The American Farm Bureau Federation is calling on all members of Congress to support House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte in his goal of including the AG Act in the Securing America’s Future Act.
“We are at a crisis point in agriculture,” American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said. “Chairman Bob Goodlatte wants to address our problem and has included the AG Act in pending legislation related to the DACA issue. Chairman Goodlatte’s AG Act would establish a new H-2C agriculture worker program that is far superior to the existing H-2A program. The new H-2C program offers a much brighter future for agriculture. For farmers in sectors like dairy, mushrooms and others, who are excluded from H-2A and have nowhere else to turn, the H-2C program offers a path forward in meeting their future labor needs.
“At the same time, we are continuing to work with Chairman Goodlatte and other members of Congress to provide greater assurances on how the AG Act would affect our existing workforce. Farmers today rely on these workers. They sustain our farms. They are part of the fabric of many rural economies. Farm Bureau policy supports providing these workers the opportunity to earn permanent legal status. That is our goal and we will do everything we can to achieve it.
“We applaud Chairman Goodlatte’s leadership and support him in his effort to include a solution for agriculture’s labor issue in the Securing America’s Future Act.”
The nation’s system of laws and regulations is filled with policies that come from good intentions but, when applied without enough thought or input, don’t make sense in their implementation. One example that agriculture faces right now is the requirement that truck drivers install electronic logging devices in their vehicles. By switching from paper records to the electronic devices, it’s supposed to be easier to keep truckers honest about not going over the hours of service limits.
After rebounding slightly in 2017, net farm income in 2018 is expected to fall to $59.5 billion, a 12-year low, according to the Agriculture Department’s most recent 2018 Farm Sector Income Forecast from the Economic Research Service. If realized, this would be the lowest net farm income since 2006 and would represent a decline of 6.7 percent from USDA’s 2017 projection.
“The budget deal approved by Congress and signed by President Trump today includes a number of important agricultural provisions that will help America’s farmers and ranchers and support food security for all Americans,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall in a 
It was typical day at the Lynchburg Regional Animal Health Laboratory of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Veterinarian John Moody necropsied two calves from the same farm. The farm reported that three of four calves in a pen, all different ages, had died on the same day. Two of the calves were submitted to the laboratory for a necropsy, an animal autopsy, in hopes of determining the cause of death.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) just announced the detection of a new invasive insect pest in Virginia. In early January, VDACS inspectors discovered the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula, at a stone yard in Frederick County near Winchester. The Spotted Lanternfly is native to China, India and Vietnam, and prior to the January detection, was not known to occur in Virginia. Both SLF egg masses and dead adults were detected at the Winchester site.
For Virginia farmers, January is a time for tax preparation, livestock births, equipment maintenance and professional conferences.
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation will host two free workshops to help farmers maximize the use of manure on their farms.
Governor Ralph Northam today announced that groups seeking to improve the competitiveness of specialty crops in Virginia are eligible to submit proposals for grants up to $60,000 per project. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) anticipates administering nearly $440,000 in funds for the development of specialty crops. The deadline for submitting applications is March 15, 2018.
A recent report indicates the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station and Virginia Cooperative Extension have far-reaching impacts across the state.
Plows and Politics 