american honey
Well-known member
Published: Friday, March 11, 2011
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—U.S. farm exports are expected to reach a record $135.5 billion in fiscal year 2011, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last Friday.
Vilsack said U.S. agriculture may have its best export year ever, growing 25 percent in value from fiscal 2010, which ended in September.
The federal agriculture head spoke in Tampa at the Commodity Classic, a large convention and trade show for the U.S. corn, soybean, wheat, and sorghum industries that draws some 4,500 farmers from around the nation.
Vilsack said the agricultural trade surplus is expected to reach a record $47.5 billion.
He also spoke with The Associated Press about the 2012 USDA budget, which at a proposed $145.6 billion is a 1.5 percent decrease from 2011.
Vilsack intends to continue to fund $25 million in research on citrus greening, a fast-spreading, incurable bacteria that threatens Florida's lucrative orange crop.
"We spend roughly a billion dollars a year trying to combat pests around the country,'' he said.
He added that additional money has been requested for an initiative called Feed the Future, a federal effort using research and other tools to improve agricultural productivity in developing countries. Linking farmers to local and regional markets, enhancing nutrition and helping with seed technology are among the goals —in addition to helping poorer countries cope with rising food prices.
Vilsack said the program has helped Haitian farmers, for example, with using proper fertilizer for that country's soil.
"We do research for many of these countries and how their own agriculture can be more productive,'' he said.
The 2012 agriculture budget includes over $2 billion of funding for both emergency and non-emergency international food assistance programs carried out by the USDA and U.S. Agency for International Development.
U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, also spoke at the conference, telling the farmers that his committee will soon meet with Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the "numerous regulatory assaults'' on farmers.
"Is the EPA following the law? Are they making regulatory decisions based on sound science and data?'' Lucas said, as the audience applauded.
Lucas added that his committee is also reviewing the 2012 Farm Bill and will take a close look at all the existing programs and decide whether to keep them.
Finally, Lucas urged President Obama to send Congress a trade agreement with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress.
"They're all countries that pay cash,'' Lucas joked.
Got this from the farmers exchange!!
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)—U.S. farm exports are expected to reach a record $135.5 billion in fiscal year 2011, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last Friday.
Vilsack said U.S. agriculture may have its best export year ever, growing 25 percent in value from fiscal 2010, which ended in September.
The federal agriculture head spoke in Tampa at the Commodity Classic, a large convention and trade show for the U.S. corn, soybean, wheat, and sorghum industries that draws some 4,500 farmers from around the nation.
Vilsack said the agricultural trade surplus is expected to reach a record $47.5 billion.
He also spoke with The Associated Press about the 2012 USDA budget, which at a proposed $145.6 billion is a 1.5 percent decrease from 2011.
Vilsack intends to continue to fund $25 million in research on citrus greening, a fast-spreading, incurable bacteria that threatens Florida's lucrative orange crop.
"We spend roughly a billion dollars a year trying to combat pests around the country,'' he said.
He added that additional money has been requested for an initiative called Feed the Future, a federal effort using research and other tools to improve agricultural productivity in developing countries. Linking farmers to local and regional markets, enhancing nutrition and helping with seed technology are among the goals —in addition to helping poorer countries cope with rising food prices.
Vilsack said the program has helped Haitian farmers, for example, with using proper fertilizer for that country's soil.
"We do research for many of these countries and how their own agriculture can be more productive,'' he said.
The 2012 agriculture budget includes over $2 billion of funding for both emergency and non-emergency international food assistance programs carried out by the USDA and U.S. Agency for International Development.
U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, also spoke at the conference, telling the farmers that his committee will soon meet with Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the "numerous regulatory assaults'' on farmers.
"Is the EPA following the law? Are they making regulatory decisions based on sound science and data?'' Lucas said, as the audience applauded.
Lucas added that his committee is also reviewing the 2012 Farm Bill and will take a close look at all the existing programs and decide whether to keep them.
Finally, Lucas urged President Obama to send Congress a trade agreement with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress.
"They're all countries that pay cash,'' Lucas joked.
Got this from the farmers exchange!!
