’s achievement in the agriculture industry. The Farm Bureau Ambassador program will see a minor change, as each finalist will now receive $200 for their efforts, beginning at the 2019 Women’s Spring Conference.
Unfortunately, after much deliberation, the Lady Leader contest will no longer be offered.
Visit the Virginia Farm Bureau Women’s Program page at www.vafb.com for more information later this summer
The Virginia Agriculture Leaders Obtaining Results (VALOR) program, the commonwealth’s premier agriculture-leadership training program, celebrated the graduation of its third class of leadership fellows at the Hotel Roanoke on July 14.
The theme of this year’s Virginia Ag Expo on Aug. 2 is “Utilizing Precision Agriculture to Manage Challenges.”
On July 10-12, a group of Farm Bureau Young Farmers from Southwest Virginia took on Washington, D.C. to meet with Congressmen and organizations such as National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Animal Ag Alliance, and BIO. We spent July 11th on Capitol Hill, meeting with Congressman Garrett and Congressman Griffith.
National grain supplies are stockpiled, which means lower profits for Virginia grain producers.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) Regional Animal Health Laboratory in Harrisonburg recently was certified to perform screening testing for the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) virus in animals. Because of this new capability, the lab, which is part of a network operated by VDACS, will perform a valuable early warning function for the detection of Foreign Animal Diseases, including FMD.
Below are two Action Alerts concerning FDA proposals, which if ever enacted, would have major negative implications on tobacco production here. At the very least, the manner in which tobacco is grown and marketed would change significantly.
With passage last week of the Senate farm bill, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (S. 3042), congressional lawmakers are expected to soon head to conference to iron out the differences between the House and Senate legislation. The House passed its version of the bill, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2), on June 21.
