The following statement regarding Senate passage of the 2018 Farm Bill may be attributed to American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall.

“The Senate pushed the farm bill one big step closer to the finish line today and it could not have come at a better time. America’s farmers and ranchers continue to face a challenging agricultural economy, a shaky outlook for our export markets and a dire ag labor shortage. It was time for some good news and the Senate delivered it in bipartisan fashion.

“Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow worked with other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee to deliver a bill that will continue to provide the risk management tools that America’s farmers need more than ever before. And the fact that Leader McConnell agreed this should be a legislative priority helped move this very important bill forward in the Senate.

“Of course, no bill is ever perfect, but this bipartisan effort gives us a solid framework for progress. We do have concerns about some of the provisions that were added to the bill that make it harder for farmers to manage risk, but we are confident that those issues can be satisfactorily addressed by the House/Senate conference committee. We look forward to working with conferees from both houses to get the best possible farm bill done for rural America.”

The House passed its version of the farm bill today by a vote of 213-211.  American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall released the following statement regarding its passage:

“Passage of the House farm bill today is a big win for America’s farmers and ranchers. Our grassroots Farm Bureau members clearly made their voices heard. By approving the 2018 Farm Bill today, members of the House recognized the serious economic challenges facing farmers and ranchers across the country.

“As crafted by Chairman Conaway, this bill recognizes what is working well, but it also makes much-needed improvements in risk management and crop insurance programs at a time when farm-income levels have slumped to decade lows. This would not have been possible had it not been for Speaker Ryan making the farm bill a congressional priority, and for all the hard work invested in the process by Chairman Conaway and other members of the House Agriculture Committee.

“We look forward to continuing our work with Senate Agriculture Committee leaders Roberts and Stabenow as they move forward. The Senate bill also addresses the challenges our farmers and ranchers are facing today. We will also continue to focus our attention on other areas important to farmers, such as finding a solution for the very serious ag labor shortage, increasing market opportunities through trade and cutting the burdens of regulations that have piled up during previous administrations.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released its June Crop Production report today based on the Agricultural Yield survey conducted at the beginning of the month. The report includes information on Virginia’s winter wheat forecast.

Virginia farmers expect to harvest 11 million bushels of winter wheat during 2018. The expected crop for 2018 would be up 15 percent from the previous year. The forecast was based on crop conditions as of June 1 and decreased six percent from the May forecast. Growers expect a yield of 63 bushels per acre, down three bushels from 2017 and down four bushels from May. Farmers seeded 230,000 acres last fall with 175,000 acres to be harvested for grain. Acres for other uses totaled 55,000 acres and will be used as cover crop or cut as silage or hay.

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Editor’s note: Chandler Vaughan is a former Virginia Farm Bureau Ambassador from Charlotte County. This story was written by Jillian Broadwell and appeared as a news story here: https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2018/06/cals-governors-fellow.html#.Wx6a7jkhqSA.facebook

Chandler Vaughan grew up in Keysville, Virginia, where the cows outnumber the local human population. He remembers feeding the family cows on cold winter days and bonding with his dad as they planted pumpkin patches on their third-generation farm.

But this summer, Vaughan will spend his days away from the cattle and the produce he knows so well to pursue a new experience – one that involves a city and high-ranking state officials.

Vaughan, a rising senior majoring in agribusiness in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will work under the Virginia secretary of agriculture and forestry through the Governor’s Fellows Program – a program established in 1982 to offer Virginia state college students a chance to learn about and serve in state government. Vaughan was the only Virginia Tech student to receive this honor from the Northam administration this year and is one of 23 students from around the state to be selected into the program.

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Dairy producers are reminded to visit their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office by Friday, June 1 to make new Dairy Margin Protection Program coverage elections.

In February 2018, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 made several modifications to USDA’s Dairy Margin Protection Program and directed the department to reopen signup for the 2018 coverage year. The modifications made to MPP were designed to make it a more attractive risk management tool for small- and medium-sized dairy operations by reducing premium rates, delivering payments monthly, increasing the catastrophic coverage levels, and making more milk eligible for discounted coverage. Farmers have until June 1 to make new MPP coverage elections. MPP coverage will be retroactive to January 2018, and for more than 90 percent of the farmers previously enrolled in the program, coverage during 2018 is guaranteed to be profitable, i.e., program payments will be greater than the insurance premiums.

For more information, click here.