Delegates to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2017 Annual Convention today approved a host of public policy measures designed to help assure a prosperous future for farmers, ranchers and everyone who depends on them for food, fuel and fiber.

Delegates covered the full range of agriculture policy over the day-long session. Resolutions passed included important measures covering regulatory reform, crop insurance, the inclusion of food assistance in the upcoming farm bill, school nutrition, biotechnology, energy and more.

“The actions taken today by our farmer and rancher delegates from across the nation represent the culmination of our year-long grassroots policy process,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “It also provides us a roadmap for actions AFBF will take to implement our policies throughout this year, and I am optimistic about those prospects.”

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Sarah Scyphers, Washington County

Virginia Farm Bureau Young Farmers were big winners once again at the 2017 American Farm Bureau Annual Convention this week.

Sarah Scyphers of Washington County won the Excellence in Agriculture Award. She will receive her choice of either a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado or 2017 GMC Sierra courtesy of Chevrolet, plus free registration to the FUSION Conference.

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Virginia barley and winter wheat harvests have been on a downward trend for several years, and 2016 was an especially disappointing one for growers. But  Virginia Farm Bureau Federation grain marketing expert Robert Harper believes small grains will remain an essential part of the state’s farm economy.

Both the barley and winter wheat harvests for 2016 were 33 percent smaller than the year before. A cold, wet spring that reduced yields is blamed for the poor production levels, according to a Dec. 15 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. But farmers also are struggling with low prices, explained Harper.

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Governor Terry McAuliffe today announced the fiscal year 2017 farmland preservation grant recipients. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (VDACS) Office of Farmland Preservation has awarded a total of $500,000 to six localities.  Localities must use the grants to permanently preserve working farmland within their boundaries through local Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs. PDR programs compensate landowners who work with localities to permanently preserve their land by voluntarily securing a perpetual conservation easement.

VDACS allocated nearly $87,000 each to Albemarle, Fauquier and Clarke counties as well as the cities of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Warren County will receive more than $65,000. These grant allocations bring the total allocation of state matching funds to more than $11.9 million since 2008 when PDR funds were first distributed.

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Virginia’s Agriculture in the Classroom program has named Sleep Tight Farm: A Farm Prepares for Winter, a children’s book by Eugenie Doyle, its 2017 Book of the Year.

The book shows readers what happens on a farm throughout the seasons and helps them see how farmers work to provide safe, healthy food all year long. Volunteers will read Sleep Tight Farm in schools across Virginia March 6-10 as part of Virginia AITC’s Agriculture Literacy Week.

“This is our largest volunteer event of the year,” said Tammy Maxey, senior education manager for Virginia AITC. “We are expecting more than 1,000 volunteers to participate and read to children across the commonwealth. This book is wonderful because it features the seasons of the farm and all the jobs of a farmer and a farm family.”

AITC also will make a corresponding educator guide for teachers and volunteers available, along with reading comprehension and art activities to encourage conversations with children about agriculture.

Volunteers read to more than 50,000 children annually during Agriculture Literacy Week. They have included participants in the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Women’s Program and Young Farmers Program, FFA members, employees of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and other state agencies, and members of other agricultural organizations and businesses. Farm Credit of the Virginias and Southern States Cooperative Inc. have been major supporters.

For more information visit AgInTheClass.org.

Conservation, forestry and wildlife control have all taken huge hits in Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s reductions to the state budget.

The governor’s fiscal year 2018 budget appropriated just $7.6 million for the best management practices cost-share program that helps farmers pay for voluntary conservation practices to help the state achieve its water quality goals. “This is dramatically short of the $100 million needed, and Farm Bureau will be asking the General Assembly to look at sources of funding to keep the program moving forward,” said Martha Moore, vice president of governmental relations for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

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Dr. M. Ray McKinnie, who has been serving as the Interim Dean and 1890 Extension Administrator of the College of Agriculture at Virginia State University, has been formally appointed to the position. The appointment is effective immediately.

McKinnie, who arrived at VSU in July 2015 to serve as assistant administrator of Extension programs in the College of Agriculture, stepped into the interim dean position two months later after the resignation of Dean Jewel Hairston.

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From our friends at On the Farm Radio:

It came close, but no cigar. The current world record for corn production yield remains in Virginia.

The National Corn Growers Association has released the official results of the 2016 National Corn Yield Contest and it was Randy Dowdy of Valdosta, Georgia who achieved the highest yield of corn for grain in 2016. Dowdy’s verified entry was grown using AgriGold A6499 STX/RIB seed yielding 521.39 bushels per acre (just 11 bushels short of the standing world record). Dowdy grew the crop using no-till/strip till methods with irrigation.

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Beginning in January, representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will visit dairy farms across the nation, as the agency begins collecting data for the final phase of the 2016 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS).

ARMS is a joint effort between NASS and USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). The survey is an annual program that gathers in-depth information on production practices, costs, and financial well-being of American farm families. ARMS targets select commodities on a rotational basis. This year, the survey places additional focus on corn, and conventional and organic dairy sectors. The last time ARMS focused on the dairy sector was in 2010 and focused only on the conventional dairy sector. This will be the first time ARMS will include additional focus on the organic dairy production.

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Andrew Smith

During the 2016 General Assembly session, Virginia Farm Bureau supported legislation that created an income tax credit for farmers who make food crop donations to a food bank. The guidelines have been released for the program and can be viewed online here.

The new tax credit would equal 30% of the fair market value of the food crops donated by the person during the taxable year not to exceed an aggregate of $5,000 for any taxable year. The bills defined food crops as grains, fruits, nuts, or vegetables. This new tax credit should help encourage more farmers to donate some of their crop to local food banks to help feed the hungry.

To receive the Food Crop Donation Tax Credit, donors must apply to the Department by completing Form FCD-1, which is available to download from the Department’s website www.tax.virignia.gov. This form and any supporting documentation must be completed and mailed no later than February 1 of the year following the taxable year during which the donations were made.

The patrons of the legislation that created the program were Senator Creigh Deeds of Bath (SB580) and Delegate Ben Cline of Rockbridge (HB1093). The bills were also championed by First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe as part her effort to help prevent hungry children.

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at andrew.smith@vafb.com.